Newcastle United 2-1 Everton

An Everton side beleaguered by injuries to Sylvain Distin and Tim Cahill and the suspension of pivotal midfielder Marouane Fellaini travelled to Tyneside to face high-flying Newcastle United, who had begun the season with a very impressive 6 wins and 4 draws from 10 league matches.

Tim Howard, who was this week pipped to the U.S. Player of the Year Award by Fulham's Clint Dempsey, started as usual between the sticks. Sylvain Distin's absence meant a back four of Tony Hibbert, Phil Jagielka, John Heitinga and Leighton Baines.

Phil Neville filled a Marouane Fellaini-shaped hole in midfield alongside Jack Rodwell, Leon Osman, Royston Drenthe and Seamus Coleman with Frenchman Louis Saha on his own up top.

A warm-up injury to Apostolos Vellios meant teenager Ross Barkley was promoted to the bench where he sat alongside Jan Mucha, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Denis Stracqualursi, James McFadden, Sylvain Distin and Tim Cahill.

It was a slow and sloppy start to the game from both sides and the game’s first goal was scored in bizarre circumstances. A right-wing cross from Danny Simpson was prodded inadvertently by John Heitinga past Tim Howard, who had come out to claim the cross, into the empty net. S-Heit.

When you score an own goal like that there is a feeling that it just isn’t going to be your day. When you concede a second to a stunning volley from the opposition’s full back (Tony Hibbert take note) that feeling multiplies. Ryan Taylor’s 28th minute goal came ultimately as a result of Everton’s failure to properly clear their lines, but one has to admire the technique of Taylor, who, like John Heitinga, gave Tim Howard no chance, hitting a dipping volley into the top right-hand corner.

The game was by no means one-sided, though, and Everton had opportunities through Osman, Drenthe, Coleman and Saha, who turned one shot against Tim Krul’s left-hand post and spooned another into Row Z of the Gallowgate End. Newcastle’s French midfield string-puller Yohan Cabaye picked up an injury and was replaced by a certain Dan Gosling. Talk about rubbing salt into wounds.

On the stroke of half-time Everton halved the deficit. Our two best players from the first half combined as Royston Drenthe’s corner was powerfully headed home by Jack Rodwell for his second goal in three league games. It was a justified reward for Everton’s first-half efforts and put an intriguing spin on a game that had looked out of Everton’s reach.

Just as much as you wanted Everton to come out all guns blazing after the interval, you knew deep down that you were clutching at straws. Everton aren’t we?

The second half was a largely sloppy affair – and credit must go to Newcastle for that. They broke down the few meaningful opportunities we had and proved why their defence has shipped the fewest goals in the Premier League so far this season. As is becoming all too familiar with Everton, we lacked a cutting edge, a penetration, a spark or piece of trickery in the final third. The guile that, say, Mikel Arteta or Steven Pienaar would have provided, had gone.

One player capable of stepping up to fill that void left by our two most creative players is Leon Osman. At times last season he was at his brilliant best, unlocking defences for fun and with apparent ease. But therein lies the problem with ‘Ossie’: when on form he is fantastic; when he isn’t he is less effective than Steven Gerrard’s elocution tutor.

We were, however, denied a clear penalty when Saha’s goal-bound shot was saved by the fingertips of… err… Dan Gosling. Shown by replays to be a clear handball, the former Everton midfielder got away with the offence and the remainder of the game passed without too much incident.2-1, then, the final score.

A(nother) depressing day in the life of an Evertonian. We’ve been beaten by a team with Danny Guthrie and Dan Gosling in the centre of midfield. Ah, well. Same time next week.

Chelsea 3-1 Everton

Goals from Daniel Sturridge, John Terry and Ramires condemned Everton to defeat at Stamford Bridge this afternoon.

Substitute Apostolos Vellios added a late consolation 18 seconds after being introduced, but the points stay in London after a largely disappointing performance from the away side.

Prior to this afternoon we had not lost at Chelsea on each of our last 6 visits, although our form had hit a recent trough - indeed, the defeats to Manchester City and Liverpool were our first consecutive losses in over 60 games.

Despite the official Everton Facebook page listing our line-up as having 12 players (Moyesie you caniving bastard!) the eleven that took to the field were; Howard, Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Osman, Rodwell, Fellaini, Coleman, Cahill, Saha.

That side was unchanged from the derby defeat, which meant that Royston Drenthe and Apostolos Vellios were again restricted to the bench. They were joined by Mucha, Heitinga, Bilyaletdinov, Stracqualursi and Neville. There was, to the dismay of many supporters, no place in the squad for young Ross Barkley.

Everton started the game reasonably brightly. Louis Saha looked lively up front and had our first real opportunity after about 10 minutes when his shot was blocked by Petr Čech in the Chelsea goal. At the other end Sylvain Distin did well to intervene and prevent Ramires from gaining a clear sight of goal.

Shortly afterwards a fantastic last-ditch tackle from John Obi Mikel denied Marouane Fellaini a shooting opportunity inside the six-yard box, but it was Chelsea who started to take control of the game and who looked more likely to deliver the opening blow.

That's exactly what happened. On 31 minutes Juan Mata played a worldy of a pass into the path of Ashley Cole and England's second best left-back teed up Daniel Sturridge, who could hardly miss with his header from 3 yards out.

Chelsea doubled their advantage on the stroke of half time when John Terry headed in Frank Lampard's free-kick amid some unconvincing goalkeeping from Tim Howard. That was effectively game over with the result a formality from thereon in.

Within 15 seconds of the restart Leon Osman had grazed the post with a quick-fire effort, but that was just about it in terms of our attacking intent for the next 25 minutes.

The ineffective Seamus Coleman was replaced by Royston Drenthe shortly before Chelsea added a third goal. Didier Drogba sent in a low cross for Ramires to have the simple task of slotting home from inside the six-yard box. Game well and truly over - if it wasn't already.

So, 3-0 down. Who's going to score us a hat-trick?

Phil Neville, of course.

In an absolutely baffling managerial decision David Moyes removed Tim Cahill and threw on the constant goal threat that is captain Neville. Baffling.

Moyes' third and final substitution, however, did yield a consolation goal. It was Greek striker Apostolos Vellios who came on - belatedly in the opinion of many a supporter - and made an immediate impact. 18 seconds had passed between his crossing of the white line and the ball crashing into the Chelsea net.

He simply HAS to start next week.

Chelsea almost added a fourth in injury time but 3-1 was how it finished. It's not as if we should have expected anything from the game but the nature of the defeat made for a thoroughly disappointing evening.

StickyToffee Player Ratings: Howard 4, Hibbert 4, Jagielka 3, Distin 5, Baines 5, Coleman 3, Rodwell 4, Fellaini 4, Cahill 5, Osman 4, Saha 5.

Subs: Drenthe 5, Neville 4, VELLIOS 5.

Everton 0-2 Liverpool

Sendings-off and penalties have always been commonplace in Merseyside derbies.

That shouldn't mean that the people officiating these all-important games have the remit of showing a red card at the first sighting of a slightly over-the-top challenge. Or, in today's case, a goofy Uruguayan rolling around as if he had been shot.

The 216th Merseydside derby hinged on an absolutely shocking decision from referee Martin Atkinson which saw the dismissal of Everton's Jack Rodwell midway through the first half. Rodwell cleanly won a loose ball on the slide and his momentum caused South American Suarez to tumble over.

The challenge was totally clean, good and fair. I have since been told that Graeme Souness on Sky Sports said that it wasn't even a foul, which tells you just how bad a decision it was. The referee was stood no more than three yards away from the incident. Baffling.

Rodwell's case - which needn't have existed - was not helped by Suarez - who flopped to the floor, held aloft his arm in appeal and, bizarrely, clutched his knee in apparent agony. Suarez, unfortunately, is an excellent footballer and there is no disputing that.

He's also a horrible, slimy cheat.

After returning from the match I saw this thread on the GrandOldTeam forum. Whilst the game is not completely dead on me yet, it is heading that way thanks to the antics of cheating little gets like Suarez.

Assuming a man advantage, Liverpool took control of the game. Our defending, as last week, was resolute and we were rarely threatened. And then Suarez decided he would take a tumble. Penalty.

