everton canny afford to lose
Posted by Ian Marshall's Double in Everton | 23 February 2006
“The house of delusions is cheap to build but drafty to live in.” A. E. Housman
After seemingly aeons, it's back to the action, this time Newcastle away. The game's on telly and our record on Sky is always cause for concern. However, Everton go into this fixture with plenty to be positive about, like;
- Even with 4 players suspended, Moyesy still has interesting selection choices. With Hibbert missing it seems likely Yobo will slot in at right back, hopefully, bearing in mind just how much he loves a goal against Newcastle. Elsewhere the choice of 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 is also intriguing, but expect caution with Cahill and Osman supporting Beattie. Preferable would be going for the Geordie jugular and try giving McFadden another chance in a 4-4-2.
- Goalkeeping reinforcements have arrived and Sander Westerveld may make his debut. So one half of the lamest fight on a football pitch is in, after the Poom deal fell through. If Poom is actually deemed to be 3rd choice behind the awful Almunia, maybe it’s a good thing.
- The team's form is excellent at the moment, conveniently ignoring the Chelsea game , and the spirit shown in the Blackburn game will linger long in the memory.
- It looked like a bad time to play Newcastle, but after their dull draw with Charlton, and nightmare FA Cup draw, maybe things don’t look so rosy for the loyalest (sic) football supporters the world has ever had. Also, Dyer is out injured which must be good for us, and Bramble is out which must be, er, not sure.
Regarding the FA Cup, it is often said that all of football wants to see Alan Shearer lift the FA Cup in May. Real Life Blues feels quite strongly about this, speculating that most of football wanted to see old Mary Poppins retire at the end of last season like he said he would. Chelsea should put paid to any lingering doubts about him or Newcastle actually winning something.
Having said that we know Shearer loves a goal against the Blues, and his screamer in 2002/3 ended our outstanding run and in some ways was the turning point of the season. Our mate Graham Poll is in charge, which always seems to spell bad news. On balance, a draw would be an OK result.
According the Real Life News Newcastle blog, Extra Tyne, our own James Beattie is one of the people they used to consider as a replacement for their hero. But apparently, he has now 'crashed and burned' at Everton. Strange that, coz we all thought he'd started playing pretty well. That said, this link to a ‘Beattie for England’ argument is definitely taking things too far. Good honest robust centre forward however, he is.
Elsewhere, Jose Mourinho is bleating unnecessarily. Even if it wasn't a sending off it was a stupid challenge and that Del Horno is a nasty piece of work anyway. In the other games, will it make you feel better or worse if Villarreal win the Champions League??
For the blues the next 4 games are vital. They all look winnable but on one of our dodgy runs they could all look loseable too. A haul of 8 or 9 points leading up to the derby could put us in a really interesting position.
The next entry will reflect on the newCASTLE (apparently that's how you pronounce it) game and see where we stand then.
Comments
Westerweld - slaps like a girl. We have enough scrappers in the team to cover him though.
Del Horno - only saw a clip last night (running in from the back room). To me it looked like he was rolling around as badly as the other dude.
I think I'd be very happy with a point.
Beefy
I agree about Poll - normally I don't go the game when he's reffing - but since him and our Sander are such good mates surely it will be fine.
This game will be a true measure of how much we have improved. Are we as good as we think we are or as crap as we all fear? Come on you blues!
Wise words from the Beef and The Cat. I'm getting greedy now and expecting 3 points but I still suppose a point is OK.
Forgot that Polly and our Sander are mates, great. Still confused as to why Sander goes round trying to look all stern and hard when we all know he's soft as shite and couldn't even batter Franny.
I just ordered it on't telly.
Fingers crossed.
By the way, as a side issue, did you know I have a Dukla Prague away kit?
Beefy
