The Mail Bag
Cahill Out; Jacobsen debuts
Comments (72)
The team is:
Howard
Jacobson, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines
Osman, Neville, Fellaini, Pienaar
Jo, Saha
Format 4-4-2
SUBS not announced on website
COYB
Nev and fellani to score 2-0 win
David Moore, Posted 21/03/2009 at 10:16:27
Comments
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http://livefooty.doctor-serv.com/sat21.3/Portsmouth_Everton5.html
What a finish!!!
What is going on?
Frustrating as hell to just see them running straight into Pompys defence over and over. What do they expect to happen!!??
Jo’s woeful. My head sinks every time the ball comes to him. Seems like a good lad, but surely there’s no chance we’ll be signing him?
Fingers crossed for the second half, anyway. We need the three points here!
COYB!
It’s a shame as after his first match in a blue shirt I had high hopes for him.
Piennar is same build as Osman but he gets into the game and looks for the ball, Osman just can't cut it. Moyes had nothing on the bench to change it; we need money in the summer again but let's face it Billy Bullshit won't produce it.
Let's hope we get some people back soon, particularily looking forward to someone fresh up front in Vaughan and hope Cahill is ok after the international break.
We must try to keep hold of the team in the summer and make some additions, rather than letting a few go, and buying a few, because then we still risk being this threadbare again.
Thought Jacobsen should have done better on both goals, but other than that he did okay.
Playing Jo is like playing with ten men.
We never look the same side when we play two up top. Five in the middle every time for me.
Very disappointing. Let’s just hope Villa and Arsenal slip up this weekend too.
Alan Codd, Billy bullshit found 15mil for Moyes to waste on that big fucking lump in midfield.
We got beat to every 50-50 ball. And why when we play against a tall striker do we shit ourselves?
Also, why the fuck does Moyes wait 'til we're getting beat before he makes a change? And why with only 5 minutes to go?? And then 1 minute??? It's really fucking annoying when you're watching shite and can see that you're going to get beat, you are waiting for the manager to be pro-active but as usual he?s reactive and fucking too late with it. Fucking tit head.
Rule one: Mark the Beanpole, take him out if neccesary.
Rule Two: Learn to pass to own team-mate from five yards.
Rule three: Fight!
Three points given to a team of yard dogs. They?ve been great so far this season Everton... today they surrendered. Gutted.
What also angered me watching the game was that the system we were playing just wasn?t working and as the game went on it was obvious we needed to bring Gosling on and switch back to our familiar 4-5-1 to give us width, but Moyes waits until 4 minutes to go to bring him on??!! Why??!! I can?t wait until Tim Cahill is back after seeing such a passionless display from a couple of players.
It was a mediocre performance but we still had enough of the ball to win it. The ref was appalling - I?ve seen us score goals like that before and had them disallowed - first was a foul on Lescott, second Howard was blocked. We defo need to drop the zonal marking thing.
My biggest problem is with Fellaini - he was shite again and couldn?t cover up the cracks with a goal like he has done in the past. Desperate for him to dominate in midfield but I don?t think that day will ever come. He was bullied by that arsehole Icelandic fullback.
We really missed Tim and we shouldn?t forget our best best players were missing, but it definitely feels like at least a point dropped. Baines, Jags, Pienaar and Neville were all top dollar again.
Bottom line is that we will not go any further without getting money in... FACT! We cant go on having the smallest squad in the Prem and expect to make the top four.
Credit to Moyes and the players he has that we are in sixth place.
Joleon was pisspoor in the first half. The passing is slipshod. This was a repeat of the second half against Stoke without Tim Cahill. We scored too early and did not compete strongly enough after that bearing in mind these teams are fighting for their lives.
Face it, guys, we are just not good enough despite getting some scorelines in our favour since Xmas.
I hope I am eating my words next season. I doubt it though...
That aside, still think with the injuries the Toffees have had, we have done great this season; let's hope they don?t start have the effect of derailing our season from now.
In the past we have outfought teams at home and this time, with a ref who let a lot of stuff go, we backed off in too many positions on the field.
We needed to hold the ball in midfield and didn?t and put ourselves under pressure as a result. Maybe Moyesie was going for 3 points with the two strikers, but personally I would rather have taken my chances with Rodwell on from the get go with a 5-man midfield with Fellaini playing off Saha or Jo.
Portsmouth were allowed to take liberties with their tackling and we looked like we backed down. Obviously injuries are taking their toll but against a poor Portsmouth 11 we should have had enough to take something out of the game. It was predicatable that they would score from headers because we never looked comfortable dealing with the ball in the air.
Portsmouth picked themselves up and were always going to have their 15 mins, problem was they scored. A must win game for them on 29 pts. They gained confidence and also started closing us down hard and fast.
Having said that, Jo missed a golden opportunity to knock that confidence and belief out of them. Minimum, he should hit the target. As said above, this type of game showed why we miss Arteta so much. Cahill was sorely missed today as well. His style of play, never-say-die attitude and drive, would have pushed us on.
But you have to give credit to Portsmouth. Deep in trouble and a goal down after 3 minutes. I thought they played very well and made it extremely difficult for us, all over the park. Fighting for their lives, they tried to play football but also got stuck in without going over the top.
We couldn?t find a cutting edge today. I thought we tried hard but it just wasn?t happening. At least Saha got 90 mins in.
Early kick offs ? hate ?em.
COYB
Jacobsen - Didn?t look bad, assured with the ball
Baines - Great for periods, ok in other periods
Lescott - Not a good one for Lescott.
Jagielka - Solid
Pienaar - Our best man today, was everywhere in periods, gutsy!
Osman - Ineffective, but not horrendous
Neville - Decent game for most of it
Fellaini - Spectator
Saha - Spectator
Jo - Tried a lot, but never dangerous
Poor, poor game
As for Tom McGrath and the other Fellaini baiters, get a fucking grip.
Fellaini had a terrible game but to single him out for stick is totally stupid. The whole side was largely below par.
Tactically we were outdone today as Portsmouth targeted our full backs aerially and got physical with Ossie and Pienaar who could not cope with the knocks.
However that long streak, Crouch, obviously had different ideas. And sadly things worked out for him today.
I don’t think it fair to single out any particular player for criticism. However I do not understand how Moyes persists in playing Osman. Which means I have done what I said I wouldn’t do !
However that long streak, Crouch, obviously had different ideas. And sadly things worked out for him today.
I don’t think it fair to single out any particular player for criticism. However I do not understand how Moyes persists in playing Osman. Which means I have done what I said I wouldn’t do !
The howlers today were leaving Crouch completely unmarked on the second goal, again having nobody on the post for the corner (what is Moyes thinking with that?) and Osman with that ghastly free kick. The good news was that Saha went 90 -- admittedly at half speed. The better news is that Jacobsen is really good. He’s not getting much credit here, but for a debut after six months in the weeks, this was outstanding. He was positionally perfect and confident on the ball, and despite going at him repeatedly, Portsmouth got little down that side.
We just had no ideas at the offensive end except winning free kicks... nothing else produced chances. And Portsmouth played with desperation and with Crouch, whom I’ve always rated, clearly the best player on the pitch today. Due credit.


And sorry to some earlier posters ? I managed to loose your posts.