VIEW FROM THE BLUE

Bolton Wanderers 2-0 Everton

By Lyndon Lloyd :  14/02/2011 :  Comments (12) :

From the never-say-die fightback against Blackpool to abject surrender against Bolton, it's hard to know which Everton will turn up these days. A performance as bad ? arguably worse ? as any served up to date this season got the result it deserved at the Reebok Stadium as David Moyes's Blues went down without a fight to a 2-0 defeat.

Yes, this was a changed line-up from the one that started last weekend but this horror show went far beyond the loss of the on-fire Louis Saha or the increasingly settled Jack Rodwell. This was a collective failure on an angering scale, one bereft by the end of any real desire or spirit and as the flurries of infighting between some of the players emerged on the pitch, the fixed glare of resignation on the countenance of the manager perhaps said it all. Things are very wrong at Goodison Park and on this evidence they're likely to get a lot worse.

From the outset, things didn't bode all that well for Everton. Presumably planning to match Bolton's physical presence at the back, Moyes opted to deploy Victor Anichebe as the lone striker in Saha's absence ahead of the returning Tim Cahill. But it became apparent very quickly that the home defence was going to lap up everything thrown at them in the air and that the Blues would have been far better served trying to open then up on the ground.

Unfortunately, exacerbated by a shortage of confidence, that has been a big problem for this team all season long and it was telling that they managed just two shots on target all game. One came from Mikel Arteta late in the first half, the other came from substitute Jose Baxter as equally belatedely in the second. Otherwise, Everton's best chance of the game fell to Tim Cahill after 16 minutes from one of the few crosses that threatened to open Bolton up but he couldn't steer the ball home and the ball bounced a couple of feet wide of Jussi Jaaskeleinen's left-hand post.

Had that chance been converted, it would have leveled the scores and the game might have been very different because though they'd conceded a sloppy goal seven minutes earlier, the Blues were arguably the better side in the early going despite the fact that an over-reliance on the long ball meant that they were making little headway against a resolute Bolton rearguard.

By contrast, Owen Coyle's men scored with their first meaningful ball in the box, albeit from a free kick that should never been awarded in a month of Sundays. Paul Robinson appeared to impede Anichebe as the two challenged for the ball on the Bolton left but the Everton striker was penalised for reasons known only to referr Lee Probert who amply demonstrated that he's not getting any better with experience.

The free kick was swung in towards the six-yard box, Gary Cahill easily lost his namesake Tim to meet the flight of the ball and headed the Trotters into the lead off the arm of John Heitinga. 1-0 to Bolton but plenty of time for Everton to get back into it.

Their first opportunity was a carbon copy of the set piece that Bolton converted just two minutes previously but Leighton Baines' free kick was too low and easily cleared and after Cahill had knocked his good chance wide, the Blues wouldn't create another scoring chance until four minutes before the break when Arteta finally took up the invitation to have a shot but his curling effort was caught by the 'keeper.

That was followed by a terrific counter-attack opportunity and some impressive awareness by Diniyar Bilyaletdinov to sweep the ball on to Seamus Coleman but the Irishman's first touch got away from him and so dod the chance. He almost atoned for his sloppiness in first-half injury time, though, but his left-footed cross-cum-shot flashed across the face of goal in front of Anichebe and Cahill.

The second half kicked off with no obvious sign of anything having been changed by Moyes and the fact that nothing happened worth describing between the restart and his first substitutions on the hour mark told it's own story. Everton were creating absolutely nothing. Arteta was busy but not able to inspire much, Marouane Fellaini could barely find a Blue shirt all afternoon, Coleman betrayed signs of a hangover from his international exploits for Ireland, Bilyaletdinov looked every bit the clumsy and error-prone player whose ability to make it in the Premier League has looked so questionable, and Cahill was well shackled by Bolton, though he did try with a turn and shot from the edge of the box in the 62nd minute but his shot ballooned over.

Five minutes after that, Bolton doubled their lead and killed the game. Another ball lofted into the box wasn't dealt with, Gary Cahill out-muscling Heitinga and Lee beating Baines to the bounce with a header that dropped to Daniel Sturridge and the on-loan striker finished well with a crisp shot inside the far post.

There was plenty of time left but any fight Everton had had ? which wasn't much ? was draining away fast, exemplified in the shocking body language of Anichebe whose infamous petulance raised its head as he wandered around the pitch in a sulk before being hauled off by Moyes with 12 minutes to go. Hopefully that will be the last time he ever pulls on the Royal Blue Jersey but the manager's striking options being as slim as they are, we're probably stuck with the miserable sod until at least the end of the season.

Anichebe's replacement, Baxter, at least showed some effort and pride while around him players were bellowing at each other for not reading their minds and Moyes sat stone-faced and dejected in the dugout with no one, not even Steve Round sat within five seats of him. After Holden had had what television replays would prove was a perfectly good goal disallowed, Baxter forced the only real save Jaaskeleined had to make in the entire 90 minutes with a smart turn and low shot with eight minutes to go.

But it was the last time the visitors would show any sign of threatening the Bolton goal and it was Tim Howard at the other end who had be alert as first a fizzing effort by Johann Elmander flew past his post and then a curled shot by Sturridge narrowly missed on the other side of the goal in the closing stages.

Any optimism that was generated by the rollercoaster victory over Blackpool was emphatically washed away by a horrendous display today, one that casts grave doubts on this team's ability to ever compete in the right half of the table again without an injection of new talent, a serious attitude adjustment, and some fresh ideas from the management.

The fact that fault lines started to appear in the relationships between the players and that Moyes's posture by the end was one of an utterly defeated and helpless man is a major cause for concern because with just three points separating Everton from the relegation zone ? not to mention a crucial FA Cup replay coming up next weekend ? this is not the time for the team to start falling apart at the seams.

Moyes has lots of work to do but perhaps for the first time it's valid to question whether he has the stomach for it. Admittedly he seemed to have gathered his thoughts and shed some of that dejection by the time of his post-match interview with the BBC but his demeanour in the last quarter of the game was revealing and he pulled no punches in other quotes after the game. Next Saturday at Stamford Bridge will be a massive test of his team's character...

Player Ratings: Howard 5, Neville 5, Heitinga 5, Distin 6, Baines 6, Coleman 5 (Beckford 6), Arteta 6*, Fellaini 5, Bilyaletdinov 5 (Osman 5), Cahill 6, Anichebe 4 (Baxter 7)

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