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A cold night at Hillsborough

Well this was a fixture that I have been looking forward to since I moved to Sheffield just over 5 years ago. I have patiently kept my fingers crossed every year when watching cup draws... and finally it happenned.

Now for a PhD student being payed pitance, watching football these days is a scrimp and save effort. So it was nice that the night cost me only £15 (in retrospect this was probably a fair price but only for the 2nd half/result). Whatever the price, I think the commitment of the Everton fans was great. Our support tonight was frankly outstanding. An absolutely crammed away end really put to shame the scattered home stands, as on most occasions we drowned out the home chants.

Everton first half, however, did not deserve the commited support and did little to inspire us. The performance was abysmal. Tony Hibbert was garbage down the right, both defensively and going forward. Wade Small, their nippy winger embarrassed him twice, with little skill, and 'Tone' was lucky not to be sent off. Thankfully at half time Neville replaced him, and quite remarkably changed the game. Yes that is not a typing error, at right back I really believe Phil Neville can be a force in our team. With the addition of Baines second half we looked like a team with purpose down the flanks.

The second half was much better almost instantly. Neville involved the useless and disinterested looking Pienaar and then expertly overlapped to provide crosses. When Baines was on he improved the involvement of Osman and we looked a much more balanced team. We were by no means the finished article and continued to be frustrating, but for a team low on confidence after a poor week, an improvement was definitely apparent.

There were no great shakes in the middle where I feel Gravesen along side Jags will be better than anything including Neville or Carsley.

Up top, Yakubu was strong and had a better game, holding up the ball well at times (and the finish of an £11M striker when he got the chance!). McFadden tried to overcompensate for frustrations further down the park, and ended up losing the ball a lot first half. He, however, is a special player at times and did enough here to warrant Moyes seriously considering his inclusion in the 'First Team' in the league. The big question is whether his cocky swagger and brimming confidence is better than the tirelessly selfless, misfiring Johnson? Can they both be included as well as Yak?

We eventually turned in 3 good quality goals. It would be nice to see a bit of confidence come from this and see us take on teams with the ball on the floor. We are so much better with full backs who are willing to get down the line, overlap and link well with midfielders. I plead Mr Moyes to play Neville at right back and Baines at left back. This will rid us of a lot of the crap hoofball that we've seen too often in the last couple of games. I'll hope to see further steps forward from this on Sunday at Goodison!

Oh yeah, it was bloody freezing for most of the game. But the result and the hope of things to come have warmed this blue heart (slightly). Good luck in Kharkiv too boys... Now that will be a cold one!!

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