Afraid of us

Comments (9)

I managed to catch the Everton ? Villa match on cable television here in Malaysia. Absolutely delighted that we got the win, an pretty convincingly too I must say. My observations from the match:

Arteta definitely is the heart beat of our team. He just knows what to do with the ball, when to switch play, when to run, or when to play it safe with a back pass. And he can tackle too! Superb...

Anichebe just doesn't have enough as a striker. Yes, he's strong and is reasonably quick ? the way he won the penalty by bulldozing his way through the Villa defence is evidence of that. Yet, there were too many times for my liking when he lost the ball easily or shot inaccurately. But then, he was involved in the third goal as well, which was crucial to us. So what are we to make of him? A liability in the long run? Only able to produce something once in a while? He seems to have that important foundation of strength and some pace... but mentally I think he's still Reserves quality...

Gosling to me is still learning. The positives for me are his willingness and bravery in getting shots on goal. He was played on left-wing during the Villa match, but I really don't think that is his position. He doesn't have the pace or build to be able to get past the defender. There were probably 2-3 times when he tried to push the ball past the defender, who just got in the way slightly and the ball was lost. I see him as being a replacement for Cahill as a goal-getting midfielder, even though their abilities are quite different. Could this be a sign of Moyes's intentions in changing the team's playing style in the future?

Rodwell. If this guy was was playing for any of the Sky4, his face would be plastered all over the media by now. He is frighteningly good! Cool temperament, accurate passing, skillful with the ball at his feet... this boy is going to be a star! It's hard to believe he's only 17!!!

As a team, I also believe that we've developed a crucial element that is needed to compete. That is: OTHER TEAMS REALLY DO FEAR US! From what I see and read about Villa, I expected them to do better on Sunday. In Ashley Young and Agbonlahor, they have two really fast and good forwards. And when they got the equalizing penalty using that pace, I thought they had the upper hand mentally and would go on to press us with their pace. But that didn't happen.

Even in the second half when we relaxed a little, I didn't see too much threat in their much-feared and talked-about pace. For example, there were times when Young had the ball on the wing and I was always expecting him to try and take it past Hibbert, but instead he always chose to cross it from deep, which doesn't seem to be his natural play.

And Petrov seemed to pass the ball backwards more often rather than take the ball forward or try to shoot. To be honest, while I have no doubt we played well, I think the other crucial factor was that Villa were afraid of us and didn't play to their own game.

It's clear that many other teams and managers are envious of us for the way we've come so far on so a limited budget, but looking at our recent match with Villa, I do believe that adding to this acknowledgement of us as a good team is the growing mentality that Everton are indeed a team that others are afraid to play....

Well done, boys!!!
Marcus Choo, Malaysia     Posted 16/02/2009 at 11:38:36

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