Everton resilient in FA Cup

Another huge win at home for the Blues. An early lead through yo0ungster Rodwell , despite a penalty against Hibbert started a huge game for Blues. We had a dominant possession as AV missed Barry a lot. I also felt that when Laursen went down, he was the rock that their counter-attacking style is based on. Cahill and Anichebe dominated vs Knight and Davies and rightly so. Don't have a lot of time to go through this but Mikel had a phenomenal game and I thought our central midfielders really dominated v petrov and sidwell. Anyway, a great result and here are my player stats for the day:
Howard- 9- a huge tip save and many solid punches. Could have stopped the penalty.
Baines-8- not attacking a lot but helped keep the lid on Milner
Lescott-7- did most of what he had to, but looked shaky in parts when AV attacked
Jags- 8- very good
Hibbert-8 -gave away the pen, but a solid game against a great atatcker
Gosling-7- not sold on him yet, nose for goal, but tries the same move a lot, looked only ok defensively
Arteta-9 nuff said
Neville-8- played his role
Rodwell- 9- really stepped up today
Anichebe-9- aggressive running, held the ball up, won the pen, didn't complain or fall over
Cahill-10- goals, ball control, pesky against backline, won headers at both ends and is generally a superstar..

Everton 2-0 and counting

What a game. Fractious at times.. Our defence has been resolute and this is the first game I have been really impressed by Neville this year. As mentioned earlier, I actually feel this is an old school game with the tackles going in. These two teams are fully committed. In this second half, Arteta is knocking the ball well, but our full backs have not joined in the play at all. Fellaini and Cahill have been the focal point and doing well holding the ball for Ossie and Pienaar to get in.

How many times does a player need to be praised, week after week, by announcers, until he is not an "unsung hero" anymore? I love Ossie, but they say that every week. He is an important player and I am sure first on Moyes' team sheet week after week.

Jags is down.. not good. Fellaini out for two derbys. I guess we are playing Victor up top. The difference in this half really has been our fullbacks not attacking at will anymore, probably by design.

Everton Complete Successful Year

A huge victory for Everton FC yesterday with a win over listless Newcastle. Minus Martins and Viduka, this Newcastle team was a shadow of their squad from even last week. Owen was mediocre and EFC showed another great example of what a good squad they can be. There are some changes that need to be made and hopefully 2-3 young players will establish themselves next year. That being said, 5th place and UEFA Cup is a big accomplishment for this squad, especially with how they have missed Cahill and Arteta this year.

Yakubu can be a great striker in this league, but he will need to prove that he can go day in and day out for the Blues to be successful. There is a great base to develop in this team, but there will need to be some cash spent to make the next leap. Everton needs 1-2 bona fide superstars to prove that they can be in the Top 4 and Champion's League. EFC need Cahill to play the system they played for a lot of the year, but they also need other options to break down teams on the wings. Right now there is no player like Ronaldo who is confident enough to beat players all day long. This is going to be an interesting offseason for Moyes.

Everton Season Drawing to Close

The last few weeks have been hectic in the football calendar. Everton have been producing poor form over the last few weeks. Coupled with some key injuries, the squad has shown its lack of depth. All the games have been competitive but we have lacked that killer instinct from the first six months of the season. Arteta and Ossie have been sorely missed while Aj's injury piled on the problem.

As I have noted previously, there is a need for more good squad players. We can't compete to win against the big clubs yet and results recently have put us needed a result in the last match. While I am totally confident this will happen, it would have been a lot better for many Evertonian's hearts to wrap this up a while ago. I said that Aston Villa were the squad to watch and they are definitely up and coming if they can lock down some good squad players. Similar to Everton in this regard and I think it will be the same teams locked in battle for these spots next year, depending on how loose owners are this summer.

Man Utd has been impressive as has Chelsea and these upcoming two games are ones to relish. I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks and watching a exciting final from Russia.

Everton trouble?

Here is your player of the season. The more it is examined, it is really up between Lescott and Howard. He only allowed 1-2 cheesy goals this year. Lescott scored 9 this year. Lescott was a beast coming out of the back and Howard kept us in so many games this year. Yak scored, but not always against the Big clubs and in UEFA. Arteta missed a lot of time. If we can secure a draw Thursday, then I would say we are in the clear for 5th place. Portsmouth is trouble though, the Blues need to win out after Chelsea or at least secure 7 points in the last four games for 5th. All hope for overtaking Liverpool is gone as they seem to be peaking in time for Champion's League. Chelsea might be in trouble next week.

Depth of squad killed us with no Ossie or Artie.. Need those players fit and we need more depth. 3-4 players in the transfer window and making sure we are healthy for next season are key.

