COLUMNIST PAUL TRAILL
Did we do enough?
Comments (13) : Upon picking up the tickets a few weeks ago Ste realized there was a slight problem ? we received two tickets next to each other and one four rows behind ? typical. Having deliberated all week between Ste and I as to who of the three of us would sit on their own ad which two together, we eventually decided to just sort it out when we got there.
As with last time, Ste kindly offered to drive. As with last time Ste, Gary, Stu and I set off at 6am and as with last time we were safely parked in Stanmore for around 9am. It hit it home to us almost straight away just how lucky we were to have tickets as we encountered people looking for tickets immediately. Again, like last time, we got a quick McDonald?s outside Wembley.
The sun beamed down and there wasn?t a cloud in the sky. Given the time and that Ste and I are both those fuckers whom don?t tan and just burn burn burn, we nipped into Lidl to get some suncream. At the checkout we got ambushed by some nutter buying a cheaper version of Red Bull, and boy was he happy about it. Thankfully the guy chose to talk directly at Ste rather than myself so I was able to scarper leaving Ste to it.
For the semi-final we sat on the opposite side of the ground and so made our journey down Wembley Way, veering to the left this time rather than the right. We came across a pub in doing so but given it was the only one in the vicinity we felt it would just get too packed and so decided to take our chances elsewhere and walked on down the road. Evertonians were everywhere.
I guess that we?d travelled down in numbers early today / late yesterday and Chelsea hadn?t had to travel far at all so it all kinda made sense but still made you very proud to be a blue. What didn?t make sense then was the policy on the doors of all the pubs in the area. The Sports bar we went to last time ? a Chelsea pub. The Greyhound across the road ? a Chelsea pub. An Irish bar further down the road ? a Chelsea pub .
We were certainly in the wrong area and had to resort to grabbing a few beers from the off license whilst we sorted something out. Amidst all this Ste broke the news to Gary about the tickets, also stating that as he?d sorted out the tickets and done the driving for both trips he felt he shouldn?t be the one who has to sit on his own. Fair one. That left Gary and me to decide on the other seat so we flipped a coin on it. Gary chose heads and won meaning I got the solo seat. Ho hum. ?Maybe it?ll be an isle seat anyway? I offered in hope.
A doorman tipped us off that we?d have to go the other side of Wembley stadium to find a pub serving Everton fans so we headed round to the other end. We remembered back to our previous visit to Wembley and being told about a pub up a hill called The Little Green Man. As we were half way up some Everton fans on the way back down the hill helpfully informed us they were only letting Chelsea fans into that pub also.
Shaking our heads and now getting a bit fed up of all of this we asked some stewards at the bottom of the hill where a pub serving Everton fans could be found. They directed us on up the next hill telling us we?d definitely be OK there. Relieved we went up the hill only to find this was the same friggin? pub as the last one. Oh come on!
We made our way around the estate and back where we started this ridiculous little journey ? outside McDonalds. We did then however find another Irish pub ? The Parish, and made that a base for ourselves. It was a nice, friendly little pub and provided a welcome rest bite after a good hour or so of dawdling around. Good luck messages from various friends continuously beeped through to my phone.
Gary met up with another old mate who?d moved up here around 10 years ago which was nice. We all began to get into the grove as the atmosphere rocked. Meanwhile Stu confessed how he feels I?m the most patronizing guy he knows. Thanks. A little after 2pm we made our way towards the ground. A few people still desperately sought tickets. As we got inside a few lads were getting kicked out God knows what for. How gutted would you be!
Getting to our seats we were mighty relieved as they were indeed isle seats so we could all sorta squeeze together. The teams came out to magnificent support from all sections of the ground and the national anthem was sung. The players did their handshakes and the teams came to their pitch sides to vociferous applause. There was no surprises from Moyes with Saha, Fellaini and Cahill all starting meaning no place in the XI for Jack Rodwell. Chelsea played with Anelka and Drogba up front and Lampard also featuring despite a slight injury doubt.
Everton kicked off toward the Chelsea fans. Howard Webb got the game under way and the ball was played back to Yobo. He did a quick keepy-up before thrashing the ball forward towards Pienaar. He managed to get the ball into the box but it was half cleared. As the ball sat up in the air Fellaini won his header and it bounced down to Saha who smashed a half-volley past Cech and into the net. Incredible. After only 25 seconds Everton had the lead. We all went absolutely nuts. We didn?t know at the time but that?s the quickest ever goal in an FA Cup final. Unreal.
