On the eve of the 7th anniversary of the Moyes regime at Everton, the Scot still showed signs of a naïve approach, as did his team, even though they saw off Stoke. Goals from Jo, Lescott and Fellaini were enough to secure the three points for the Goodison side, despite a spirited second half fightback from Stoke.
Everton were terrific in the first half, and on-loan Brazilian striker Jo opened the scoring in the 18th minute when Fellaini's through ball found him in space. Jo showed a Braziliahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifn-like first touch to set himself, before powering the ball underneath Thomas Sorenson. Moments of magic from the Brazilian have been too sporadic to warrant a move in the summer, but he certainly has shown his potential since joining from Manchester City. It was to be a typical afternoon for him, as he showed flashes of brilliance at times, but he seemed to be totally anonymous in the second half, and his lack of pace and an aerial presence still remain a concern.
Soon after, Everton had doubled their lead when Joleon Lescott reacted quickest to Sorenson's save from a Cahill header, to place the ball beyond the helpless Stoke goalkeeper. Rather surpisingly, his strike today was only his 4th of the season in the royal blue jersey, despite such a prolific record in the last campaign. Being 2-0 up after twenty-five minutes, the Evertonians could not have asked for a better start to the match, the victory being almost guaranteed before half time.
The half-time whistle could not have come at a worse time for Everton, with them enjoying long spells of possession, and exposing the Stoke defence countless times. In reality, it could have been three of four at half-time, but due to a lack of clinical finishing, Stoke still had a glimour of hope as they sat in their dressing room, And given that Stoke had come from two goals down against Aston Villa recently, and against the Toffees themselves earlier in the season, Moyes' decision to take Cahill off seemed to be hasty at the time, and proved the manager's naivity.
The Everton chief has since come out and labelled the switch as a precaution, as Cahill had a slight calf strain and Moyes did not want to take unnecessary risks. However, another five or ten minutes would not have been too damaging to the Australian, but Moyes persisted with Frenchman Louis Saha. Despite deploying a strong replacement for Cahill, Everton after half-time had no-one who could put their foot on the ball in midfield and hence they lost their shape and discipline.
However, it was not the loss of shape that cost Everton the goal, as they found themselves conceding a rare goal from a set-piece. Moyes naïve decision to play Joseph Yobo was punished on a corner as he lost his man, Ryan Shawcross, who rose unmarked to perfectly place his header into the corner of the Gwladys Street net. Jagielka is half the player at right back, Yobo is half the centre back that Jagielka is, and Joleon Lescott does not play half as well with the Nigerian next to him. It seems rather naïve to put Yobo back in the team and weaken the team threefold, especially when there is a Danish International right back in Lars Jacobsen sitting on the bench. If Jacobsen cannot get into the team now, the question of whether Moyes wanted to even sign him in the first instance remains.
After the goal, the Goodison crowd grew ever-more frustrated with a sub-standard Everton side, and Stoke began to develop a number of opportunities. The Everton players showed their naivity and inability to kill a game, playing long balls up to Jo and failing to retain possession for a noticeable amount of time. It is this naivity that has proved costly in games in the not-too-distant past, such as Aston Villa and Arsenal at Goodison this season, where the players were looking for another goal when they did not need to, and were punished at the other end of the pitch.
Stoke's lack of quality in the final third meant they were unable to find that elusive second goal. And such is football, that the fifteen million pound man, Marouane Fellaini, sporting a new look, went up the other end and scored. The first touch to bring the ball under control was absolutely exquisite, and the finish needed the help of a deflection to take it beyond the Stoke goalkeeper and into the Park End goal- game over.
The match was never going to be a walk in the park, even if it did look that way at one point, and it is results that are important as this stage in the campaign. However, if this match taught Evertonians anything, it was that their manager is still learning after seven years with the club, and the players too need to eliminate such naivity from their play. It is this naivity that still separates Everton from top four clubs, as such clubs find it much easier to kill games off when they take the lead, whereas Everton have a lot to learn before reaching such a level. But the squad and the manager are still young, and provided they continue to develop their talents together, there is still hope of Everton moving one or two more rungs up the ladder.
C.Rimmer (15/03/09)
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