Fan View: Everton 1-1 Wolves

On a beautiful mid – October afternoon in L4 with the sun beaming down on the old lady, a crowd of 39,319 gathered to watch a resurgent Everton side look to improve on the 1-1 draw against Stoke in their last fixture and make it 7 games unbeaten against Mick McCarthy’s newly promoted Wolves.

Lining up for the blues this afternoon in David Moyes’ preferred 4-5-1 formation were Tim Howard in goal, Tony Hibbert and Leighton Baines continued at right back and left back respectively, with the returning Joseph Yobo picked as captain again in the absence of Phil Neville partnering Sylvain Distin in central defence.  Everton’s 5 man midfield was made up of Jack Rodwell and Johnny Heitinger in the holding role(s) with Leon Osman wide right and Dinyar Bilyaletdinov on the left hand side, Tim Cahill was in his favoured advanced position playing just off lone striker, Louis Saha. The bench was made up of Yakubu, Jo, Dan Gosling, Lucas Neill, Seamus Coleman, Carlo Nash and Marouane Fellaini after he was cleared to play by FIFA on Thursday.

Stephen Pienaar failed a late fitness test after failing to recover from a badly bruised knee so he didn’t make the squad along with long term absentees Mikel Arteta, Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville and Victor Anichebe.

Attacking the Park End Everton started the first half sluggishly, operating with two defensive midfielders in a packed middle of the park they seemed to sit back and invite pressure from a busy, well organised Wolves side who enjoyed the majority of the possession in the first 15 minutes.

Everton’s first significant contribution of the match came from an angled up field punt from Sylvain Distin towards Louis Saha, Christophe Berra slipped under pressure from the Frenchman and the ball rolled perfectly into the path of the on-rushing Tim Cahill, who should have scored but instead hit his shot first time over the wolves bar.  The blues seemed to take heart from this and shortly after came close again through an excellent ball from Bilyaletdinov which George Elokobi did brilliantly to nick away from Leon Osman at the far post, from the resulting corner another quality ball in from Bilyaletdinov was expertly met by the increasingly influential Louis Saha after an intelligent run, his bullet header flying inches over the bar.

20 minutes in and Everton were enjoying their best spell of the half, Leighton Baines was played in down the left by a precision pass from Tim Cahill only to be brought down and Bilyaletdinov was again given the chance to show his quality from a set piece only for Sylvain Distin to slightly mis-time his run and head over from just behind the penalty spot.

Unfortunately this was as good as it got for Everton in the first half.

Mick McCarthy had set up his Wolves team in an attacking 4-4-2 formation and that’s exactly what they did as the half wore on, taking advantage of Everton’s negative tactics they were unlucky not to be 1 up after the impressive Kevin Doyle forced Tim Howard into a diving one handed save with a curling shot.

Everton now were lacking width, Heitinga looked uncomfortable in an unfamiliar role in the centre of a congested midfield, Louis Saha was looking isolated, coming deeper and deeper looking for the ball, and when they did find themselves in a good position they were wasteful in the final ball.  On 40 minutes they were again lucky not to fall a goal behind when Wolves broke down Everton’s left, debutant Ronald Zubar carried the ball at pace to the byline and pulled the ball back brilliantly across the 6 yard box, Kevin Doyle dummied and Sylvain Ebanks-Blake placed a low shot just wide.

The first half was drawing to a close just as it had started without a great deal happening on the pitch, Referee Stuart Attewell blew for half time with the blues frustrated and the Everton crowd disgruntled.

2nd Half.

With the Wolves players already out on the pitch, the Everton players emerged from the dressing room with no doubt David Moyes’ instructions ringing in their ears after a fruitless first half.

There was a change of personnel for the blues as Yakubu came on for Tony Hibbert, with Johnny Heitinga slotting in at right back.  This was great news for Evertonians as the blues went to a more attacking 4-4-2 formation, Wolves were unsurprisingly unchanged.

Within 30 seconds of the restart and Everton attacking the famous Gwladys St end, Yakubu immediately justified his introduction, picking the ball up at pace and laying the ball off for Leighton Baines who then whipped in an inch perfect ball to Wolves’ near post, Louis Saha appeared to do everything right but his downward header was well saved by young welsh keeper Wayne Hennessy, the subsequent corner caused brief confusion in Wolves box as the ball popped up in a wide position only for Leon Osman to lash the ball wide.

This was better from the blues and the Goodison faithful dully responded.

Yakubu was again involved 2 minutes later showing the fans what they’ve been missing with a superb turn and pass into Louis Saha who was just offside. The change in formation suited Everton, as Leon Osman and Dinyar Bilyaletdinov swapped sides in the opening exchanges, giving Leighton Baines more of an opportunity to attack.

50 minutes in and Everton were looking comfortable, Rodwell was looking more composed in the 4 man midfield while Yakubu and Saha were beginning to worry the Wolves defence and Johnny Heitinga looked much more relaxed at right back, the message from Moyes on the sideline to get the ball into the strikers was echoed  by a vociferous Everton crowd.

