Match Preview
Last week saw us get 3 points and a Rooney goal — not much else we
could look for really? The return of Campbell appeared to add a bit
more focus to the team and proves that experience is invaluable.
With the array of young talent that we have available to us, it will be
ironic if it is Campbell who proves to be the most important player this
season.
Our first away win of the season gives us a great chance to record our
first back-to-back wins of the season. Leicester will obviously have
other thoughts and will be keen to bounce back after they lost 2-0 to
Birmingham last weekend in a game which saw Ian Walker and Matt Elliott
sent off. Prior to that defeat, Leicester had taken 11 points from
the previous 5 games and will not be a pushover. They are desperate
to stay out of the relegation zone and a loss to us could push them down
there.
Micky Adams bought 11 players this summer which means they certainly
have a decent-sized squad — though the term "journey-men" could attach to
a number of them. That said, it gives him the chance to rotate the
players and the return from injury of Steve Howey and Billy McKinley gives
Adams a further chance to freshen-up the team. Most teams would
benefit from Howey's experience — his battle with Campbell is likely to be
key.
Upfront, Les Ferdinand (our nemesis so many times) will again arrive at
Goodison and, whilst I could suggest that he is not the force he once was,
I am frightened to do so and 4 goals this season shows he's not finished
yet.
For us — well, a win used to mean same again in terms of team
selection, though the return to the squad of Hibbert and Yobo may mean
that the surely unfit Pistone may be given a break. Rooney also
played right mid on Saturday when he came on for Watson and whether Moyes
continues with that will be interesting.
It will be a scrap and if we don't compete then we could struggle but
Leicester lack pace at the back. They could play a central
partnership of Howey and Elliott and assuming Campbell can keep them
occupied then Radz should cause them immense problems.
I'm going for an early Christmas present with a 3-0 win and a couple of
goals from Radz!
Merry Christmas
Blue4Ever
Lee Doyle
Matchday Stats
This will be the 98th meeting between Everton and Leicester City in all
competitions, and the 48th at Goodison Park. It is also the 15th meeting
overall and the 8th in the Premier League.
Everton's full record against Leicester City is:
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Premier League |
14 |
3 |
10 |
1 |
16 |
15 |
'Old' Division One |
74 |
30 |
17 |
27 |
148 |
122 |
'Old' Division Two |
6 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
11 |
11 |
FA Cup |
2 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
3 |
Zenith Data Systems Cup |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
TOTALS: |
97 |
37 |
29 |
31 |
182 |
153 |
Our record at Goodison Park against the Foxes is fairly comprehensive:
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Premier League |
7 |
1 |
6 |
0 |
9 |
8 |
'Old' Division One |
37 |
21 |
8 |
8 |
99 |
49 |
'Old' Division Two |
3 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
TOTALS: |
47 |
23 |
15 |
9 |
113 |
61 |
The last match between the two sides was on 13 April 2002 at Goodison
Park, when the score was 2-2 with goals from Nick Chadwick and Duncan
Ferguson in what was David Moyes' fifth game in charge at the club.
Everton are currently enjoying a 7 game unbeaten run against Leicester
with the last defeat being a 2-0 reversal at Filbert Street in August
1998, which was Walter Smith's second game in charge of the club.
There have been 8 games at Goodison Park since Leicester last won there
thanks to a 2-1 victory on 14 December 1985, with Everton's goal coming
from Kevin Richardson.
Everton's biggest victory was a 9-2 win on 28 November 1931, at
Goodison Park, with the goals coming from William Dean (4), Tommy Johnson
(2), T White (2) and A Clark. This match was the last time that Dean
would score 4 or more in a league match - he managed one more 4 goal haul
in the 1932 Charity Shield against Newcastle United.
Everton's biggest defeat against Leicester was a 6-2 reversal at
Filbert Street on 5 February 1927, with the biggest defeat at Goodison
Park being a 3-0 reversal on 28 December 1963. In fact, this is the only
time Leicester have won by more than 1 goal at Goodison Park in the entire
series!
Everton's 2-1 victory at Goodison Park in February 2001, saw Danny
Cadamarteri set a new club record with his 58th appearance as a substitute
for the club.
The most common margin of victory at Goodison against Leicester is
shared between 2-0, 2-1 and 3-0. The most common draw is 1-1 with
Leicester's most common victory being 2-1.
Everton's record for 20 December is:
|
P |
W |
D |
L |
F |
A |
Premier League |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
'Old' Division One |
9 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
9 |
6 |
'Old' Division Two |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
Simod Cup |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
TOTALS: |
13 |
6 |
3 |
4 |
14 |
8 |
It was, of course, 124 years ago on this day (20 December) that St
Domingos played their first ever match under the new name of Everton, when
they beat St John's 6-0 at Stanley Park. Unfortunately for Everton
historians, only the score was reported in the local press and so the
names of the first Everton team and the first Everton scorers have been
lost in the annals of time.
