COLUMNIST PAUL TRAILL

Terrific Day for Everton

By Paul Traill   ::  01/02/2012 Having spent nearly the entire day trying to work only to repeatedly scour the internet for rumours and transfer deals, I was down the East Lancs Road and parked up in good time to catch up with the guys in the pub. I knew I was parked in a legal parking area though some busy Parking Inspectors where present taking photos and leaving tickets on the windscreens of some of the less legitimately parked vehicles. Unlucky for some eh?

Onto the pub and at the time we understood Jelavic was confirmed and was likely to be paraded onto the pitch before the game or at half-time, whilst in other news it was becoming less and less of a secret that Saha was going to Spurs. Gary couldn?t hide his glee at that one. We?d also heard rumors that either Pienaar or Adam Johnson could have been coming in on loan with the general consensus that either or would be great.

Any excitement regarding transfers was somewhat dampened when we saw the team news with nobody too chuffed to see Hibbert was starting at centre-back. Not that any of us have anything against Hibbert but obviously he isn?t your natural centre-back. Otherwise it was pretty much as you were from Fridays win over Fulham with the exception of Drenthe starting in place of Gueye. Dennis Stracqualursi given another opportunity in attack whilst our bench was rather youthful and inexperienced. A look at the Man City team made you shudder. Silva, Aguero, Dzecko, Nasri, Kompany, Lescott and Clichy all featuring in a very decent team. We had it all up against us. With that we were onto the match ? well not before I managed to rather embarrassingly walk into a stool in trying to exit the pub.

The atmosphere was bubbling as we took our seats to Z-Cars, Everton even winning the toss and attacking towards the Park End in the first half. Man City got into the swing of things a lot quicker than Everton. I think they tried to take the sting out of the game early on and certainly did a good job of that, keeping the ball well and dictating the pace of the game. In truth, come the break we were rather lucky to be all square. We shot ourselves in the foot countless times, gave the ball away several time far too easily and were quite simply our own worst enemies throughout the half.

Despite this we did come mighty close to scoring when Stracqualursi headed a Drenthe corner goalwards only for our old friend Joleon Lescott to head the ball clear from the goal line. At the other end Nasri came just as close to breaking the deadlock with a wonderful curling drive from roughly 25 yards which came back down off the underside of the bar and out. Aguero hit the rebound goalwards but Howard thwarted him with an excellent save though it mattered not as he was in an offside position.

Thankfully as we headed towards half time Everton got themselves more into the game with Fellaini coming quite close flashing a volley wide of the post. Before the break we had a lengthy interruption in proceedings as some maniac had somehow gotten onto the pitch and handcuffed himself to the Park End goalpost. It seemed to take several Police to remove him and resulted in five minutes stoppage time at the end of the half. At the break we were all square but certainly had to improve to get anything out of this game.

I went to see Ste and Sean at the break and we saw Jelavic be introduced to the crowd and receive an excellent reception. It?s been a while since I?ve seen such excitement at Goodison Park. Onto the second half and the excitement remained as Everton turned things on and cut out the silly errors. We battled hard that second half and were much more positive. That?s not to say Man City weren?t threatening but Everton really got amongst them. This roused the crowd which I think fed into the players.

The goal came when Drenthe fed Baines down the left whose cross went all the way to Donovan on the far side of the box. Rather than shoot he fed the ball back to Gibson at the edge of the box who drove at goal first time, the ball taking a sizeable deflection and smashing into the corner of the net. Goodison erupted. Gibson went sliding off on his knees. It was funny because in work earlier in the day some of my colleagues who are Man Utd fans were saying ?1-0 Gibson goal. About time he?s done something for Man Utd?.

Following the goal and with half an hour still to play the attitude from the players was exemplary. Everyone filling their positions and completing their tasks heroically. Players defending as if their lives depended on it. We really were not to be denied in this one as the crowd roared the team on. The full-time whistle was met with terrific applause. It was just a shame that less than 30,000 turned up?maybe they?ll be back next week now we?ve a few wins under our belts.

It was a terrific night up until then and it didn?t stop there. We were away early, home quickly and whilst checking Twitter writing this report received further excellent news that Steven Pienaar has returned on loan until the end of the season with an option to buy him in the summer. Brilliant! I can?t recall a January when we?ve been so busy and effective:

IN: Donovan; Gibson; Jelavic; Pienaar
OUT: Bilyaletdinov; Saha

I think we?d have all settled for that on 1st January. Maybe, just maybe we?re finally looking up this season. What a terrific day.

Player Ratings:
Howard: Would like to se quicker distribution sometimes as he seems to keep hold of the ball a bit too long when he has hold of it. Otherwise he was fine. Handled crosses and caught well. Surprisingly he had very little to do. 6
Baines: A little sloppy in defense at times but generally fine. 6
Hibbert: Did very well in an unfamiliar position. Certainly proved me wrong as I thought it was a poor decision to play him ahead of Duffy. Got turned a few times but cleared and headed out on several occasions. 7
Heitinga: Quality performance from Heitinga. He?s been absolutely fantastic this last month or so since we lost Distin and Jagielka to injury. Could easily have been my man of the match. 9
Neville: Did just fine. 7
Fellaini: As is often the case ? he took a while to get into the game but then really grew into it and was colossus at times in the second half. 7
Gibson: Was struggling, quite badly I think but following the goal seemed a different player and had a lot more energy. It?s amazing what confidence a goal can bring. 7
Drenthe: Started poorly, giving the ball away far too often but like many others he really stepped it up a bit on the second half. His pace was a great asset, even forcing Mancini to move Clichy to right back to counter it. 7
Donovan: Had a superb second half after a quiet first period. Showed a lot of energy and intelligence with the ball. A really good shift and an assist for the goal. He?s assisted our last three goals now?and four of our last five. Shame he only has three more games with us. 7
Cahill: Absolutely brilliant. Much more like the Cahill we know and love. Was a real menace throughout and used the ball well. 9
Straqualursi: I was delighted with the reception he received when he was substituted on 87 minutes. I bet he was ecstatic. He didn?t give Kompany, Lescott or Richards a moment?s peace all night. A phenomenal shift? I wonder if he?ll end up a permanent signing after all? My man of the match. 9

Substitutes:
Vellios (for Straqualursi): Put himself about. 6
Baxter (for Drenthe): Just didn?t quite get going. 5

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