Phil Jagielka had certainly made contact with the Uruguayan in the corner of the box, and I have no complaints over the award of the spot-kick. Suarez again made up the referee's mind by rolling around a bit and Atkinson pointed to the spot.

Dirk Kuyt - a thorn in our side throughout recent derbies - stepped up to take the penalty, but was thwarted by an excellent left-handed save from Tim Howard.

With an extra 2 men (the referee), Liverpool were again unlucky not to score before the break as Charlie 'goofy' Adam struck the bar with a long-range effort.

The main topic of conversation at the interval was obvious - the question was: could we hold on for a draw or would the inevitable happen?

Sadly, it was to be the latter. Despite having a lot of the play, Liverpool's £50 million strikeforce combined to condemn Everton to defeat.

The first goal came at around the same time in the match as Mario Balotelli had notched last week at Eastlands. It was scored by an equally annoying player.

Andy Carroll, who, up until then, had barely justified a price tag of 35 pence let alone £35 million, easily stuck home a Jose Enrique cross from 6 yards out. It was harsh on Everton, who had defended so stoutly but also continued to pose an attacking threat.

The second came soon after and to rub salt into Everton wounds it was the cheating Uruguayan who added his name to the scoresheet. It was a simple finish after a mistake in the Everton defence, and one which put the game well and truly to bed.

With the result was no longer in the balance, tensions amongst Everton's incensed supporters boiled over. Plastic bottles rained down on Craig Bellamy from the Gwladys Street and Suarez was kindly thrown a 10p piece. There goes our transfer budget.

On a serious note, it is only our own club who will suffer from that type of fan behaviour and it was totally out of order.

As was the story I heard of an Evertonian singing "96 was not enough" to a Liverpool fan amongst the Evertonians. Needless to say, and regardless of anything that ever occurs on a football pitch, that - if true - is utterly, utterly despicable.

There is no place for anything like that, anywhere.

An all-round bad day at the office, then.

Everton: Howard 7, Hibbert 8, Jagielka 5, DISTIN 8, Baines 6, Coleman 5, Fellaini 7, Rodwell 6, Osman 5, Cahill 6, Saha 5.

Subs: Drenthe 4, Neville 4, Vellios 4.

Manchester City 2-0 Everton

Everton's defensive stand lasted 68 minutes at the Etihad Stadium before Mario Balotelli and James Milner scored to send their side to the summit of the table.

We shouldn't be too downhearted, though, with a loss to a side whose starting XI cost £189 million to assemble. Indeed, we defended stoutly for a large periods and our opposition needed two players from their £130 million bench to change the game.

The line-up and consequent formation made it clear that our tactics would be to frustrate City's superstars, get men behind the ball and, should we be presented with the opportunity, try to nick a point or three. Tim Howard started in goal as usual, with Leighton Baines, Sylvain Distin, Phil Jagielka and Tony Hibbert in front of him.

Hibbert's inclusion meant Phil Neville was shoe-horned into midfield, where he was joined by Seamus Coleman, Marouane Fellaini, Leon Osman and Jack Rodwell. Cahill started as our lone striker but quickly dropped back into a 4-6-0 formation.

Ján Mucha was preferred to new signing Marcus Hahnemann on the bench. John Heitinga, Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, Royston Drenthe, Denis Stracqualursi, Louis Saha and Apostolos Vellios joined the Slovak custodian.

The plan to frustrate City was executed well throughout the first half. Jack Rodwell did a good job man-marking David Silva, Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin limited City to few clear-cut opportunities and Tim Howard stopped anything that managed to breach the defence.

Spaniard David Silva, denied an inch by his shadow Rodwell, resorted to rolling about on the floor to gain his side an advantage. Referee Howard Webb obliged and produced bookings for Rodwell and Neville, before another for Osman after a nudge on Balotelli.

Webb, who refereed the World Cup final and is widely regarded as one of the best referees in the world, did little to enhance his reputation with an awful display of officiating. David Moyes agreed, although he will probably face sanctions for his post match comment of "there were a couple of similarities in a few of the challenges - you'd expect consistency and you'd expect it to be done correctly."

Edin Džeko's skied effort from 10 yards and Sergio Agüero's long-range strike were the closest City went to finding the net in the first period. They were contained well, although Joe Hart could have had a nap in the City goal such was the lack of attacking intent from the visitors.

Nonetheless, Everton would have been satisfied with the half-time score of 0-0.

City looked as if they'd had a larger-than-usual dose of Italian tripe translated by David Platt fed to them during the interval, because they came out for the second period with the bit firmly between their teeth. Richards, Agüero and Silva all went close shortly after the restart but it took a £25 million player to come off the bench and break the deadlock.

Mario 'named after a video game character and can't put a bib on' Balotelli was that man - he curled a 20-yard strike into the bottom right-hand corner via a deflection off Phil Jagielka.

Everton needed to switch to 'plan B'. But before they could do so, with the introductions of Saha, Drenthe and Vellios, City piled on the pressure and could have immediately stretched their lead with a number of chances. Tim Cahill's header flew just over as Everton ventured into the previously undiscovered territory of City's half, although the Aussie's afternoon was ended shortly afterwards by a stamp from Vincent Kompany.

All three substitutes looked sharp. Saha, with a point to prove after last week's twitter outburst, provided an outlet ball. Vellios showed some great touches and hold-up play that will help his cause for inclusion in the starting eleven, whilst Drenthe also looked keen to get on the ball and try to make things happen.

It was Drenthe, though, whose mistake allowed City to put the game beyond doubt. Attempting a simple pass to the left hand side, he gifted the ball to David Silva. The Spaniard still had plenty to do but, capitalising on further sloppy defending by Jagielka and Distin, he held it up and slid through an exquisite pass for James Milner to double City's advantage.

2-0 was how it ended. It's always disappointing to lose but less so when you expect to. Not many sides will win at Middle Eastlands this season, and all we can do now is pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down and stuff our neighbours next week.

StickyToffee Player Ratings: Howard 6, Hibbert 5, Jagielka 6, Distin 7, Baines 6, Coleman 5, Neville 4, Osman 4, RODWELL 7, Fellaini 5, Cahill 5.

Subs: Saha 6, Drenthe 5, Vellios 6.

Man City: Webb 10.

Everton 2-1 West Bromwich Albion

A rare goal in extra time from Everton captain Phil Neville secured a place in the next round of the Carling Cup.

Everton midfielder Marouane Fellaini had earlier cancelled out Chris Brunt's penalty for Albion as the first ninety minutes ended 1-1. The extra-time victory stretches our unbeaten run to 5 in all competitions as we await the fourth round draw on Saturday.

* * *

Everton made six changes to the starting line-up from the side that beat Wigan on Saturday. Most notably, deadline-day signings Royston Drenthe and Denis Stracqualursi were handed full debuts, whilst Ross Barkley and Phil Neville also returned. Sylvain Distin and Tim Howard were rested, with John Heitinga and Jan Mucha their replacements.

The full side was; Mucha, Baines, Heitinga, Jagielka, Neville, Drenthe, Barkley, Fellaini, Rodwell, Coleman, Stracqualursi, and the subs bench consisted of; Howard, Hibbert, Distin, Bilyaletdinov, Cahill, Gueye and Vellios.

A mysterious bug had deprived Albion of the services of striking duo Shane Long and Roman Bednar and Everton will also have been pleased to see that 'bogey player' Paul Scharner started on the visitors' bench.

The first half was an almost entirely uninspiring period as both sides created few notable opportunities. West Brom offered little but had arguably the best chance of the half when Simon Tchoyi sent an effort just over early on. Royston Drenthe, taking over from regular taker Leighton Baines, sent a free-kick just over, and Marouane Fellaini saw his header trickle wide.

Peter Odemwingie spurned another opportunity for the Baggies before the break as the sides went in level at 0-0.

Everton seemed to have woken up at half-time and started the second half really well. First Seamus Coleman shot at Albion 'keeper Fulop and then Stracqualursi's prodded effort was also well kept out by the Hungarian custodian.

West Brom also threatened and earned their chance to take the lead when Peter Odemwingie was felled by Slovakian goalkeeper Jan Mucha as the Nigerian forward sprinted into the Everton box. Chris Brunt (another WBA player who loves playing against us) slotted home the resulting penalty to further frustrate the 17, 647-strong (weak) crowd.

