View from the Blue
Columnist: Lyndon Lloyd

Blue grit: the 3-1 win at Villa was mightily unexpected and all the more satisfying because of it image © evertonfc.com

It's fair to say that the response to our capitulation to Manchester United in the FA Cup last week was one of abject disappointment that has been building ever since the Blues's form fell apart after Christmas. Quite understandably, the feeling was that we were witnessing the start of another collapse, the like of which denied Everton a place in the UEFA Cup two seasons ago.

How David Moyes's team responded at Villa Park today! By all accounts, it was a performance as good as any they have put on this season and it not only destroyed an 18-year hoodoo — we hadn't won at Villa since the Championship-winning season of 1986-87 — but it was the Blues' biggest win in the Premiership since the triumph at Crystal Palace way back in August.

That day, the hero in the midfield engine-room was Thomas Gravesen. With the fist-waving Dane now departed for sunnier and more lucrative climes, Tim Cahill stepped into the breach in emphatic fashion today and engineered a 3-1 victory that quite literally defied all the odds. The Australian supplied the cross from which Leon Osman nodded home the opening goal, scored the all-important second with a trademark header less than two minutes after the home side had equalised and danced into the box before slipping the ball square to set up Osman's second. It took his goals haul for the season to seven, level with Marcus Bent and Osman at the top of Everton's scoring charts.

Frustrated criticism of the team and grave concerns that the manager had not made sufficient moves in the transfer window to bolster his paper-thin squad appeared justified prior to this match. With just three wins since the derby victory on December 6th — all of them by paper-thin margins — and a miserable display at Southampton which hardly deserved the point Bent was able to salvage, the supporters could be forgiven for the feeling gnawing in the pit of their collective stomach that all the hard work done in the first half of the campaign would count for nothing come May.

Liverpool have slowly been closing the gap between them and ourselves, with Charlton and Middlesbrough also sustaining the pressure from below. Coupled with the Blues' faltering form, it looked as though we were handing the fourth and final Champions League place to our rivals from across the Park with a UEFA Cup berth and a season that still defied the odds seen as adequate reward.

So, it was with chest-bursting pride that the Goodison faithful, who have taken such a beating in the press following the less-than-savoury events surrounding last weekend's cup clash with United, witnessed at Villa all the evidence they needed to be reassured that the players clearly have the stomach for the fight. With Cahill turning in a match-winning display, the like of which has been missing in recent weeks, Mikel Arteta settling in nicely and Leon Osman back in the side after injury, the ingredients are certainly there for a Blue revival.

That they destroyed David O'Leary's side on their own turf with almost the same threadbare squad as a week ago makes the result all the more remarkable. James Beattie was, of course, banned, James McFadden and Alan Stubbs were ruled out through injury but Cahill and Duncan Ferguson were available after missing the cup debacle through suspension and injury respectively. Concerns over whether to use 16 year-old James Vaughn or 20 year-old Guillaume Plessis that dominated post-match discussions seven days ago were rendered redundant by what the starting XI achieved against one of the division's more capable sides.

The key now, of course, is to repeat this kind of form next week against Blackburn Rovers. Everton haven't won back-to-back league games since early December but have retained fourth place nevertheless and it would be nice to think that we have had our dip in form for the season. There are 10 games left in what has been a wonderful season; let's hope the Blues are coming good again at the perfect time. They are going to need to put a run of good results together, if only because they were fourth two years ago on 1st March and fell to seventh on the last day of the season. The reward of Champions League qualification may be a bit of a mixed blessing because of the investment that would be required to adequately compete in that competition, but let's cross that bridge when we come to it!

Lyndon Lloyd

Reader Responses:

©2005 ToffeeWeb