From my seat: Portsmouth (A)

Good balanced report, that. I don’t think anyone will be too happy with the way we invited trouble onto ourselves in the second half, but I’m stoked to win, anyway. I think at this point the result is the most important thing, while we’re trying to build confidence.

I just hope, hope, hope that Peanuts is ok. And I’d like to see Neill get a go.

You clearly did not watch the same game, I was sat in the stand and could not believe that people were content with the performance, it was crap. Osman piss poor as always. Fellaini a complete waste of space, Heitinga — crap, Hibbert a liability.

Either you and others are happy with this drivel and dour hoofball tactics under Moyes or you just have poor standards.

Yes, people do watch the same game, but bring their own perceptions and prejudices to it. Ken always gives a reasoned and balanced report. As for Chris Perry, our performance was not ’crap’ and anyone who claims Fellaini was a ’complete waste of space’ can’t see past their own prejudices.

We were up against a team really fired up and who kept up a high pressure game for 90 minutes. We played well in patches, particualrly in the first half, but lost the plot in the latter part of the second. As usual we were much stronger down the left than the right.

The positives — Saha and his goal; a generally solid defence, with Howard excellent; Pienaar until his injury; and yes, Fellaini, whose all-round game was excellent until he faded in the last 15 minutes.

The negatives — Rodwell had his poorest game this season and was too often caught in possession; Osman was anonymous on the flanks again; Heitinga was given the run around in parts of the first half.

One thing that few people have noted is that the pressure was really turned up after Pienaar went off — we just didn’t cope as well and had less creative threat.

On our new (foreign) signings, people think that they can just step into the pace of the Premier League. Neither played particularly well yesterday, but let’s give it a few months before we make definitive judgements.

Ken, a pretty balanced account of the game though I thought Osman had a complete stinker. However, I whole heartily agree, Fellaini put in a great shift. He was everywhere, unfortunately he tired as the game progressed unsurprisingly. He won more than his fair share of tackles, his distribution was good, and he defended when he had to. A great all-round performance and easily our MotM.

This was always going to be a tough physical encounter. Rodwell was disappointing by his own standards but he’s very young and as I’ve said on another thread we do perhaps expect too much from him.

In fairness, we were extremely lucky to come away with a result but you're always going to get games like this during the course of a season and the important thing is that you win them. Let's hope we move on and learn from it.

Gary / Paul et al, The performance was crap, these are bottom, won none, made up of championship or loan players at the last minute and we were still second best to 80% of the ball. Dour dour hoofball fans as you clearly are need to wake up and smell the coffee... Fellaini ran the show? My arse!

Got to watch Everton live here in India for the 2nd week in a row. After the Pienaar injury in the 2nd half, we were constantly under pressure, and rarely kept posession for any length of time. Personally, I thought Osman and Rodwell had poor games, with Cahill going missing for large parts of the game. Coupled with a very enthusiastic, and at times, skillful display from Pompey and the luck that seemed to favour us for a change, I almost felt sorry for the Portsmouth team, manager and fans that they did not get anything out of this one.

My ratings:

Saha: 7, Another day, another classy strike.
Cahill: 6, Apart from a couple of headers, was largely anonymous for me.
Fellaini: 7, had a terrific match. He was the only one winning headers for us in the middle of the park. If he had some more skillful players around him, his flick-ons could have resulted in more possession, if not more goals.
Rodwell: 5, a poor match by his recent high standards. Just did not seem to be intent on taking the ball forward. Moyes would be wise to give him a short break (1-2 games max) to allow him to see what happens around him in the centre of the pitch.
Osman: 5, another poor performance from the right wing. Probably, Gosling would be a better option in that position. Is Moyes the only person not to realise that Osman is only effective in the centre of the midfield?
Pienaar: 6, somehow he seemed to be playing below par even before his injury, but was still our most creative outlet in attack. Gave away a needless foul, which resulted in the best chance that Pompey had. Still, waiting with bated breath on the report of his injury.
Heitinga: 6, the jury is still out. Got caught defensively a couple of occasions, but his raking diagonal ball resulted in the only goal. He seems to be schooled defensively in the "play it out of danger" rather than "smack it out of danger" model that we are used to seeing under Moyes, so it would be wise to wait some time before passing judgement.
Yobo: 8, a solid defensive performance.
Distin: 7, was unfazed by the booing and looked as solid as Lescott was last season.
Baines: 7, neat, tidy, hard-working on the left flank, but nothing spectacular today.
Howard: 8, my MotM, some fantastic saves. 4th clean sheet in a row.