Everton went on the search for an equaliser, bringing on Tim Cahill, Apostolos Vellios and Magaye Gueye and shifting Marouane Fellaini up front. Vellios and Fellaini both had half-chances to find an equalising goal but time was running out for Everton to avoid being knocked out of the Carling Cup at the 3rd round stage for the second year running.

With some fans heading for the exits, Marouane Fellaini collected the ball from a Vellios flick-on, swivelled and fired home an excellent left-footed half-volley from the edge of the box. Those that were half way towards the exits turned back. Game on.

Jack Rodwell could have snatched an improbable comeback in injury-time but his header from Phil Neville's cross bounced just wide. With this weekend's opponents Manchester City safely through after fielding their reserves against Birmingham City, we would have to play an extra half-hour before Saturday's early kick-off.

Fellaini remained up front after salvaging the game in the 88th minute of normal time, with Tim Cahill in midfield. West Brom looked tired as Everton pressed but the visitors could have taken the lead if Tchoyi had found his bearings when well placed inside the Everton box.

After that let-off, Vellios set up Drenthe whose effort was ever so slightly off target. The Dutchman was, however, to play a massive part in what turned out to be the winner. He jinked and dribbled past two Baggies defenders on the right byline before cutting back to skipper Neville, who exquisitely curled into the top corner with his left foot.

It was a rare goal for Neville - his 5th in almost 250 Everton appearances - but they do tend to be special! He looked a bit too shocked to celebrate properly but Royston Drenthe went absolutely mental. On his own. I love him already.

An unconvincing performance but we are through the next round. I'll take another ugly win on Saturday please. Oh, and one against our red neighbours in a fortnight's time. Cheers.

StickyToffee Player Ratings: Mucha 4, Baines 6, Heitinga 6, Jagielka 6, Neville 7, Drenthe 5, Barkley 5, Fellaini 6, Rodwell 6, Coleman 5, Stracqualursi 5.

Subs: Vellios 6, Cahill 5, Gueye 6.

Everton v Wigan Athletic Preview

A twist of fixture computer fate handed Wigan Athletic games against all three newly-promoted sides (Swansea City, QPR and Norwich City) in the first three weeks of the season. Draws against the Swans and the Canaries sandwiched a win over Everton's conquerors QPR, meaning that the Latics were unbeaten prior to last weekend's drubbing at Manchester City.

Since then a total of 94 travelling fans watched Wigan exit the Carling Cup at the hands of Crystal Palace in midweek, and so Roberto Martinez's men come to Goodison looking to stop the mini-rot.

Everton's league record thus far reads P3 W1 D1 L1 - not a spectacular start by any means, although not as shambolic as recent years. Indeed, a win on Saturday would leave us with a reasonably healthy 7 points from 4 games. The performance last time out should also breed optimism amongst supporters. We took the game to Villa and they were extremely lucky to leave with a point.

There is also some good news on the injury front. Seamus Coleman produced a wonderful display on his return to action against Villa last week, John Heitinga should recover from a calf injury in time to feature on Saturday, and Royston Drenthe scored his first goal in Everton blue as the reserves beat Aston Villa 2-1 on Tuesday night.

That reserve game also featured Ross Barkley, who scored Everton's first goal, and Magaye Gueye, who impressed on his return from injury with both assists. Argentine forward Denis Stracqualursi also got ninety minutes under his belt, although by most accounts he will need a few more before he is ready to take on the Premier League.

Louis Saha, however, is not expected to be fit (surprise surprise) and so Tim Cahill will probably lead the line as he did so well against Villa. Also pushing for a starting berth is Greek striker Apostolos Vellios, whose impressive substitute appearance last week very nearly yielded two goals, although I suspect if he is to feature it will be from the bench.

Indeed, the squad is so unusually fit (Saha aside) that David Moyes has the welcome dilemma of selecting his best eleven. One of the spots in contention is at right full-back, where club captain Phil Neville and Tony Hibbert, who played well against Villa, are vying for the jersey. And with Leon Osman, Ross Barkley, Marouane Fellaini, Jack Rodwell and possibly John Heitinga available in centre-midfield, it could be a tricky task to select the team.

Anyway, that's what Moyes gets paid for. And slated for if he gets it wrong. Predicted line-up:

_________________________________________________

STAT'S LIFE

Welcome to stat set no. 5 of the 2011/2012 campaign

• Everton's premier league record against Wigan reads P12 W6 D4 L2.
• Blues skipper Phil Neville requires one more appearance to reach 200 for Everton in the premier league.
• Leon Osman and Leighton Baines are the only two Everton players to have scored more than once against Wigan in their Everton careers.
• Tim Cahill hasn't scored for Everton in 2011. His current 13-game goal drought is his longest in six years.
• Everton took 24 out of 30 points from their last 10 home matches of the 2010/11 campaign, but are winless are Goodison Park so far this season.

_________________________________________________

On paper this fixture should not represent much of a problem for Everton - but since when have Everton been predictable? We often play poorly against the 'lesser' sides at home and goals may be a problem for a front line hampered by injury.

Despite all that I'm going to predict a home win, with Tim Cahill ending his drought in the process.

StickyToffee Prediction: Everton 1-0 Wigan Athletic

Everton 2-2 Aston Villa

A late Gabriel Agbonlahor goal saw Aston Villa take home a barely deserved point from a lively draw at Goodison this afternoon.

It was a thoroughly impressive and much improved Everton performance and Leon Osman deservedly opened the scoring after 18 minutes. The home side then had a clear penalty shout dismissed following a quite blatant trip on Leighton Baines.

A moment of magic from Villa's Stiliyan Petrov levelled the fixture shortly after half-time - his stunning 30-yard strike bringing Villa back into a game they did not deserve to be in at all. Everton responded well to that setback, and were awarded a penalty following Fabian Delph's foul on Phil Jagielka.

Leighton Baines made no mistake from 12 yards, but Gabriel Agbonlahor's late header denied Everton the win they deserved.

* * *

The game was preceded by a protest staged by the Blue Union, voicing their collective dissatisfaction at the running of the club. It proved a success for the group, with over 1,000 fans marching from Spellow Lane to the director's entrance to the stadium.

Whether you agree with the protest or not, you have to commend the Blue Union for taking action - and for doing so in the right manner. The protest was done in the right way - peaceful and as dignified as a protest can be. A video of the protest can be seen here.

The marchers sent a message to chairman Bill Kenwright by chanting "let go, if you love the club..." along their route, although his appearance on the big screens during the match was greeted with cheers after an initial chorus of boos.

Anyway, on to on-the-pitch matters.

The side that had stolen 3 points at Ewood Park was shaken up, to say the least. Some of the changes had been enforced, as Victor Anichebe and John Heitinga had picked up injuries whilst playing for Nigeria and Holland respectively. Ross Barkley was on the bench after featuring for England U21s in midweek, whilst Tony Hibbert was selected at right-back in favour of Phil Neville.

In the wake of Mikel Arteta's departure, Phil Jagielka took on the role of captain. Both new signings - Royston Drenthe and Denis Stracqualursi - were only fit enough for the bench. Seamus Coleman made a very welcome and quicker than expected return from injury and Russian winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov was also handed a starting berth.

All that meant that the side was; Howard; Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Coleman, Rodwell, Fellaini, Osman, Bilyaletdinov; Cahill. Both new-boys were listed amongst the substitutes, the full list was; Mucha, Neville, Drenthe, Barkley, Stracqualursi, Gueye, Vellios.

Although starting without a recognised striker, Everton assumed the initiative straight from the off. Leon Osman had a penalty shout turned down inside the first minute, Darren Bent headed off his own goalline from a Phil Jagielka header and Shay Given saved well from Osman.

Our dominance paid off when, after 19 minutes, Leon Osman slotted home a pass from Tim Cahill. Everton were well on top and both Jack Rodwell and Marouane Fellaini went close with long-range efforts. Villa offered very little throughout the first 45 minutes, with a Barry Bannan strike the closest they came to a goal.

Indeed, we really should have been given the chance to extend our lead but referee Michael Oliver failed to spot a blatant trip that brought to a halt a marauding run by Leighton Baines.

