Everton Make Solid Start To League Campaign
So over the following week most of my squad went away for international duty, some of the players that stayed and were not included against Norwich were given a run out in the midweek Under 21 game, one of these players was Mohammed Sissoko who had just started training again after an injury picked up in pre-season. There was also playing time for Alcaraz and Gueye as they continued their comebacks from injury. The game didn't go to plan as I was well beaten by Arsenal Under 21s but what I found most frustrating was Sissoko was injured yet again and will face another 3 weeks on the sidelines. He's really starting to look like a flop already. Thankfully the signing of Essien is softening the blow as he played a full 90 minutes for Ghana as he increases his fitness but it still a week or so away from featuring in the Everton first team..
Going into the Swansea I stuck with the same team that beat Norwich hoping they could build on that performance. therefore the match squad to face Swansea was:
GK - T.Howard
DR - S.Coleman
DC - P.Jagielka
DC - S.Distin
DL - L.Baines
MCR - G.Barry
MCL - D.Gibson
AMR - K.Mirallas
AMC - R.Barkley
AML - S.Pienaar
ST - N.Jelavic
Subs
J.Robles
J.Heitinga
B.Oviedo
J.McCarthy
L.Osman
G.Deulofeu
R.Lukaku
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Swansea City 1-4 Everton (Premier League)
Coming off the back of a win I went with the same eleven that did the job in the last match with the exact same tactics. The first portion of the game was played at a steady pace with both sides having half chances and Kevin Mirallas having a 1 on 1 against Vorm which he could only hit right at the keeper. Just when I felt I was beginning to get a hold of the goal I fell behind to a good counter attacking goal which was finished off by Michu with a first time effort into the roof of the net. This could of got Swansea’s tails up and made the afternoon difficult for me but my boys dug in and continued to create chances and their efforts were rewarded just after the half hour when a Leighton Baines corner towards the back post was superbly volleyed into the far corner by Phil Jagielka of all people. It was no more than I deserved and it allowed us to regain control of the match. Despite going into the break level I felt as though we should be ahead and told the team to relax and the goal will come if they keep playing as they were. My words proved to be accurate because just 3 minutes into the second half Pienaar received the ball and after waiting for the right moment played a through ball which Darron Gibson ran on to putting him clear of the defence allowing him to fire the ball past Vorm to give us the lead we richly deserved. Swansea stepped up a notch from here and began some pressure of their own testing Howard with some close range efforts. Thankfully my defence were aware of their surroundings and were always picking up the rebounds first preventing Swansea from retaining possession. Frantically pushing for the equaliser proved to be the undoing for the Welsh side as after misplacing a pass, Jelavic intercepted and hit Swansea on the counter attack. He took the ball to the out to the left hand side bringing two defenders with him before continuing into the box and forcing Vorm to charge out to cover the shot giving Jelavic the easy option of knocking the ball across goal and allowing Ross Barkley the easiest of tap ins to make the points safe for Everton. With 10 minutes to go I made a few changes giving Jelavic a rest after a super effort up top. I also brought off Mirallas as the Belgian hadn’t quite gotten into the game as much as I liked. Lukaku and Deulofeu were fresh and raring to go unfortunately for the Swansea defence and it was the young Spaniard that bagged himself a goal when he curled the ball around a defender and neatly into the top corner after receiving the ball from a throw in. The whistle blew to end the game giving me my second win from as many games. After two games I have a goal difference of +5 and sit 2nd in the table but more importantly the team look capable of scoring from every attack which is something I couldn’t get right in pre-season and had my concerns about going into the season itself. With the Capital One Cup game next I’ll probably run the changes to give a few others a chance to make an impression.
