VIEW FROM THE BLUE
Blues Do Enough to Edge Through
Comments (12) : Anyone who remembers the ignominy of the Shrewsbury Town tie in 2003 — and which Evertonian doesn't? — or the Oldham Athletic defeat at Goodison last season will know that performances don't really matter when it comes to the FA Cup Third Round; it's all about the result.
Just as well, really, because Everton's display against Macclesfield Town will not live long in the memory, but the result might if David Moyes can guide his team all the way to Wembley come May. With the likes of Manchester City and Stoke City succumbing to giant-killling acts by Nottingham Forest and Hartlepool United elsewhere today, being in tomorrow's Fourth Round draw is the most important thing.
League Two Macclesfield Town, some 76 places below the Blues in English football's league ladder, certainly posed a potential banana skin for Moyes's side but save for four good chances, two in each half, they rarely threatened their illustrious visitors. Instead, it was merely a question of whether Everton would find the crucial breakthrough having survived a couple of early scares.
Terry Dunfield could have sown the seeds of a big upset in the second minute had he driven his 16-yard shot a couple of yards lower. And Matt Brown missed with an even better opportunity nine minutes later when he finished a quick break down the Macclesfield right by heading a cross over atn the back post.
Everton for their part, having seen Steven Pienaar poke a shot through the crowd into goalkeeper Brain's arms in the first minute, were all neat passing and patient build-up but precious little end product.
Victor Anichebe was deployed up front with Tim Cahill but both found space difficult to come by in the cramped environs of Moss Rose and neither had a sniff of a chance until Leighton Baines fizzed a cross across the face of goal, the ball just eluding first Anichebe and then Osman on its way.
Then, after Mikel Arteta had missed badly with a direct free kick from 30 yards, Cahill got on the end of a throw-in from the right but he couldn't connect cleanly from eight yards out and Brain was able to gather it fairly comfortably.
The game was petering out to half time when out of nowhere, Everton scored. Arteta's cross was cleared to the edge of the box where Osman chested it neatly and fired beautifully into the top corner.
As it turned out, it was to be both the best and the most decisive moment of the game. It knocked the stuffing out of Macclesfield who no doubt felt that they could make it to the interval and then regroup for a second-half assault.
Instead, the second period was controlled by Everton but, again, even though their opposition were clearly no match, it was tedious and uneventful fare. Tony Hibbert in particular was enjoying the freedom of Moss Rose, time and again being afforded acres of space to attack but he wasn't able to produce a single telling ball beyond those that won a a flurry of corners before the hour mark.
Set-pieces presented numerous opportunities for the Blues' well-honed threat from dead-ball situations to pay dividends but only a half-chance for Cahill and a hooked effort by Phil Jagielka that landed on the top of the net caused the home side any real panic. Arteta was having another of those days where his sights seemed to be well off and all too often his deliveries were blocked or simply found a defender's head.
Still, there were other chances from open play. Jagielka volleyed a low Baines cross just over, Pienaar flashed a shot wide and Anichebe swept a shot past the far post.
The expected late rally by Macclesfield duly came in the final quarter of an hour. First Simon Yeo scuffed a first-time effort straight at Tim Howard with his first shot after coming on as a 78th-minute sub, then Dunfield blazed a free kick over the crossbar rather than throwing the ball into the area hoping for a lucky bounce.
Danny Thomas had the home fans baying for a penalty when he tumbled under Hibbert's challenge with five minutes left before the same player looped a good chance over from 20 yards after Jagielka had slipped.
The Blues were closing out the game when in the last minute of injury time, the ball broke for Yeo once more with a clear sight of goal but Howard pushed his fierce shot away to safety whereupon referee Peter Walton blew for full time.
All in all, a pretty dismal display by Everton but they avoided both embarrassing defeat and the need for a replay at Goodison so there's not much to complain about. Conditions were freezing and the pitch less than ideal so this was never going to be an exhibition of the beautiful game anyway.
