Semi Final First Leg

[LeeTino8]

id agree with faddy he was quality , if he could do it week in week out hed be a key player for us but i dont happen , his trackin back is questionable at times aswell.

[J*A*C*K*E*L*Z]

one word...

 

OUCH!!!

 

howard looked reluctant to come of his line on a few occasions

 

who'd be a blue ey :|

[Maghull70]

once again AJ did nothing - he should have been taken off with 20/30 mins to go for Vaughan or Anichebe.

 

Agree with you there, why he didnt take him off is a bit of a mystery. He shouldve been on the bench from the start IMO.

 

We are a strong team these days but for me AJ is one of our few weak links. Doesnt look anywhere near Premier League material.

[The_Boxing_Aussie]

I think we can rise to the challenge.If we eliminate Chelsea at Goodison with 1-0 it will be twice as sweet

[LeeTino8]

one word...

 

OUCH!!!

 

howard looked reluctant to come of his line on a few occasions

 

who'd be a blue ey :|

 

 

 

 

ouch is putting it likely.......still gotta pick the lads up massive game at the weekend . still in with a great shout , could have come here and lost 2 or 3 nil , so as its were still in with a real chance ,

[Blue4Ever]

We all need to get behind the team even more at Goodison now

 

Gotta say Jagielka was superb today.

Edited January 8, 2008 by Blue4Ever

[The_Boxing_Aussie]

Will Arteta be available for the next match against CHelsea?

[Blue4Ever]

Will Arteta be available for the next match against CHelsea?

yep

[jofanon]

Did Cahill play today?

 

Ok great scoring record but that is the only thing he brings.

 

Was really impressed by Faddy tonight. Perhaps its time to give him a run out on the wing.

 

Lescott is greatbut he seems to make one howler every time I've sen him play. I'd say Joe is the most consistant.

[savage9640]

cud of bin alot worse i guess at half time but y do we always try and sit on a score it just dont work at all best form of defence is attack hopefully we can do the job at Goodison COYB

[saaby]

We are lacking quality.Moyes needs to move into the transfer market quicker yak and yobo and stevie r goone watz he watin for .we have city this week, we need two quality midfielders and another central defender i think mcfadden or anichebe can do well. as for todays game. didnt hold up the bal comfartably in chelsea half, and seemed to give many long balls.neville had a great game also mcfadden. But there was no right service for the yak or johnson

[adamefc1]

It Isnt Over Till The Fat Lady Sings

We Just Have To Get Behind The Team

Show Anfield A Real Semi Final Atmosphere

 

Come On You Bluesssssssssssssssssssssssss !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[carlmc25]

We are lacking quality.Moyes needs to move into the transfer market quicker yak and yobo and stevie r goone watz he watin for .we have city this week, we need two quality midfielders and another central defender i think mcfadden or anichebe can do well. as for todays game. didnt hold up the bal comfartably in chelsea half, and seemed to give many long balls.neville had a great game also mcfadden. But there was no right service for the yak or johnson

he doesn't need to panic, all we need to do is go back to 451 and then we have a good team - we're not very good in 442, fact. As for Howard not being sure about coming for things, I don't think he was to blame for the goal at all. He could have come, he may have got there - but it's up to Lescott who was standing right underneath the ball to deal with it and put it out of play in the last few minutes of the game but he didn't. Just because he has been superb for us doesn't mean we have to close our eyes when he cocks up, which he did tonight. Yobo got away with a couple of misplaced passes but he's still brilliant, not sure about Jags - looks good sometimes but a bit dodge at others, plus he isn't exactly cultured. Well played McFadden, he's been about our best attacking player last few matches.

[Romey 1878]

IMO the only players who played well tonight were Faddy and Jagielka. The worst on the field were Carsley (do what your put on the field for and protect the defence in future), Hibbert (please Moyes do the decent thing and have him put down) and Yak but he atleast made up for it with his goal.

 

Until we learn that cutting edge, and to close down games, and to cut out the stupid fucking mistakes we will never beat the top four sides on a regular basis.

 

Attack in the second leg boys, you need to.

[carlmc25]

IMO the only players who played well tonight were Faddy and Jagielka. The worst on the field were Carsley (do what your put on the field for and protect the defence in future), Hibbert (please Moyes do the decent thing and have him put down) and Yak but he atleast made up for it with his goal.

 

Until we learn that cutting edge, and to close down games, and to cut out the stupid fucking mistakes we will never beat the top four sides on a regular basis.

