Everton out to Birmingham: their mirror image
EVERTON 1 (Osman 56) – BIRMINGHAM CITY 2 (Benitez 7, Ferguson 40)
A vastly improved second half performance and a beautiful cameo performance from substitute Mikel Arteta were not enough to make up a two-goal half time deficit. During the first 45 minutes Everton were well off the pace: where against City last week they were sharp, here they were dull, where against City they played to feet, here they hoofed the ball forward, where against City they contested every ball, here they stood off and allowed Birmingham too much space.
The visitors scored as early as the seventh minute when the home defence was undone by a long cross-field pass from Fahey, which Baines missed and Benitez, who had left Neville trailing, headed in at the far post from a difficult angle. Their second came on forty minutes when a slick back heel from McFadden found Ferguson breaking forward and he scored left footed; lackadaisical defending was to blame on both occasions.
After his promising performance last week Bilyaletdinov was a disappointment; involved only fleetingly he had reverted to the languid, apathetic form he often displays and it was no surprise when Leon Osman replaced him at half time. Moyes had obviously shaken them up during their tea break because the team that emerged immediately set about trying to restore parity, playing much more directly and passing the ball, along the ground, to a team-mate in a blue shirt, a basic skill which had eluded them earlier. And it was Osman who got us back into the match on fifty four minutes. Pienaar, receiving the ball from a Baines cross, found Osman in space and he curled the ball neatly to Hart’s left and into the net from about 20 yards. Everton surged forward pushing for the equalizer; Saha, Fellaini twice and Vaughan from a superb hooked volley all missed chances but against Alex McLeish’s well drilled and hugely committed team the two goal deficit was just too much.
The big Scot will freely concede that he has built his Birmingham team on the `Everton model’ with hard work and an unflinching team ethic at its core but Evertonians will take no comfort from the old saw that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. That Mikel Arteta is finally close to match fit is obviously a major fillip but it was once again clear how much we miss our best defender, Phil Jagielka, after all that rarest of commodities this season, a clean sheet, would have won this game.
EVERTON (4-4-1-1): Howard; Neville ©, Heitinga, Distin, Baines; Fellaini, Donovan (Arteta 76), Pienaar, Bilyaletdinov (Osman h-t); Cahill; Saha (Vaughan 69)
Subs not used: Nash, Arteta, Coleman, Duffy, Baxter
BIRMINGHAM CITY (4-4-2): Hart; Carr ©, R Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell; Larsson, Ferguson, Bowyer, Fahey; McFadden (McSheffrey 89), Benitez (Jervis 79)
Subs not used: Taylor, D Johnson, Queudrue, Michel, Vignal
Referee: Howard Webb Gate: 30,875