What the game might impress upon Moyes, though, is that he does need to address the lack of numbers up front. At one point, Anichebe looked to be heading for the sidelines again after suffering what looked to be a dead le but the Nigerian international looked ponderous and one-dimensional throughout.
Moyes's rhetoric is again cautious and uninspiring where it comes to the possibility of strengthening the squad this month but if he harbours hopes of winning this competition, he is going to need more firepower than was on display here today.
Player Ratings:
Howard 7; Hibbert 5; Baines 6; Jagielka 7; Lescott 7; Neville 6; Arteta 6; Osman 7 (MotM); Pienaar 6; Cahill 6; Anichebe 6
Reader Comments
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They were hoping for a cup upset and Everton to go out. When we made a decent job of geting a goal up and going through (which is the only thing that mattered) they have no story to write about, so they go and write their cup upset story anyway just with Everton as lucky winners.
It's extremely poor journalism, which leaves many people thinking we were lucky when we did the only thing we could do and beat the team put put infront of us.
"Accurate passing" you say?, surely if so then we would have created chance after chance and their goalkeeper would have been called into action on many occasions ? did he have to make any difficult saves? How many crosses got past the first defender? How many times did Lescott and Jagielka hit long aimless balls? How often did Cahill contribute? What did Osman do other than his goal? How many times did we keep possession and move them around the pitch?
We all love Everton and will support them no matter what, but please don?t insult our intelligence and pretend rubbish is anything other than what it is. Macclesfield are 76 places below us and the gap was not evident, we were poor, did just about enough to get through, and I for one am grateful for small mercies. But pretending that was a good performance is just a joke!!!!
If you can remove the chip from your shoulder for a while care to look at the possession statistics (BBC) and where that possession actually occurred you?ll notice that Everton were in possession of the football for 55% percent of the game and of that time in possession for 73% of the time we were in the opposition?s half. We had 11 shots off target 3 shots on target, 9 corners to the oppositions 0.
This neatly illustrates that whilst we had the football and consistently attacked we didn?t do so effectively. I?d argue that the reason for this lack of bite was that we were guilty of trying to walk the ball into the back of the net and lacked that killer incisive pass to feet in the area or the well aimed cross into the box. Hibbert had acres of space but didn?t produce the final ball; Arteta was having one of his 90 minute holidays and Anichebe isn?t the player that some of us hoped he?d be and I don?t think he ever will be.
You see, Jim, Football is about two teams (Talk about blue tinted specs!) ? this was Macc Town?s game of the season and we never let them play, they never got a chance to play because we kept the majority of possession in their half ? just as we should have done. We drew their sting by keeping the majority of possession.
Now, as for your attempt to devalue my opinion by tying it in with Doddy ? do me a favour lad. I didn?t agree with one or two comments Lyndon made and I expressed my opinion, I called it as I saw it. I?ll say it again ? It wasn?t a ?dismal display? ? it was uninspired, lacking in imagination, pedestrian in the final third of the field ? but not ?dismal?.
In past games, we?d have just lost our composure and started wacking long balls all game. We seem to have a lot more composure nowadays though. I?m not talking about our end product, more our play in the middle of the park.
Osman and Baines both played very well. Baines and Pienaar?s link up play down the left hand side especially is probably our most creative outlet at the moment, we just need someone who can get on the end of the crosses. We still lack end product, which is why we need a natural striker up there.
I think the only real way the gulf in class can be shown in high pressure situations is through having a good centre forward. The fact is, we had no direct threat on goal as Vic is lacking in confidence/form to go for goal ? he had one crack but never seemed to try after that (even passing when he had a chance 10 yards out).
If Moyes is getting a striker on loan, no point getting someone who will sit on the bench and not play many games, as many of his loan signings have done (Castillo, the Egyptian and Chinese defenders he got some years back). We need someone who can go into the team and make Vic fight for his place until Vaughany and Saha return.
