An opportunity to move up the Premier League table was wasted today by an Everton team who despite having most of the possession, were unable to convert that into enough goals to beat a buoyant ‘Boro and the match ended in a frustrating draw with a single goal apiece.

Everton started brightly and dominated with good forward play in the early moments, but a swift counter attack by Boro, finished well by Gary O’Neil, meant that the Blues were playing catch-up from the 8 minute mark.

Everton continued to hog the majority of possession but despite going close with a Lescott cross that looped over the keeper and hit the bar to bounce to safety, they were not getting the rub of the green and ‘Boro continued to look dangerous on the counter as Everton pushed for an equaliser. Without several perfectly timed interventions by Phil Jagielka, and a very good save from goalkeeper Howard, the scoreline could have ended up rather more in Middlesbrough’s favour as Everton struggled to find a final pass that worked in the last third of the pitch.

Yak equalises

Eventually the breakthrough came in the 65th minute when Yakubu headed a Mikel Arteta free kick straight into the net to even the score.  Despite late attempts by both teams to win the tie, neither side managed to make the most of their chances and Everton must wait for another day to win their first match of the season at Goodison Park.

On the positive side, we played some decent football today and created some good opportunities, but a lacklustre Mikel Arteta continued to frustrate with his poor set pieces (goal aside) and defensive errors by Yobo and Lescott could have made the situation far worse had ‘Boro been able to capitalise on them. Jagielka again proved his worth and it continues to confound Evertonians how our most consistant defender this season again fails to be picked for the national team in the upcoming friendly match, when our most out-of-form defender takes a place often. Fellaini looked as if he is continuing to settle and assert influence over the midfield and Louis Saha was also hardworking and showed good control of the ball, despite failing to get on the score sheet this week. Phil Neville is perhaps showing some of the best form of his career in recent games and is starting to play in a manner worthy of the captain’s armband, which has surprised and delighted many fans.

We have certainly played far worse this season but I know that there is much more to come from this team of players.  I just hope it comes soon and we don’t have to wait until 2009 for our first victorious encounter in front of the home fans. Our next stop is an evening away tie, not too far away, with Wigan Athletic on the 24th November. Lets hope that with a good result there, we can continue heading in the right direction up the table and this Everton team can start to realise some of their potential with performance as well as points.

Two amazing things happened in the life of an Everton fan for the first time this season.

1. We came back from a goal down with 5 mins left to win 3-1
2. We are game of the day on Football First - not against one of the Sky 4.

Louis Saha scored two goals in a game that West Ham dominated in large parts, but we showed some of last seasons guile and determination to eventually see of the hammers on their home turf.

Our first goal came from Lescott who may be able to use this goal and indeed his overall solid performance as the springboard to the rest of our season.

The second and third (all 3 in a 4 minute spell!) came from Louis Saha, who had James Vaughan up front with him after the latter replaced Jack Rodwell following the Hammers opening goal. Saha’s first was a bobbling deflected shot following a cross from Victor Anichebe playing on the right wing, but we will take any goal that come our way at this current time! His second followed bad defending on the edge of the area, he picked up the ball brought it inside and smashed his shot inside the far post from 25 yards.

Various substitutions then followed from David Moyes as we looked to play out time, which we did to earn an unlikely 3 points on a day that could have ended so differently.

So we consolidate 7th place and are now surely looking up rather than down, and we welcome ‘Boro to Goodison next week looking for 4 in a row! And all this without the Yak!

That is the sound of me happily eating my words!

I came away from Goodison yesterday feeling like we had beaten Man Utd rather than gained just a single point, but it was so much more than just the scoreline that made me feel positive for the first time after a home game this season. [More »]

The title of today’s blog says it all really.  If not for Spurs having an even worse time of it than us, the media would most likely be making a bigger deal out of Everton’s shockingly bad start to the season than they currently are and I would feel even worse about it.  As things stand, at least Everton can struggle on slightly under the radar, dropping points as we go and appearing to play at times in a more shambolic fashion than Kerry Katona’s daytime TV appearances.

I am fully of the belief that we will start winning games again soon and we have seen short glimpses that all is not lost in terms of our squad’s ability to play the game of football, but it has not lasted for nearly enough of the 90+ minutes a match it needs to. [More »]

I write this on the evening of the 27th September 2008. A day that seems to sum up Everton’s season so far with a loss by two goals to nil at the hands of our neighbours and rivals. Most merseyside derbies have their fair share of controversy, although this one perhaps less than many in the past. Just one sending off plus six yellow cards, a few dubious refereeing decisions and two football teams that seemed a world, rather than a few hundred yards, apart.

Today I felt that apart from a couple of players who clearly gave their all, Everton looked like they didn’t care.  We were outclassed by a midfield that I believe is not significantly better than ours at their best, despite what certain players may be worth on paper and how they are regarded by the media.  We were undone by a very good striker, but we have several of those of our own these days and just couldn’t get the ball to them.  We didn’t compete in the middle of the park, sat back and gave the opposition space, lost out on virtually every 50/50 ball and wasted every set piece, not to mention an almost complete lack of movement every time we got the ball.  This is not a 5th place in the league kind of team.

I won’t wax lyrical about how much is at stake for fans on derby days.  Those that understand need no explanation, those that don’t… don’t matter.  I would rather focus on that which is at stake for this current Everton team, whose indifferent start to the season has flummoxed many a neutral probably a great deal more than it has many evertonians. [More »]