EVERTON 2 (Pienaar 36, Saha pen 45+4) – MANCHESTER CITY 0
Probably the first piece of advice handed down from father to son, as soon as he shows the slightest interest in kicking a ball, is that `football is a team game’. That the Arabs who bought Manchester City, and who have paid hundreds of millions of pounds to assemble a group of individual players, were never told this in their nurseries or at the expensive private schools to which they were probably sent at an early age, is sad, but happily not our problem. I bet they can tell us a lot about falconry or horse breeding or how to play the stockmarket, but run a football club, not in a million years. Is it just a joke doing the rounds, that “they bought City because they thought they were getting United“, or could there possibly be a scintilla of truth in it. They will use Roberto Mancini, just like they used Mark Hughes; he will be discarded if they don’t finish in the top four, with a wave of the hand and a hurried phone call from a lackey to poor, out of his depth, Garry Cooke, the embattled Manchester City Chief Executive.
Saturday’s game was a timely reminder that team work, unity of purpose and hard work can overcome any opponent. Everton harried and chased and pressured City all over the pitch; Shay Given was charged and hurried at every opportunity by our excellent forwards, their defenders were given no time on the ball, and in midfield Fellaini led by example, winning tackle after tackle. This was a continuation of the high-tempo pressing game which we saw at the Emirates a week ago and just as a 2-2 draw was an injustice there, so 2-0 was an injustice here, it could and should have been 4-0.
Allied to the physical challenge which the Toffees presented was skill, movement and quick passing. Bilyaletdinov, perhaps jolted by being dropped against Arsenal, took the opportunity presented to him by Osman’s injury to put in, by some distance, his best performance in a blue shirt. On another day he would have taken one, or both, the scoring opportunities he had in the first half; one a blistering drive touched over by Given and the second driven wide after a chest-down from Cahill. Pienaar operating in a central midfield role to accommodate Donovan on the right and Bilyaletdinov on the left, was almost, I say almost, Arteta like. The free-kick from which he scored after 35 minutes and 1 second was beautifully worked after Saha had been clumsily bundled over just outside the penalty box by Zabaleta. Pienaar manipulated the ball up and over the wall, which fragmented slightly, and down, to surprise Given at the foot of his right-hand post. The second goal, in the fourth minute of added time at the end of the half, came after the referee awarded a spot kick for a clear and blatant and seemingly endless pull by Richards on Saha’s shirt; Bellamy and Given and the rest protested so vehemently and for so long, not because they were genuinely challenging the decision, but out of ‘gamesmanship’ to delay the kick and perhaps unnerve the waiting Saha. The Parisian is too experienced for such childishness, he hit the ball, no more than medium strength, straight down the middle, as Given dived to his left.
If anything Everton’s dominance was greater in the second half. Two clear scoring opportunities were created. An inviting corner from the excellent Landon Donovan was met by Fellaini who saw his powerful header turned onto the woodwork by Given, while Cahill saw his header from a Baines cross strike the bar. From front to back this was an excellent performance. Sylvain Distin was a rock at the centre of defence, Johnny Heitinga again superb, another bargain buy unearthed by David Moyes and Marouane Fellaini clearly man of the match. His emergence in a deep-lying central midfield role will allow Phil Neville to remain at right back, a position which he clearly relishes. Seamus Coleman and James Vaughan came on as second half substitutes for Distin and Saha respectively and it is high praise that the TEAM didn’t miss a beat.
EVERTON (4-4-1-1): Howard; Neville ©, Heitinga, Distin (Coleman 70), Baines; Fellaini, Donovan (Baxter 90), Pienaar, Bilyaletdinov; Cahill; Saha (Vaughan 84)
Subs not used: Nash, Duffy, Mustafi, Forshaw
MANCHESTER CITY (4-4-2): Given ©; Zabaleta, Richards, Kompany, Garrido; Petrov (Benjani ht), De Jong, Barry, Bellamy; Tevez, Santa Cruz (Robinho 9; Wright-Phillips 60)
Subs not used: Onuoha, Taylor, Boyata, Sylvinho
Ref: Andre Marriner Gate: 37,378
