How Many Times Have You Seen That Goal?

So for the second time this season I was straight down the East Lancs Road from work with the luxury of a lift this time. For a change the East Lancs Road was quite a clear run and I was dropped off by the Park End all in good time for a quick chippy meal. A good catch up with the usual guys in the pub, and some others visiting from Australia…everyone in good spirits and generally quite expectant of another home Everton win against Newcastle Utd.

We were in the ground and in our seats bang in time for Z-Cars with the teams coming out to good applause…though the crowd not quite at the raucous levels of the Manchester United game last month. The crowd were soon applauding for other reasons however when both sets of players gathered on the half way line as “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” by The Hollies boomed out it what was quite an emotional and poignant moment for many. This was of course in respect to the 96 which perished at Hillsborough all those years ago. A great show of respect from Everton with the ball boys also wearing the number ‘96’ on their jerseys.

The game was soon under way, Moyes bringing in Hibbert at right back and Neville in midfield, with Mirallas the main change coming in on the wing to replace Naismith. Steve Harper was in goal for Newcastle Utd in place of the injured Tim Krul. Further up the pitch they did boast some quality however with Cisse, Cabaye, Ben Arfa and Anita all featuring. Demba Ba was on the bench.

Everton attacked the Park End in the first half and attack they did, Mirallas getting down the right early doors, Fellaini heading his cross goalward, Harper saving and Jelavic prodding home the rebound but from an offside position and the goal disallowed. More critically he was down injured after this and never really recovered in the game and was substituted for Victor Anichebe before the half time whistle.

We led 1-0 by then thanks to a lovely interchange between Baines and Pienaar culminating in Baines striking at goal from just inside the left edge of the penalty area and drilling past Harper to make it 1-0 to Everton… Leighton Baines first goal from open play since December 2010 away at Manchester City by my reckoning and the bloke next to me happier than anyone I’ll bet having cashed in on Baines to score first at 16/1. Cha-ching!

It was nice to see Everton stay on the front foot for the remainder of the half though despite some good efforts at goal were unable to it the target. Mirallas, Jagielka and Pienaar each came within a whisker of scoring though were unable to do so, whilst at the other end a dreadful Phil Neville headed clearance was snatched upon by Cisse but thankfully he could only volley across goal and wide. Anita came closer still to scoring when his jab at goal was cleared off the line by Baines…Everton riding their luck a bit towards the end of the half though on balance, anything other than an Everton lead at the break would have been hard to justify.

At half time Gary went downstairs for a pint whilst Ste and I visited Sean elsewhere in the Lower Gwladys…always good to catch up with others, particularly after the long summer. Towards the end of the break we spotted Demba Ba warming up which could only mean one thing. The change paid immediate dividends when the Senegalese stroked the ball past Howard to level it for the visitors. It was a goal Everton, not for the only time tonight, would live to rue. Osman giving the ball away cheaply, miss-controlling badly and Cabaye playing a good ball to Ba which Howard might have done better with in my opinion. The game was on and credit to Pardew for at least going for the game at 0-1 and putting two forwards up front. Why Newcastle Utd don’t always play with two up there beggars belief for me as those two will cause problems for any team. Regardless… it was back to square one.

As has already been well-documented, we did officially have the ball in the net twice prior to Anichebe tucking away an excellent goal in the 87th minute. Firstly Fellaini had the ball in the net after a nice move but this was – wrongly – flagged as offside. Later Anichebe headed goalwards, Harper flapped it onto the underside of the bar and definitely over the line – it felt over the line, it looked over the line to me – but the referee waved play on.

Of course, this was all to come back to bite us when in the 89th minute, dreadfully slack defending allowed Ameobi – yes, that useless striker who is still somehow playing – headed on practically unchallenged by Jagielka. Ba read it with Distin switched off and somehow managed to sprawl the ball past Tim Howard. Gutted but wasn’t it just typical. “How many times have you seen that goal?” said the fella in front of Ste. He was right. How often have you seen us concede a stupid goal like that? You almost knew it was coming and it just wasn’t that surprising that it went in at all, even at that late stage.

I’ve seen the highlights since and whilst seeing perfectly good goals disallowed is tough to take, if your defenders fail at very routine defending at critical times of the game you get what you deserve really. A good solid header out by Jagielka or a simple tracking of the run by Distin would have resulted in the score staying at 2-1 to Everton. In my opinion Newcastle Utd and Alan Pardew deserve some credit for at least coming out fighting in the second half and giving us a constant problem at the back… fair to say they’ve spent the Andy Carroll money well.

Just a note on our defending – that’s five goals we’ve conceded in our last three Premier League games. It’s quite a big call leaving Heitinga out at the moment, maybe we need to get him back in to try and steady the ship a little bit as we won’t get anywhere leaking goals. Offensively, I think we need to get a bit more unpredictable with our use of Fellaini as with no Gibson there he could perhaps be more use deeper into midfield rather than up top. Osman and Neville didn’t look near good enough today and we could have done with some muscle back there. Maybe we could shuffle the pack a bit for the Swansea game this Saturday. Make it less predictable for the opposition and try something different.

Regardless, it’s hard to end on anything other than Hillsborough. A great touch of class from Everton this evening. If we can match that on the pitch I’ll be a happy man.

Player Ratings:
Howard: I thought he was culpable for their first goal though he did make a good stop from a similar opportunity later in the second half. 5
Baines: Good game. Worked hard getting forward, cleared one off the line, defended well and of course scored a very good goal. Pretty brilliant all round really. 7
Distin: I thought he switched off for their second equalizer and he never really looked comfortable all night. 5
Jagielka: Soiled what was otherwise a good performance by allowing Ameobi a run on him for their second equalizer. Was otherwise fine, with immensely improved distribution to boot. 6
Hibbert: Generally good defensively and OK in attack, albeit with average distribution. 6
Neville: Picked up quite a cheap booking early on and was thus under pressure for the rest of the game. Filled a few holes but didn’t ever really look settled in the middle all night. 4
Osman: Also struggled and as the bloke next to me pointed out he looked knackered in the last 20. Gave the ball away for their first goal also. 4
Pienaar: Rather hit and miss but not for want of trying. Some passes wayward, should have scored in the first half but despite this, was that two assists from Pienaar or just the one? I’m not sure who passed to Anichebe for his goal. 6
Mirallas: An incredibly lively display from the Belgian and if this speed, skill and flair is what we have to look forward to we could be in for a treat. May have to play up front if Jelavic injury is serious but looks adept there and on the wing. Let’s try not to get too excited but it looks as though we’ve got a decent player there. My man of the match. 7
Fellaini: Some great moments but not enough of them for me and I feel he could have done more. Might have been a different tale had his goal have stood but I look for more from Fellaini at Swansea on Saturday. 6
Jelavic: Didn’t see much of him at all after he took his knock. Lets hope it’s not too serious. 4

Substitutes:
Anichebe (for Jelavic): Hard to argue with his contribution. One goal, two on another night. Didn’t win everything but competed for a lot and gave the defenders a game. One moment was a little embarrassing when he was put through on goal but just couldn’t seem to keep his feet but overall, hard to ask for more than a goal off the bench. Will be interesting to see if he plays next Saturday, particularly if Jelavic is fit. 7
Naismith (for Mirallas): Busy if unproductive. Long way to go before he’s up to full speed I think. 6

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