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Lyndon reported the team won a point "that most neutral observers would say they probably didn't deserve". What are we like? Wish we had played like Man City. Then Sky, BBC et al would be well pleased.
Phil Bellis, Posted 12/11/2007 at 01:08:10
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Pete Moore
1 Posted 12/11/2007 at 02:44:19
1 Posted 12/11/2007 at 02:44:19
Well deserved result, but we rode our luck for sure. Shame we did not have a fully fit first team 11 to choose from. Whilst Chelsea had players out, theirs were defenders whereas we missed creation and striking options, esp. Vaughan who terrorised them last time. Adequate rest after Europe would have been nice too, so in the circumstances a bloody well earned point...and what a way to do it, get in there, what a cracking overhead goal!
DaffyDavid
2 Posted 12/11/2007 at 02:51:57
2 Posted 12/11/2007 at 02:51:57
To say that we fully deserve the point...NAAAAH! I am a true Blue, not a blind one. We played like Estonia against mighty Brazil. Hoesntly, the statistics are quite embarassing.
But there’re some encouraging performance by some folks though...
Howard - play well, had several good saves. 8
Yobo - Good cover in front of the keeper, a little slow though, maybe it’s because of his toe injury. 8
Lescott - Magnificent. Can’t remember any errors from him. Definitely in Maclaren’s plan. 9
Hibbert - Fine game, but often pressed the panick button a little too early. 7
Valente - Not too bad for a 33 year old. Was lucky that SWP played badly. - 7
Carsley - As usual, the unsung hero. Did all the dirty work. But why is he marking Drogba during set pieces? - 6
Neville - A sheep pretending to be a lion. Flew in unnecessary tackles. "Panick button" always on? - 5
Pienaar - Good foot work. Doubt with his speed. Too similar to Osman. On several occasions, he was missing when Chelsea counter. Valente was left alone defending. Hope he’s not part of Moyes plan next season. 6
Osman - As always, works tirelessly. 7
Cahill - Makes loads of problem for defenders. But without a playmaker, especially during the first half, he was busy winning balls back instead of attacking. 7
Yakubu - Did he play? 4
All 3 subs, McFadden, Victor & Grav played ok. At least a youth which cost nothing played better than the 11m quid man.
But there’re some encouraging performance by some folks though...
Howard - play well, had several good saves. 8
Yobo - Good cover in front of the keeper, a little slow though, maybe it’s because of his toe injury. 8
Lescott - Magnificent. Can’t remember any errors from him. Definitely in Maclaren’s plan. 9
Hibbert - Fine game, but often pressed the panick button a little too early. 7
Valente - Not too bad for a 33 year old. Was lucky that SWP played badly. - 7
Carsley - As usual, the unsung hero. Did all the dirty work. But why is he marking Drogba during set pieces? - 6
Neville - A sheep pretending to be a lion. Flew in unnecessary tackles. "Panick button" always on? - 5
Pienaar - Good foot work. Doubt with his speed. Too similar to Osman. On several occasions, he was missing when Chelsea counter. Valente was left alone defending. Hope he’s not part of Moyes plan next season. 6
Osman - As always, works tirelessly. 7
Cahill - Makes loads of problem for defenders. But without a playmaker, especially during the first half, he was busy winning balls back instead of attacking. 7
Yakubu - Did he play? 4
All 3 subs, McFadden, Victor & Grav played ok. At least a youth which cost nothing played better than the 11m quid man.
Berry McWilliam
3 Posted 12/11/2007 at 04:05:53
3 Posted 12/11/2007 at 04:05:53
Daffy Dave
I would take Pienaar over Osman any day of the week and i for one hope he is in Moyes's plans next year. Pienaar has talent and a touch of class and lets not forget hes only had half a season of Premier L:eague football under his belt. Osman is a handy squad player but will never amount to any more than that. We have a squadl of hard workers and what we need is some creative class to progress to the next level. Pienaar is precisley that next step from Osman and I for one think Osman will struggle for starts next year providing we get the midfield reinforcement we crave. Pienaar on the other hand has potential to be a consistent starter in the "classier" midfield we deserve. IMO.
I would take Pienaar over Osman any day of the week and i for one hope he is in Moyes's plans next year. Pienaar has talent and a touch of class and lets not forget hes only had half a season of Premier L:eague football under his belt. Osman is a handy squad player but will never amount to any more than that. We have a squadl of hard workers and what we need is some creative class to progress to the next level. Pienaar is precisley that next step from Osman and I for one think Osman will struggle for starts next year providing we get the midfield reinforcement we crave. Pienaar on the other hand has potential to be a consistent starter in the "classier" midfield we deserve. IMO.