The decision not to award a penalty meant Everton headed into the dressing room at the break with a deserved but all too slender 1-0 advantage. We had dominated proceedings, and so it was of course inevitable that Villa would equalise.

And that's exactly what they did. In stunning fashion as well. Bulgarian Stiliyan Petrov picked up the ball 30 yards from goal and sent in an unstoppable strike. 1-1. The goal came after Villa's best period of the game, and they might have scored a few minutes earlier had it not been for an outstanding tackle on Gabriel Agbonlahor by Sylvain Distin.

Everton quickly responded and Tim Cahill, who had one of his best games since before the Asian Cup back in January, saw his header instinctively palmed out by Shay Given. In the resulting scramble, Fabian Delph committed a foul on Phil Jagielka and this time a penalty was awarded.

Leighton Baines tucked away the penalty - never in doubt. 2-1.

A few minutes later Royston Drenthe was introduced to the Goodison crowd, coming on to replace Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. Needless to say, the Dutchman received a rapturous welcome from the terraces and seemed to be buoyed by his reception.

He gave us all a glimpse of his frightening pace, robbing Alan Hutton of possession and tearing down the wing. With Drenthe on one wing and Coleman on the other, it was the first time in a lng while that we had genuine pace on both flanks.

It lasted for about 5 minutes, though, as the impressive Coleman, who had terrorised Villa's left-back, was replaced by Ross Barkley.

The visitors drew level once again on 83 minutes. Marc Albrighton's cross caught out the static Sylvain Distin and Gabriel Agbonlahor rose to head home.

Yeah, whatever Gabby. Doesn't make up for the fact that you have a girl's name.

A third Everton change was made as Tim Cahill was replaced by Apostolos Vellios, and the Greek forward almost snatched the points at the death brought a fine save out of Villa goalkeeper Given.

It finished 2-2, a result that was not reflective of a fluid, strong and impressive performance from the home side. Villa are fast turning into a bogey club for us - and, as the fantastic Mickey Blue Eyes on Bluekipper writes: "It's difficult to avoid the notion that everything about the Brummy club is repellent, most of all the notorious crackpot worst of their fans."

So I guess the good news is, we don't have to play them again for a while. Up next, Wigan Athletic. COYB.

StickyToffee Player Ratings: Howard 6, Hibbert 8, Jagielka 6, Distin 6, Baines 8, Coleman 8, Rodwell 7, FELLAINI 8, Osman 7, Bilyaletdinov 6, Cahill 7.

Subs: Drenthe 6, Barkley 6, Vellios 6.

Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Everton

It was a case of daylight robbery at Ewood Park this afternoon as a last-minute Mikel Arteta spot-kick stole all three points - this after Blackburn duo Hoilett and Formica had both been unsuccessful with penalties of their own.

Everton have goalkeeper Tim Howard to thank for the undeserved victory - the American custodian saved the first spot-kick, saw the second hit the post and made a number of crucial saves to deny Rovers.

Everton had performed very poorly throughout but referee Lee Mason handed us a golden opportunity to punish Blackburn for their missed chances in the dying moments. Marouane Fellaini was felled in the aftermath of a Phil Neville long throw and Mason pointed to the spot for the third time in the game.

Spaniard Arteta kept a cool head under huge pressure to send the travelling support behind the goal into delirium. A performance as bad as I can remember but a fantastic result.

* * *

David Moyes named a 4-5-1 formation with the line lead by lone striker and midweek goalscorer Victor Anichebe. Tim Howard, rested for Wednesday's win over Sheffield United, took up his usual goalkeeping position behind the regular back four of Leighton Baines, Sylvain Distin, Phil Jagielka and Phil Neville.

A five man midfield consisted of Ross Barkley, Marouane Fellaini, Leon Osman, John Heitinga and Mikel Arteta with Victor Anichebe on his own up front. Louis Saha was not included in the squad - which, I assume, is down to injury - and Jermaine Beckford and Tim Cahill were left on the bench. Jack Rodwell missed out due to illness.

The first half was a totally drab affair notable only for David Dunn's shot, which hit the inside of Howard's right hand post and bounced agonisingly across goal to safety.

Everton's best moment of the opening period was Leon Osman's header from Ross Barkley's right-wing cross, although it failed to trouble Paul Robinson in the Blackburn goal.

David Dunn and Morten Gamst Pedersen both suffered injuries for the hosts, with Mauro Formica and Radosav Petrovic both having to be introduced before half-time.

Half-time: Blackburn Rovers 0-0 Everton

Whilst the first period was a frankly dreadful watch, the second was a bizarre one. Everton started after the interval as if they had just woken up, and conceded a penalty in the first minute after half-time.

Ross Barkley slipped inside the area and Mauro Formica fell over the youngster's trailing leg. Formica certainly made a concerted effort to fall over the outstretched limb but referee Mason didn't hesitate in pointing to the spot.

Tim Howard made a great penalty save low to his left hand side from Junior Hoilett and Everton somehow managed to clear the danger. Undeterred, Blackburn kept on coming and the visitors were struggling to get out of their own half.

The relentless pressure created a few good chances for Blackburn but each time Tim Howard was up to the task. Instinctive saves from Samba and then Formica kept Everton level - although the pressure culminated in another penalty just a few minutes later.

Formica won it after a combination of Jagielka and Distin bundled him over and the same player stepped up to take it. Formica went the opposite way to Hoilett and had Howard beaten... but not the post.

David Moyes withdrew Ross Barkley in favour of the vastly experienced Tim Cahill, a substitution that helped Everton push further forward. Leighton Baines stung the hands of Paul Robinson with a fierce shot from an acute angle.

The same player then turned provider as he teed up Marouane Fellaini, who should really have hit the target with an effort from the edge of the penalty area.

However, Everton were soon on the back foot again and Howard had to be alert to save from Formica. We were hanging on to a point as substitute David Goodwillie then saw his effort clip the top of the crossbar after Formica and Hoilett had carved open our defence with worrying ease.

In stoppage time Everton were awarded a spot-kick of their own when, following a long throw by captain Phil Neville, Chris Samba bundled over Marouane Fellaini just inside the area. It was a dubious penalty but we did not care a jot.

Mikel Arteta, who had looked off the pace in midfield, stepped up, kept composed and rifled the kick into the right hand corner. Unbelievable.

Robbery, theft, luck. But 3 vital points.

StickyToffee Player Ratings: Howard 10, Baines 6, Distin 5, Jagielka 4, Neville 4, Arteta 5, Heitinga 5, Fellaini 4, Osman 5, Barkley 5, Anichebe 4.

Subs: Cahill 5, Bilyaletdinov 5, Beckford 3.

Everton 3-1 Sheffield United

It is hard to remember a Carling Cup second round victory greeted with as much relief as the 3-1 triumph over third-tier side Sheffield United last night.

Yet that was the overriding feeling after goals from Richard Cresswell (OG), Victor Anichebe (no, really) and Mikel Arteta saw us come back from a goal down to progress to the next round.

After Saturday's shock defeat to QPR it was vital that we responded with a cup victory and a strong team was named for the clash, which was played out in front of just 17,173 spectators. That total was the lowest for a competitive match at Goodison for over 12 years - and a clear sign of unrest amongst Evertonians following a frustrating Summer.

Jan Mucha was granted his third competitive start in Everton colours whilst John Heitinga and Tony Hibbert replaced Sylvain Distin and Phil Neville in the other changes to the back five from the loss to QPR.

To fans' frustration, the midfield consisted of five players, but it was an attacking and creative one. Marouane Fellaini and Jack Rodwell sat a little deeper with the exciting trio of Mikel Arteta, Leon Osman and Ross Barkley charged with creating opportunities for lone striker Victor Anichebe.

Tim Howard, Phil Neville, Louis Saha and Sylvain Distin started on the bench alongside a trio of youngsters; Apostolos Vellios, James Wallace and Jose Baxter.

Everton enjoyed much the better of the opening exchanges but fell behind on 28 minutes when Richard Cresswell, like Tommy Smith had done for QPR, finished smartly after poor defending by Everton.

Cresswell found himself on the scoresheet once again just minutes later, but unfortunately for him he had registered an own goal. Jack Rodwell's effort from a tight angle was parried by Steve Simonsen onto the despairing Cresswell, who could only watch as the ball crossed the line and allowed Evertonians to breath a sigh of relief.

