Everton v Manchester United, Goodison Park, 15th September 2007

Everton v Manchester United

English Premier League

Goodison Park, 15th September 2007

Preview

As with any two teams with only 40 miles between them, there are many connections between Everton & Manchester United. Everton's No 1 goalkeeper, the USA's Tim Howard, started his Premier League career at United. While the United captain, Garry Neville, could be facing his brother Phil at the coin toss. Phil was made the Everton captain shortly after his move from United to Everton. But the one link that arouses the most interest (& the reason this game kicks off at 12:00 instead of 15:00) is that of Wayne Rooney.

Rooney started his professional football career at Everton, the club he supported as a boy. He made a big name for him self as the next great England prospect. With this in mind Everton offered him a deal that would have made him the highest paid player in the club's history. But Rooney snubbed Everton & chose to move down the road to United. Many people have speculated why Rooney chose to move. Greed, glory hunting, pressure from his agent. But the fact is left his boyhood team & moved to one of their biggest local rivals. It didn't help that his new team played in Manchester.

The cities of Liverpool & Manchester have never really "got on" as so happens when two large cities are geographically close, & it is fair to say a lot of animosity exists between Scousers (from Liverpool) & Mancs (from Manchester). This bad felling reared its ugly head two seasons ago when Rooney made his first return to Goodison Park in an FA Cup match. United won the game, that kicked off late so it could be shown on TV. But most supporters would remember the game for the hostile reception Rooney received. The worst moment came some time after the final whistle when Everton & United supporters clashed outside the ground & the police struggled to regain control of the situation. Since then Merseyside Police have insisted all Everton - Manchester United games begin at midday. The reason; it gives supporters, who may cause trouble, less time to get drunk before the game. What a wonderful advert that is for our society.

Getting back to matters about football on the pitch, Everton have had a great start to the season. Victories against Wigan Athletic (at home) and against Tottenham Hotspur & Bolton Wanderers (both away), coupled with a draw at home to Blackburn Rovers have left Everton with 10 points from a possible 15. Their only defeat coming away against Reading. Going into this game Everton are actually one point worse off then this time last season, but one place higher in the league (3rd).

United would say they were satisfied with the start to the season they have had, though they would have expected to be higher in the league. It's no coincidence that their slower then usual start has coincided with the 3-match suspension to their star midfielder Ronaldo. He is likely to return to the starting line up for this game. United will also hope to see Louis Sara up front after returning from injury. But United fans may have a little more interest in who makes the substitutes bench. Both their captain Garry Neville & Wayne Rooney have a chance to be fit enough to be named as subs. Though it remains to be seen if the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, will risk them in a close game that is likely to be more blood & thunder then Saturday afternoon kick about.

Interesting for United, worrying for Everton. Everton already know they will be without the influential Australian midfielder Tim Cahill & the young English forward James Vaughn. Both have long-term injuries. More worrying for Everton will be the injury suffered by Tim Howard. The goalkeeper dislocated a finger while playing for the USA against Brazil. His injury could see a home debut for the 28 year old German Stefan Wessels. Stefan has only just joined Everton & is a bit of an unknown to the fans.

Another player who should be making his home debut for Everton is their £11.25 million record signing Yakubu. The Nigerian forward made his first appearance for Everton in their 2-1 victory away at Bolton. Yakubu scored scored the first goal in that game & will be looking to continue that form for Everton at Goodison. Another player coming into some form is the Scottish forward James McFadden. The young Scot scored a spectacular goal in the mid week international that gave Scotland a famous 1-0 victory over France in Paris. Though his international heroics will probably see him only make the Everton subs bench as manager, David Moyes, looks to continue with Yakubu & Andy Johnson up front.

I don't like to predict scores but I do think Everton will struggle in this game. That's not being defeatist, it's just how I see it. United have some of their big players returning & I don't think Everton have enough to hold out for 90 minutes, though I hope I'm proved wrong. I think this will be a typically English high pace football match. Entertaining, probably not. Exciting, you'd better believe it!

The match

Walking up to Goodison Park I have to admit to a little trepidation. I had just read a preview to the game in a local paper & hadn’t realised how bad our recent record is regarding United. Everton had only won 3 league games against United since the Premiership had started. That’s bad. What I felt was worse was the mid day kick off. In my experience, Everton seem to struggle with early kick off’s. In the past the players have seemed not to have started playing till some time in the second half. The exception to this would have been this fixture last season. Everton had played well & had been able to take a controling lead in the game. Then two bad individual mistakes had cost them the points. The first by the young stand in keeper Iain Turner who dropped a simple ball in the area allowing United to score. Then there was a bazaar own goal by the former United player Phil Neville. After that the player’s moral was lost & panic set in. What should have been a comfiable victory for Everton turned into 4-2 win for United.