EJ Smethick
4 Posted 12/11/2007 at 07:03:20
4 Posted 12/11/2007 at 07:03:20
I actually thought the Big Yak did ok. He made that pass for Osman to head it back for Pienaar.. and his distributions were ok .. I probably thought the support from the midfield was not there because of the way Chelsea was pegging us back, and Cahill had to cover our back four most of the times as well..
I think the 4 - 5 - 1 did not do us favours yesterday... also, with Phil and Cars in and Arteta injured, it really stemmed out our creativity.. so given the lack of resources, I thought the Yak did ok ..
I think the 4 - 5 - 1 did not do us favours yesterday... also, with Phil and Cars in and Arteta injured, it really stemmed out our creativity.. so given the lack of resources, I thought the Yak did ok ..
Dave Wilson
5 Posted 12/11/2007 at 07:05:56
5 Posted 12/11/2007 at 07:05:56
So what do you guys want a lucky team or a fucken unlucky one ?
Chelsea didnt just get an underserved late equaliser at GP last year, they went on and got the winner, I didnt hear anyone say how Jammy they were then, they just talked about the quality of their goals
Why cant we do the same ?
Chelsea didnt just get an underserved late equaliser at GP last year, they went on and got the winner, I didnt hear anyone say how Jammy they were then, they just talked about the quality of their goals
Why cant we do the same ?
Richard Parker
6 Posted 12/11/2007 at 07:11:06
6 Posted 12/11/2007 at 07:11:06
Have to agree with Berry. Pienaar is a much better player than Osman.
I have a feeling that the decision to sub Yakubu at half time was posisbly partially influenced by the demands of the midweek game.
Daffy - for the goal, it was Lescott marking Drogba. The goal was certainly due to Lescott and not Carsley, Lescott let him go and he nicked in front of Carsley who obviously couldn’t see him coming. I think you can chalk that up as an error! Had Lescott gone with him and challenged, I doubt very much that he would have scored.
Once again, Yakubu didn’t get any kind of service. Would probably have been a good game for AJ up on his own to stretch their defence and leave gaps for Cahill and Pienaar. Team selection was largely forced by fitness....
As for the original post - we were fortunate. There were 3 or 4 occasions before Drogba scored where another day would have seen us concede. Massive credit still goes to the players for grinding a point out of this one. These are the results which will see us move up the league.
I have a feeling that the decision to sub Yakubu at half time was posisbly partially influenced by the demands of the midweek game.
Daffy - for the goal, it was Lescott marking Drogba. The goal was certainly due to Lescott and not Carsley, Lescott let him go and he nicked in front of Carsley who obviously couldn’t see him coming. I think you can chalk that up as an error! Had Lescott gone with him and challenged, I doubt very much that he would have scored.
Once again, Yakubu didn’t get any kind of service. Would probably have been a good game for AJ up on his own to stretch their defence and leave gaps for Cahill and Pienaar. Team selection was largely forced by fitness....
As for the original post - we were fortunate. There were 3 or 4 occasions before Drogba scored where another day would have seen us concede. Massive credit still goes to the players for grinding a point out of this one. These are the results which will see us move up the league.
Rory Slingo
7 Posted 12/11/2007 at 06:38:36
7 Posted 12/11/2007 at 06:38:36
This talk of "deserving" a certain result in football I think is nonsense and has no place. If a team holds out for a draw, they deserve the point. If a team plays utter crap for 90 minutes but scores a winner in extra time, they deserve 3 pts. Simple as. That is why a commitee that reviews games after the fact and then says, "No they played like crap, let’s take the point off them, they didn’t deserve it", doesn’t exist!
If the stats were reversed and Chelsea (or any of the Big 3) had our abysmal percentage of possession and attempts on goal, then all the reports would be that Chelsea (they) had the ’class’ and ’quality’ to convert their minimal chances and that Everton squandered a myriad of opportunity due to a lack of. So why when it is us that capitalised on our few chances, (and what a capitlisation it was!), is there a 180 in opinion? double standards?
In my view, Chelsea didn’t deserve to win simply because we had one moment of brilliance. They couldn’t stop it, we cracked them and they dropped 2 pts. Too bad. A win is a win, a draw is a draw. Tell that to the neutrals!
If the stats were reversed and Chelsea (or any of the Big 3) had our abysmal percentage of possession and attempts on goal, then all the reports would be that Chelsea (they) had the ’class’ and ’quality’ to convert their minimal chances and that Everton squandered a myriad of opportunity due to a lack of. So why when it is us that capitalised on our few chances, (and what a capitlisation it was!), is there a 180 in opinion? double standards?
In my view, Chelsea didn’t deserve to win simply because we had one moment of brilliance. They couldn’t stop it, we cracked them and they dropped 2 pts. Too bad. A win is a win, a draw is a draw. Tell that to the neutrals!