Everton assumed their early dominance and registered two quick-fire goals that ultimately put the game beyond doubt. Victor Anichebe applied a neat flick to Ross Barkley's cross-cum-shot to give Everton the lead and five minutes later Mikel Arteta classily swept home from the edge of the area after Barkley had been tackled.

The tempo slowed in the second period with the home side happy to sit on the two-goal cushion. Ross Barkley went closest to widening the lead with a long-range strike well saved by Simonsen before he was withdrawn to a standing ovation.

It ended 3-1 and we are comfortably though to Saturday's third round draw. Plenty of positives to take from the night - not least the first ninety minutes played by Marouane Fellaini since February.

Barkley (again) showed us a glimpse of what could be a very bright future, Tony Hibbert put in an impressive performance on his 250th Everton start and Mikel Arteta gave us hope that he can return to his scintillating best.

StickyToffee Player Ratings: Mucha 6, Hibbert 8, Jagielka 6, Heitinga 6, Baines 6, Rodwell 6, Fellaini 6, Arteta 7, Osman 6, Barkley 7, Anichebe 6.

Subs: Saha 5, Baxter 4, Neville 4.

Everton 0-1 QPR

New season. Same Everton.

That was the overriding feeling of fans exiting Goodison Park yesterday, after a first-half Tommy Smith strike had compounded a miserable Summer on the blue half of Merseyside.

Many expected QPR to be rolled over following their opening-day hammering at home to Bolton, but an accomplished defensive performance from the visitors combined with a toothless one from the hosts handed the Londoners their first points back in the top-flight.

After last season's home results against the 'lesser sides', coupled with our record at the start of the season, perhaps we were a little overconfident. QPR must be praised for their performance though - they were much more defensively sound than last weekend and inflicted our fourth consecutive opening day defeat, a club 'record'.

With injuries to wide players the line-up was always going to be a case of 'square pegs, round holes', but even so it was an uninspiring one.

The back five picked itself (Howard; Neville, Jagielka, Distin, Baines), but the rest of the side caused quite a shock. Jack Rodwell started on the right wing, with John Heitinga and Leon Osman in the centre and debutant Ross Barkley on the left. Tim Cahill supported Jermaine Beckford up top.

Arteta, Fellaini and Saha were all on the bench. It was to do with a lack of fitness I assume, but it came as a shock after being told that all three were ready for the season.

QPR started the game reasonably well and Tommy Smith went close with a snapshot on the half-volley that flew just wide of Tim Howard's post. Everton responded with a series of crosses, from one of which Beckford attempted an overhead kick - but got it all wrong.

Jack Rodwell went down in front of the Gwladys Street in what looked a decent penalty shout. The referee was having none of it, however, and having seen the replays I am inclined to agree with him. Not a penalty for me, although I have most certainly seen them given.

Everton's best chance came from a familiar outlet - a Leighton Baines free-kick. The left-back was handed the opportunity by the excellent Ross Barkley, who jinked past a host of QPR defenders on the edge of the area before being brought down.

Baines smashed the resulting set-piece against the underside of the crossbar before the ball bounced agonisingly over the Everton players following up.

Just as the home side looked to have a hold on the game, we fell behind. Phil Jagielka squandered possession on the edge of the box and Everton failed to clear before Tommy Smith swivelled and finished instinctively into the bottom corner.

Tim Cahill uncharacteristically missed a header from close-range before the break and Everton could have had another penalty for a push on Cahill by Fitz Hall.

Everton emerged early for the second half and straight-away had a good chance to draw level. Jack Rodwell was sent through after Ross Barkley had cleverly left a pass, but the England U21 midfielder wasted the opening with a weak shot.

David Moyes had the crowd in disbelief as he replaced Jermaine Beckford, meaning that we were chasing the game without a recognised striker.

His replacement, Marouane Fellaini, immediately carved out a chance for Tim Cahill, whose angled shot was saved by Paddy Kenny.

Louis Saha came on for the final 15 minutes, but a Ross Barkley long-range effort was the closest we came to rescuing a point. 0-1 it ended, a fourth consecutive opening day defeat and a thoroughly frustrating afternoon.

But hey, what did we expect? It's the start of the season, after all.

StickyToffee Player Ratings: Howard 5, Baines 6, Distin 6, Jagielka 4, Neville 5, Barkley 7, Heitinga 4, Osman 4, Rodwell 4, Cahill 4, Beckford 4.

Subs: Arteta 4, Fellaini 5, Saha 4.

Everton 0-1 Villarreal

The now traditional home friendly is usually a chance for Evertonians to catch their first glimpse of the club's new signings, although, as we all know, this Summer has been a very difficult one at Goodison Park.

Indeed, our efforts in this year's transfer window were typified by one of the matchday stewards, who quipped "I'm surprised I'm being paid to be honest".

Our efforts on the field also proved to be inadequate, as an excellent Guiseppe Rossi strike secured a friendly win for Villarreal. A nasty injury to Seamus Coleman did nothing to lift the spirits of the frustrated Evertonians.

Tim Howard was re-instated in goal behind a back four of Baines, Distin, Jagielka and Neville. A youthful midfield consisted of Fellaini, Barkley, Rodwell, Coleman and Anichebe, with Louis Saha heading the attack.

Back-up 'keeper Jan Mucha was joined on the bench by Hibbert, Heitinga, Cahill, Yakubu, Vellios, Bilyaletdinov, Baxter and Beckford.

The one major positive this Summer is the emergence of 17-year-old Ross Barkley, who, even at such a tender age, has looked the real deal in Everton's friendlies thus far. That trend certainly continued last night.

In the early stages Barkley showed a few great touches in midfield. He was a the centre of a move that ended with him striking a ferocious volley well over the bar. Minutes later he collected the ball on the edge of the area, feigned to shoot and played an exquisite chipped through ball into the path of Leighton Baines.

Baines was offside and contrived to miss anyway, but it was a moment of genuine quality from Barkley. The youngster didn't stop there - and in the following interchanges he played through Seamus Coleman, only for the Irishman to also be ruled offside.

Barkley also went close himself as he met Baines' cross well, although his half-

volleyed effort went just wide. At the other end, ex-Manchester United man Guiseppe Rossi went close with a free-kick after Fellaini had clipped the ankles of Cani on the edge of the area.

Indeed, Rossi (Guiseppe, not Barkley) was a livewire all evening - a less chubby version of Carlos Tevez. He had a couple of decent snapshots before the half was out, but nothing that Tim Howard wasn't equal to.

Louis Saha saw his effort fly wide via the fingertips of the Villarreal 'keeper, before the half ended on a very sour note. Carlos Marchena slid in needlessly on Seamus Coleman and you could tell straightaway it was a bad 'un.

Coleman went down with his hands on his face and was replaced immediately by Tim Cahill. A later scan thankfully revealed that there had been no fracture to the ankle, although the suspected ligament damage is still likely to keep him out of action for a significant period of time.

That was the last action of the first half but Everton created their best opportunity of the match straight after the interval. Leighton Baines beat the whole right side of Villarreal's defence, played a one-two with Louis Saha and was was one-on-one with the keeper, 10 yards out. His shot was straight at the goalkeeper though and the scores remained level.

Villarreal scored what proved to be the winner on 64 minutes - a superb effort from Guiseppe Rossi. A free-kick on the edge of the area was rolled into his path and Rossi slammed a thunderbolt right into the top left hand corner. Tim Howard had absolutely no chance with the powerful shot, which drew applause from both sets of supporters.

Villarreal took control of the game from that point onwards. They were far superior in possession and didn't let us have much of a kick, with substitute Oriol seeing a good effort saved by Howard. The situation was not helped when our most creative player, Ross Barkley, was taken off. It was another impressive performance from the lad and he was given rapturous applause as he departed.

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that i hope to see a lot, lot more of him this season.

The remainder of the match turned into a bit of a snoozefest to be honest. Jermaine Beckford gave Carlos Marchena a taste of his own medicine with a two-footed tackle of his own, whilst Tony Hibbert was told to "SHOOOOTTT" from inside his own half.

It ended 1-0, a result that was just about deserved for the Spanish side. The injury to Coleman added further doom to an already depressing evening. Still, at least the Premier League is back next week.

