New Boys Feature as Everton win it Leight-On

A 94th minute penalty and Louis Saha goal were enough to overturn Wigan and finally get Everton's campaign underway. Having been flattened by Arsenal on the opening day and losing to new boys Burnley, many were brandishing the match a must-win encounter. The blues did win it, but not without the typical Goodison drama.

Tim Cahill flashed the ball dangerously across the penalty area to Louis Saha, who pounced on to the ball but could only find the Wigan goalkeeper with his effort when it seemed easier to score. Rodwell reacted first off an Everton corner to fire the ball towards the top corner, but his effort was also saved.

A poor Wigan team struggled to handle Everton in the first half, with a few of their players going into the referee's book before the interval. Wigan showed little adventure in the first half as they struggled to keep the ball.

However, it was hard to see how they could be so poor in the second half as well, and it is fair to say they definitely improved. Everton were not as good after the break, as Wigan started to get on the ball more, and remained strong at the back.

The Latics took the lead, slightly against the run of play, shortly after the restart. Paul Scharner evaded Hibbert at the back post to nod home and maintain his impressive goalscoring record against the Toffees. It seemed to be the classic coup d'etat match as Wigan looked to smash-and-grab all three points.

With Everton propping up the Premier League and trailing 0-1 at home, the home crowd began to grow extremely restless. Just after the hour mark, the in-form Louis Saha finally brought some perspective to the Goodison crowd, rising highest to nod home a Leighton Baines corner and restore parity.

Marouane Fellaini came on for Leon Osman in a quite puzzling change. At first, Cahill moved to the right wing, and then Fellaini swapped with him. The players seemed as confused as the fans by it. The natural option, Bilyaletdinov, was on the bench and waiting for his chance, but Moyes relied on the Belgian International instead.

“Billy”, to his mates, has been playing competitive football since March so it cannot be his fitness that concerned Moyes. Whether Moyes thought it was a rather big occasion, and did not want to give his new man a baptism of fire, is unknown, but the £10 million man is a Russian International who has played in International tournaments.

In the end, however, Moyes was to be proved right in his decision, as Fellaini produced a game-changing performance off the bench. After his introduction, Everton went into the ascendancy. First, Hibbert's cross met Cahill's head in the box, but the Australian steered far wide with a trademark opportunity.

Then, Fellaini put Jo through on the left-hand side but the Brazilian fired straight at Mike Pollitt with his opportunity. The ball rebounded to Rodwell, who got a bit too excited and snatched his effort over the bar with the goal gaping.

As Everton pushed for the winner, they were always susceptible to conceding a goal and it looked like the worst fears would come true when Wigan sprung a 5-on-2 counter attack. Phil Neville did an excellent job in shepherding Scott Sinclair wide into taking a shot, which he fired straight at Howard.

Jo was put through in injury time, and showed a little bit of trickey to fly past Emmerson Boyce, who clumsily brought the Brazilian to the floor. The referee pointed to the spot to send elation all around Goodison. However, minds were cast back to Saha's penalty miss against Burnley the week previous. But to quote a line from the FA Cup Semi Final shoot-out, “Baines...bang!”. Elation.

Sylvain Distin put in an excellent performance to have Evertonians saying “Joleon who?” after the ninety minutes, and Dini also saw three minutes of football. And David Moyes will be given a slight selection problem ahead of the Fulham game in two weeks, because of Marouane Fellaini.

It is fair to say Everton looked far more comfortable in possession when the 21-year-old was not on the pitch, as the boys at the back were not tempted to lump it forward towards the target man. Also, Fellaini's impact coming off the bench was far greater than his impact in his previous performances this campaign.

Also, accomodating Bilyaletdinov will be a hard task it seems, as he prefers to play in the middle or the left than on the right, which would be the obvious choice. Putting him on the left will mean splitting the effective Baines-Pienaar partnership up.

Any new faces brought in to L4 in the coming days will give the Scot more selection problems, and a lot of uncertainty surrounds Everton's best formation. One thing is for sure, the season is looking a lot brighter after today's result and performance.

Man of the Match: Distin (8)

Have City 'Cott the Message Finally?

It seems the Joleon Lescott soap opera is finally over, for this transfer window at least, following Bill Kenwright’s meeting with City officials. According to Sky Sports, the Everton chief told the Mancunian side that he had no desire to allow Lescott to leave the club, and especially not to a potential rival.

The Birmingham-born defender signed for Everton in 2006, for a fee of £5.5 million, having been named in the Championship Team of the Season in the previous campaign. Such was Lescott’s impact on the Everton team, he was voted Players’ Player of the Season in the next two consecutive years.

Despite a shaky start to the 2008/09 campaign, Lescott enjoyed another very good season, only this time, he was to be over-shadowed by the man next to him, Phil Jagielka. His passion, athleticism and general ability were what had endeared him to the Everton faithful, but lately, general opinion seemed to waver.

Opinion soon was split on Merseyside, as to whether or not Moyes should cash in on Lescott. Some saw him as a replaceable player, and someone who was definitely over-priced at £25 million. Then, there were those who questioned the 26-year-old’s commitment, and even berated him for wanting to go to Eastlands, regardless of the fact that all of this was sheer speculation.

Having a left-footed centre back, who can score up to ten goals a season, is always beneficial, especially when they can defend as well as Lescott can. And the England international, last year, forged a formidable partnership with Jagielka, at the heart of the Everton backline. The composed and assured manner of Lescott’s defensive work contrasts wonderfully with Jagielka’s gladiatorial nature.

To the purists, however, it was not about the player at all. Selling a star asset to a rival team would only consolidate Everton’s standing as a selling club. After last year’s solid league position and run in the FA Cup, Evertonians felt it was time the board reciprocated the collective ambition shown by both the manager, and the players. Allowing Lescott to move to a team who could easily rival the Toffees next year would not have emitted any such ambition.

Moyes’ defiance in the matter has been something admirable, as has his dignity in dealing with Manchester City. The two official bids, of £15 million and £18 million, were rather unethical, according to Moyes, given that he had already stated that no-one was for sale. The offers were merely used as a tactic to push Everton’s hand and unsettle Lescott.

With Phil Jagielka sidelined until November, Moyes only has two fit centre-halves available to him- Lescott and Yobo. The pursuit of Phillipe Senderos, earlier this month, had suggested that Moyes may have been willing to part with Lescott if the fee was right, but Moyes insisted Senderos was merely for reinforcements, given the centre-back crisis he found himself in.

Moyes’ would have been in somewhat of a desperate situation had Lescott wanted a move down the M62, as was widely reported to have happened in the meeting between the two. Moyes would have tried to be defiant and tell Lescott he wasn’t moving to City, but the Scot is a man who centres all of his management around team ethics. And having a player at the club, who doesn’t want to be there, is not good for morale.

However, if Sky Sports is to be believed, Moyes is not going to part with Lescott at any price, and Joleon is happy at Goodison, for the time being. It seems that Mark Hughes is starting to give up hope on Lescott, now, too, stating that “If we feel a certain deal has run it‘s course, we will look elsewhere”. He went on to add, “Whether we have reached that stage with Joleon, only time will tell.”

Lescott could not be blamed for wanting to move to Eastlands; he was not born on County Road, he could at least double his wages at City, and play at a club whose owners have no bottoms to their pockets. However, this is the clearest indication, in a long time, that the centre-back is happy where he is, and that he will not be going anywhere just yet. To turn such an offer down from City is something that will make him a fan favourite at Goodison during the following campaign.