With Wolves now on the back foot they were given an opportunity to get the ball into Everton’s penalty area -  following a foul by Louis Saha on Ebanks – Blake  – only the disappointing Michael Kightly failed to deliver from the resulting set piece.

As Leighton Baines was allowed more freedom to get forward in the second half he played a great pass into Bilyaletdinov who showed his class to control the ball with his first touch and attept to flick the ball past Hennessy in one fluid move, however Hennessy again showed why he’s so highly rated with a good reflex save, the ball stayed alive and Cahill picked the ball up in the area only to see his low cross intercepted by Ronald Zubar.  Mick McCarthy responded by replacing Michael Kightly with Matt Jarvis.

Everton were now well on top with Bilyaletdinov stepping up as chief creator in Stephen Pienaar’s absense, although it was the improving Leon Osman who nicked the ball off Halford and played in Saha, he opened up the Wolves defence with a great touch only to see his shot brilliantly saved again by Wayne Hennessy.

Wolves were still working hard off the ball, however when they did gain posession, luckily for Everton they were reckless in the final third. The closest they came was in the 65th minute when Sylvain Ebanks-Blake appeared to control the ball with his hand, he turned well and his shot ricoched off Joseph Yobo for a corner which amounted to nothing.

70 minutes in and Everton were still well on top but still couldn’t seem to find a goal despite the continued pressure, former loan signing Segundo Castillo was introduced by Mick McCarthy to try and shore up the Wolves midfield and he was warmly applauded by the home crowd.

Osman then made space for himself with an excellent turn in the Wolves box only his cross -cum- shot went nowhere, Yakubu was played in by Saha but wanted too much time on the ball.  Jo replaced Saha in the 72nd minute as David Moyes looked to try and find that elusive goal and he almost made an impact after finding Bilyaletdinov with a good pass, he cut the ball back to Heitinger who smacked the ball well wide when a pass to a well placed Yakubu was the better option.

75 minutes in with Everton still well on top the inevitable happened.

Wolves ‘keeper Wayne Hennessy hit a huge clearance downfield, Yobo saw the ball drop in behind him as he battled with Ebanks – Blake and Distin inexplicably switched off allowing the tireless Kevin Doyle to score with a smart finish under the on – rushing Tim Howard.

Everton had been punished for failing to take one of the numerous chances they had created in an entertaining second half.

1-0 Wolves

Now Everton pushing for an equaliser David Moyes brought on Marouane Fellaini for Leon Osman with Tim Cahill moving out to right midfield.

Baines continued to look dangerous down the left and with Bilyaletdinov on the field Everton always looked capable of creating something.  Cahill had a shot blocked by the excellent Jody Craddockand Yakubu protested in vain for handball after trying to flick the ball past Zubar in the Wolves penalty area.

81 minutes in and the game was slipping away from the blues, sloppy play prevented any sort of momentum to be gained as the clock ticked on, Wolves were stifling the blues effectively and Everton were starting to look desperate. The giant Austrian Stefan Maierhofer replaced the tired looking Ebanks – Blake and he was promptly booked after a rash challenge on Tim Cahill.

2 minutes left now and Baines hit a decent ball into the box only for Jo to go down looking for a very hopeful penalty.  Wolves took the opportunity to break, a foul throw from at the Everton end failed to materialise into anything and Everton broke down the left again with Baines, he laid the ball into Cahill who expertly played Jo into the penalty area, with Zubar floundering he played a beautiful low cross with his weaker right foot and Dinyar Bilyaletdinov was in the right place at the right time to tap in the equaliser.

1-1 EVERTON!!!!

Bouyed by a wonderfully worked equaliser Everton piled forward allowing themselves to be caught on the break, as Jarvis played in Doyle his shot was well saved by Tim Howard from a tight angle.

More drama was to come in the 4 minutes added time though.

As a hopeful ball was played into the Everton penalty area Tim Howard dropped on the ball only for substitute Maierhofer to wade into him when the ball was obviously safe in the Everton ‘keeper’s hands, Howard took exception and shoved the 6 foot 8 Maierhofer in the back of the neck, Maierhofer threw himself to the ground theatrically, prompting a second yellow card from the referee and off he went.

Everton continued to press following the sending off and were almost rewarded for their pressure as Segundo Castillo upended the lively Baines in a central position over 30 yards out, Baines picked himself up, dusted himself down and hit a terrific curling shot which Hennessy was grateful to see whistle past his right hand post.

This proved to be the last action of the match as Stuart Attewell called an end to the game after 94 minutes.

After a poor first half Everton were again left to rue missed chances in the second half of a game they really should have wrapped up, on the plus side David Moyes’ men are now 7 games unbeaten with a huge game to come in Portugal this coming Thursday against Benfica in the Europa League.

By David Carroll