We remained standing for a little while after the goal until the miserable gets behind us told us all to sit down. The game was restarted quite quickly but Everton were holding firm as Chelsea probed cautiously. Tony Hibbert got booked a little unfairly as he clipped Malouda?s heels as he tried to scamper away. That put pressure on him for the rest of his afternoon and you felt Hibbert would have to be taken off at some point.
What was so frustrating was that Everton had contained this multi-million pound team so well up until when they did make the breakthrough. Malouda got free down our right hand side and Hibbert probably didn?t do enough to cut out the cross. It was a shame it was an inch-perfect one then and Drogba timed his run well, nipping in just ahead of Yobo to head cleanly into the corner. ?Too easy? said Gary. It was. We just didn?t do enough to defend that goal.
Still, we?d done well in the first half and at half time there was still a reasonable sense of optimism as we had our half time pint.
Up for the second half and Moyes decided to take Hibbert off at the break replacing him with Lars Jacobsen. I guess it made sense as he?d only have had to take off Hibbert at some point anyway so why not now. I felt there was nothing in the game at all for a large part of this second half.
The players dug in well and gave it everything they had. We really oughta have scored when Baines whipped in a ball not dissimilar to that of Malouda?s in the first half. Saha got his head to it but couldn?t control it well enough unfortunately and it whizzed over the crossbar. That highlights the difference in class I guess as Dorba banged in his similar chance.
It wasn?t really long after this when Chelsea scored what turned out to be the killer goal in this one. Just prior to the goal there seemed to be quite a clear foul on Louis Saha but Webb didn?t see it. The ball went forward and Lampard received it outside the box. He turned it onto his left foot as Neville closed him down. As he did so he slipped but still had time to get up and drive his effort into the top corner past Howard.
I thought he could have been closed down quicker. I thought that maybe it floated past Howard a bit and it could?ve been saved and also thought back to the foul in the build up to the goal, but ultimately I was just gutted. Everton needed something special to pull this one off now.
Moyes changed things a bit, first swapping Saha with Vaughan and later on swapping Osman with Gosling. Sadly all this left was gaps at the back and it looked like Anelka had capitalized on this when he lobbed over Howard and thankfully past the post. It also apparently should have all been over anyway when Malouda beat Howard but saw the ball crash back off the underside of the bar and away. According to those watching on the TV it was over the line so I guess we got lucky there.
It mattered not though. Everton were completely deflated. They clearly needed a lift but the Everton crowd seemed equally deflated and just couldn?t get behind our boys when they probably needed us most. I tried desperately in vein to drum up some support but nobody was having it.
Still Everton offered the odd glimmer of hope with Cahill smashing one long distance effort straight at Cech and another one a few yards wide of the goal. It was all over before the final whistle anyway according to the match announcer who gave Ashley Cole the man of the match award before the game had ended. Now how silly would that have looked if the game would have gone into extra-time and Cole had gotten himself sent off or something in this period?
It all wasn?t enough though and come the final whistle I was left wondering if we?d done enough ? the players themselves for not making one last significant push, or us, the fans for not getting behind them a bit more when they needed us most. Strangely, when it was all too late the Everton fans did find their voice, singing to show they were proud of our boys. The players applauded the fans back, with Lescott, for one, giving a real show of emotion, applauding back relentlessly with hands above his heads.
I don?t want to criticize any Everton fans at all, we all know we?ve fantastic fans but I can?t help but leave the game thinking we might just have done that little bit more to get behind them when it was clear they needed help. It couldn?t have hurt could it?
We watched our boys pick up their runners-up medals before getting the tube back to Stanmore. On the way back the general consensus was that we scored too soon and would have been better off conceding after 25 seconds instead. I think that?s probably true. The early goal gave Chelsea the impetus to come out and play and it took a Frank Lampard wonder strike to settle it in the end.
The other point was the injuries we have. If ever there was a game we needed Arteta it was today as we just had nobody to put their foot on the ball and get us going when we were desperate. I?d be intrigued to see how even Chelsea would cope with the injuries we?ve had. The difference in financial value was also apparent when we saw Ballack coming off the bench as a sub!
All the texts from friends were of the ?ah well, you did well to get this far? persuasion but I don?t think we should be buying this glorious failure nonsense anymore. Regardless, we have done well given the run we?ve had, and under Moyes I?m convinced we?ll only continue to move in the right direction. Thanks to Ste?s driving we were back in Liverpool by around 9pm.