Swansea Scorers - Michu
Everton Scorers - Phil Jagielka, Darron Gibson, Ross Barkley, Gerard Deulofeu
Man of the Match - Phil Jagielka
Everton Unbeaten
So after two wins and two very good performances in the league my attention turned to the Capital One Cup against League 2 Bury and a chance for some of the other players to get a chance to impress. There was also a first start for Essien in the centre of midfield. I rung the changes giving me a match squad consisting of:
GK - J.Robles
DR - T.Hibbert
DC - J.Heitinga
DC - A.Alcaraz
DL - B.Oviedo
MCR - M.Essien
MCL - J.McCarthy
AMR - G.Deulofeu
AMC - L.Osman
AML - M.Gueye
ST - R.Lukaku
Subs
T.Howard
P.Jagielka
L.Baines
D.Gibson
S.Pienaar
K.Mirallas
N.Jelavic
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Everton 2-0 Bury (Capital One Cup Second Round)
Perhaps a bit naïve on my part but I didn’t anticipate many problems getting past Bury and as a result I had a completely changed eleven from the ones that played in the first two PL games. There were debuts for Essien, Alcaraz, McCarthy and Joel and first starts for Hibbert, Heitinga, Osman, Deulofeu, Oviedo, Gueye and Lukaku. I did have the big boys on the bench if I needed them but I was hoping I wouldn’t. Bury only managed to keep me out for 10 minutes as their left back wandered too far forward for a throw in leaving them massively exposed down their left flank and when Hibbert won the ball all he had to do was knock it to Deulofeu and the young Spaniard had a clear run on goal from the halfway line. His pace was that quick, the Bury defenders had given up long before he arrived at the box. The goalkeeper gave his best efforts but Deulofeu slotted the ball into the far corner of the goal to give Everton the lead and the young Spaniard his second in two games. From then on my side seemed to lack their killer instinct as they never applied a consistent amount of pressure to grab a second goal. Bury themselves offered little going forward but even still I wanted that second goal to make the game more comfortable. It never came and going into the second half I warned the team against complacency and to kill the game off. Again their just didn’t seem to be a desire to finish the game off. Bury still offered little but I wasn’t going to have egg on my face so with 15 minutes to go I brought off Gueye and Alcaraz, both of whom had just recovered from long term injuries and brought on Pienaar and Mirallas in case Bury grabbed an unlikely equaliser. The game was finally made safe in the 90th minute when a cross field pass from Deulofeu found Pienaar unmarked and the South African knocked the ball past the Bury keeper to make the game safe, an almost identical goal to the one he scored against Norwich. The game finished 2-0 and I was in the hat for the 3rd round.
Everton Scorers - Gerard Deulofeu, Steven Pienaar
Bury Scorers - None
Man of the Match - Gerard Deulofeu
Everton Face A Trip To Turf Moor
I was given a tricky away game in the next round of the Capital One Cup against Championship side Burnley with the game to take place in about a months time.
So over the following week most of my squad went away for international duty, some of the players that stayed and were not included against Norwich were given a run out in the midweek Under 21 game, one of these players was Mohammed Sissoko who had just started training again after an injury picked up in pre-season. There was also playing time for Alcaraz and Gueye as they continued their comebacks from injury. The game didn't go to plan as I was well beaten by Arsenal Under 21s but what I found most frustrating was Sissoko was injured yet again and will face another 3 weeks on the sidelines. He's really starting to look like a flop already. Thankfully the signing of Essien is softening the blow as he played a full 90 minutes for Ghana as he increases his fitness but it still a week or so away from featuring in the Everton first team..
Going into the Swansea I stuck with the same team that beat Norwich hoping they could build on that performance. therefore the match squad to face Swansea was:
GK - T.Howard
DR - S.Coleman
DC - P.Jagielka
DC - S.Distin
DL - L.Baines
MCR - G.Barry
MCL - D.Gibson
AMR - K.Mirallas
AMC - R.Barkley
AML - S.Pienaar
ST - N.Jelavic
Subs
J.Robles
J.Heitinga
B.Oviedo
J.McCarthy
L.Osman
G.Deulofeu
R.Lukaku
Swansea City 1-4 Everton (Premier League)
Coming off the back of a win I went with the same eleven that did the job in the last match with the exact same tactics. The first portion of the game was played at a steady pace with both sides having half chances and Kevin Mirallas having a 1 on 1 against Vorm which he could only hit right at the keeper. Just when I felt I was beginning to get a hold of the goal I fell behind to a good counter attacking goal which was finished off by Michu with a first time effort into the roof of the net. This could of got Swansea’s tails up and made the afternoon difficult for me but my boys dug in and continued to create chances and their efforts were rewarded just after the half hour when a Leighton Baines corner towards the back post was superbly volleyed into the far corner by Phil Jagielka of all people. It was no more than