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Wednesday 30th January 2013
The Albion finish off the first month of 2013 with a difficult trip to Goodison Park as we take on the best team in Merseyside in what will hopefully be an entertaining encounter. The meeting between the two sides last season finished 2-0 to the home side with the most memorable Albion moment being the collision between Peter Odemwingie and Ben Foster. Less said about the former the better!
The first meeting between to the two sides this season saw the Albion come out as winners. Goals from Shane Long and Gareth McAuley guided Albion to another home league victory after beating the red half of Merseyside in our first home game of the season. In our previous Premier League fixtures, Albion rallied from being 2-0 down to Aston Villa to recover a draw with a player whose name I shall avoid, scoring a late equaliser. For Everton, they went down to Southampton in the televised game and drew 0-0.
For this weeks version of View From the Opposition I have headed over to
Grand Old Team.
Has the season so far gone as you expected?
Brennan91: Not at all. I was expecting us to be around 6th or 7th at best, we've had a great first half of the season (as have you !)
Number_25: Yeah, well considering that I had us down for a 8th placed finish this season.
Recent form has been disappointing though, I can't see us really getting out of this without a few players being dropped. However Mirallas should be back soon enough to bolster up that right-hand side.
BoysInBlue: Kind of. We were hoping to be in the top 6, challenging for a European, possibly CL place and that has happened. We've done well, but we've drawn too many games that we really should have won and should have been 3rd or 4th, so there's some frustration.
Q2. The transfer window is currently open, in which positions do Everton need to strengthen most?
BoysInBlue: An argument could be made to strengthen all areas. Tim Howard needs better goalkeeping competition for his place. Distin & Jagielka are a solid pairing, but Distin is 36 this year and won't last forever, so a younger centre half would be good. We need to strengthen the right hand side too, a right full back and possibly a right sided midfielder. And in light of Jelavic's goals drying up, possibly a striker too. Unfortuately we have little or no money to spend, so until Johnny Heitinga is sold, we won't be signing anyone.
Lien: We've got a small squad, as shown by our often awful bench. Would love a good striker for competition up front, another CB is probably needed, and ideally a creative midfielder. We will get none of them though. A loan if we're lucky.
Griffla: Centre mid without a doubt. Though with Jelavic refusing to put the ball in the net we would love a top class striker. Unfortunately we've needed one of them for 25 years.
EFC David: keeper, centre-back, centre midfield and another striker.
Azzurri: All over really. Central midfield cover for Gibson who seems to be made of jelly and a winger who can play instead of Naismith when Mirallas is injured would be nice.
The game at The Hawthorns finished 2-0. What were your opinions on that game? A fair result?
Azzurri: We were dire on the day but could've got a point had our finishing been better. A fair result in the end, though, in a game which highlighted the quality and importance of Darron Gibson. Different team when he went off injured.
CJ_EFC10: We were poor. West Brom very very good, stopped us playing. Losing Gibson after 20 mins was a massive blow however
Brennan91: Yes. We were shocking and you were very good.
Number_25: Yacob kicked us off the park if I remember correctly? WBA deserved their 3 points mind, we couldn't move the ball around freely enough - entire lack of movement off the ball.
BoysInBlue: Everton were atrocious that day, WBA deserved the win. We've only lost 3 times in the league this season, which speaks volumes about how well WBA played that day and how bad we were.
Do you think you have a good chance of finishing in Europe?
MoutsGoat: Europe yes, CL, hmmm
The_Street_End: We should get Europa league at least, hes hoping for fourth, though im not holding my breath.
Lien: Well being 5th after 23 games and deservedly being there, you'd like to think so. However I'd still be surprised if we finish above Arsenal or Spurs.
EFC Si: I think we have as good a chance as anyone below the standard top 3 for CL. We just need stop bottling every opportunity we get.
Number_25: UEFA Europa League - Yes.
UEFA Champions League - No.
What are your sides strengths and weaknesses?
Brennan91: Weaknesses - Not putting games to bed and letting the opposition get a result, poor options from the bench, injuries
Strengths - Great team spirit, one of the best left side partnerships in the league.
kjb1994: Baines/Pienaar partnership without a doubt is a strength as is Fellaini's Arial threat , Jelavic has been out of form recently so i would consider him a weakness in our squad at the moment
Number_25: Strengths.