I'll be at Spurs on August 13th fully expecting to be well beaten. Expect the worst and you'll never be disappointed. As an Evertonian, that's becoming more and more a quote to live by.

StickyToffee Player Ratings; Howard 7, Baines 7, Distin 7, Jagielka 6, Neville 6, Coleman 6, Rodwell 5, BARKLEY 8, Fellaini 6, Anichebe 5, Saha 5.

Subs: Cahill 5, Heitinga 5, Hibbert 5, Yakubu 4, Beckford 5.

Werder Bremen 1-0 Everton

Everton stuttered through a thoroughly disappointing 90 minutes in Bremen on Tuesday night, with Sandro Wagner's first half goal enough to see off a disjointed Everton side.

It is only pre-season though, so nothing to worry about. We came through the game without any injuries, which is the biggest positive you can take from any friendly. And we were treated to another glimpse of the talent that is Ross Barkley. Remember the name.

Jan Mucha and Tim Howard shared the goalkeeping duties, with the Slovakian playing the first half before being replaced by the mad Yank at half-time. The back four had a familiar look of Hibbert - Jagielka - Distin - Baines and, in the absence of Phil Neville, Jagielka was made captain.

Teenage prodigy Ross Barkley was handed a starting berth in midfield alongside Leon Osman, John Heitinga and Tim Cahill, whilst Victor Anichebe once again partnered Jermaine Beckford up top.

Alongside Tim Howard on the bench were; Seamus Coleman, Phil Neville, Apostolos Vellios, Louis Saha, Magaye Gueye and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.

Yakubu's exclusion from the squad rang a few alarm bells, although I am now led to believe that he stayed at home to be at the birth of his child. One person who Evertonians were extremely pleased to see in the line up was Phil Jagielka, the subject of two recent bids from Arsenal.

The opening period was pretty even, with Ross Barkley providing a good outlet on the right wing. Indeed, most of Everton's good play came through the youngster, who looked comfortable on the ball and equally so when cutting inside and using his left foot. It's clear we have a special, special talent on our books - something noted post-match by both Tony Hibbert and Sylvain Distin.

Baines also looked lively as ever and put it a peach of a cross for Tim Cahill, whose header was unusually mistimed and off target.

Bremen also had chances - not least the absolute sitter missed by Sandro Wagner. A ball was chipped across goal and Mucha was beaten all ends up. It was a free header, four yards out, but Wagner somehow managed to miss. It wasn't quite on the level of Yakubu at the World Cup, but it's up there.

Wagner did make up for the shocking miss just minutes later, although the opening goal had more than a slice of fortune about it. Back-up 'keeper Jan Mucha flapped at a cross, allowing Wagner to prod home at the second time of asking.

Everton made a couple of changes at the break. Tim Howard swapped places with Jan Mucha and Louis Saha did likewise with Victor Anichebe. Unfortunately, Bremen had also made a few substitutions, which included the introduction of exciting midfielder Marko Marin.

They took control of the game and chances fell to Marin and Aaron Hunt. Louis Saha and Jermaine Beckford were not adequately supported by Everton's midfield, a situation that only got worse when our most creative player, Ross Barkley, was taken off shortly into the second period.

Leighton Baines went closest to leveling the scores for Everton. For once the left-back hit a poor free-kick that cannoned straight into the wall, but Baines hit the rebound thunderously against the post.

The game petered out into a 1-0 defeat, a disappointing result and performance. But hey, it's only pre-season!

StickyToffee Player Ratings: Mucha 5, Hibbert 5, Jagielka 6, Distin 6, Baines 6, Cahill 6, Barkley 7, Osman 5, Heitinga 5, Anichebe 4, Beckford 4.

Subs: Howard 5, Coleman 5, Neville 5, Bilyaletdinov 4, Vellios 4, Saha 4.

Birmingham City 1-2 Everton

Everton were made to work extremely hard to earn their 2-1 victory at St. Andrew's this afternoon, but second-half goals from Leighton Baines and fit-again Louis Saha secured a third pre-season win in four games.

David Moyes named a strong side for the Midlands fixture; Tim Howard was between the sticks for the first time this pre-season, with a back-four of Baines, Jagielka, Heitinga and Hibbert. The midfield quartet was Bilyaletdinov, Neville, Osman, Coleman and in attack were Beckford and Anichebe.

The new yellow away kit was the only thing making its debut for Everton and the first half certainly suggested that Everton were suffering from a lack of fresh impetus that could have been provided by a new signing or two. We were second best throughout the first period.

Chris Burke, and later 58-year-old Stephen Carr, capitalized on slack defending by Diniyar Bilyaletdinov but both struck their efforts straight at Tim Howard in the Everton goal. The also-returning Tony Hibbert had a tough afternoon dealing with the pace and trickery of Birmingham's Nathan Redmond - who is simply one of those pesky, annoying little pricks.

Everton's best efforts of the first half came via Jermaine Beckford, who did well to wriggle out of the defender's reach and create a shooting opportunity, and then Seamus Coleman, who looked dangerous cutting in from the right hand side.

Chris Hughton would have been much the happier manager at half-time, and our boys were in for a hammering.

Birmingham started the second period in exactly the same fashion as the first and, although they rarely troubled Howard, David Moyes won't have been impressed by our defending in both open play and from set-pieces.

We did take the lead in the 58th minute though, and from a familiar source. Leighton Baines - who further endeared himself to Evertonians in the week by saying that "there's more chance of me winning the next Grand Prix than joining Liverpool" - lined up a free-kick on the edge of the area and, well, we all knew what was going to happen next...

The deadliest left-foot in English football struck again with a well placed free-kick into the bottom-right corner. The goal was Baines' last action of the game as he was then withdrawn and replaced by fit-again-but-probably-not-for-long Louis Saha.

Saha didn't take long to make his mark on the game, reminding us all what a clinical finisher he can be when he is on song and off the treatment table. He found space 20 yards out and hit a low right-footed shot into the corner of the net. It was a goal of great finesse that proved once again what a fantastic player he can be.

More Everton substitutions followed, including the return of the somewhat prodigal Yakubu who, for one reason or another, missed the tour of America. He was welcomed onto the field with a chorus of 'feed the Yak and he will score' and he certainly looked as though he had been well fed.

Birmingham then managed to pull a goal back - which, for their first half efforts, was deserved - through Scottish forward Adam Rooney (no relation). It was a good finish too - Rooney applied a neat little flick onto a wayward shot to divert it in and make it 2-1.

Magaye Gueye - who played at Oxford last night - was introduced and went close with a long-range free-kick, but 2-1 was how it finished. Not a very convincing win but a win nonetheless. There are certainly things to work on before August 13th, but I'd certainly take a scrappy 2-1 win at White Hart Lane on the opening day!

StickyToffee Player Ratings: Howard 7, Hibbert 6, Heitinga 6, Jagielka 6, Baines 8, Coleman 6, Neville 7, Osman 5, Bilyaletdinov 6, Beckford 5, Anichebe 6.

Subs: Distin 6, Cahill 7, Saha 7, Barkley 7, Yakubu 5, Gueye 6.

Bury v Everton Preview

With players and supporters alike counting down the days until the start of the new Premier League season, Everton are back in action on Friday night in Greater Manchester, where League One side Bury will provide the opposition in the first of six friendly fixtures.

With the majority of the squad having been in training for 10 days, including a 5-day training camp in the shadow of the Austrian Alps, the Gigg Lane fixture will provide a test of the player's match fitness after the Summer break.

The two sides have not been in the same league since 1954, with the last league encounter being a 0-0 draw at Goodison Park. Even so, the ties between Bury and Everton are not insignificant.

Indeed, it is said that Bury, in part at least, have Everton to thank for their nickname: the Shakers. The tag is thought to have come about during the late 19th century. The semi-final of the 1892 Liverpool Senior Cup, to be precise. Mr J. T. Ingham, then Bury's chairman-cum-manager, was asked about his side's supposedly stronger opponents, Everton. Ingham said: "We shall shake 'em. In fact, we are the Shakers." Although Everton prevailed in the tie, the nickname was born.

The ties between the Shakers and the Toffees do not stop there; Blues captain Phil Neville was born in Bury and many of his family work at the club. We also have Bury to thank for providing us with legendary goalkeeper Neville Southall, who kept goal for the Shakers before Howard Kendall brought him to Goodison in a £150,000 deal in 1981.