 

Attack in the second leg boys, you need to.

in a 442 I think both Carsley and Cahill share almost equal responsibility, especially away at Chelsea. I thought Cahill was anonymous and Carsley had a fairly decent game! Still, we're in with a chance and hopefully fired up for the return leg at Goodison - when is it?

[Romey 1878]

2 weeks and a day

[Pat]

Ill be the killjoy...Mcfadden was fukin hopeless for over an Hour. Sorry to go against the grain -> just a humble opinion

 

Yak was awful 1st 30.

 

Whilst lookin like a hacker @ times, I liked most of what Jagielka did. ( distrubution still a prob)

 

Yobo, Carsley & Hibbert were solid 4 mine whillst felt Lescott had a couple of lesser moments.

 

Not going to be to harsh on Cahill, made lots of tackles in mid park, in the wall with Lee & Pip. Whilst running out 4-4-2, Cahill is never going to have that license. Seemed he was part of the bank, with Mcfadden given todays license.

 

Half time I did wonder how the Fook we would get out of it.

 

Send of was a red fer mine.

 

Workmanlike display, we missed out bright sparks badly. Arteta, Ossie & Peanuts.

 

We live to fight another day.

[FairWooney]

i think we were by far outclassed until the sending off. we came back into it well but never had the quality to create much. i think arteta it would have been a different story as we just had no one there to make the most of their 10 men.

 

a mixture of their quality and are weakness let them back in in the last 10 minutes.

 

unfortunately the goal looked like it was coming.

 

Lescott didn't deserve that to happen as he'd had a brilliant game but it was his fault. howard could have come and looked tempted for a second but i don't think he would have easily made it had he come. either way by the time the balls above his head lescott should have been jumping for it and even a late jump would have stopped little Shaun.

 

Moyes loves his excuses and i heard someone else mention a foul on lescott by SWP, BULLSHIT. watch it again there was nothing, Lescott justified or not though howard was going to claim it and never jumped.

 

Felt sorry for lescott with that chance at the end, a bad first touch saw the ball skip up on to his right knee just stopping him getting a decent shot out and it was well defended by the keeper.

 

dissapointing result, i'd have accepted 2-1 as an acceptable result before the match but after how close we came to a draw if not a win against 10 men that late goal is a bitter blow. not out of it though but obviously it means we must win at Goodison.

[Maghull70]

Did Cahill play today?

 

Ok great scoring record but that is the only thing he brings.

 

Was really impressed by Faddy tonight. Perhaps its time to give him a run out on the wing.

 

Lescott is greatbut he seems to make one howler every time I've sen him play. I'd say Joe is the most consistant.

 

 

Cahill didnt have the bast game but what sort of statement is "Ok great scoring record but that is the only thing he brings"

??

Well, thats a damn site more than AJ brings, and AJ calls himself a centre forward. Oh yeah, and Cahill can head a ball as well as jump. AJ dont even challenge for balls in the air.

 

Anyway, lay off Cahill. He's alright, and like it or not is one of our most important players.

AND even if his great scoring record was the only thing he brought then thats OK by me. Sure we all want a complete player but tucking the ball away is preferable to some nonce being fancy with the ball on the halfway line.

 

Rant over.

[The_Boxing_Aussie]

In my opinion it wasn't the game for Carsley.All the other players did very well.The saddest is that Lescott had a brilliant game ,and it's a shame that his error could be fatal ( i hope it won't) .Jags was also brilliant.

Edited January 9, 2008 by The_Boxing_Aussie

[jofanon]

I'm sorry. You need to provide for AJ - he isn't the kind of player like Henry that create out of nothing.

 

He provides the goods if you provide him.

 

I still think AJ is one of out best players but we have to play to his strengths.

 

Yak was awfull in the first half especially.

 

Cahill needs to be either a midfielder or a striker. If its the former then he needs to contribute something else - we can't afford to carry him especially when our backs are against the wall.

 

There are certain players on Toffeetalk you get done for directing any criticism at i.e. Lescott, Arteta etc.

 

Rant over.

[MikeO]

There are certain players on Toffeetalk you get done for directing any criticism at i.e. Lescott, Arteta etc.

 

Think that's an Everton thing rather than a TT thing. Got no problem criticising our best players when they deserve it but it needs to be kept in perspective against their regular contribution.