I deserved and it allowed us to regain control of the match. Despite going into the break level I felt as though we should be ahead and told the team to relax and the goal will come if they keep playing as they were. My words proved to be accurate because just 3 minutes into the second half Pienaar received the ball and after waiting for the right moment played a through ball which Darron Gibson ran on to putting him clear of the defence allowing him to fire the ball past Vorm to give us the lead we richly deserved. Swansea stepped up a notch from here and began some pressure of their own testing Howard with some close range efforts. Thankfully my defence were aware of their surroundings and were always picking up the rebounds first preventing Swansea from retaining possession. Frantically pushing for the equaliser proved to be the undoing for the Welsh side as after misplacing a pass, Jelavic intercepted and hit Swansea on the counter attack. He took the ball to the out to the left hand side bringing two defenders with him before continuing into the box and forcing Vorm to charge out to cover the shot giving Jelavic the easy option of knocking the ball across goal and allowing Ross Barkley the easiest of tap ins to make the points safe for Everton. With 10 minutes to go I made a few changes giving Jelavic a rest after a super effort up top. I also brought off Mirallas as the Belgian hadn’t quite gotten into the game as much as I liked. Lukaku and Deulofeu were fresh and raring to go unfortunately for the Swansea defence and it was the young Spaniard that bagged himself a goal when he curled the ball around a defender and neatly into the top corner after receiving the ball from a throw in. The whistle blew to end the game giving me my second win from as many games. After two games I have a goal difference of +5 and sit 2nd in the table but more importantly the team look capable of scoring from every attack which is something I couldn’t get right in pre-season and had my concerns about going into the season itself. With the Capital One Cup game next I’ll probably run the changes to give a few others a chance to make an impression.
Swansea Scorers - Michu
Everton Scorers - Phil Jagielka, Darron Gibson, Ross Barkley, Gerard Deulofeu
Man of the Match - Phil Jagielka
Everton Unbeaten
So after two wins and two very good performances in the league my attention turned to the Capital One Cup against League 2 Bury and a chance for some of the other players to get a chance to impress. There was also a first start for Essien in the centre of midfield. I rung the changes giving me a match squad consisting of:
GK - J.Robles
DR - T.Hibbert
DC - J.Heitinga
DC - A.Alcaraz
DL - B.Oviedo
MCR - M.Essien
MCL - J.McCarthy
AMR - G.Deulofeu
AMC - L.Osman
AML - M.Gueye
ST - R.Lukaku
Subs
T.Howard
P.Jagielka
L.Baines
D.Gibson
S.Pienaar
K.Mirallas
N.Jelavic
Everton 2-0 Bury (Capital One Cup Second Round)
Perhaps a bit naïve on my part but I didn’t anticipate many problems getting past Bury and as a result I had a completely changed eleven from the ones that played in the first two PL games. There were debuts for Essien, Alcaraz, McCarthy and Joel and first starts for Hibbert, Heitinga, Osman, Deulofeu, Oviedo, Gueye and Lukaku. I did have the big boys on the bench if I needed them but I was hoping I wouldn’t. Bury only managed to keep me out for 10 minutes as their left back wandered too far forward for a throw in leaving them massively exposed down their left flank and when Hibbert won the ball all he had to do was knock it to Deulofeu and the young Spaniard had a clear run on goal from the halfway line. His pace was that quick, the Bury defenders had given up long before he arrived at the box. The goalkeeper gave his best efforts but Deulofeu slotted the ball into the far corner of the goal to give Everton the lead and the young Spaniard his second in two games. From then on my side seemed to lack their killer instinct as they never applied a consistent amount of pressure to grab a second goal. Bury themselves offered little going forward but even still I wanted that second goal to make the game more comfortable. It never came and going into the second half I warned the team against complacency and to kill the game off. Again their just didn’t seem to be a desire to finish the game off. Bury still offered little but I wasn’t going to have egg on my face so with 15 minutes to go I brought off Gueye and Alcaraz, both of whom had just recovered from long term injuries and brought on Pienaar and Mirallas in case Bury grabbed an unlikely equaliser. The game was finally made safe in the 90th minute when a cross field pass from Deulofeu found Pienaar unmarked and the South African knocked the ball past the Bury keeper to make the game safe, an almost identical goal to the one he scored against Norwich. The game finished 2-0 and I was in the hat for the 3rd round.
Everton Scorers - Gerard Deulofeu, Steven Pienaar
Bury Scorers - None
Man of the Match - Gerard Deulofeu
Everton Face A Trip To Turf Moor
I was given a tricky away game in the next round of the Capital One Cup against Championship side Burnley with the game to take place in about a months time.