I am relieved at the 3 points, but also very worried about the Pienaar injury and the slight niggle that Saha seemed to have picked up at the end of the match. Also worried by the seeming inability of Moyes to change things around, when we are under the cosh.

Next game, BATE away, so maybe an opportunity to rest some sore and tired limbs.

Back in the Top 10, so well done Blues!!

I din’t care where Portsmouth are coming on the table, every team is hard to beat at this level. Look at Wigan, we were far better than them recently and we deservedly won and yet today they come out and play like world beaters disposing of Chelski. We hammered Blackburn recently and today they gave it to Villa.

Portsmouth played well and their supporters made life difficult for us. We looked sharp at times and devoid of ideas at others but we did enough to get the points and that's what we needed.
MotM has to be Tim Howard by miles.

We were poor, of that there is no doubt. On another day, Pompey would have had two or three goals but fortunately luck was very much on our side and Howard made a couple of very good saves.

However, to look at Pompey’s position and personnel would be to only look at half the story. They are playing without pressure as the general assumption is that they will be relegated and they are playing with a lot of spirit in order to prove people wrong. It should also be noted that they've been very unlucky in previous games, against Villa for instance and even against Arsenal at the Emirates, where they missed some massive chances and were unfortunate not to be playing against 10 men after a Gallas last minute foul.

I think Chris you are wrong to assume that we should run the show because Pompey are a poorer team. I wasn't happy with the performance either but going away from home is never easy in the Premier League, whoever the opponent, as Manchester United and Chelsea will testify this season.

Every team has bad days, which we clearly had; however, to win on those days, in whatever fashion, is/has been the mark of a successful team and despite the performance, we’ve now won four on the bounce. Getting past the mental block of a first away win in the prem will prove hugely important.

I’ve just posted on the ’Good Enough’ thread about how supporters overly critcise certain players while others are left alone, and on this thread and the one mentioned only one poster mentioned Tim Cahill, and gave him a derserved 5/10 for another lacklustre performance. Either he’s carrying an injury or he wants away to a better climate as he was recently alledged to have said, but apart from a few headers he is bringing nothing to the team and hasn’t all season.

I’d like to see Osman moved inside where his quick feet and low center of gravity would be more effective, because as we all know, he isn’t a wide player.

Chris, I haven’t read a single post from anyone suggesting they are happy with the performance as a whole. Yes, we’re all happy and accepting of the result but therein lies the difference.

I think we all share your frustration. However, you do need to be a bit more objective. Generally speaking, the vast majority of opinions on Fellaini’s performance range between average to good to excellent. Somehow you’ve concluded he was a "waste of space". Paul rightly states that you really need to see past your own prejudice with respect to the player.

In relation to overall team performance, we played some good football first half and Fellaini was pretty much running the show during that period. Second half, Fellaini began to tire and we lost Pienaar and it is fair to say we resorted to hoofball.

But for me Rodwell was poor by his standards and Fellaini had to work very hard to compensate for that. Rodwell's a young lad who’s been outstanding this term so he’s going to have days like this. However, you’ve made no allowance for that — sometimes one needs to try and see the bigger picture.

Well for what its worth I thought we were very poor against Pompey and were very lucky to get anything from the game.

I'm very worried about Heitinga. I saw him play for Holland against England in the recent friendly. James Milner, who you don’t normally see going past people, had no problem going past him, gave him a right roasting.

From yesterday's display, I don’t think he is any improvement on Tony Hibbert and I’m beginning to wonder what we will do with him. Don’t forget Athletico Madrid let him go after only twelve months. Yes I know it is early days but still, I just can’t believe he is Holland's first-choice right back, he hasn’t even got a bit of pace about him.

Like others on here I’m also very worried about Pienaar suffering a long-term injury. All the signs are that it seems highly likely. He has been such an influential player for us since Arteta was injured that he will be badly missed.

