Neither of the weekend's defeats were particularly unexpected, but that's now one win in the last six with seven scored and ten conceded. |
But quite what progress we're making is unclear as we've looked pretty clueless since the derby and it was three easy points for both Tottenham and Chelsea.
Easter Saturday (if that's what it's called...and what, exactly, is good about Good Friday? How can a crucifixion ever be considered good?) Anyway, Easter Saturday, and Tottenham came to Goodison sitting four points clear at the top and ran us ragged in ways that only Man United,
They looked in complete control all match and they won it via a goal from Robbie Keane who slotted a spot kick after he was brought down by Alan Stubbs. The ref was actually a little hasty with the decision as, just as Keane was bundled over, the ball rolled to Jermaine Jeans who hammered it past Richard Wright. But the penalty was given and, despite the Everton ‘keeper diving the right way, Keane slotted it into the corner of the net.
Spurs had several other good chances after that and the only reason that the game finished 0-1 was because Richard Wright was excellent in goal.
Wright wasn't too far away from saving the peno either!
There, I put the words Richard, Wright and excellent in the same sentence. And I don't see how anyone could argue with that assessment of his display on Saturday, even the whoppers in the Park End that booed when his name was read out. Incidentally, what do these people hope to achieve by booing the name of a player who is, even at the best of times, low in confidence?
The biggest problem on Saturday was that we made it too easy for Spurs. We are obviously missing the creative outlets provided by Arteta and Valente but it was disappointing at how many players went missing against Tottenham.
That's not to take anything away from Spurs though as they were excellent. And it was a good showing from their supporters too who celebrated like they'd just clinched fourth spot. And we all know how that feels!
And so to the
Although we didn't appear to be posing much of an attacking threat we were holding our own against the Champions. That was until our lack of movement up front meant that Tim Cahill had nowhere to turn and was dispossessed by Didier Drogba who then ran thirty yards unchallenged before sliding a ball to Frank Lampard on the edge of our area. Lampard then did what he always does and lashed a long range effort into the back of the net. It looks like he's going to be one of those players that always scores against us like Rush, Fowler, Wright, Ferdinand, Shearer...the list goes on!
But we went into the break just the one goal down, having put in a relatively good display. And things weren't looking too bad until the 47th minute when Everton were, again, reduced to ten men!
Lee Carlsey fouled Drogba just by the half way line and Rob Styles saw fit to give him a straight red. The only card brandished all game! It was even more ludicrous than van der Meyde's red at Anfield! And with that, the game was effectively over, we were just left wondering how many
Thankfully, they only added two more, as Drogba headed in a 62nd minute corner and Michael Essien smashed the ball past Wright and into the top corner of the net in the 74th minute. But even that goal was covered in controversy as it came as a result of a
And where was Essien's yellow card for diving into the crowd as he celebrated? I don't agree that players should be booked for goal celebrations but it's been going on all season. And
Bingo wings!
Another reason that the
So it was a pretty bad Easter weekend all round really, but one that was definitely made worse by the results leading up to it. Had we taken more from the games against
But we never and we are now stuck in a worrying run of form as we have won just one of our last six. Exactly the same as