It was Alan Wiley who grabbed all the headlines this afternoon, as Manchester City beat Everton 2-1 at Goodison. A late, well-taken goal from Dan Gosling was not enough to cancel out goals from Stephen Ireland and Robinho, as the visitors left L4 with all three points. Dismay at the final whistle now turns to anxiety, as all eyes turn to Phil Jagielka, who was stretchered off in the second half after stretching for a high ball.
The first half was absolutely abysmal, and one of the worst Everton have played through this season. A laboured, make-shift team struggled to create opportunities as a seeming hangover from last week's Wembley triumph plagued Goodison Park. And it was Manchester City who took the lead in an incident that would start all of the controversy surrounding the man in black.
Robinho's apparent push on Joseph Yobo went unseen by Wiley, and left the Brazilian clean through on goal. As the Nigerian was picking himself off the floor and dusting himself off, Jagielka came across to close down Robinho, but his efforts were in vain as the Brazilian calmly finished past Tim Howard. It was a well-taken goal, but the decision from Wiley, as did his seeming hesitation in timing and stopping the celebration, left a lot to be desired.
One can understand Robinho's joy at scoring away from home; something he hasn't been able to do with regularity since his move to City, but the theatrical Samba dance routine that followed lasted just under one minute. Alan Wiley seemed reluctant to hurry the Manchester City team up during their routine, and the one minute of added time was a rather baffling decision.
It is quite disgraceful that in a modern Premier League match, a player can waste so much time through celebrating, especially, when one considers how much money a match ticket costs in the current economic climate. Had the Evertonians, and the City supporters for that matter, wanted to watch a theatrical dance routine, performed by out-of-rythym artists, they are more than welcome to go to watch Strictly Come Dancing or Britain's Got Talent.
And the half time interval did not seem to spark new life into Everton; Saha and Fellaini were just as lazy and ineffective the midfield was completely passive and struggled to get into the game. They pushed for an equaliser, but as they did, City caught them with another swift counter-attack. Robinho ran at Yobo and Jagielka was covering, but his ball found Stephen Ireland in acres of space in the penalty area. Ireland simply tapped the ball into the corner of the net and celebrated in front of the famous Gwladys Street end.
The defensive frailties shown in conceding the goal can only be answered to by Phil Neville and Segundo Castillo, who both showed no desire to track Ireland's run. Whether the players were too tired to track back, or just could not be bothered, fingers need to be pointed. If it is the latter, the players need to answer, and if it is the other, the manager needs to be held accountable.
Micah Richards clashed with the Everton skipper soon after, and both pushed each other. By the letter of the law, both should have left the field of play, but Wiley, applying 'common sense', decided to book the pair. The bookings proved Wiley saw the incident, and hence, both can count themselves lucky to leave the field of play.
Then, Moyes finally decided to change things. A desperate triple substitution showed intent from the Goodison chief, but it was all too little too late. Why David Moyes, manager of a team chasing 5th place, did not change things at 1-0 to turn the game around is a mystery. And when he did, the changes he made could be questioned. Why Leon Osman, who looked dead on his feet, was not brought off, is something only Moyes can answer to. Instead, he put Osman in to the centre of midfield and from that point forward, Everton's midfield was completely non-existent.
Moyes was soon punished for his drastic and desperate decision, when Man of the Match, and Man of the Season, Phil Jagielka, stretched for a high ball and went down holding his leg in agony. The stretcher was called on to the anxious Goodison Park, and the defender was stretchered off, leaving Everton to play the remaining half an hour with ten men.
Cahill clashed with Onuoha by the Manchester City penalty area, and Alan Wiley was quick onto the scene. However, he, always wanting to be the centre of attention, told Onuoha to calm down, even though he raised his hands to Tim Cahill. Again, by the letter of the law, Onuoha should have been taking an early bath. However, it was 'common sense' that once again intervened as Wiley decided to tell the defender to calm down.
Wiley, for once, did not apply 'common sense', as he added 7 minutes of injury time, and comatose Goodison crowd was feebly brought to life in the 94th minute. Youthful Dan Gosling sprung onto Pienaar's pass before slotting the ball beautifully into the far corner. Couple that goal with the one he scored against Liverpool in the FA Cup, and one must ponder why Gosling is not at least pushing Osman for a place.
There was one more moment of controversy when Gosling kicked Shay Given in the heels. He turned and slapped Gosling in the face. And once again, Mr. Focal Point ran over to the incident and told both players to calm down. The referee, desperate to impress, did not want to see card-happy, and so left both on the field of play; both should have seen red.
The game meekly ended in a City win, and the officials were booed off the pitch, and rightly so. Credit to Manchester City, who ran out deserved winners over a labouring and makeshift Everton team, but one must analyse the role of the referee in the modern game. There was once a time, believe it or not, when referees used to go for a drink with the players after the game, but now, it is all about reputation. When there are officials in the crowd marking how the referee is performing, it is easy to see why so many referees bottle major decisions so as to not create controversy. Wiley did not want to show red and run the risk of losing control of the match, but cards, unlike 'common sense', have a place in the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment