COLUMNIST KEN BUCKLEY
From my seat: Boro (Cup)
Comments (18) : The first half was poor from a Blue perspective as the players seemed not to grasp the fans' deep desire to grace Wembley and the true 'Up for the cup' was by-passing them.
Boro' started the brighter and stronger and in the first 10 mins alone we saw Howard rush out to punch the ball from Aliadiere's head then Yobo charging down a Downing shot before Aliadiere firing over when well placed.
The game then descended into a hotchpotch of half-chances, miscontrol, mispasses and a right old war between Cahill, Fellaini and the back two of Boro with all parties variously claiming strangulation, pushing, pulling or plain old man-handling.
Just before the break, a Fellaini header had the keeper stretching to keep it out but Boro went up the other end and on the stoke of half-time fashioned a chance that the whole of Goodison dreaded by scoring via a cross from Bates that Wheater headed powerfully down, Howard clawed it out but a furiously flagging assistant confirmed our fears and a goal was given.
The half-time whistle and many of the assembled booed the boys off, such was the frustration or just rank bad support. The players certainly needed a kick up the proverbial and the manager's answer was to introduce Saha for the off-form Rodwell who had needed much verbal coaching from the manager for most of that first half and the move should have been applauded at this stage of his fledgling career. Cahill dropped back to partner Neville in centre-mid and from the off we looked better for it.
The gamble was could Saha last 45mins and the fact that he did was a compliment to the man using his head in more ways than one and not unduly over-exerting himself whilst putting in a quality front-runner's shift.
The first few minutes of the second half saw Lescott divert a shot wide then the Blues scored and truly brought the crowd to life. Cahill advanced and put a long looping cross into the box, the keeper came, the keeper stopped, Fellaini rose and his looping header over a stranded keeper brought parity. Now all were up for it!
Just five or six minutes later, we put a rare passage of the joined-up stuff together that culminated in the darting Pienaar firing in a cross that found the head of the wide awake Saha who had pulled off markers and his well directed header had hardly hit the net before the faithfull were booking trips to Wembley.
Just beyond the hour mark two things happened that summed up the difference in player application from that rather turgid first half: First, a marauding Cahill was brought down outside the box and Baines was allowed to take on the Arteta role, his excellent free-kick hitting the bar with the keeper no-where. Then the excellent Neville hit fellow mid-fielder Bates with a legitimate crunching tackle that left the Boro man gasping on the turf and Neville moving the ball wide to set up another attack ? you just knew from those moments we would give nothing up lightly.
Boro threw on a couple of subs but with little reward but Johnson did show some rare pace that thankfully wasn't fully employed. Before the end, Saha and Pienaar combined well to give Fellaini a sniff but his tame-ish shot was deflected wide. Then the unfit-looking but very game Osman put Saha in and it was surprising when the talented striker overhit his routine looking chip and it cleared the bar.
The manager introduced Gosling in the last minute for the much improved Pienaar from Wednesday in a clock-rundown excersise but it wouldn't be Everton to spare us a great scare at the death when an O'Niell free-kick was fumbled by Howard and all assembled breathed a sigh of relief when Lescott displayed the good side of 'hoofball'.
Final whistle and 'If yer know yer 'istory' was belted out, Goodison Road was alive to the strains of 'We Shall Not Be Moved' and Spellow Lane echoed over and over our next destination in the cup.
Back to the pub to learn our fate in the Semi and we didn't even have to wait for our ball to come out to know it was the Mancs ? of course we have a chance ? it's the cup!
Overall today I thought it took us 45 mins to work out just what this tie meant to fans and the second 45 mins to deliver the result that ensured they didn't suffer the fate of 'Kopites' along the banks of the royal Blue mersey.
My man of the match was once again Neville, closely followed by Jags and Lescott... Oh, when will I be able to nominate a forward?
Stoke next in the battle for league points and yet another headache for the manager to see what sort of line-up he can muster from those still available, if you can walk and run without a limp you stand a chance of selection... See you there; UP THE BLUES!
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I turned to my brother at half-time and said I had a feeling Fellaini would score and get us back in the game, my brother replied, "No, we need to bring on Saha and take off Rodwell as soon as possible." We agreed to disagree, but in the end we were fortunately both right.
As for the semi-final, it goes without saying it will be a difficult task to go through, but I just feel we will catch them at the right time with their other commitments. No matter who turns out for them, they're going to have a quality team on the pitch, they have class replacements in every position, but I hope on the day we get our share of luck and prove we want it more.
Ken any Idea how many tickets Everton will be allocated? I would think this would probably be more than the cup final itself, due to every Corporate Tom, Dick and Harry wanting a share. For now well done Everton and let's hope for a great occasion at Wembley. First Merseyside club to win the cup at the old Wembley and just maybe the first to do it at the New one, now that would be something to to crow about to the dark side wouldn?t it...
I think the difference in the second half was putting Cahill in midfield, I was expecting Fellaini to move behind but I think the Moyesiah didn’t have enough faith in his holding capability. What we really lacked in the first half was someone to pass the ball down both flanks, hold it in the centre, and keep the ball long enough for something to happen. Rodwell and Neville did not position themselves well, and are really not the kind of players to pass the ball with much accuracy. Because we couldn’t keep the ball, Baines couldn’t attack and had no chance to put in the balls he does so well. First half, too many players playing out of positions-Jags, Neville, Rodwell, Fellaini, Cahill, you could even make an argument for Pienaar and Osman who are not naturally wide players.
