"
Its A Grand Old Team To Play For....."
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Carling Cup Semi Final 1st leg / Wed 08th Jan 2008 / Kick
Off: 7:45pm (Live on Sky Sports)
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Chelsea
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2 |
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EVERTON |
Everton:
Howard,
Hibbert
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Yobo, Jagielka, Lescott, Carsley,
Neville,
Cahill, McFadden, Johnson,
Yakubu
Bench: Stefan Wessels, James Vaughan, Victor Anichebe (Yakubu), Thomas Gravesen, Nuno Valente
Referee: Peter Walton (aka Les Battersby)
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Yep you would have took that before the match, a two one defeat, with a superb second half performance, but leaving Stamford Bridge last night, an air of despondency surrounded the fans. Moyesy is right, we are still in it there is no doubt about that. To progress though to our first Wembley Final in years, we have to turn over Chelski, something we also have not done in years. It all could have been so different, until their injury time winner, when Roger put through his own net. No blame from me for that, as at the time I believed Tim Howard should have flattened Roger and Wright Phillips and cleared his lines, TV replays have confirmed this to me again. Tim is a top keeper, superb shot stopper, but he does have an aversion to coming off his line, and any ball in the six yard box should always be the keepers domain. If he can eradicate this fear from his game, we have one of the Prem's top keepers in our line up, if he does not, more and more teams will play on it. Anyhow, Moyesy brought back in some of his regulars in the form of Tiny, The Yak, Joey and Roger to his starting line up, but in the first period, the Blues were mainly chasing shadows. Harry Hill earned himself a very early yellow, and walked a tight rope with the errant Mr Battersby all match. Chelsea were dominant, with Hilarious in the home teams net a virtual spectator all half. Their dominance paid off when Wright Phillips was allowed the freedom of Everton's penalty area, to curl his shot unmarked into Tim's net. At last their was a home support, as the Rich Londoners decided they had some vocal chords to cheer their mercenary players on. Their players responded again, as The Jag, Roger, Joey and Hibbo defended stoically. Tiny was playing more as a defensive midfielder than an attacking one, and some half time repair work was needed to lift the boys otherwise the defending Carling Cup Champions would walk all the way to Wembley. AJ started the second period more wide right, and Tiny pushed on, as the Blues took the game to the home side. Mr Battersby was handing out cards as if they were going out of fashion. Indeed it was a high tempo, fiery encounter, but not one worthy of six or seven yellows, and one red, but that one red turned the game in our favour. Obi Mikel got his marching orders for a lunge at Phil Neville, booking we thought, no a red came out, get in there game on. The Blues were now turning the screw, and our dominance paid off when the Yak buried his shot home on the turn after Joey Yobo headed Faddy's free kick into his Nigerian team mates path. We were ecstatic, and with half an hour left on the clock, we thought hang on we can win this one. It was now Chelsea on the back foot, as moments later a touch of magic from The Yak set up Jimmy Mac. The Scots forward who was mostly frustrating last night, beat a few challenges, and from an acute angle he fired his shot against the foot of the post. The Blues piled forward, Roger playing as a left half rather than a full back. A draw, back to Goodison, yep we will have a bit of that, and Moyesy seemed to settle for that as well, as the Blues played keep ball. Chelsea though came back at the Blues and deep in injury time, Wright Phillips struck, nuff said on that one. So two weeks tonight we play our first Semi Final under floodlights at Goodison since that fantastic Bayern Munich night nearly 23 years ago. Bring back Messrs, Sharp, Gray and Steven, or maybe we can talk about Messrs, Cahill, Johnson and Arteta in the same breath as these legends in years to come. We have a chance, no team likes coming to Goodison on a high tempo game under the lights. Lets have another United night from three years ago, ala Big Dunc. If forty thousand fans came make the noise of six thousand from last night, Chelsea and their superstars may not like it up 'em. Starman, many candidates, Harry Hill, The Jag, Joey, but once again Roger gets the nod, a legend in the making. Full Time: Chelsea 2 Everton 1
