COLUMNIST KEN BUCKLEY
From my seat: Fulham (h)
Comments (11) : On a day of foul weather the game started on a sodden pitch which produced a first half of very little really except the odd situation of the Blues looking the better outfit but the visitors had most of the attacking play. Of the attacks we did put together, one in particular saw a composed build up on the left which left Baines clear only for his sprint to be halted by what appeared to be a hamstring pull. He left the field to see Jags come on at right back and Neville switched to the left soon to be followed by the manager preferring Neville back at right back, Lescott to left back and Jags joining Joe in the middle, a move that I thought most astute by the manager.
The half came to an end without much to enthuse over except Cahill's slightly mistimed glancing header and to note that every time a pass was made along the ground it left a visible water trail and the conundrum of why in such atrocious conditions not one player was muddy.
The Fulham player Kamara had been yellow carded and almost sent off for the offence of being unable to comprehend the distance of ten yards from a free kick.
The second half started much the same as the first with Fulham looking the brightest for a good four minutes but in the fifth Cahill smashed a shot goalwards which the keeper parried and the Yak punced and converted in true sniffer fashion. The Blues then seemed to get it together and proceeded to play some excellent football from back to front.
Jags after a nervous start looked more at home and seemed to feel his feet and contributed in a way that suggested he may have more to offer. This proved to be the case as ten minutes further down the line as a wicked dipping corner from Arteta was flicked on by Jags at the near post and the Yak headed home which produced the Yaks very own chant 'Feed the Yak and he will score' to the tune of 'Bread of heaven'. Goals certainly change games and the Blues through the wind and rain played some delightful stuff that kept the crowd in good voice and the team in good motion.
On the 80-minute mark, another good flowing move involving the excellent Pienaar and Arteta saw the Yak recieve the ball in the area and after turning his man curled a delightful ball into the corner,cue another rendition of the Yak song. This prompted the manager to give the AJ and Faddy combo another go at the expense of Yak and Cahill, standing ovations all around. It almost paid dividends when both were involved and Faddy's near-post shot was parried by the keeper.
The half ended with us in the ascendency and, apart from one good shot by Murphy expertly turned away by Howard, we had completed a routine win against a side we should be beating at home in good fashion. My man of the match? Well how can you argue with a guy who sticks in three? Yes the Yak. However I thought quite a few players did their cause no harm today, especially 'backheel' Pienaar, he loves trying those and but for Yaks hat-trick I would have given it to Lee Carsley who not only did his "sit in and break it up" job but was also an influential playmaker.
A game of two halves, yes... but that second half bodes well as we go into four away games on the trot and with the expectation of being in with a shout in all of them. For me times are getting better and my matchday experience is on an upward curve,.long may it last. UP THE BLUES!!!
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I thought Cahill had a quiet game and so did Arteta to some extent; after the re-shuffle in the defence when we lost Baines I thought Jags done really well, as well as the superb Lescott. Is there a better defender in the Prem than Lescott? I don?t think so.
Three goals for the Yak and what a buy he has proved to be; he is raising the standards for all the other strikers we have, that has to be a positive thing.
As for the MOTM it had to be Steven Pienaar, he was absolute class throughout the game and his involvement for the 3rd Yak goal was sublime.
Dead simple, get him signed.
I thought Arteta was fairly quiet as well but still had the usual flashes of genius. At least his set pieces looked to have improved, they’d been awful recently.
Moyes has come out and said that he won’t be signing Pienaar in January.
I would like him to but I don’t think we need to as:
1) On loan, so we aren’t paying his full wages
2)We haven’t shelled any cash out for him yet.
3)We have agreed terms already, £2.5m i believe in the summer. We have first refusal.
I would like him signed up but the business side will say we don’t need to until the summer.