Everton and Leicester have met twice before on this date. In 1958,
Leicester managed a rare win at Goodison with a 1-0 victory in the old
Division One, whilst the last meeting was also the only time Everton have
played in the Premier League on this date, with Everton running out 1-0
winners in 1997 thanks to a Gary Speed goal, at Filbert Street, and I'm
sure all of us wouldn't mind a similar score in this game!
Milestone's that can be reached in this game:
-
If David Weir starts,
it will be his 150th start for Everton in the Premier League.
-
If Wayne Rooney scores
a hat-trick before the end of the season, he will be beat William Dean's
record of the youngest ever Everton player to score three goals in a
match.
Steve Flanagan

Back in the Pack
Thought it was a strange game yesterday; one of those 'great for
the neutrals' games that has committed fans losing their voice,
temper and mind in equal quantities whilst keeping one eye on a
clock that moves in 'bullet time'. Rather than joy at another
three points, it was one of those games where the relief at the end
is because we didn't lose a game that was well on the way to being
lost. A game where the substitutions were inspired rather than
puzzling, where the refereeing was consistent in its inconsistency,
and where a few unlikely heroes were thrown up.
The side was largely unchanged from Portsmouth last week,
McFadden in for Steve Watson, who obviously failed the late fitness
test he was seen taking on Sky TV at lunchtime.
We started brightly, and had a lot of possession without looking
particularly dangerous. Leicester soaked up the pressure and
looked to threaten on the break with Bent and the inevitable Les
Ferdinand looking strong up front. The pitch was damp, causing
a lot of slippage for a number of players and no doubt contributing
to Pistone's early departure, to be replaced by Hibbert. A
shame, as Sandro had appeared lively up till then. No doubt
that's the last we'll see of him for a couple of months.
Just when it looked like the game was settling into a
pre-Christmas stalemate, we took the lead through Carsley, who burst
through into the area and was taken out by a Leicester defender just
as he was about to shoot. The cry went up for the cast-iron
penalty — except that Carsley wasn't interested, stuck a leg out at
the loose ball and toe-ended it past Walker.
1-0, and so it stayed up to the stroke of half time, when the
referee decided to even things up a bit. Stubbs and Bent(?)
were tussling for the ball about 10 yards outside the penalty area
directly beneath us when, to my mind, Stubbs was clearly fouled.
Free kick to Everton, ball upfield, half-time? Err, no.
Free kick to Leicester, Stubbs booked for dissent, ball moved
forward 10 yards, tap to Ferdinand who rocketed an (admittedly
superb) shot into the roof of the net.
Half-time, 1-1, furious team and crowd. Looked as though it
could turn nasty for a minute, but the break allowed nerves and
tempers to settle.
Except it didn't. This seemed to act as a body blow for us,
and the second half started with Leicester well on top. It
came as no surprise when they eventually scored again, slack marking
in the defence allowing Jamie Scowcroft the stoop and head a low
cross into the Everton net. From then on there only looked to
be one winner, and it wasn't going to be us.
So time to send for The Boy. With half an hour to go,
Rooney came on for the ineffective McFadden and the game began to
turn around. We suddenly started to get a bit more space on
the flanks and get balls into the box. It was from one such
foray that the ball pinballed around the Leicester area, before it
found its way out to Rooney lurking on the edge of the box. A
measured drive through a ruck of bodies, and we were level.
Rooney set off on a celebratory run that ended in front of the
dugout — a point being made to management, perhaps?
Now the pendulum swung back our way again, although another spark
was needed to get the third goal. Campbell was withdrawn for
Ferguson, who was greeted like a prodigal son by the bulk of the
crowd. I have to admit I sat on my hands at this stage —
disappointed to hear the reaction for a man who, in the eyes of
some, can do no wrong even while he is bleeding the club dry and
sowing dissent in the ranks.
So what does the bugger do but go and set up the winner?
There is no doubt when he came on he had an immediate impact, and
created panic in the Leicester back four that Campbell had failed to
do, and so it was that he won the header in the box that fell to
Radzinski, who placed a bobbling ball just beyond the reach of
Walker. 3-2, cue frenzy on the pitch. Rad almost needed
treatment for concussion when he emerged from beneath a pile of
players, but now we were in the box seat.
So what do we do when we've come back to lead from 2-1 down and
are cruising? That's right, we take our foot off the pedal,
sit back and let the opposition come at us. So cue a final ten
minutes of heavy Leicester pressure, a series of corners which we
defended with eleven men, a crucial save from Martyn and a whole
series of heart murmurs in the crowd. We had a few breaks as
Leicester pushed forward but, apart from a Rad shot that went over
as he was tackled from behind (decent penalty shout), we failed to
add to our lead — even though their net was invitingly empty as
Walker drifted forward for the corners.
