Fan Report: Everton 0-2 Benfica

The last couple of seasons have seen Everton Football Club finish “Best of the Rest” in the English Premier League. We have done wonderfully well on a shoestring budget; yes, Moysie has performed minor miracles. During both those seasons the tabloids had been screaming that Moyes is the miracle man; that we have been “punching above our weight”, that David “walks on water”. However, for some time now, the warning bells have been sounding. Tottenham have been the slumbering giant, spending big every season, and not delivering, but yet they continuing to spend, to assemble a very good squad, with depth. It was only a matter of time before they found the right manager to enable then to gel; this season could be the one. We all know what happened to Man City; that has been well documented.

Within those two seasons of finishing fifth, all of us knew that our squad lacked depth, that our right hand side was weak, that our midfield lacked another Arteta. We pleaded with Bill, please sell to the right buyer or find us some more money so that Davey can be backed up in the transfer market, give the squad the necessary depth, and give the right hand side the necessary skilled players. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 nothing happened. We still happily played Osman on the right side of midfield, played Tony ar right back. We finished FIFTH; Bill smiled; Bill was happy.

Back to the present, the 2009/2010 Yes, we have Heitinga [who I thought had he’s bets game in a Blue shirt against Villa], we have Billy, we have Distin; but we had to sell Joleon to buy them and yet ironically, last night for me was another example of Everton standing still and everybody else moving on; I looked at our right back, Tony. Top marks for endeavour, not so good for anything else. I looked at our right mid; I will not even comment about that as I will get slated again for saying nasty things about young Dan; we have known for three maybe more seasons that we needed to strengthen our right; but we don’t. We finish fifth, a brilliant achievement, but just papering over the cracks. Davey wins the manager of the year, just papering over the cracks. However, the little voice at the back of our minds keeps on telling us that one day we would find out that we are punching above our weight, that our current squad is not good enough; that our current squad lacked the necessary depth; last night was that night for me. I am hoping like heck that I am just having one of those typical “supporter knee jerk reactions”; I hope…

Davey picked a squad that looked reasonable on paper, but on closer inspection, the right hand side looked weak, and with no Heitinga to partner Rodwell, you had to wonder if that would stifle his creativity. The Yak looked unfit in pervious starts, and I hoped that he would be back to his brilliant best tonight. Unfortunately, I was wrong.

The first half was ok, as we seemed to be closing down their space, not allowing their midfield time on the ball. We seemed to concentrate our efforts on defence, as it seemed that the intent was not to concede five, again. Ironically, if it was not for the brilliance of Tim in goal, we might well have. Their midfield was having a merry old time, their wingers were driving down the touchlines, whipping in cross after cross, we were trying to forage down the centre, and down the centre means meat and drink for the centre backs; crosses from the flanks were much more dangerous, but the crosses were coming in the main from their wingers.

In the second half we saw Benfica start to play even more, as we continued to stutter along; we saw them look dangerous every time they attacked. Yes, I know we have injuries, I know we have no Pienaar, no Arteta, and no Jags. But if the Club had made the money available and we had strengthened the positions that Davey knows need strengthening, we would have been purring along, patiently waiting for them to return from injury. Instead we are praying for a quick recovery to get our season back on track; Everton to good to go down you say; I agree! But be warned, we are four points above the drop zone, four points…the Newcastle fans also thought they were too good to go down.

What are your views on the defeat?  Have your say below

By Hadley Lakay