When Saha came on we had some genuine class upfront, and you could see Boro were fearful of him. We started to pass on the floor a bit more decently, of course not at the level when the Best Little Spaniard we know is playing. Clearly centre midfield is a weak area for us and you can see why we need someone like Moutinho, though Mikky is more than capable of doing the job. No coincidence why we have only lost one game in 2009 since Mikky shifted to centre midfield?
Anyway, for the next month or so, we can look forward to cementing 6th place or better, and hope that Saha and the rest remain fit for the semis!
BTW- How good has Baines become? I could see it in the first game he ever played for us. I just wish he would have gotten more of a run earlier. Oh well, better late than never for the boy. I didn?t realize Downing was so fast. Any way we can get him in a blue shirt? He must be dying down there.
COYB
I think I would agree with your MOTM but you ask about nominating forwards; until Saha chipped his sitter into the stands, I would have had him out in front. I saw the ball taken from him twice and both times he chased it down sucessfully, one he ran from the 18-yard box to the half-way line just to win it back, I was very impressed with his performance.
United in the semis, better for us I?d say... they?ll still have one eye on the league, one on the CL and...... er one on the FA cup (you know what I mean!!). They?re not completely unstoppable, set Neville onto Ronaldo like last November and keep the solid defence we showed in Jan. And as long as Fellaini doesn?t (sarcasm alert) cruelly force his body or throat into players hands like he did 5/6 times in Boro?s area ? because United would probably receive a penalty.
WEMBLEY, WEMBLEY. All dressed up and I?m going to Wembley!!!
Something needs to be done about this, its called giving a penalty. The player who is getting the treatment is very likely to react with his elbow and know doubt be sent off. I thought Fellaini dealt with it very well considering. I was also particularly pleased that he scored the equalizer, I feel he?s come in for some unfair criticism of late. It was obvious that the lad was not fully fit after his back injury.
My MOTM was Pienaar also (I wonder where Mr. Whittaker is today with his "painfully slow" comments about the Pocket Rocket). But I also must say that for the last 45 minutes, Lescott was the best center back on the planet. He blocked everything, won everything, saved everything. It was amazing.
I think we also need to shout out for a few guys who have taken some stick here lately. Osman was everywhere ? pressuring Downing, winning the ball to set up Saha?s goal, then setting Saha up himself for that miss. Ozzie was great.
I was disappointed to see Jags at right back and Yobo in the center again, but I have to admit that both played well. Yobo held position well, and Jags... well, it was no coincidence that Downing switched over to the right side in the second half. He hadn?t been able to breathe for the first 55 minutes. Jags wouldn?t let him. So due respect to Moyes.
And finally, here?s to Cahill. The way he calmed things down after dropping to midfield was outstanding. As good as he?s been up front, I think Moyes needs to leave him where he finished up yesterday. He may not have Arteta?s creativity, but he has his composure on the ball, and he?s the only one who does. I expect to see him in the middle for the rest of the season.
Now let?s go make Alex cry.
I thought Neville was outstanding, best game I?ve seen him have in ages... always around and about the ball and did mostly the right things at the right times. Thought Pienaar was a little bit in and out if I'm honest; periods of really positive play and periods of slight frustration but overall a decent shift.
Three quarters of the season in, I still don?t know what to make of the afro?d one. I still don?t see a world beating player, but he scores important goals and I always want to see him in the team. Weird.
Huth?s manhandling of him today was a disgrace but it seems there has been a rule change on that we?re all unaware of.
Also, what was the comment about Baines "turning into a good player" all about above? He always has been ? bit hard to pick up your form when you spend most of your new career on the bench or chucked on occasionally here and there. Really glad to see he?s now our established left back ? love seeing him get onto a through ball and whip a left wing cross in at speed.
Yes there was still an over-reliance on the long ball at times (particularly from the right side of our defence in Jags and Yobo), but we also put some good moves together on the deck... One in particular which heavily involved Osman resulting in the chance which Saha spooned over was great football. Peanuts and Baines always put some good stuff together down the left too.
I hope / think we?re just finding our confidence to carrying playing a bit of the joined up stuff even in the absence of Arteta. I thought Cahill facilitated this style well when dropping deeper. It?s not all doom and gloom fella! We?re going to Wem-ber-ley!
In all my years following Everton, I can remember twice getting that feeling early on of "it?s going to be ours"; Gordon Lee famously said "there comes a time when you can smell the onions on Wembley Way".
Not tempting fate too much, but I have sensed that this is our year from early January, I travel the country extensively talking football with fans from other clubs, every one (even Mancs) have been saying Everton?s cup this year!! Please God!!
In the first half we were as bad as we’ve been under Moyes and he obviously agreed as him & Round were believed to have laid into the players at half time!
At the scandalous prices for tickets & shit ale & food at the ground, if the players are not at the races and worse, not trying then they should be told we expect better!!
Aside from that, short report Ken, but agree with your observations.
WEM-BER-LEY!! Its gonna be hard not getting carried away a little bit here!!
Regarding the booing, having heard it all the way from my television box in Singapore, I just wished that we would be different from fickle fans elsewhere. Of course it is frustrating to see hoofball and such, but at Everton we play with pride, courage and determination, and this sets us apart from the rest of the teams in England. We may have a terrible game football wise, but passion wise I have firm belief that our team puts in 100% all the time. So let us encourage more when our hearts tell us to boo.
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1 Posted 09/03/2009 at 15:11:14
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My moment of the match was the tackle by Neville on their midfielder and after the first goal, Neville running back to the Gwladys Street end waving his arms trying to get the home team to be louder.