Never mind eh. Remember, we?re all going on a European tour!
Player Ratings:
Howard: Could he have saved Lampard?s strike? Regardless he strangely didn?t have a lot to do otherwise. 6
Baines: Supplied one superb cross which Saha should have buried but otherwise his game was more about defence as Chelsea provided most of the attacking in this one. 6
Yobo: My man of the match. I thought he repelled Chelsea?s attacks well and in the main nullified the attacking threat of Drogba superbly. Regardless he may have nightmares about both the goals. The first for letting Drogba in ahead of him, and the second for not closing Lampard down quick enough. 7
Lescott: Was all over the place at times in the first half but toughened up a bit in the second period. 6
Hibbert: Wasn?t doing badly but having been booked he had to be changed as we?d have had no chance with 10 men. 6
Neville: Kept on working hard in the middle but it wasn?t to be for Phil. 6
Pienaar: Did his best to effect the game but was well shut out by Bosingwa. 6
Osman: Never got going at all sadly. 5
Fellaini: One of the better ones I thought. Kept on going. We could have done with him getting forward more but I guess he was needed a bit more in midfield. Good knock down for the goal. 7
Cahill: Certainly didn?t like fight but just didn?t get in and around the box enough unfortunately. 6
Saha: Did very well up top on his own. Put in a good shift until subbed. Took his goal superbly. 7
Jacobsen (for Hibbert): Fitted in just fine and got forward pretty well. I think we should keep him on for another year if possible. 7
Vaughan (for Saha): Worked as expected but unfortunately the game was slipping away from Everton when he was on. 6
Gosling (for Osman): Not on long. Can?t judge.
Reader Comments
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I did not see him make one winning tackle or create one goal scoring opportunity. Somehow he seemed to completely dissapear from the action.
My sympathy goes to Hibbert because completely unaided by Osman he had to deal with two wingers.
Was never a booking, Malouda actually didn’t get around him much and one of them was when it pinged right into his path off a deflection from Fellaini. For the goal it was actually Osman who was closest to the cross and could have put more pressure on. Hiddink had decided to attack our right and with Osman giving a lot of ball away Hibbo was up against it. But he didn’t do that badly. There are some facts but we all know that the Hibbert haters on this site never let facts get in the way of a good rant.
So carry on.
I completely agree with what you say about the crowd. We could have done more. We all know that collectively we could have been louder when they needed us to be.
Great day though and I thought that as about two thirds of us hung around after it showed a bit of class to both our own players and to Chelsea.
I think Hibbo was the only fair-haired player on the pitch! He’s probably spent his life like Paul, avoiding the direct sun, and may have sufferred from the heat more than most.
Some are saying that the game passed him by.....etc.
In my opinion he was asked to do a job on Lampard.
He shackled him all game, exept for when the overated checkbook charlie wriggled free and scored.
Even then he should have been closed down quicker. But the rest of the defence stood off him and the rest is history.
Osman’s inabilty to win free-kicks when he is muscled off the ball was putting the pressure on Hibbert. And it was Osman who failed to press Malouda for the cross to Drogba.
How in the name of buggery fuck did you get from liverpool to Stanmore in 3 hours???
That’s been swirling around in my mind for the last 4 days. I guess I would have agreed with Moyes team selection although my pref for right back was Jacobsen (honest). Moyes fixed that up at half time and I guess most people would agree with the injection of fresh legs (Vaughan & Gosling) in the second half. So, was there anything else he could have done?
Just want to run this up the proverbial flag pole and see who salutes:-
What if for the second half we had opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation. Back 4 the same, Neville and Rodwell sitting in front of back 4 , Peanuts (L), Screech (C) and Tim (R) in front of them and Saha (later Vaughan) up front? Rodwell is pretty athletic (handy on a hot day), cool under pressure and is good defending and at linking up with the back 4 and distributing the ball. Cahill has a better engine than Osman (or Gosling) and would provide more cover and offensive options on the right.
Anyway, that’s my thinking.
I don’t see why as it was Lescott that Drogba beat to the header for the first and Neville that failed to close down Lampard for the second.
I must say I feel as though I know Ste, Gary and Stu and hope they’ll all be back next season.
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1 Posted 01/06/2009 at 13:52:02
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