Blues scrape through

Everton did not give a great account of themselves last weekend. With a few more bodies back, including the vital AJ and Anichebe they managed to scrape out a tough win over Derby. That brings back to discussions on how good the Toffees are. Really, are they a top five team? Yes. Has this season worn on them due to lack of squad depth? Yes. The club needs to add a couple quality players for next year including a dominant central midfielder and a couple wingers. Yobo was crazy in that game, just bad decision making all game long and as a club they still need to get faster and get the ball down.

The annoying thing is they do it in spells, usually with Pienaar on the field and the Blues miss him more than I first believed. There has got to be better options. A great finish by Ossie after Fernandes finally showed some class that he did last year. It is hard to break into the Top 4, but even those teams have some off games against lesser known opponents.

Rumours started about Arteta leaving. I don't think he will go, but would understand. Moyes the the club do everything to bow down to him, but he is not getting his look in with the National Team. if you look down the lineup, Xavi, Inesta, Albiol, Fabregas, Joaquin, Alonso and Senna, that is some very talented players in front of him. Could he add something to that kind of team, for sure! But if Everton doesn't play that Spanish style in midfield, it is hard to see how he will be noticed. Here's hoping he gets a look in. Would love to see him in a (Spanish) English shirt.!

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Everton disaster

Another tough game for the lads. When you line up with Nev and Cars centrally, you know that there is not a lot of attacking intent. The Yak was out of sorts and overall we got dominated in the first half. Gerrard, Lucas and Babel should have put them up 3-0 easy in the first half. As Arteta slipped inside, better possession occurred in the second half, but really we never threatened the penalty areas except an Osman header just wide. If Gerrard had played like this for England, they would be amazing.

I am pretty upset that we showed not enough drive and had no subs to use. Baines did well when he came on, but Hibbert is nicht so gut! He has to be on the bench. I know we need to build a squad, but I would rather have Lescott right and Baines or Valente on the left to give us better balance. Everton needs a couple good results against the Brummies and Derby to lock in a fourth spot and Euro football next year. I just don't know how we can accomplish this without a second striker. Get better soon AJ!

Everton Player Breakdown

Always wanted to run through Everton's lineup and have my say on the season and upcoming and what they should do with players.

Stars
Arteta- So glad they resigned him. The creativity on the right and ability to draw FK is amazing. Has not scored near enough this year and would like to see him more forward and less defending.
Lescott- What a player, scores, defends, gets forward, how is he not past Ashley Cole on the England depth Chart, see next blog.
Cahill- Adds another dimension to the team, passion and has amazing springs. If we continue 4-4-1-1 that is his spot and hopefully we will convert Vaughan to a winger for playing time.
Yak-I add him here because of what he could be and that is a devastating striker. He has great control, good 1v1 and is an above average passer of the ball. He has a great partnership with Pienaar especially and brings all players into the game. His shooting is subpar for a top striker, but he finishes breakaways and in the box. I feel like AJ could play there, but not if we are playing to feet, then he becomes waste. With more consistency, he can be even better, but he is still a stud.
When any of these four players are out, plus Carsley, we struggle.

Top Players
Yobo- So solid, only remember two big mistakes this year.
Howard- breakthrough year for him, been very consistent and except for the Arsenal thrashing he has been great and made timely saves. No more lobs like last year.
AJ-Can perform at this level as he showed last year. A full year with Yak would be good and with these four strikers we can have impact in all competitions.
Jagielka- Solid defender and could see him being a backup for England. His timing has been superd through the second half of the year.

Going to break through
Anichebe/ Vaughan- Love both these players and could be a combo for the future but I am sure one will get raided by a big club and then break down ala Frannie Jeffers.
Leighton Baines- He is a strong player defending and above average going forward, he was in the England Squad.

Squad
Pienaar- Great one touch player but does a lot of careless thing such as tackle backwards. Worth signing for $3.5 million.
Carsley- Seem to lose our shape without him. This has been his best year, but he is still prone to some gaffes. He has gotten much better on the ball this year, probably a good run in the squad has done him well.
Neville-Long had I hated him, but he is a top pro (read average player that says the right things and trains hard) plays hard for the squad and I think should be starting right back.
Hibbert- I guess we need a third choice right back, but I would feel better without him, love to see a big signing there.
Valente- Good backup leftback, get forward well.
Ossie-Love his guile and creativity, fits in well with this squad, but not a star midfielder iun this league.
Fernandes- Gotta keep him for depth. I think from what I have seen he can make a mark.
Wessels- Seems like a god quality backup and squad keeper. Be interesting to see when the young lads come up.

?
Rodwell- No idea yet.
Anthony Gardner- squad defender
Young players- I have not seen anything of the lads this year and hope we have some quality coming through in the midfield.

Need to add: Right back, Class CM, LW- unless these players are coming through the ranks. Lets give them a run.

Need to go
Gravesen- I like him as a player, but we need someone else
Vandermeyde- Time to get $500,000 for him in Spain