Everton:
Wright, Yobo, Weir, Stubbs, Unsworth, Watson, Gravesen, Li Tie
, Pembridge, Rooney, Campbell.
Subs:
Simonsen, Naysmith, Gemmill (for Li Tie 73 mins), Carsley & Ferguson
(for Watson 78 mins)
Why
is it that a London game ends up in a weekend away & you wake
up feeling like shite on matchday morning? As Toffeemen we never learn!
To make things worse we had to wait until gone 4 O'clock until kick-off
thanks to the luverly SKY, what shall we do to kill time? Yes, back
to the ale'ouse!!
The talk was around Arsenal's demise - some demise! If we were playing
them at the right time, we'd heard that The Rad was unlikely to play
& that Rooney would start, that Joey would be in at right back
and that Big Dunc would be on the bench. All in all things were looking
pretty good so could we avoid our season Highbury tonking? We thought
so.
Super Kev was playing his 250th Premiership game, his first was against
Everton for Arsenal and the rumours were true, Rooney started alongside
him, Joey was in & Dunc getting splinters. The surprise was Pembo
in on the left for Nace.
The Arse looked pretty edgy at the start and we had the better of
the early stages. Cygan fouled Super and that gave us a free kick
on the edge of the box, Rooney failed to make the goalie make a save
& put it into the wall, this was to be the pattern for the whole
of the first half - Taylor did not have to save a single shot which
was on target!
Just as we thought we were doing well we went behind and the was only
7 mins on the clock. From an Arsenal corner on the left, Cygan rose
unchallenged, he lost both Super & Davey Weir, Wrighty was nowhere
near the cross and the big galoot nodded in.
The next incident was of no surprise, Berkamp crippled Stubbsy off
the ball, he never even got a free kick whereas if it had been at
Goodison there would have been uproar and the Dutchman could have
walked.
Tommy lost the ball in the middle and nearly cost us a second, Berkamp
skinned Stubbsy and Wrighty made a great double save. The Arse were
looking comfortable and as though they could step up a gear, we were
in need of something special, it was just not happening although there
was still just the one in it.
Two incidents summed it up for me. Firstly Unsey - Tommy wins the
ball deep in our half, plays in Super who runs at them before knocking
it wide to Unsey, he takes one touch and then spoons it over the bar.
Then Yobo - firstly he robs Henry brilliantly down by our corner flag
when there was danger, advanced towards the half way line then balloons
the ball out of play. There were just too mant not doing it in the
first 45 including Pembo, Wato & Li Tie, we did come into it a
bit more towards the end of the half Rooney had a shot blocked after
Super had headed on & Pembo almost scored with a free-kick from
wide on the right.
There was just one cameo from Rooney when he skinned both Gilberto
& Van Bronk on the wing before putting in a wicked cross which
was headed just wide by Wato, hopefully there was more to come.
HALFTIME 1 - 0
Now you might think I'm biased but the second half was all about the
ref, he was fuckin' atrocious, he gave us nothing and also gave a
few bad decisions against the Arse!
The half started with end to end stuff and it appeared that Moyesy
had dished out a half time bollocking, he gave them all a chance with
no subs and it paid off after just 10 mins with a goal from THE DUKE.
Super put him thru and he skipped past Cygan and put it wide of Taylor,
it was almost a copy of Leeds away, all square and the Toffeemen go
mental, it was no more than we deserved and we were looking dangerous
at last. They were nervous and the crowd were silenced, could we go
on to win it?
Then the first of many injustices. The Arse took the lead when Unsey,
who made a valiant attempt to stop them scoring, was held back by
Bergkamp, this enabled Viera, who had started the move off, to run
thru and score. Super appealed to the ref but he didn't want to know,
we looked in vain for his Gunners tattoo.
Then Henry clearly dived under a challenge from Davy Weir on the edge
of the box, needless to say there was no yellow card although he did
pick one up later after he showed dissent. Li Tie was also yellow
carded before being subbed for Scot Gemmill. Big Dunc came on, for
Wato who had been missing for most of the game, for the last 20 mins
but every time he went near the ball the ref blew up, he was clearly
not in Duncan's Fan Club!
We had a couple of half chances, a Rooney snapshot that went into
the side netting & a Duncan effort that was blocked after good
work from Super. Super himself had almost scored early on and was
showing that he was on his way back to better form.
There were 4 mins added and the Arse had the jitters, we failed to
bombard them as they just run it into the corners to see the clock
out. If there is anything to take from this (other than THE DUKE'S
goal) it is that we did not get our seasonal Highbury stuffing, the
cheer at the end from the Gooners was one of relief, they has won
because they had they ref in their pocket, he probably went straight
to Wenger's office to pick up his brown envelope!
The Blue Kipper Star Man was ........ Davy Weir & Stubbsy played
well as did Tommy in bursts, Super looked back to form but the Blue
Kipper Star Man was Joey Yobo, kept calm every time Henry went out
to his favourite position, had Pires substitued and made a welcome
return.
Team
News
With
Brian Mc Bride already back in the States, Super Kev will lead the
attack against his old club. We believe he will be joined by The Duke.
The Rad has done well, working hard, & scoring goals, but the
time has come to unleash the child. Rooney has got to start some time.
What better time than against the Champions in their own back yard.
If Moyesy wants to get something of all of our last 8 games then this
new impetus will be needed. Big Dunc should be back on the bench,
after 3 reserve outings. Let's hope he can add something to the team,
& shut up his detractors. (21/03/03)
Moyesy
says : "Duncan will travel. Although I am not sure if he
is ready to play a senior game yet. He will join in with Brian McBride
having left us now."
Everton from: Wright,
Watson, Stubbs, Weir, Unsworth, Alexandersson, Radzinski, Campbell,
Ferguson, Pembridge, Li Tie, Simonsen, Naysmith, Gravesen, Gemmill,
Rooney, Yobo, Said Carsley, Hibbert, Osman.
Sausage's
eleven to start: Wright, Yobo, Weir, Stubbs, Unsworth, Watson,
Li Tie, Gravesen, Osman, Campbell, Rooney