Eventually the final whistle came, but the cheers were full of
relief rather than unconfined joy. We'd ground this result out
against a fairly ordinary Leicester team, we'd regained the habit of
coming from behind to win, and we'd become a mid-table team again.
All good signs — and a win is a win — but Christ, they make you
suffer for them.
Individual performances:
- Martyn - good game, one excellent save at a crucial
stage in the game and couldn't be faulted for their goals.
Still a tendency to punch rather than catch, but otherwise
inspires confidence.
- Pistone - doing well until he came off, a shame to see
him break down again.
- Hibbert - took over well, inconsistent crossing of the
ball but solid defensively and always available. Fitness
looked fine, should be back next week.
- Stubbs - another solid game, generally kept Leicester's
big two quiet. Good partnership and understanding with...
- Unsworth - back in his natural position, and playing
well. He is a credit to this Club, and should be rewarded
with another contract that has the words 'Centre' and 'Back' and
'Only' printed prominent.
- Naysmith - not at the races today unfortunately.
Poor game, struggled to keep his balance and his concentration
looked awry.
- McFadden - See Naysmith. Made absolutely no
impression on the game. All a bit much for James at the
moment, and the right side is not his position at all.
- Carsley - popped up with a goal at a crucial time but
made little impact otherwise.
- Gravesen - typical Tommy. Was at the heart of
everything that came through our midfield, but also responsible
for some thoughtless passes in dangerous areas. Look out for
his 'triple stepover with pike' on Soccer AM's showboat next week.
- Kilbane - my man of the match. Always available,
made some surging runs and never stopped all game. Had to
cover for the ineffective Naysmith as well. This lad isn't
the prettiest, but hasn't let us down yet.
- Campbell - played his part, but won very few headers up
front and didn't worry the Leicester defence overmuch. The
heart is as big as ever, but the legs are going.
- Radzinski - ran his socks off all game, took his goal
well. Close call between him and Kilbane for MoM.
- Rooney - getting back to his best, and seems to suit
playing off the front two. Think he'll be coming off the
bench more often now, and his appearance definitely changed the
game completely.
- Ferguson - (sigh). Whatever I think about him
personally, his introduction directly led to the third goal.
Worried the defence more in ten minutes than Kevin had done in 80.
Despite his ageing legs, won the race to the showers at a canter.
So overall, another gutsy performance, another win from behind,
and with two wins on the bounce we're back in the pack. But
with a tough Christmas programme, we needed to be. Roll on
February.
Paul Waring

Where's me seat?
Who scored that?
Who's on the bench?
I had a potential nightmare going to the game today. I was
supposed to be on the 9.27 direct to Liverpool Lime Street, but was
told at about 8.57 that a lad I was bringing along couldn't make
that, and would have to be on the next one. It put a bit of a
spanner in the works because my tickets were siting there in an
envelope at my mum's home in the Wirral.
So, I was on the 10.27 and wasn't in Liverpool until about
midday, and by then, would have been a bit of a ball-ache to hike
back to Wirral and get my tickets, which was at the point I realised
my mate was coming the game as well from Wirral. Result! he
picked up the tickets, and I was at The Sportsman's (at least it
used to be called that) for about 12:30pm. Too much time to
sink too many beers. Normally not a problem but when the beers
Becks and its on tap it just flows and it certainly did.
Met everyone else in the pub and as per usual left it too late to
get in to the game, and as per usual missed the Z Cars, and as per
usual couldn't find my seat.
I was in the Lower Bullens for this one which I haven't done for
a while, and was right at the very back. Row O. Don't
really know how that wasn't deemed to be obstructed view, but
nevertheless, finally sat down, just as Everton kicked off.
Scanned through the team, and slowly realised there was no
Rooney, which was what all the talk was about in the pub, McFadden
on instead. I was surprised by that, unlike everyone else, but
I just stick to the philosophy that Moyes knows best.
We started well and pressed Leicester quite hard early on, Stubbs
having a half volley cleared off the line, and Everton were looking
quite likely to score. We seemed to have a load of corners,
but we don't do that scoring from corners thing that other teams do
so that was to no avail; however, we did finally score from a
set-piece.
Woeful defending by Leicester City, and the ball bounced a few
times, Gravesen chased it all the way and it popped in back off a
him.... Oh how wrong I was! It was not even Gravesen for
a kick off — but that's a forgivable mistake surely! and then Simo
next to me claimed it was an own goal, at least that's what he
thought from the TV screen. But so what? We scored, and
a thoroughly deserved lead a the time. We kept on pressing
after that for a second goal, but it never came, although I couldn't
remember Leicester having an attack really, and I don't remember
Martyn having to make a save either.