Matty Dunn
8 Posted 12/11/2007 at 08:19:27
8 Posted 12/11/2007 at 08:19:27
Well said Rory.
I think the point is excellent when you consider the injuries and fatigue caused by so many games. However this is how we often fair against the so called big four. In some ways I’d like to see the inevitable goal we concede scored before half time as we all know its coming and then when it does we start to be a bit more adventurous!
Must say I thought big vic (a player i have to say I havent really rated until recently) was excellent yesterday along with Howard and the centre halves. All in all an excellent result which sets us up nicely for the Sunderland game
I think the point is excellent when you consider the injuries and fatigue caused by so many games. However this is how we often fair against the so called big four. In some ways I’d like to see the inevitable goal we concede scored before half time as we all know its coming and then when it does we start to be a bit more adventurous!
Must say I thought big vic (a player i have to say I havent really rated until recently) was excellent yesterday along with Howard and the centre halves. All in all an excellent result which sets us up nicely for the Sunderland game
Mark Wynne
9 Posted 12/11/2007 at 09:17:42
9 Posted 12/11/2007 at 09:17:42
According to Paresh Soni on the BBC website "It ended Chelsea’s run of four straight Premier League wins but was no more than Everton deserved after a battling display." That sounds like a neutral saying we deserved at least a point.
Arthur Jones
10 Posted 12/11/2007 at 09:07:46
10 Posted 12/11/2007 at 09:07:46
When the RS drew with arsenal a few weeks ago it was regarded as a great result for them yet for most of the game liverpoo played like the away team . Don?t forget chelski haven?t lost a game at stamford bridge since 2004 , and how many teams score against them in the last minute when they?re 1 - 0 up at home ? A great result and a great performance . We are actually just starting to pop our heads above that mystical line between the top 4 and the rest ... AND THE LONDON BASED MEDIA DON?T LIKE IT
Andy Ellams
11 Posted 12/11/2007 at 09:19:44
11 Posted 12/11/2007 at 09:19:44
We went away to a top side, soaked up pressure, defended like lions and rode our luck. That is the way to do things isn’t it. We can’t expect to go somewhere like Chelsea and dominate the game so surely it’s a moral victory if not an actual one.
And who knows what might have happened if Pienaar had connected with the ball instead of fresh air with his chance in the first half.
And who knows what might have happened if Pienaar had connected with the ball instead of fresh air with his chance in the first half.
James Elworthy
12 Posted 12/11/2007 at 10:11:51
12 Posted 12/11/2007 at 10:11:51
Alan Shearer said on MOTD2 we deserved the equaliser for coming back at them.
In Football you make your own luck, we had none against Liverpool but had some against Chelsea.
A few years ago we would been well beaten, and luck wouldnt of come into it.
So it is in a way a sign of progress that we are able to play against the top teams and be involved in very close game that could go either way depending on a bit of luck.
In Football you make your own luck, we had none against Liverpool but had some against Chelsea.
A few years ago we would been well beaten, and luck wouldnt of come into it.
So it is in a way a sign of progress that we are able to play against the top teams and be involved in very close game that could go either way depending on a bit of luck.
Connor Rohrer
13 Posted 12/11/2007 at 10:04:13
13 Posted 12/11/2007 at 10:04:13
Daffy David, Why do you hope Pienaar is not part of Moyes plans next year? If thats the case then you dont know a good player when you see one.
"Pienaar - Good foot work. Doubt with his speed. Too similar to Osman. On several occasions, he was missing when Chelsea counter. Valente was left alone defending. Hope he?s not part of Moyes plan next season. 6"
You doubt his speed? He’s not lightning but he’s definatly nippy and probably our quickest midfielder on the break. He is also one of our most hardworking players so its not like he left Valente on his own on purpose. The lads a quality player in my eyes and you fail to realise the contribution he has already made to our season.
He has played 12 games and scored 1 goal combined with 5 assists. Yes thats right he’s our second most creative player after Arteta. He’s set up goals against Larisa AE, Metalist Kharkiv, Birmingham, Nuremberg etc.
Good player who needs signing and would be a bargain at 2 million.
"Pienaar - Good foot work. Doubt with his speed. Too similar to Osman. On several occasions, he was missing when Chelsea counter. Valente was left alone defending. Hope he?s not part of Moyes plan next season. 6"
You doubt his speed? He’s not lightning but he’s definatly nippy and probably our quickest midfielder on the break. He is also one of our most hardworking players so its not like he left Valente on his own on purpose. The lads a quality player in my eyes and you fail to realise the contribution he has already made to our season.
He has played 12 games and scored 1 goal combined with 5 assists. Yes thats right he’s our second most creative player after Arteta. He’s set up goals against Larisa AE, Metalist Kharkiv, Birmingham, Nuremberg etc.