I have started to wonder what is happening on the training ground for so many players to be picking up this sort of injury, surely it can’t just be bad luck. In all my time following Everton, I can’t remember this similar type of injury happening to so many players. Arteta, Jags, Neville, Anichebe and now probably Pienaar. What's going on?

Steve, All the players you mention got injured by dodgy tackles in matches so what has the training ground got to do with it?

I agree with you that we were poor against Pompey. Second half we could have thrown an extra forward on to try and grab a second and make it safe. Unfortunately, Moyes just isn't proactive. He reacts to how the game pans out rather than try to dictate it’s pattern.

John — It's true what you say but players are the subject of bad tackles all the time. Why do we end up with ligament damage as a result? The number of players being injured this way is what is making me think that there is an underlying problem. You're now talking about probably five players with a similar injury, all in the space of twelve months. I can’t remember any team picking up all these similar type of injuries in such a short space of time. Don’t forget, these injuries would have ended a players career in times gone by.

Steve, I am sure the staff have watched each injury over and over again in slow motion, and tried to assess exactly what the cause was and do something about it. I am positive that as a club, Everton take into account injury prevention when training.

But in the case of Neville and Anichebe, I am sure nothing could have prevented it. Yak did his achilles, so that leaves two genuine knee ligament injuries.

In any case, I doubt anybody on here can really answer the question regarding how the club trains with respect to injury prevention...

It just makes you wonder what is going on. In 50 years of watching Everton I’ve not seen anything like this. Maybe it is just bad luck.

Let's be honest here, we got the 3 points and that's so important to us right now. We will play alot better this season and lose so just accept we did the job

Performances were poor overall and I thought our Flying Dutchman didn't exactly fly. For me, he was our poorest player.

I was impressed with our keeper yesterday, he made some good saves, especially the one in the first half from a very crisp Pompey move (as the shot came in Distin made a not so cleverly disguised shove on their forward, but we got away with it).

I don’t think we were quite as bad as some make out. We played some good football at times and were ourselves unlucky not to score two or three.

After an over-hit cross by Baines, an excellent piece of work from Osman (which has gone uncredited here) saw him turn a defender inside-out and then plant the ball right on Fellaini’s nut and had me screaming "Goal!" as he headed it down and on goal, only to see James keep it out with his left boot. WD to James and unlucky Blues! Then in the second half Timmy Cahill had one cleared off the line too.

There are no easy games in the Prem, especially away from home. Look at Burnley, they’ve lost consecutive away games 2, 3, 4 and now 5 nil on the bounce but opened their season with a home win over the title holders and last season’s Champions League beaten finalists.

Four wins on the bound, 12 for, none against. Crap isn’t it?!

Fellaini - frustrating to watch at times. Is it just me or does anyone else think he pushes some of the most suicidal passes to team-mates... Moysie, tell him to twat the ball a bit harder!

Spot on, Gerry; judging from the wide range of comments, some of us find him difficult to watch while others think he "bosses the midfield"... !?! Certainly not the impression I get.

And those under-hit passes... very frustrating. It’s all part of his slow pace to the game... I have the same complaint about Jô; sadly, it all contributes to (or is the reason for) our very limited pace going forward. Which, of course, is another great reason to hoof it upfield!

With respect to the knee injuries (and most injuries in general) fatigue plays a big part and makes a person/player more susceptible and therefore a smaller squad like ours last season results in more injuries. Although some of the impact injuries we’ve seen, i.e Anichebe and Neville, were just unfortunate, a few injuries, esp the Jags and Arteta knee injuries, could be blamed partly on fatigue.

With respect to Fellaini, I dont think he played poorly against pompey, tbh I thought Rodwell looked very poor, but games like that are inevitable at his age. But with Fellaini, his touch, speed and passing consistency has always been a concern, although he has had some fantastic games for us, I think that part of the game will always let him down.

Portsmouth had lost 6 PL games on the bounce before we went yesterday (having won scoring 3 in the C Cup midweek). They had lost 1-0 to Fulham, Birmingham and Billionaire City, 2-3 to Bolton, 2-0 at Villa and 4-1 at Arsenal. Their preparation for our visit probably consisted of a replaying a few Winston Churchill wartime speeches and stud sharpening.

The ’referee’ obviously thought these plucky lads deserved a win at last. He let them get away with persistent fouling, usually from behind as they had been beaten for skill, without the four or five cards they should have been awarded.