• Fellaini's ability to hold up a ball and distribute it brilliantly.
• Jagielka's defending.
• Baines' general work.
Osman's ball control.
Weaknesses.
• Neville's distribution.
• Distin's long ball.
• Jelavic not scoring.
• Questionable right-side.
Evertonian6: I would say our main strength is our left hand side, teams have tended to double up on the pienaar/baines combination in recent weeks but with kevin mirallas returning from injury that will only give him and seamus coleman more room on the right. our weakness is definately the number of games we draw simply because we dont score goals when were on top and miss far too many chances in comparisson to the teams above us, need to be more deadly in front of goal.
BoysInBlue: Strengths - togetherness, team spirit, never give up, very hard to beat, the Baines & Pienaar combination on the left.
Weaknesses - Phil Neville, Steven Naismith; the right hand side of the team when Mirallas isn't playing.
sideliner: we tend to boss most games but fail to convert and then concede early and easy too much - apart from the last 2 games only 1 clean sheet the whole season - we almost always play with a single striker up front - but our passing game in the final quarter has not been good enough for that formation - we seem to play better once we go behind but tend to defend small leads - hence all the draws -if given space we can play attractive flowing football same as you - we carry a few out of form passengers in our team and we have no youngsters injecting pace - but we are probably the hardest team to beat - even if we play badly
Lien: Our team spirit is usually second to none and we have possibly the best left side in the league. Unlike previous years, this year we're creating quite a few chances.
Which leads me to the other side. We are the opposite of clinical. We very often let teams we're playing better than off the hook. Our defence, although getting 2 clean sheets in a row, have been very suspect this season (as shown by that near 4 month run of no clean sheets). Neville is a garbage footballer, if a decent "experienced" head to have. If you guys see Naismith on the team sheet you should be whooping with delight, he is awful.
Which players should we be wary of in your side, and who do you fear the most in ours?
Number_25: Victor Anichebe - I got a feeling the Chebs is going to start ahead of Jelavic, he's got a point to prove and I don't think he's going to stop scoring goals 'till Moyes takes notice.
James Morrison - The lad got a perfect pair of feet when it comes to long-shots. Howard's suspectable at best in that area, so if he's fancying it from 25-35 yards out - we might have an issue.
Jimboefc97: Fellaini and Mirallas are ones to be worried about also Anichebe at the minute thats if he comes off the bench tho. Lukaku has to be the West Brom player i fear most.
BoysInBlue: In the Everton side: Kevin Mirallas, Leighton Baines, Steven Pienaar, Marouane Fellaini, to a lesser extent Leon Osman.
In the WBA side: Odemwingie, Morrison, Brunt, Long, Dorrans - all seem good players.
Sideliner: on our side Baines /Pienaar , Fellaini ,Anichebe , Mirallas-
your side - Lukaku , Long , Morrison , Popov ,Olsson and Thomas -
i also like your coach for some reason - looks totally in controll and takes chances and rotates players
Lien: If he starts and is firing, Mirallas is our most creative player and will cause you problems. Obviously Baines and Pienaar as well as Fellaini and Osman. That said, Fellaini hasn't been quite as dominant in recent weeks and Osman had a (rare) stinker vs Southampton. I'd give Anichebe a start ahead of a - for whatever reason - misfiring Jelavic.
If Heitinga plays and you have Lukaku starting, the latter will have a field day. Brunt and Morrison look tidy players as well.
Griffla: Pienaar & Baines flying down the left. Fellaini can be a beast and Kevin Miralles, who looked like a quality player before his injury, is fit to play. For the baggies Lukaku looks like a handful and Morrison always looks like a good player. Always aware of Brunts left boot too.
Score predictions.
EFC Si: - 2 -0 us. Think your bright start has started to ware off and you'll inevitably begin slipping down the table....I'll probably be spoon fed these words by GOT after you win 3 - 1 mind.
Nashtbs: 1-0 to us. Strong at home but not scoring much. Can't see this been high up on MOTD.
CJ_EFC10: 1 -1
Number_25: Everton 1-1 West Brom
May I also add that I've got a real compassion with WBA, you lot are crazy and we love you.
Evertonian6: Everton 2-1 West Brom
Good luck for the rest of the season and do us a favour and finish above Liverpool lads.
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A thank you to the Everton lads for their smashing replies as usual. To view their answers then please
Click Here.
Boing Boing
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