Sunday Morning
We don’t need to be reminded of what happened last time we visited Goodison Park but I was pleased to hear that Yakubu, who scored twice against us that day, won’t be featuring this afternoon. The performance against Blackburn was a bit of a disappointment after the two previous games but the point, the clean sheet and the residual Christmas cheer seemed to make it acceptable to most people. A defeat today would be even more of a reality check though Everton’s home form is poor with just one win against four defeats and four drawers. We don’t appear to have any big injury doubts and so can choose from the same squad as recent matches but we’ll no doubt make a few changes to the starting line-up just to give one or two players a rest. I think we’ll get something from this match and would be happy with a draw but Kenwyne and Cisse were below par on Thursday and will have to buck themselves up and put in more challenges. As regards Ricky’s appointment, I was a bit surprised and thought that they might have got somebody else in with a bigger name to attract future signings but we can’t complain about what he’s done for us so far and whatever he’s done in the past, he’s done well. I’m on a Grand Central train whizzing through Cambridgeshire at the moment and the sunshine is putting me in a good mood. Match prediction? 2-2.

The Match
I got home just in time to get Century Radio on and hear that the Mags had received a 5-1 drubbing, which did nothing to hamper my good mood, but then I discovered that both Ferdinand and Reid were sick and that was a bummer. We started off confidently enough but Arteta put Everton 1-0 up after ten minutes from a free-kick through our crumbling wall. Everton took over after that and I tried not to think of last season but Fulop at least was having another good game. Kenwyne didn’t get a mention till about twenty minutes in and that was just to say that he probably hadn’t touched the ball yet. He and Cisse weren’t getting much service at all. We were showing signs of a fight back when, after a horrible mix-up between Fulop and Collins, we conceded another free-kick in a similar position to the first after twenty-six minutes and Arteta put them two up following a rebound. Our defence sounded like it was all over the place and this showed up Ferdinand’s absence. We had a bit of a resurgence in the last five minutes but at half-time the score was still 2-0 and we hadn’t troubled Howard in goal at all. It was looking decidedly gloomy unless Ricky could reshuffle the side after the break and give a very effective team-talk.

Edwards came on in place of Malbranque after the break and maybe that was because the latter had been yellow-carded and then spoken to earlier. We were down to ten men for a short while when Collins went off with a nose injury and he came back on with his cotton wool stuck up both nostrils and then Bardsley was yellow-carded after a spot of shirt-pulling. Other than that there was little of a footballing note in the first quarter of an hour. Richardson was making a few good overlaps but wasn’t receiving the ball. The game and the atmosphere sounded decidedly flat but suddenly on sixty-five minutes Edwards went on a great run and shot well but straight at Howard. Ah well, a shot on target at last. A minute later we got a free-kick just outside their box but it came to nothing. With just under twenty minutes left Tainio and Whitehead were both booked as we conceded another free-kick close to where the previous two had brought goals but that came to nothing too. Then we made a double substitution of Yorke and Healy for Tainio and Cisse and produced our best move of the half but Richardson’s shot was off target. At the other end Fulop had hardly touched the ball all half till Gosling came on for his home debut and gave them a shot in the arm culminating in him scoring with around five minutes left. I was looking forward to the end as it sounded like Everton were in the mood for more.

A bad result and a poor performance from us. “No spark,” Gary Rowell said and that was a grim note on which to end the year. Get well soon, Andy and Anton.

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