bluekipper.com - Reserves Newcastle(h)

Reserves/ Newcastle Utd(H)

Andy Holden

Everton 2, Newcastle Utd 4 / Wed 20th Aug. 2003. / Atten:2,130/ @ Haig Ave, Southport. / Kick-Off: 7.00pm

Everton: Turner, Hibbert, B Moogan, O'Hanlon, Weir, Schumacher, Alexandersson, Tie, Rooney, Garside, A Moogan.

Bench: A Gerrard, Gallagher, Barry, Booth, Fox.

By Sunlink

A well contested game that was always going to be tight.

Negatives first - Our two worst players were two internationals (Li Tie and Alexanderson). Believe me, Li Tie will never make it in the premiership, he is too far off the pace of the game and gives away possession too easily. No wonder Everton didn't want to part with any money for him. I won't bore you with details on Alexanderson, I'm sure by now you have all realised he is happy to go through the motions, however on a couple of occasions in the second half he did show a couple of flashes of what he can be capable of. I will concur with other kippers on their assessment of O'Hanlon, he didn't do his cause any good last night and was definitely at fault for the third goal. Garside is also unlikely to make the grade, due to his lack of pace.
Positives - Wayne played for the full ninety minutes and could have had four goals from four efforts. His second was a fantastic strike that was unstoppable. His first wasn't too shabby either, which he drilled away clinically. Again, it proved that if you play the ball to the lad's feet he will create. The service too him was poor as usual but he still managed to create those four chances out of nothing. It was great to see him back.
Brightest prospect on last night's performance was Brian Moogan (left back). If he continues to put in performances like last night's then he may have a long term future at the club. He has pace, looks good going forward, is strong in the tackle and has an excellent football brain as well as very good defensive skills. I will reserve judgement on his nephew, as he had mixed fortunes on the night but got stuck in and never stopped chasing as well as showing some good skills going forward.
Ian Turner was at fault for the fourth goal, which was unfortunate because up till then he had acquitted himself well. The best part of his game last night, was his distribution. I have yet to see a goalie that can kick a ball as accurately as this lad did last night. He found a blue shirt every time, whether he was throwing or kicking the ball out of defence (with both feet).
Schumacher still looks a decent prospect. Hard as nails and does not give any quarter in the tackle. He looked dangerous going forward and has a good knack of finding space in the last third, when coming through from midfield. He needs to break through in the next 18 months if it is going to happen for him but he would certainly look no worse than what we currently have in the midfield for the first team. We shall see.

Turner - Great distribution, good positioning but was at fault for the last goal. 7
Hibbert - Started off a bit shaky (due to match practice?) but soon picked up the pace of the game as it progressed showing some great turns of speed and decent distribution as the game went on. 7
B Moogan - See above (potentially a future first team player) 9
Weir - Won everything in the air and had a steady game apart from his positioning for the second goal. Doesn't look much between him and Stubbs at the moment. 7
O'Hanlon - I will give the lad the benefit of the doubt and will reserve judgement as it wasn't a good night for him. 5
Alexanderson - Marking time and collecting his £20k+ a week (get rid ASAP) 5
Li Tie - Came to the conclusion last night that he has been purchased solely for what he can do on the Chinese marketing front (Occasional cameo appearance in first team to appease sponsors) he was awful last night and played far to many hospital balls to his colleagues. 5
Schumacher - Loads of honest endeavour, good football brain, hard as nails in the tackle and likes to get forward. 8
A Moogan - I know his dad, who is obviously very proud of his lads progress. He tried hard to make things happen and chased everything. One great move involving his nephew nearly resulted in a goal for him from a rasping drive from the edge of the box. 7
Garside - Old fashioned centre forward in the mould of A Gray. Fought well and provided some excellent hold up play and flick-on's to set up a number of attacks. Run out of steam in the second half though and was virtually anonymous. 6
Rooney - Looked bright and created goal scoring opportunities out of nothing. His two goals were superb strikes, especially the second that left the goalie with no chance. Suffered from a lack of service (when are we going to learn to play to the lad's strengths). Full ninety minutes, which would indicate that he will start on the bench, come Saturday. 8

Disappointed not to see Pascucci, Gerrard and Osman (injured) play. Also, a bit surprised that we let Pilkington go as I thought he was a decent prospect.

Calvin Zola (strange surname for a black lad) showed some exceptional skill for Newcastle and took his goals well. Chopra (their answer to Wayne) was utter crap and started to get niggly near the end when things weren’t going his way. (20/08/03)

Team News

Andy Holden has the chance to put out a strong side against Newcastle tonight at Haig Ave. At his disposal he has the likes of Wayne Rooney, Tony Hibbert, Davie Weir and Li Tie. So if you get the chance get down to Southport grab a candy floss and 6 donuts and watch the Blues, it will be better than watching England on Sky.

Everton from: Turner, Hibbert, B Moogan, O'Hanlon, Weir, Schumacher, Alexandersson, Tie, Rooney, Pascucci, A Moogan, A Gerrard, Gallagher, Barry, Garside, Booth, Fox.