How such a piss-poor team as us managed to win 6 corners and get about 7 or 8 shots on target beggars belief. Perhaps the match officials can do very little about this.

And if we are supposed to be a hoofball team now, let’s see much more, like Heitinga’s superb delivery up to Saha, who knows what to do with a quality pass.

A good point, Gerry, about the suicidal passes yesterday by Fellaini, although he was by no means the only culprit.

The normally crisp passing of Rodwell was also lacking on several occasions, which I concluded may be due to the cut of the grass at Fratton Park.

The slickness and "zip" of Goodison was certainly missing, leading to plenty of under-hit passes.

Maybe the Pompey staff witnessed our recent home displays (and at the manicured KC Stadium) and decided to let the grass grow?

I am aghast at all the people saying Fellaini ran the show. He was dreadful... Underhit, slow lazy passes, his usual one-paced efforts to get about the pitch (although I do believe I saw him sprint once, much to the delight of me and the two lads I was watching with!).

I agree he's an incredibly frustrating player, I can see that he has a bit about him, but he just does not seem interested most of the time. Like I say, the amount of times he gave away or almost gave away possession yesterday was far far too often for my liking. After all, isn't that what Hibbo (The White Cafu) and Osman get so much shit for? Fellaini makes a lot of players around him look bad at times, as he plays lazy passes that jeopardise his team-mates and makes them struggle.

I’m hoping that he does it for us (and gets the hair cut), but me and the lads I watch with are just not seeing the controlling displays from this midfield dynamo, that a number of people on here rave about...

Everton were lucky and mediocre yesterday. If Howard hadn’t been on form we would have deservedly lost. Hull Reserves and AEK would make a League One side look good.

Of course it will appear churlish after four wins to be critical but I believe we are a mediocre side totally devoid of guile and pace. The team selection is consistently negative as are the tactics.

Good sides can win when playing poorly; sometimes, so can average ones.

A somewhat generous match report from Ken, I thought. Overall there was much to be concerned about as we look at the season stretches out before us. I considered Pompey very unlucky not to have taken something from the game (& not just a few well-deserved yellow cards!).

We can be thankful for the the defensive performances of Yobo, Distin & above all Howard for saving the win yesterday. It seems to me Moyes has still got plenty of work to do, despite the improved performances in our previous three matches — although not in the Premier League, of course.

I also didn’t think Osman was all that poor & didn’t deserve to be singled out for criticism, but would like to see him in the centre where he could be much more influential.

If Tim Howard isn’t a top flight keeper he shouldn’t be playing for us. He is, and he does. Leighton Baines is a class attacking LB, one of the best in the land. He kept out their efforts yesterday. They earn their corn by doing that. That’s what they’re supposed to do.

David James stopped Marouane Fellaini from scoring with an outstretched boot. That’s what he’s supposed to do. It's not astrophysics, it's football.

Anyone who thinks the Big Fella’s hair is worthy of mention compromises their right to assess him as a footballer, in my opinion.

Hi, just found this website... as a Toffee in exile in Malaysia, it's a godsend — so much better than the official one.

I watched the Portsmouth game on TV here. I am afraid I agree with Chris Perry for most of what he says that Everton were poor. I don't think the cliche that it's always hard in the Premier League to win away from home can be applied in this context.

The problem is simple, at the moment our tactics and personnel are not geared to retain possession, we simply give it away far too much. By doing this we simply handed the initiative back to Portsmouth and allowed them to take the game by the scruff of the neck. In the end, they deserved at least a point.

I have seen Everton a lot on TV in recent years here and the pattern is always the same. Get 1-0 up and then hang on; I agree with Chris, it's not pretty to watch. I would prefer to see us push on from positions like this and go for the jugular — something you see the Top Four do so well.

I am not saying we have the same resources but we do have some good players in albeit an understrength squad and I am sick of us playing such a one-dimensional game away from home.

Surely this was a good win. Pompey have reached the stage where they are going to beat someone and no one will relish going down there.

I was impressed with their fans (although the bell ringer needs seeing to) and with the commitment and attitude of their players. I don’t condone the challenge on Peanuts but yes, they gave us a hard time and so they should have done.