 

My wife (who went to bed sick last night and saw the goals on the news this am) slagged off Joleon big time . Fair enough, but he was player of the season last year and has been one of our most consistent performers this.

 

Just need to put it right back at Goodison, could be a great night!!

 

EVERTON in a semi-final and still very much in a semi-final. A sight as rare as Steve Sidwell it might be, but occasions like these have a habit of letting you know what they’re all about – and quickly.

 

So it says everything about the make-up of this current Everton team that they seem to be able to cope with whatever this season throws at them.

 

Never mind recovering from the Oldham embarrassment, there were far bigger obstacles to overcome at Stamford Bridge last night.

 

The main one was the fact that David Moyes was deprived of the midfield he needed to throw into one of the toughest battles of all.

 

The unit that has been key to the superb run that culminated in them reaching Stamford Bridge. But across London, nobody clears a smooth path to Wembley for you and, as such, you can’t cut out the middle men.

 

But Moyes had no choice. The dismantling of his midfield started some time a week last Saturday when Mikel Arteta’s red card ruled him out of last night’s first leg.

 

Add to that the continued absence of broken foot victim Leon Osman and Steven Pienaar’s reluctant submission to South Africa’s demands, and the options were few.

 

After all, Thomas Gravesen couldn’t realistically be considered one after Oldham had exposed his limitations on Saturday.

 

Hence, the central area was decidedly makeshift – but what a shift they made of it.

 

This could have been a lot worse, particularly given the chasm of creativity left by the loss of Arteta and Pienaar.

 

But restricting Chelsea to such a fortuitous late winner should give Moyes and his men all the confidence they need for the return even if last night’s goal hero Yakubu won’t make it.

 

Arteta will and, given the wealth of firepower in the Goodison resources, that could be a far more significant inclusion.

 

Like Sidwell, who got a half-hour run-out, Everton were ultimately beneficiaries of Jon Obi Mikel’s recklessness.

 

It turned the tie back in their favour and allowed them to set up a stirring second leg despite Chelsea’s injury time second.

 

But even before the Nigerian’s 54th-minute red card, a composure and cohesion was needed to make up for the lack of familiarity in that vital area.

 

It went missing momentarily in the 26th minute and Shaun Wright-Phillips dished out the punishment.

 

And at that point it seemed that Everton would suffer badly – much in the same way that Florent Malouda seems to until the ball comes near him and he springs miraculously back to life.

 

They didn’t want to be chasing this semi-final, no matter how much time they have left to do it, no matter how shown of regulars Chelsea themselves may be.

 

Especially not when three-quarters of Moyes’s midfield was playing in positions they would only choose if they were blindfolded and asked to stick a pin on a tactics blackboard.

 

As a result only Lee Carsley was in his most accustomed role and even his shuddering impact there was lessened somewhat by his early booking for dissent.

 

Tim Cahill may have been fit to return in central midfield but he had to rein himself in rather than support one striker. Hence, not the Tim Cahill the 6,000 travelling Evertonians know and love.

 

James McFadden was effective on the left, but he always prefers to play up front and to be more involved in advanced areas.

 

Phil Neville initially took the right midfield role and it quickly became clear that perhaps he was the biggest miss of all during the FA Cup exit.

 

Leadership, drive, desire and, most importantly, the know-how of all winners and champions, the captain was determined not to leave here without his dreams of completing his set of domestic honours still intact.

 

And how that irked Chelsea and their fans, who showed how much by booing Neville for his reaction to Mikel’s red-card challenge.

 

Which was, simply, to get up and get on with the game in much the same way as Mikel himself spectacularly failed to do when Peter Crouch lunged at him in the last round.

 

In short, the type of attitude that has ensured the anticipation levels will be bubbling fiercely to the surface of the Goodison Park cauldron in a fortnight’s time.

 

Edited January 9, 2008 by MikeO

[Bill]

They dont look that great TBH. I know they've players missing but so have we.

We can beat anyone at Goodison, I think we'll have 'em.

 

Painful goal to give away though.

 

I take it from that comment that your memory span doesnt last longer than 3 days.

 

After a good nights sleep i've just watched the game with an open mind and to be honest we were lucky to come away with only a one goal deficit, if we had ended up 3 or 4 - 1 down we could not have complained, we were awful.

Thought the ref was crap during the game for not sending off Sidwell, it was a far worse tackle than Obi Mikels, but having said that he could also have sent Carsley off about 5 mins after he got his yellow, and Phil Neville was on thin ice and was a bit lucky with some of his tackles.

