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Match Report David Moyes promised that it would be different from Wednesday when Chelsea steam-rollered their way into the Worthington Cup Quarter Finals at the expense of Everton's dreams of Cardiff... Looking at the scoreline, it wasn't much different at all. Claudio Ranieri's band of foreigners walked away with a 3-1 victory and Everton's unbeaten home record, having withstood a second half barrage from which Moyes's side was unfortunate not to profit. Ultimately, they paid for a sloppy first half during which they afforded Chelsea far too much respect and handed them a two-goal lead with a couple of largely preventable goals inside the first half-hour. Mario Stanic — the Croatian who was within a bank manager's decision of signing for Walter Smith a couple of years ago — had the Londoners a goal to the good after just 4 minutes. An inswinging corner from the right that should have been blocked by Carsley skidded between his legs instead, flew past three Everton defenders to Stanic who headed past Richard Wright. In the 28th minute, Frank Lampard took aim with a fierce shot that Wright parried straight in front of him and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was the quickest to react, slotting into the corner to make it 2-0. Shades of Wednesday at Stamford Bridge all over again. Everton, for their part, could have been ahead as early as 20 seconds from kick off, but Gary Naysmith could only guide a diving header just wide. Aside from that, the Toffees were restricted to long-range efforts by Gravesen and Li Tie — the latter's left-footed effort the most embarrassing moment of the game, screwing as it did closer to the corner flag than the goal — before Tomasz Radzinski latched onto Kevin Campbell's dummy, set himself and fired straight at Cudicini. Five minutes later, though, the home side made a vital breakthrough with their best move of the half. Campbell held the ball up on the edge of the area before kicking the ball to the right where Naysmith collected and fired past Cudicini. 2-1, and we had given ourselves a platform for the second half. Unfortunately, although they increased their share of possession and nullified the Chelsea attack for the first 15 mins of the second period, Everton didn't really create a worthy opportunity. With the introduction of Wayne Rooney for Radzinski and Scot Gemmill for Li Tie just after the hour mark, things began to happen in attack. Campbell had an effort cleared off the line by Graeme Le Saux after he had collected an attempted clearance from a corner in front of goal but just couldn't dig the ball out from under his feet to get a proper shot allowing the Chelsea man to kick clear. Then, Lee Carsley rose in the six-yard box to meet a free kick but a combination of Cudicini and Gallas somehow kept the ball out. A minute later, Campbell nodded the ball onto the crossbar from three yards out as Chelsea rocked back onto their heels. Unfortunately, the equaliser never came. Despite the general improvement in the brand of football at Goodison since the arrival of David Moyes, the recent hit to the team's confidence saw the return of a more direct approach. An over-reliance on the long ball to the front two in the hope of something happening from the knock-downs failed to reap dividends. Gravesen had a tame volley from the angle smothered by the 'keeper; Rooney beat substitute John Terry for pace but he too was thwarted by Cudicini covering the angle; and Carsley's diving header glanced frustratingly across goal as the Toffees pressed. In the last 15 mins, Everton lost their momentum and the game wound down to its unsavoury conclusion. Lampard and Gallas were booked for time-wasting, Yobo was caught messing around in his own half by Zola who, thankfully, curled high and wide with just the goalkeeper to beat, and Wright had to make a diving save from substitute Jesper Gronkjaer. Then, with a minute to go, a shirt-pulling tussle between Unsworth and Gronkjaer saw both players go to ground on the touchline and a bit of afters had half the players on the pitch rushing in to separate the protagonists. Referee Wolstenholm summoned the two players for the expected yellow card which he showed to Gronkjaer but reserved a red for Unsworth to the utter dismay of the crowd and the watching David Moyes. With their last throw of the dice, Everton lumped another high ball into the area, Campbell collapsed under the challenge of two defenders, the faithful bayed for a penalty, the referee waved play on and Gudjohnson fed Zola (suspiciously offside?) who sprinted into Everton's empty half before laying the ball on for Gronkjaer to pour a bucket of salt into the home side's wounds to make it 3-1. The match will, no doubt, be remembered for the controversy at the end and the seemingly unfair treatment of Unsworth but it shouldn't mask the fact that this was a far-from stellar display by an Everton side that lacked imagination going forward and relied too much on the long ball and set pieces. If Moyes has any pretensions about European qualification to go with his obvious desire to arrest the recent run of defeats, he will have to go back to the drawing board with his offensive strategy. Getting the ball back onto the deck and using the channels to release Radzinski again would be a start. Two successive Premiership defeats against two sides with high aspirations will come as a reality check to the team and the supporters and it will be up to Moyes and the players to prove that there is more in their arsenal than was on display at Goodison Park today. Doing the double over Blackburn next week would be the perfect way to start.
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| Match Facts | |||||
| Everton (4-4-2) Blue shirts, white shirts, blue socks |
Chelsea
(4-4-2) Dark blue shirts, shorts and socks |
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| Match Reports | ||
Chelsea (A) WLC4
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