Stefan, my opinion of Anichebe was probably the same as yours, lacking any threat, poor mobility and positioning and a lack of imagination ? the same as Cahill. But I?m sorry you are still missing the point: it's not about personnel ? it's about ethos, attitude and tactics. We do not approach games with the intention of winning, we go out to avoid defeat. Our forwards have limited support and often look poor, the midfield show/have few creative ideas and the defenders seem to be given few options ? get the ball as far away from our goal as quickly as possible.
Football is in essence basically a very simple game with one principle ? the team that scores the most goals wins the game. Now before you think I don?t appreciate all the other aspects that make the game so great ? I do... but the basic principle is very simple. Short-term success, in relation to avoiding defeat can be achieved with this approach, but you will never win anything based upon a negative principle. Has any team won a trophy in football based on this principle?
Moyes has without doubt been successful in stabilising the club and making us difficult to beat, but do we look like a team capable of winning a trophy? I am not being disloyal or any other adjective you want to use, but having watched us since the 60s I think I have an understanding of what is required for success and a realistic view of what?s on offer in front of me.
I am not blind to Moyes?s strengths, but neither am I blind to his weaknesses and the fact that I am willing to articulate what I see as his weaknesses is obviously an anathema to some ? that?s until we get our next manager and he becomes the next saviour. I don?t swing between such emotions because I?ve seen too much over the years, but for me his tactics are poor and ultimately will never be successful.
Furthermore, Jim, I don?t agree with you?re interpretation of our football. We play decent passing football, keep possession and last year in particular put in some fantastic footballing performances. We have over-achieved in view of our finances in recent years under Moyes, who has turned us completely around so that we are now a top six club, a fact you should appreciate.
With respect to your comment about a team never winning anything with negative play (although I don't agree our football is negative), what about Greece winning the Euros? Or Chelsea under Mourinho? Or Inter Milan?s success in recent years?
Alot of your comments are both tactically and financially naive. The fact is that Moyes's tactics are successful, as he has taken us from relegation material to a regular top six team, and this in view of our resources is without a shadow of a doubt success. And I honestly believe that if he would have been given money to spend (money spent on Fellaini was made in the majority from sales of AJ and Faddy) that we would be in the Champions League positions now.
Kevin?s comments were more than fair enough. Overall Everton did dominate, but didn?t go the extra mile to take advantage for fairly obvious reasons, given the context of this game against our primary objective.
Taking anyone to task for yesterday?s display is frankly absurd. I wonder how many EPL teams would have gone to a place like Macclesfield and ripped them apart. Chelsea couldn?t do it to Southend at home, Man Utd needed a sending off and dodgy penalty to beat Southampton (who are shite).
The reality is, regardless of our early season form (which was absolutely dreadful) we have now settled into a pattern of getting results and playing really well. The one game we lost (Villa) was a travesty & it hasn?t had any lasting effect. The team is playing well against good teams most weeks now. Surely even you can see that?
I would not be surprised if we do the dark side at Anfield. But if I have to choose only one of those 2 games to win then the cup game can go. Easy.
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1 Posted 04/01/2009 at 09:23:46
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You saw a "pretty dismal display" ... I saw us totally dominate the opposition with accurate passing football on a bone hard undulating surface. Apart from five minutes in the first half and ten towards the end, we were never in any danger of the opposition taking the initiative. On another day we?d have scored five.
You see Moyes?s rhetoric as ?cautious and uninspiring? re the possibility of transfers; I see realism tempered with a healthy dose of wait and see. I do agree regarding the lack of a decent striker, Anichebe isn?t carrying through the promise he has shown, particularly in our run in Europe last season.
One thing that has impressed me over the last couple of weeks is that we seem to have sorted out our lack of a playmaker in midfield... (yesterday's game notwithstanding) and we?re starting to break teams down through incisive crisp passing.
On the whole I feel much more positive about our chances of securing European football than I did in September. We do need that striker though...