Until..... Satan. A dubious free kick. Nobody seemed
to think it was, and I really didn't know thanks to a big metal
guider strategically placed right in front of that position, hence
completely eliminating my view. Stubbs didn't' think so (quite
clearly) and got booked for letting the ref know about it, and the
ball got moved forward 10 yards. Crap. "I MINUTE OF STOPPAGE
TIME" got reverberated around the ground, and Satan teed it up.
It was like that old Cantona ad: "Au reviour", bang, goal.
Brilliant goal, and everyone's hearts sank, including the players at
the time. A swift attack followed but the demoralizing big
boot up field was followed by the half-time whistle. Gutting
stuff just before the break in a game which Leicester where never
really in, in the first place.
Half time resulted in a lot of murmurings around the ground, and
then the realisation that nobody else had actually scored in the
Premiership, and the RS game had been postponed (there best possible
result). But it got worse in the second half. One of
their players, haven't the foggiest who, was given a lot of space on
our right. Whipped in a cross which everyone missed and fell
to one of their players who was given a lot of space on our left (I
haven't the foggiest who), who stooped and connected well with the
bouncing ball and into the net. Queue Leicester fans to go
wild and Goodison to go very, very quite. I even made the
rarity of trying to start off a chant too no avail, so out of
options, what do we do?
Send on God. On he came and the game changed, it really was
that simple. The whole team played better, and as a result the
crowd livened up, and as a result, the goal came. Great work
by Radzinski. Even better work by Super Kev, and a Shearer-esque
finish from Rooney, which is starting to become his trademark, and
we were level. Nothing more Satan could do, and we looked like
we could win again. And we did.
SuperKev off and Big Dunc on. I honestly couldn't believe
it. Bear in mind I had missed the teamsheet so was clueless as
to who was on the bench, and was astonished yet glad to see him
back. As with the balls that had gone up there previously, I
was thinking we could do with him on, but had simply ruled it out as
a non-starter. My opinion on the matter is that for all the
time he's been out injured we've been paying his wages and he's been
doing nothing for us, and now he's finally fit, it seems silly to be
leaving him out. So what does he go and do straight away?
Makes a goal. Brilliant little flick (and I had a pretty good
angle on it) and Radzinski finished well and bravely. Great
stuff.
Leicester weren't finished though and Martyn's save in injury
time was a crucial one, but I think Everton, and Unsworth in
particular, defended the onslaught very well.
In conclusion, I was very relieved to hear the full-time whistle
because we didn't play all that well to be fair, but we battled hard
and never gave up. Credit to Leicester and their supporters
though. They were in good voice, and Leicester didn't give us
much time on the ball, but we pulled through well. 3 points,
I've only just found out we are now 11th due to plenty of drinking
after the game last night, and into the wee hours of the morning
celebrating my mates 21st. Get in. Bring on Man U!
- Martyn: Done his job. Nothing spectacular
but the defence seem much happier when he's there than they do
with Wright, Simo or Gerrard. Crucial save at the end. 7
- Naysmith: Not normally his biggest fan, but
thought he did alright today. Caused a lot of problems for
them with his corners all day. 7
- Stubbs: Looking back on "Goals On Sunday" on Sky TV
today, it looked to me like he was tugging on Ferdinand for the
goal and was silly with his dissent. But we won, and otherwise he
was solid, so we'll let him off. 7
- Unsworth: Had an excellent game and won a lot of
tackles. So much better at centre back than left back. Give
him a contract. 8
- Pistone: What shall we do wih him? I read on the
Everton website he wants a knew contract, but do no see the point,
and would no be happy if they gave him one. Particularly after the
way Everton have treated Unsworth. looked good and then, again,
hobbled off injured. 6
- Kilbane: Excellent. I like him. You can't really ask
for much more from him I don't think, and he's using his head well
also. My man of the match today. 8
- Gravesen: I thought he had a big influence on the game.
As always blew hot and cold, but have certainly seen him have
worse games than this. 7
- Carsley: Done OK. Made the goal himself really and works his bollox off. Moyes seems to like him and lets face it, he's no
worse than Linderoth, Li Tie or Gemmill. 7 McFadden: Not a good
game at all. Largely anonymous and he was perhaps relieved to be
taken off. Was never in it. 5
- Campbell: Unlucky with that header
onto the crossbar, and lead the line well. He could do with a goal
though. 7 Radzinski: I love him. Full of running and got the goal
he deserved, and had a hand in the second one. Excellent. 8
- Hibbert: Gor his head down and got on with his job. Yes, his
distribution is poor, but you can't ask for more than that for a
young right back off the bench. Solid. 7 Rooney: Made things
happen straight away, and got his goal. Delighted for him and just
what he needs right now. 7
- Ferguson: Done exactly what was asked
of him. Leicester really did panic when him and Rooney came on.
Though he was unlucky to get booked though. More through his name
than anything else I think. Excellent defensive header at the end as
well. 7
Happy Christmas!
Paul Traill

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