With memories of last season still in my mind I entered the ground & took my seat just in time to hear the announcer give the starting line ups. Tim Howard’s dislocated finger had ruled him out, so in goal & making his Everton debut was the German Stefan Wessels. Right back was Tony Hibbert. Tony is probably the best timer of a tackle at the club, but has struggled in some games this season. Left back would be the ever improving Leighton Baines. Leighton had only joined Everton in the summer & was well on the way to making the left back position his own. The two centre half’s were Joleon Lescott & the Nigerian captain Joseph Yobo. In the centre of midfield were club captain Phil Neville & Phil Jagielka. On the right Mikel Arteta.

Mikel is the most creative player Everton have. Unfortunately he has not been at his best yet this season. But when he is he can be one of the most exciting players in football. The left wing would be Leon Osman & up front would be Andy Johnson & the Nigerian striker Yakubu is his first appearance for Everton at Goodison Park. On the subs bench Everton had Iain Turner, Steven Pienaar, Lee Carsley, Victor Anichebe & James McFadden.

The United line up would be in goal Edwin Van der Sar. A back four of Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic & Mikael Silvestre. The midfield would see the return of  Cristiano Ronaldo. Along side him would be Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes & Patrice Evra. United wouldn’t be playing with an out & out striker. Carlos Tevez would lead the front line. He is a player who likes to drop deep to find the ball. Playing just behind him would be the United captain Ryan Giggs. Their bench had Gerard Pique, Luis Nani, Darron Gibson, Tomasz Kuszczak & Louis Saha. To me Sir Alex Ferguson had put out a more defensive team. But what do I know?

So the stadium began to fill with supporters all hoping that Everton could put last season loss behind them & compete with arguably the best team in England. As the players began to emerge from the tunnel, Z-cars (the Everton theme), played over the PA & the crowed roared. The emotion when the players take to the pitch never fails to impress me. No matter how bad the season gets. No matter how poor the players are (& we have had some really poor players in the past). There is still that belief at the start of every game. Could I tell you where that belief comes from, no. But it’s that belief that keeps bringing us all to the ground week in, week out. Then, unfortunately, the corporate side of modern football makes its appearance. And after all that emotion, all that raw energy, the idiots at The Football Association (The FA) see fit to destroy the atmosphere by insisting on all the players shaking hands before the kick off. What a ridiculously stupid politically correct idea. You can shake who’s ever hand you want after the game. But before it you want all your players fired up. I don’t know of one match going football supporter who likes this spectacle. But then again, when did The FA ever listen to what the fan’s want?

Now all the meaningless hand shaking is over, the clock ticks over to 12:00, the referee Alan Wiley blows his whistle, & the game can begin. Everton would start the game attacking the Gwladys Street stand & to be honest in the first 10 minutes nothing of any real excitement happened. It was chaotic, both sets of players running around trying to gain control of the ball. Trying to get a feel for the opposition. But nothing of any real note happened. Then Everton began to dominate the game. Quick passing & good off the ball running would see Everton breaking in to the United half time & time again. The problem was for all this nice play the ball wasn’t getting into the United box & nobody could get a shot at goal. Unfortunately that was down to a lack of creativity by Everton rather then exceptional defending by United. A couple of long range off target shot’s by both teams would get the crowd on their feet. But in truth nether goal keeper had any saves to make. The main point of interest came when some good foot work saw Leighton Baines breaking toward the United area. As he got to the edge of the box Michael Carrick brought him down. Firstly a lot of people thought to might have been a penalty. But the referee gave a free kick right on the edge of the area. What annoyed a lot of people was that the referee failed to book Carrick for stopping a goal scoring opportunity. As it was the resulting free kick flew over the United goal & another promising attack came to nothing.

In the 40^th minute came a sight nobody likes to see. After a clash on the edge of the United area, Mikael Silvestre failed to get up. Now in football we see a lot of player diving to the ground & rolling around faking injuries to try & win free kick’s. But when a player hits the ground & stays still, you know something is wrong. After a short delay Silvestre was put on to a stretcher & carried from the field. From where I sat it looked like a leg or ankle injury & hopefully the stretcher was only a precaution. United brought on Nani to replace Silvestre & the game stuttered to the half time whistle.