They reminded me of us a few years ago when we couldn’t buy a goal at the start of the season and then Gary Ablett popped up to score the winner against West Ham at Goodison. I had the clipping for the Echo pinned up on the kitchen wall for some time and that’s how desperate they are for a win.

Of course we want Everton to win every game 5-0 and this was perceived by some as a ’gimme’ but the reality of the Premier League doesn’t bear this out. This game was a huge potential banana skin and the next team to go to Fratton Park, be it Hull or Man Utd, will not be looking forward to the game.

For what it’s worth, my wife was extremely concerned at the performance of Heitinga and she thinks the Big Fella should get a hair cut! Sorry, Keith, but any wife who insists her son turns over from watching NCIS to see Everton play deserves her opinion to be aired!

My own opinion on the underhit passes is that we were under pressure for a lot of the game but if my U-16 players had hit so many ’hospital’ passes, I would have dragged them off the pitch. It really made me very nervous.

Sorry Ken, forgot to say — excellent post mate. I always enjoy reading your reports — no screaming ab dabs and. whilst I may not agree with everything, you always make me feel as if I was there and not watching on the telly from 12,000 miles away.

Talking about credit where its due, but I'm always quick to criticise Howard. He has never quite convinced me.

However, yesterday I thought he was outstanding. The save in the first half from Dindane was excellent, the ball seemed to be past him, but his best save was the one that Sky claimed ’just hit him’. If you watch the replay you will see him stick his shoulder out to deflect the ball. Top drawer.

More of the same please Tim and maybe, just maybe I can stop longing for Big Nev or Marytn to come out of retirement!!!

You have been generous to us this time Ken as I think we were more than a little lucky to get away with this one.

I watched replays of Tottenham and the shite and neither played particularly well in the first part of either of their games against inferior competition but they keep up an attacking stance and the goals come. We on the other hand do the opposite from a goal up and just scraped through.

As for Fellaini, I totally agree with Alex. I thought he was dire and he screws up so many attacking moves with his poor passes. No doubt he’s got talent but if ever there was a player who needs a rocket up his arse it’s this guy.

Good point made about the length of the grass. I actually passed comment to my son about it during the game. It does leave you thinking that they may have left it a bit longer after seeing us in mid-week. If they did it was a good ploy by them because it certainly appeared to slow us down and maybe stopped us playing at a higher tempo.

First of all, a big Hello to all you lads from Germany. Yes, there is a German Evertonian here, if you don't mind.

I've followed Everton since early 80s but I have never been a fan of kick and rush and stuff like that. What frustrates me most is the fact that Everton is still playing a very hectic and confused brand of football. I mean this team should be able to play a relaxed and clean football against likes of Pompey.

Yeah sure, they have fought hard but who cares, a lot of teams play hard against Barcelona and they still find a way to dominate if you know what I mean. I really think there is not much talent around in Everton.

It's hard to admit but I watch West Ham who are residing at the end of the table and you see a certain system behind their game, they try to keep the ball on the ground, play a clean one-touch football but I don't see all that happening in Everton.

I simply don't see the signature of the coach on this team unless the current confused style is what he wants to see. I don't know if I am too harsh but its unfortunately the way I feel about this team right now.

Fellaini? Give me a break. A complete waste of time and roster spot. This guy is one-paced, absolutely not interested in what he is doing, not even trying to give everything and he constantly gets his own teammates into trouble because of his real bad passes.

I always feel like the guy passes the ball just to give it away, to transfer the responsibility to someone else but not in order to make something useful happen. It's a shame that a team like Everton has to stick with the likes of Fellaini just because we don't have anyone to replace him.

Hibbert is another player that actually would have a hard time making the starting 11 in a better Championship squad let alone a Premier League side. He is all about security because he knows about his inabilities. Useless security passes to the guy next to him. That's it.

You can not involve him in a real powerfull offensive game plan where people have to display confidence and the ability to make things happen on their own. What do we have from him passing the ball to the guy behind him just because he knows he would lose the ball trying to get past the opponent in front of him?

Yobo? He is good, a physically good player but not a good last man in a team that intends to play a controlled game from behind. He very often just kicks the ball away where he actually could relax, look and play a nice clean pass to the side or to an unmarked midfielder. He is a typcial marker, he could cover a striker but right now he adds to the confusion on the field by constantly kicking the ball away into the opponents half without an aim and target.