Is this the year we finally win a trophy since ’95?????
i think david moyes has found a tremendous group of lads that understands what everton means, they love playing for the club and the football we now play, well, for once im proud to say that we play sum brilliant football, we have the likes of arteta and cahill and osman to go forward, and the likes of the legend that is LEE CARSLEY, who breaks up play and always gives 110% i spoke to a kopite after the game, having a nice chat bout the weekends football, and i mention lee carsley and how he is such a top asset to the side, and he laughs and asks if im joking, he thinks him and nevile are the downside to our squad. i laughed back at him and jst sed u obv dont watch everton apart from the derby, for any one to say that lee carsley is not a good player they obviously do not watch us play the game! it just puts the phrase " Kopites Are Gobshites" in perspective.
i think everton are on the up and up finally, i think david moyes has came, saved us, and made us into what everton used to be, deserve to be, and that is top 6, maybe even top 4 contenders for every season!
il finish here saying we need to sell mcfadden and put it towards a big, tall solid midfilder to help the likes of the smaller yet skilful players of the side like osman and pienarr. mc fadden has not proven himself for us, maybe for scotland, but not for us, he has a good goal in him, but thats not good enough tbh, he has got good potential, but i dnt think he has scored in 3 games in a row for everton, which tbh proves hes not the best is he, i just think yakubu, johnson and ahichebe and vaughan are all ahed of him in the striking ranks. i think if he was not scottish, moyes wud of sold him on by now, and i would just like him to move on and cash in onh im.
west ham int he cup and league this comging week, play for the replay at goodison, kill them off there and pik up 3 points for the league! COYB!
also i think moyesy shud put out sum of the reserves for the game in holland, weve secured a place now, and i just think becuase of the amount of games coming up, we need to rest key players, i thought arteta lookd knakered yesetrday, yeh hes got that flair bout him were he did the odd thing, but he wernt one of the better players ont he pitch yday! it would just be nice to rest the likes of arteta, cahil and lescott and carsley and the yak, just give them a breather so theyl return even sharper and even more up for the season! hope i havnt bored you all too much, up the blues!!!!!!! and a top 4 finish for the blues and maybe the f.a cup COYB!!!
I am sure this was another dig from the BBC as they hate showing anything to do with Everton FC!
They better get fukin used to it.
Moysie was interviewed on Final Score, with a man asking him the questions, his reply was replayed on MOTD but with that woman asking the question. Do the BBC have her sitting in a studio & edit the video with her annoying voice over the top??
Probably think im a red shite supporter.
Wrong.
Well played all involved on saturday, and a said red shite defeat as a bonus.
At last moyes is getting it right and the future looks promising. Lets not blow this opportunity to win something this season.
Looks like were going places.
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1 Posted 09/12/2007 at 06:39:23
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This is all brilliant stuff..........so proud of the boys, sorry, men in blue...and Moyes....his every move seems to be spot on these days.
Tough schedule coming up but I really do sense a trophy of some sort this season (I don’t care which one!)........even when we play badly we play well!!! We’re pulling the results out consistently like no other time I’ve supported the team since....since....well, since we last won a trophy!!
If I sound excited...forgive me......EVERTON ARE JUST FUCKING BRILLIANT RIGHT NOW and LONG MAY IT CONTINUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
COYB!!
By the way, there’s 3 points separating position 4 through 8 in the table...........and The Red Shite looked very, very dodgy today (I honestly think Rafa is shite)..........what do we all say to a TOP FOUR finish for our lads by the end of the season? (If anybody points out I predicted 3-1 to us vs Portsmouth...it would appear that that was a bad game for us but we got a point away against a very good team which I’m very happy with and that same team stuffed Villa away today.......I’m also the guy that saw Villa v Everton for my surprise birthday present.....the turnaround since that game (actually since the abysmal game reffed by Murky Clatterberk) is astounding!
COYB!!!!!!!!!
COYB!!!!!!!!!
COYB!!!!!!!!!
COYB!!!!!!!!!
COYB!!!!!!!!!