While the game had been low on entertainment you had to say Everton had competed with United & if they could keep it going in the second half they might have been able to get a result from the game.

The start of the second half saw what would be Everton only real chance to score. After winning a corner Mikel Arteta crossed in the ball. Johnson at the near post got a good header on to it, & with Van der Sar beaten it looked like a goal. But the header was right at Scholes who cleared it away. The game continued but there was one subtle difference. There seemed to be less fight in the Everton players. They were not closing down United as fiercely as they had in the first half. Against teams like United, you have to get close to the player with the ball & give him no time to pick his pass. You need to rush them & force them in to hurrying their game. Everton had done this in the first half, but now they looked unwilling to commit them self’s forward in case United got in behind them. One player who seemed to be having a bad game was the Everton forward Yakubu. There was a lot of pressure on him to play well for his new team at their home ground. And in my personal opinion he went missing for a lot of the game. If he had the ball played to his feet he would show glimpses of what he could do. But to many times Everton would break forward only to find Yakubu positioning him self out on the left wing.

United, finding more space on the pitch, took off Ryan Giggs & replaced him with Louis Sara. With United changing tactics & going more direct, there was a feeling that they thought there was something in the game for them.

The first heart stopping moment came as United broke in to the Everton area. Cristiano Ronaldo, running from left to right took a tumble in the area, & the referee blew his whistle. We all thought it was a penalty to United. No, Alan Wiley, in a rare show of strength by today’s refereeing standards, had given a free kick to Everton. He then booked Ronaldo for diving. That was of small comfort to Everton as United continued to press forward.

The game continued to be stop start, with free kick after free kick & a couple of off target shots. Then Everton decided to try & be more attacking. David Moyes brought off Leon Osman & replaced him with the South African midfielder Steven Pienaar. Also taken off was Yakubu for the young Nigerian forward Victor Anichebe. Anichebe is a product of the youth set up at Everton & is a favouate with the fans. The substitutions made no real difference as United kept coming forward. Then with only 8 minutes left United won a corner. Nani wiped it in, & in an all most carbon copy of the Everton chance at the start of the half, Vidic got in front of his marker to head the ball home at the near post. 1-0 to United.

Sir Alex Ferguson immediately took off Nani & brought on the defensive Pique. David Moyes, thinking there may still be time to salvage the game, took off Neville & replaced him with James McFadden. But in truth it was to little to late. Everton were playing narrowly down the centre of the pitch & had no real width to the team. United, seeing this, packed out the centre of the area & Everton were reduced to pumping high balls in to the box. Against United’s centre half’s that was never going to work. And after 4 minutes of injury time Alan Wiley decided he had had enough & blew for full time. Game over, Everton 0 Manchester United 1.

 
Neither team played well enough to say they deserved the victory, & a draw would have been a fair result. But that’s not how football, or any other sport, works. On this showing United will find it difficult to retain the league title this season. They should not have won this game, & from reports of their other two victories this season, they were lucky to have won them as well. But there is an old saying in football that goes ‘The mark of a good team is one that plays badly & still leaves with the win’. United can only improve, but will they improve quickly enough to make up lost ground?

As for Everton, they will see this as a point lost, but they will have to become less one dimensional. They depend too much on Arteta, & if the opposition can stop him playing they will have practically stop Everton’s attacking game. One bright spark was the performance of Leighton Baines. It’s not often a full back will get the Man of the Match, but for me he was Everton’s best player.

Thursday night will see Everton’s first European game of the season against Metalist Kharkiv in the UEFA Cup. Metalist Kharkiv are fourth in the Ukrainian league, & while they are a bit of an unknown team, they will see a trip to Goodison as their cup final. And if Everton can’t create more chances in front of goal, then the Ukrainian’s could cause an upset. In fact this month could dictate how Everton’s season could go. As well as the UEFA Cup game, there is a difficult away game against Aston Villa, a tricky away match in the League Cup against Sheffield Wednesday, & that is followed by playing Middlesborough at home. A very interesting, & difficult, time ahead for Everton.

The next game I hope to write about is the UEFA Cup match against Metalist Kharkiv. I hope that this time I’ll be talking positively about a win, instead of lamenting over a loss.