Here we go again: Everton meet Manchester City once more. Despite having a pretty good record against City it’s now been some time since we managed to earn three points against them; we haven’t won the last three meetings since the 2-0 victory at Goodison Park in March 2013. One of the positives for Saturday is that it’s at Goodison and many big sides have struggled here in the past, City more than most. We managed to win four on the bounce at home before last season’s 2-3 loss, which sadly clinched City the double over us. It was a strange occasion as the atmosphere wasn’t at its best and we didn’t seem too disappointed in the defeat. The only highlight of that match was Ross Barkley’s stunning strike early into the game.
The game in December saw us disappointingly lose by the one goal and there were plenty of poor refereeing decisions on show. Everton had some early luck with in-form Kun Aguero going off injured. Let’s hope he’s rusty if he returns to action on Saturday. Eliaquim Mangala was a very lucky man to stay on the pitch after raising his leg and studding Samuel Eto’o in the back. It was a very strange position to have his leg and he only picked up a yellow. Gareth Barry hasn’t been great this season and he was guilty of giving possession away with a back-heel and it lead to a City penalty. There’s no denying there was contact from Phil Jagielka on James Milner, however it was a very soft penalty to give. When Yaya Toure stepped up there was only going to be one outcome and that was a goal; it was excellently fired into the bottom corner just out of Tim Howard’s reach and in the end the penalty proved to be the difference. Soon after the goal Fernando was booked for kicking Barry in the head, and he too escaped with just a booking. We didn’t have too many chances in the first half, the closest effort came when Pablo Zabaleta headed Seamus Coleman’s cross out to Kevin Mirallas and his effort was deflected just wide by a well-timed block. After the break I thought José Pozo was about to double City’s lead, however Howard wasn’t having any of it and produced an outstanding save with his leg. It was pleasing to see us have more of a go in the second half, becoming more adventurous in attack. Our best chance of the game fell to Romelu Lukaku. Eto’o flicked it round the corner and unfortunately Joe Hart proved why he’s the City and England number one with tremendous fingertip save. Although Hart wasn’t tested too often, some of the attacking play was pleasing. Our performance was far from perfect in that game, however the second forty-five was one of our better second half display’s and our defence wasn’t too bad either.
The Everton defence has been a shambles this season and games against the top sides is where it needs to stand up and be counted. We’ve been in horrible form, managing just one win in the last ten games in all competitions. Against Tottenham we fell apart after going in front and against Hull at home we failed to make the most of going in at half time ahead, and the second half like so many times this season was truly terrible. Although we drew, it certainly felt like a loss. After the QPR victory (which was expected) everything has been horrible viewing, Southampton had injury troubles and were still able to tear us apart and things continued to get worse after that. Stoke managed to come away from Goodison with all three points on Boxing Day. Arouna Kone gave us a fantastic start away to Newcastle and rather than pushing on we once again dropped off massively; the turning point in the game was the elbow from Papiss Cissé on Coleman. Somehow he stayed on the pitch and a couple of minutes later he equalised, and the punishment from the FA was too late for us. Hull away took me past the stage of anger through to disbelief as the players didn’t look up for the game and things were getting very worrying. It was our fourth loss in a row and left us four points away from the relegation zone.
To Tuesday, firstly I would like to say I was surprised to see the game being played on a Tuesday night. It seemed pointless and unfair on both sides that now have to play on Saturday. After a hectic period of football it would’ve been nice to have had a day or two more days rest going into the game with City. Tuesday was our best performance for some time, however at the back we were still nervous and looked vulnerable and there is still much work to be done to sort things out. Sylvain Distin has been a great servant, however at the age of 37 he finally looks to be over the hill and it may be a blessing that he’s missing out on Saturday’s game due to an injury he picked up on Tuesday. With young John Stones returning to action he should be a much welcomed addition to the starting eleven; he’s been missed and he should resume his partnership with Jagielka, which in my opinion is our best centre-back pairing. It’s going to be interesting to see who starts at left-back on Saturday. Bryan Oviedo did a fine job on Tuesday, however Leighton Baines returns from a knock that saw him miss the last game, and another returnee is Antolín Alcáraz after serving his suspension.
Our attacking play was much better as we tried a slightly more direct approach and it worked wonders as a fired up Lukaku put on his best display in an Everton shirt. His hold up play and first touch has been the poor part of his game, however he couldn’t put a foot wrong on Tuesday, everything was spot on and it was great to see him trying his luck with a few attempts from range. Another that caught the eye on Tuesday was Bosnian Muhamed Bešić. He’s been one of very few bright sparks in our poor run; he’s fantastically calm on the ball, keeps it very well and more than loves a tackle. Sadly an out-of-form Barry is keeping him from playing more, which is unfortunate as he’s forming a great partnership with Barkley, which is certainly something to look forward to in the future however Barry and Bešić should pair up on Saturday. Barkley had moments of brilliance throughout the game, but he was caught on the ball a few times and gifted possession back to West Ham. Some of his best play came down the middle, so hopefully Martinez starts playing him there rather than on the left.
Some frustration has been the lack of wing play. Too many times we’ve opted to field Barkley, Eto’o and Steven Naismith as the three behind Lukaku and it doesn’t work, all of them want to be behind the striker and it sees us becoming too narrow, which then sees attacks break down too easily. Lukaku finally grabbed a goal for us in injury time on Tuesday and it was brilliant to finally have something to cheer about – having the replay isn’t ideal, however we’re still in the FA Cup, a competition we need to have a look at winning.
The goal has given everyone a big lift and hopefully it’s a turning point in what has been a disappointing league campaign so far. However we need to be at our best to manage a huge victory on Saturday; we need to start picking up wins and as it’s just what Everton like doing, turning up against the big boys. Goodison will hopefully be rocking on the weekend, and I’m quietly confident despite City’s impressive run of eleven league games without defeat. Our home record against City should give us a little bit of confidence and as I said it’s just like Everton to lose to Hull before beating a big side. One thing I would love to see on Saturday is some leadership. In our poor run it doesn’t look like anyone wants to take charge and help inspire the team forward and this needs to change with Saturday being the perfect opportunity to do so.