A few members of Bury's current squad also have links to Everton. Skipper Steven Schumacher came through the ranks at Everton but failed to make the grade, despite captaining the England U19s during his time at Goodison. Young midfielder David Worrall has also been on the books at Everton, whilst centre-half Mark Hughes (who made just a single appearance for Everton - as a late substitute in a 2-0 win over West Ham at Goodison, December 2006) recently moved to Bury after a stint in the Australian A-League with North Queensland Fury.

Despite not facing each other competitively since a League Cup tie in October 1988, the two sides have met more recently in friendly fixtures. In 2006 a Victor Anichebe brace was added to by a stunning free-kick from Spaniard Mikel Arteta as Everton coasted to a 3-1 victory. The match was memorable for an impromptu pitch invasion following the final whistle, something that has since become routine for the travelling support.

In 2007 an Everton XI won 1-0 thanks to a Lukas Jutkiewicz goal, but fortunes were reversed prior to the 2009/10 campaign, with Louis Saha's effort unable to save us from falling to a 2-1 defeat.

Of course, at this stage of pre-season, the result is almost irrelevant; the primary purpose of the match is to consolidate the fitness work that has been done in the Austrian mountains. Although, as they say, winning breeds confidence...

I am skint and so won't be heading to Gigg Lane - EvertonTV will have to suffice. I'm going to predict a win for us and I fancy Louis Saha and Tony Hibbert (it has to happen one day) to get on the scoresheet.

StickyToffee Prediction: Bury 0-2 Everton

What are your predictions and thoughts on the game? Use the comment section below to have your say (you can now do so without being logged into a Google account - so no excuses!)

10 Reasons to be Positive

The title tells you all you need to know about what this post entails, so without further ado...

1) First and foremost, supporting Everton is a privilege and a blessing and we should always be proud to be able to say that we are Evertonians. We are born, not manufactured. We do not choose, we are chosen. Those that understand need no explanation. Those that don't, don't matter.

2) We have the best left-back in the country. Back in 2005 a certain Leighton Baines was plying his trade in the second tier of English football with Wigan Athletic, before being signed by David Moyes for an initial fee of £5 million. Now he has played for his country, captained his side in Europe and been crowned Everton's player of the year. His exclusion from the PFA team of the year was a disgraceful show of ignorance from his fellow professionals as his 11 assists (a total only bettered by Drogba and Nani) and 6 goals, coupled with solid defensive displays, have been a major highlight of our campaign.

3) It seems to happen to us every year but we've been blighted by injuries - and we surely can't have the same bad luck again next year, can we? Fellaini, Saha, Cahill, Arteta, Jagielka to name but a few have been out with long term injuries but should be fit and raring to go for the start of next year. Although, in Saha's case, it will probably only be a few games before he's out again.

4) We might have a bit of money to spend. We won't have as much as the teams around us, but Vaughan has already left for a decent amount of £2.5 million and Yakubu, Yobo and Mucha look set to follow. This could raise as much as £10 million for players that we didn't have last season - so they would not be a big loss - and with our manager's eye for a bargain, the money will be well re-invested.

5) Our season wasn't too bad. It was disappointing, yes. Frustrating, definitely. But we ended up a place higher than last year and in most other years 7th would have had us reaching for our passports once more. Add to that the fact that all the teams above us have spent much more money and our season doesn't seem so bad.

6) From 2011/12, UEFA are introducing a 'financial fair play' system that requires clubs to break even over a three season period. If they fail they will be banned from European competition, and so the introduction of the system should level the playing field and allow cash-strapped clubs like ourselves a better chance. It is the brainchild of UEFA president Michel Platini and you can read all about it here. At present Man City, Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool would all be ineligible to enter the Champions League or Europa League, although our neighbours would probably be able to bend they rules again like when they finished 5th in 04/05 but still managed to wriggle their way into the following year's Champions League. Not that I'm bitter or anything...

7) We have an excellent youth system. The academy that has produced, amongst others, Jeffers, Osman, Hibbert and Rooney, continues to churn out bright young talent. Jack Rodwell and Seamus Coleman are established members of the first team, whilst players such as Vellios, Gueye and Duffy are on the fringes. Add into the mixer Luke Garbutt, Ross Barkley, Jose Baxter and Joao Silva, and the under-18 side that were recently crowned champions of England, and there is plenty of scope for the future.

8) We have players coming back into form. Mikel Arteta has produced some performances towards the latter end of the season that have reaffirmed Evertonians' faith in the Spanish magician. John Heitinga had his best game of the season against Chelsea on the last day, whilst the return of Phil Jagielka has brought a renewed solidity to the back line. Jermaine Beckford looks like he's finding his feet at the top level, whilst even Victor Anichebe has put in a few good performances towards the end of the season.

9) There's no football this Summer. Whilst this may mean a few months of boredom for us fans, it's a positive for the players. They can all have a rest (except Rodwell, who is involved at the U-21 Euros) and be in peak condition in time for August. Tim Cahill has not had a proper rest for years, so it is especially pleasing that he has asked to be left out of Australia's Summer friendlies, choosing instead to concentrate on Everton.

10) Our manager is a genius. He has transformed the club from a mediocre side that twice narrowly avoided relegation from the top flight into a side that expects European football and is disappointed to finish seventh. He is more important than any player and in my eyes he is the next best thing to God.

Come on you Blues...

Season Review

It's been less than a week since the culmination of the 2010/11 league season and we are already facing up to the prospect of a long, football-less Summer, with only Jack Rodwell's involvement at the U-21 European Championships to get our Everton fix.

One thing we do get plenty of, however, is time. Time gives the opportunity for reflection, for optimism to breed and for fans to scour YouTube for compilation videos of their club's latest transfer targets.

I've decided not to waste my time researching our supposed transfer targets as I would be on YouTube all day with the amount of players we get linked to: Bothroyd, Campbell, Owen, Callejon, Ba, blah blah blah. I'll believe it when it's on the official website - and even then, I'll have my doubts.

Anyway, I've decided to pen a review of our season. Let's start at the very beginning which, in the words of Maria von Trapp, is a very good place to start.

August 2010

Blackburn Rovers 1-0 Everton: The season kicked off on August 14th at Ewood Park after a positive pre-season had fuelled aspirations of European football. However, the hope was quashed as we failed to recover from an early Nikita Kalinic goal. We played well enough to win the match but were found to be lacking in the final third, with Tim Howard's error gifting Rovers all three points.

Everton 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers: The type of home game that summed up our first half of the season. Cahill gave us the lead but one goal was all we could muster, and we were duly punished.

Everton 5-1 Huddersfield Town: The first win of the season came in the Carling Cup, as Fellaini, Rodwell, Beckford, Saha and Osman saw off Huddersfield. A bad night for John Heitinga though, as the Dutchman missed a penalty and scored an own goal.

Aston Villa 1-0 Everton: A totally undeserved result. After we fell behind early on we dominated the match but once again could not find the net and we ended the month with a solitary point from a possible nine.

September 2010

Everton 3-3 Manchester United: One of the highlights of the season. We took the lead, only for United to score three without reply. At the end of normal time the points looked to be heading down the M62. Cahill and Arteta had other ideas though, and two goals in injury time salvaged a great point. Phil Jagielka almost completed what would have been one of the greatest comebacks ever but missed the chance to make it 4-3.

Everton 0-1 Newcastle United: After the excitement of the last home game, this one was a totally different story. Newcastle came, scored, defended and took home three points from the type of game we should be winning.

Brentford 1-1 Everton: An utter low point of the season. On a freezing cold Tuesday night we exited the Carling Cup at Griffin Park. After Seamus Coleman's goal was only enough to earn us a draw we lost in a penalty shoot-out. Although I did manage to high-five Yakubu as he collected the ball from in front of the Everton fans.

Fulham 0-0 Everton: A game that will not live long in the memory but we picked up just our third point of the season.

October 2010

Birmingham City 0-2 Everton: Our first league victory of the season was a straightforward one at St. Andrews. The pink kit got a second airing and goals from Cahill and a Johnson own goal secured victory.