Good player who needs signing and would be a bargain at 2 million.
Jack Randle
14 Posted 12/11/2007 at 10:16:35
14 Posted 12/11/2007 at 10:16:35
Moyes may have been delighted with his centre-halves but yet again Lescott taints a great display by switching off when it really mattered.He was culpable for the Chelsea goal and i suspect it will cost him an England place later in the week. He used to have this trait at Wolves and it saw him dropped on a number of occasions.Moyes has a job on his hands.
Allan Hobbs
15 Posted 12/11/2007 at 10:21:26
15 Posted 12/11/2007 at 10:21:26
It finished 1-1, who gives a shit how many shots we/they had?? They scored 1, we scored 1 - end of.
I was happy with the result, and the goal Cahill scored.
I was happy with the result, and the goal Cahill scored.
Neil McKinney
16 Posted 12/11/2007 at 12:06:54
16 Posted 12/11/2007 at 12:06:54
I tend to agree with Roy on this one. All this harping on about "deserving" one result or the other. None of it matters a toss! RS didn’t deserve to walk away from the derby with 3 points but the records will forever read 1-2.
Sorry Daffy, but as a few people have already pointed out, it is clear that you don’t have much of a talent for punditry. I will not pick apart your entire run down of players performances but, with the exception of singling out Neville for criticism, and praising an outstanding Howard, a lot of what you say is crap.
Pienaar has been outstanding for us in the last few games and after I saw the effort he put in against Larissa and Birmingham, there is no doubt in my mind that he does not forget his defensive duties. Speed is a doubt? Idiot! You should be a journalist, you’re about as accurate as most.
Lescott had another good game, but as has already been pointed out he was at fault for their goal, so not quite as faultless as you thought.
I never thought the Yak would shine in this game. Away at Chelsea? He was never going to get much to work with, especially with Arteta out. Worked hard though.
This was a fantastic result for us and I don’t even see the point in offering up any negatives about the performance. We’ve had a great run in the last 6 games and to get a point from Chelsea when they haven’t lost there in 3½ years is a cracking result. Deserve it or not we got it and nobody can take it away.
Most shocking thing about the game was Fat Frank didn’t score! Must be the first time in a while that he hasn’t netted against us the fat bastard!
Sorry Daffy, but as a few people have already pointed out, it is clear that you don’t have much of a talent for punditry. I will not pick apart your entire run down of players performances but, with the exception of singling out Neville for criticism, and praising an outstanding Howard, a lot of what you say is crap.
Pienaar has been outstanding for us in the last few games and after I saw the effort he put in against Larissa and Birmingham, there is no doubt in my mind that he does not forget his defensive duties. Speed is a doubt? Idiot! You should be a journalist, you’re about as accurate as most.
Lescott had another good game, but as has already been pointed out he was at fault for their goal, so not quite as faultless as you thought.
I never thought the Yak would shine in this game. Away at Chelsea? He was never going to get much to work with, especially with Arteta out. Worked hard though.
This was a fantastic result for us and I don’t even see the point in offering up any negatives about the performance. We’ve had a great run in the last 6 games and to get a point from Chelsea when they haven’t lost there in 3½ years is a cracking result. Deserve it or not we got it and nobody can take it away.
Most shocking thing about the game was Fat Frank didn’t score! Must be the first time in a while that he hasn’t netted against us the fat bastard!
Rob Hollis
17 Posted 12/11/2007 at 13:03:12
17 Posted 12/11/2007 at 13:03:12
Daffy - You hope Pienaar is not part of Moyes plans for next season? I know we all have different views but that is the probably the most ridiculous comment I have ever read. He is one of the best footballers we have had since the eighties.
Brian Garside
18 Posted 12/11/2007 at 23:39:23
18 Posted 12/11/2007 at 23:39:23
Pienaar must stay. We all now understand the "Daffy"bit!!!
Howard not domminant. Has dithered on too many occasions,just ask the centre-halves. Sign Isaksson from Man City if young English goalkeepers unavailble. Neville to go, agree about the panic button.
Howard not domminant. Has dithered on too many occasions,just ask the centre-halves. Sign Isaksson from Man City if young English goalkeepers unavailble. Neville to go, agree about the panic button.
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I was as ecstatic as any Blue when Cahill scored and I'm over the moon at the result and the attitude of the players that earned it... but I'm also realistic enough to know that they have a better team than we do, that we struggled without Arteta, that we probably played better here back in April when we deserved to win, and that we were a touch fortunate to draw yesterday.
Doesn't mean I won't take that point as some recompense from the footballing gods for being robbed against Liverpool or that I agree at all with the Times' assessment that Chelsea "murdered Everton for most of the match."