TX Bill
Player Valuation: £80m
Just flew back in from the match. Interesting to say the least:
1) RSL was just that much more fit than we were. Forget the 4000 ft altitude or the dry heat. They were in better shape, pure and simple.
2) We lacked imagination or any kind of cutting edge. With Neville and Carsley in the middle to start, you knew it was gonna be a bit more defensive.
3) Jags looked ok but several errant passes. The same could be said for most of the players.
4) RSL definitely up for the match. Closed us down quickly when we had possession.
5) AJ ran his socks off.
6) Hard for Valente to get forward into the attack as RSL attack kept him pinned back quite a bit.
7) Howard played well and had several good saves although he completely missed tipping the ball which led to their first goal.
8) For me, there really wasn't any one Everton player that shined other than possibly Arteta. Anderson da Silva played well when he came in but was prone to the errant pass/cross as well.
9) After the match, Tim Howard jumped over the sign boards and high fived the entire first row of supporters.
All in all, good for the squad in getting their fitness levels up but that's about it. Good amount of supporters there. My ticket was in the supporter section with a bunch of other Blues so that was fun.
The RSL supporter section (right next to ours) started the match by banging drums for the first 10 minutes. When they finally stopped, there was a smattering of applause followed by this loud English accent that yells, "Play it again !!!" Had everyone laughing.
There was this one flag across from us that said "LFC, the Pride of Merseyside" with some jackasses wearing red [Poor language removed] shirts. The Englishman next to me commented out loud to no one in particular "That's as close to Anfield as they've ever been." True that.
Some other EFC banners included "EFC looking for an American Billionaire."
Great to see the team live and hope they come back next year.
1) RSL was just that much more fit than we were. Forget the 4000 ft altitude or the dry heat. They were in better shape, pure and simple.
2) We lacked imagination or any kind of cutting edge. With Neville and Carsley in the middle to start, you knew it was gonna be a bit more defensive.
3) Jags looked ok but several errant passes. The same could be said for most of the players.
4) RSL definitely up for the match. Closed us down quickly when we had possession.
5) AJ ran his socks off.
6) Hard for Valente to get forward into the attack as RSL attack kept him pinned back quite a bit.
7) Howard played well and had several good saves although he completely missed tipping the ball which led to their first goal.
8) For me, there really wasn't any one Everton player that shined other than possibly Arteta. Anderson da Silva played well when he came in but was prone to the errant pass/cross as well.
9) After the match, Tim Howard jumped over the sign boards and high fived the entire first row of supporters.
All in all, good for the squad in getting their fitness levels up but that's about it. Good amount of supporters there. My ticket was in the supporter section with a bunch of other Blues so that was fun.
The RSL supporter section (right next to ours) started the match by banging drums for the first 10 minutes. When they finally stopped, there was a smattering of applause followed by this loud English accent that yells, "Play it again !!!" Had everyone laughing.
There was this one flag across from us that said "LFC, the Pride of Merseyside" with some jackasses wearing red [Poor language removed] shirts. The Englishman next to me commented out loud to no one in particular "That's as close to Anfield as they've ever been." True that.
Some other EFC banners included "EFC looking for an American Billionaire."
Great to see the team live and hope they come back next year.