Thought the whole back 4 and Neville where terrific tho, backs to the wall and kept us in with a chance, albeit a very slim one

 

We had no midfield at all, Mcfaddy gave the ball away too often and put defenders under pressure, Cahill was poor and must be the poorest tackler of any midfielder i've ever seen, Johnson was poor all night, Yak was poor for 45 mins and Carsley was quiet after his early yellow card.

And i still cant believe that no business has been done in the transfer window, after a brilliant run of 13 games undefeated with our main midfield, we have now lost 4 of our last 6 games and still no tranfers in. We played 4-4-2 because we had to, we havent got any midfielders.

FFS EFC pull your finger out and bring in some players before the good start to our season is totally ruined.

[MikeO]

FFS EFC pull your finger out and bring in some players before the good start to our season is totally ruined.

 

Wouldn't disagree with that, has to be now or not at all surely. If we're sat up late on the 31st I'll be seriously pissed off.

[carlmc25]

I take it from that comment that your memory span doesnt last longer than 3 days.

 

After a good nights sleep i've just watched the game with an open mind and to be honest we were lucky to come away with only a one goal deficit, if we had ended up 3 or 4 - 1 down we could not have complained, we were awful.

Thought the ref was crap during the game for not sending off Sidwell, it was a far worse tackle than Obi Mikels, but having said that he could also have sent Carsley off about 5 mins after he got his yellow, and Phil Neville was on thin ice and was a bit lucky with some of his tackles.

Thought the whole back 4 and Neville where terrific tho, backs to the wall and kept us in with a chance, albeit a very slim one

 

We had no midfield at all, Mcfaddy gave the ball away too often and put defenders under pressure, Cahill was poor and must be the poorest tackler of any midfielder i've ever seen, Johnson was poor all night, Yak was poor for 45 mins and Carsley was quiet after his early yellow card.

And i still cant believe that no business has been done in the transfer window, after a brilliant run of 13 games undefeated with our main midfield, we have now lost 4 of our last 6 games and still no tranfers in. We played 4-4-2 because we had to, we havent got any midfielders.

FFS EFC pull your finger out and bring in some players before the good start to our season is totally ruined.

come on! Nyarko, Thomsen, Gravesen (headless chicken) he's no way the worst tackler ever seen. Cahill gets a fair few challenges in normally, he's just nowhere near as good in a 442, I still think playing it last night was a mistake, unless we had Anichebe up front from the start - AJ and Yak look rubbish together. We are SO much better in a 451, even with the injuries we had I still think we would have been far competitive 11 on 11 with that formation. But what's done is done, we can still do them in the second leg, let's just hope Lampard isn't back as he always scores past us, one things for certain - Goodison will be electric, I can't wait to see it!

[Bill]

"" 442, I still think playing it last night was a mistake ""

 

.....

 

Read my last post again specially this part ..........

We played 4-4-2 because we had to, we havent got any midfielders.

[muyguapo]

2-1 to Chelsea. Simply because our midfield is poor at the mo. The Yak 4 us.

 

 

Uncanny...................

[carlmc25]

"" 442, I still think playing it last night was a mistake ""

 

.....

 

Read my last post again specially this part ..........

We played 4-4-2 because we had to, we havent got any midfielders.

I can understand that reasoning, but there's always a way, Baines could have been brought in on the wing or even Vaughan or someone. I know it then becomes a case of playing people out of position (Walter Smith's favourite hobby) but it would have given us a grip on the midfield. When you look at our midfield of McF/Cahill/Cars/Nev against SWP/Mikel/Ballack/Cole then it's no surprise we were getting our asses handed to us before the sending off. I sometimes feel the pressure of having a big money player in AJ on the bench means Moyes feels he has to put him in if we have injuries, personally I think our team would have been far more competitive without him. I don't mean to be on AJ's back all the time, but I just think his partnership with Yakubu isn't working and Yakubu is the better player, no question.

[Sandman]

hopefully manny will be here for the 2nd leg, we're really lacking any creativity in midfield without ossie and pienaar. at least arteta will be back.

 

anyone know if ossie will be fit?

[The_Boxing_Aussie]

hopefully manny will be here for the 2nd leg, we're really lacking any creativity in midfield without ossie and pienaar. at least arteta will be back.

 

anyone know if ossie will be fit?

 

 

I think he won't be