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Moyesy says: "It's really hard to take. In the big games you've got to try right until the end. We've got a chance. We're back at Goodison now. I always wanted to have the tie alive and we've certainly got that. It was a hard place to come, it always is. We're disappointed to lose the game, but we're not out of it yet. We're still going to try and make the final if we can. The players were great, they really were. They were great to hang in first half in difficult times. We kept at it. We got a good goal in the end and I thought we might go on and get a second. I just don't know if Wright-Phillips holds him down maybe, but that would be harsh. It was hand on the shoulder maybe, but I thought Lescott was going to make up for it in the last minute with the chance he had. He's played really well for us this season so he's got nothing to worry about. I thought the referee was fine. I thought he had a good game. I've not seen the sending off so I can't comment. I thought overall he was fine." (08/01/08) |
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| * Narrow, dirty match 2-0 Yakubu with a brace - Adders in bed win man flu ! * 1-1 AJ to score. Buddy * I feel this is our year for silverware, 2-1 to us with lescott and tiny on the scoresheet! Cheers. PC * I'd be happy with a 1-0 defeat and a 3-0 win at our place with Arteta Back. Bri. C |
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Everton face their first semi-final in yonks with a couple of players out and a couple players needing fitness tests. Arteta (suspended), Osman (broken toe) and Pienaar (FIFA ruling) are all out of the game. Yobo and Yak are free to play. It's a question whether Moyesy plays the Yak up front with Tim Cahill supporting or he plays 4-4-2. The Everton captain Phil Neville should be back to lead the side. Phil Neville says: "This is the only winners medal I have not got. I have two losers medals and normally I give my medals to my father. But those two losers' ones I have kept in a drawer at home. I look at them occasionally to remind myself of what it is like to lose a major final, and it is something I do not want to happen again. To be the Everton captain that leads the side out at Wembley would probably be the best thing that has happened in my career. I'd like us to get there for our fans and the manager. The fans have travelled everywhere with this club for a decade and the manager has put so much hard work into this club. Wembley would be reward for them. The FA Cup defeat was a minor setback, but a lot of Premier League clubs had problems in the third round. We must move on. We don't like losing and this season is not over by a long way. These things happen, we won't dwell on it, we will move on now and try to get to Wembley. It's a fantastic occasion and everyone here should not be involved in football if they are not looking forward to this. Everton have not been in too many semi-finals, so let's give it our all and enjoy it. The 1-1 draw we got at Chelsea this season is a confidence boost. It showed us that, if you take the game to them, you can cause an upset. We have to be fearless, to attack and give everything. We must do the things that we have been doing do well for the last few months. Chelsea have not lost at home for a long while and Everton don't get to many finals. But my view is that we should go out and prove everyone wrong. These are the records we want to break. Stamford Bridge is a great place to play, a tight ground, similar to Goodison Park. We are really looking forward to it. You can see it in the eyes of the players, this is the one they have been looking forward to. The chance of getting to Wembley, even playing in a semi-final, is massive for this club after so long without being in a major final. It is too many years since Everton were in a semi-final of any sort - now I believe we are ready to challenge the big boys. I would not be here if Everton did not have ambition. We have slowly improved, reached Europe, and we must keep on improving. Now we need to deliver and this is the biggest hurdle." Moyesy says: "Tim Cahill and Tim Howard weren't available for Saturday, as was Joseph Yobo - they were all injured. But I hope they will be available for this game." Lard's XI To Start: Howard, Hibbert, Yobo, Lescott, Valente, Gravesen, Carsley, Neville, Cahill, Johnson, Yakubu Everton from: Howard, Wessels, Hibbert, Neville, Jagielka, Yobo, Lescott, Stubbs, Baines, Valente, Carsley, Gravesen, McFadden, Johnson, Yakubu, Vaughan, Anichebe.
IF ANY EVERTON FAN WANTS TO WRITE A REPORT OF ANY OF THIS SEASON'S GAMES, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO DO SO. JUST E-MAIL IT TO info@bluekipper.com AND WE WILL PUT IT ON THE SITE. |
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* If I say AJ, The Yak scores, if I say The Yak, AJ scores. I don't care who scores tonight as long as its for Everton FC, the Greatest Team the World has ever seen. OK then, get on Tiny at 3/1 to score at anytime in the match (Betfair). |
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Chelsea will be without
Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and Salomon Kalou because of the African
Cup of Nations. Mikel John Obi could be available, Ricardo Carvalho
returns after a ban, Ashley Cole is fit again and Petr Cech has an outside
chance of being fit. |
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