Everton 2-0 Liverpool: A second successive win and suddenly everyone thought we'd turned the corner. The elation of derby victory is a high point in any season, and goals from Cahill and Arteta gave us all a day to savour in a season to forget.

Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Everton: We stretched our unbeaten run to three games with Leighton Baines' exquisite free-kick earning us a point at Spurs. A good display meant that we returned with a very good point.

Everton 1-0 Stoke City: Our third win in four games made sure that we went the month unbeaten. Yakubu's goal was enough to see off a resilient Stoke outfit in a hard-fought match.

November 2010

Blackpool 2-2 Everton: Seamus Coleman bagged on his return to his old stomping ground as we twice came from behind against a free-scoring Blackpool side. Cahill got our other goal (above) and guess what - it was a header.

Everton 1-1 Bolton Wanderers: It was another disappointing home result, but notable for a fantastic goal at the death from Jermaine Beckford. He received the ball in the corner of the penalty area, took a touch and curled a shot over Jaaskalainen. Beauty.

Everton 1-2 Arsenal: Our seven match unbeaten run was ended by an admittedly excellent Arsenal side. Trailing by two, Tim Cahill's 89th minute goal could not inspire us to a comeback like the one we'd witnessed against Manchester United.

Sunderland 2-2 Everton: A lively but scrappy game ended two a piece. Cahill's header and Arteta's deflected strike sealed a point, but Beckford would have been disappointed he didn't make it three after missing a gilt-edged chance.

Everton 1-4 West Bromwich Albion: I don't even want to think about this one.

December 2010

Chelsea 1-1 Everton: A point at the home of the reigning champions was an impressive outcome, and the manner in which we earned it even more so. We were indifferent for the first period and were deservedly behind, but a Leighton Baines-inspired Everton kept going and were rewarded four minutes from time thanks to the striker's instinct of Jermaine Beckford.

Everton 0-0 Wigan Athletic: Just as it seemed we had turned the corner, a poor, poor performance. Wigan came to Goodison not wanting to be beaten and thanks to our lack of cutting edge, they weren't.

Manchester City 1-2 Everton: What better early Christmas present than a victory at (middle) Eastlands? Tim Cahill caught City napping to steal an early lead, and Baines had the audacity to nick a second within 20 minutes after a fluent team move. The bunch of overpaid, egotistical prima donnas were upstaged by a club with morals, values and spirit on a night that reminded us what we all love about Everton.

West Ham United 1-1 Everton: Our Boxing Day clash with Birmingham was postponed due to frozen pipes at Goodison, so we had time to finish the turkey before travelling to Upton Park. HIBBERT SCORED!!!!!!!!!!! Oh... wait... it was an own goal. Coleman equalised to claim a point.

January 2011

Stoke City 2-0 Everton: A New Year's Day trip to the potteries proved fruitless as we got exactly what we deserved. A bad day at the office.

Everton 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur: A much improved team performance produced another great Goodison night. Louis Saha scored his first league goal for 11 months from 20 yards and Seamus Coleman's late header secured a deserved win. Moyes had a go at playing 4-4-2 and it paid off as our power and pace won an enthralling match.

Scunthorpe United 1-5 Everton: Just as in the Carling Cup we won our first tie 5-1. In the new third kit, sumptuously described as 'vanilla', we dominated an awful Championship side and Saha, Beckford, Coleman, Fellaini and Baines all scored in the rout.

Liverpool 2-2 Everton: 'Win at home, draw away' is the key to success in

football, or so we are led to believe by the pundits. After our victory in October, Distin and Beckford scored our goals to claim a satisfying point.

Everton 2-2 West Ham United: An unimaginative performance against a poor side left us needing equalisers from Bilyaletdinov, and then Fellaini, to earn a point in a match from which we'd have been looking to take all three.

Everton 1-1 Chelsea: After demolishing Scunthorpe we were given a much tougher test in the next round of the FA Cup. King Louis' goal glut continued and it would have sent us through but for a late Chelsea equaliser. Onto a replay then...

February

Arsenal 2-1 Everton: A month of ups and downs started with a loss at Arsenal. The King gave us the lead (although he was well offside) but we couldn't hold on.

Everton 5-3 Blackpool: A Goodison classic. Four goals from the man of the moment, Louis Saha (above), and a wonderful fifth from his strike partner Beckford. In an enthralling game the lead exchanged hands multiple teams leading to a score that was frequent in the days of Dixie Dean & co. What's more, it could have been five for Saha as another effort was incorrectly adjudged to have been offside.

Bolton Wanderers 2-0 Everton: From the sublime to the atrocious. This is what Everton do to you. Many suggested that this was the worst performance in Moyes' tenure, and the ginger genius cut a solemn and downbeat figure on the bench. If there was ever a game where I really could have done better than some of our players, this was it. Well, I couldn't have done any worse.

Chelsea 1-1 Everton: And from the atrocious, back to the sublime. We matched Chelsea for 90 minutes, taking the Cup replay to extra time. It looked, though, that all our endeavours had been in vain when Lampard scored for Chelsea in the 108th minute. Not to be deterred, and roared on by 6,000 Evertonians (1,800 Chelsea fans came to Goodison for the first leg), Everton fought on. Baines' last-minute free-kick earned a penalty shoot-out. Baines then contrived to miss our first penalty, but we pulled it out of the bag. Heitinga shoved Ashley Cole, Howard saved from Anelka and Phil Neville stepped up to score the winning penalty. Cue delirium in the Shed End.

Everton 2-0 Sunderland: We followed up the cup success with the type of comfortable and straightforward win that we had not had enough of so far the season. A brace from Beckford was enough for all three points.

March

Everton 0-1 Reading: Such was the way we knocked out Chelsea in round 4, many blues were thinking about whether a trip to Eastlands or Villa Park was on the cards for the quarter-final. This air of arrogance seemed to rub off on the players, who produced a lacklustre performance and were punished by a solid Championship outfit. We were not aided by the fact that Beckford arrived at the ground three minutes prior to kick-off having been stuck in traffic, but Reading were well-organised and deserved victors. After such a disappointing night we left with a slice of dignity intact after clapping Reading off the pitch - something that manager Brian McDermott and many of his players later eluded to.

Newcastle United 1-2 Everton: Everton: they knock you down and then they pick you back up again. An impressive victory thanks to goals from Leon Osman and Phil Jagielka. Arteta was moved to the wing where he had an excellent game.

Everton 1-1 Birmingham City: A fantastic goal from John Heitinga - his first for the club - was not enough not beat Birmingham. Once again, a fixture we should have won but didn't due to a lack of cutting edge.

Everton 2-1 Fulham: Everton marked David Moyes' ninth anniversary of taking charge with exactly the same scoreline - and against the same opponents - as his first match. Saha and Coleman scored our goals in a comfortable and deserved victory.

April

Everton 2-2 Aston Villa: A lively game which saw us take the lead through Osman before Darren Bent scored twice to give Villa the advantage. Bainesy levelled from the spot but we were incorrectly denied a goal when Beckford's effort was adjudged not to have crossed the line.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 0-3 Everton: After a opening spell of Wolves pressure, we assumed dominance with three wonderful goals. The first was a Beckford header from a Leon Osman cross, the second a thunderbolt from Phil Neville and the third was the best of the lot - a 30-yarder from everyone's favourite Russian.

Everton 2-0 Blackburn Rovers: A straightforward, comfortable victory inspired by Leon Osman. Ossie provided a creative spark that unlocked Blackburn's defence, then Bainesy made sure of the victory from the spot.

Manchester United 1-0 Everton: Our unbeaten run came to an end after a resilient performance at the home of the champions-elect. We looked as though we may be able to snatch a point, but you can never write United off and they scored seven minutes from time. Ferguson then had the audacity to moan to Sky about the amount of extra-time given!

Wigan Athletic 1-1 Everton: A tale of two penalties at the DW: one taken, and missed, by Mikel Arteta and one taken, and scored, by Leighton Baines. A fair result though.

May 2011

Everton 2-1 Manchester City: A victory for class over cash, the spirit of Everton outclassed the Manchester mercenaries. After a dour first half we were 1-0 down, but in the second we witnessed Everton at their very best; unbridled, fluid and magic to see. Osman - 5ft 8" - scored one of the best headed goals of the season, and Distin grabbed the other.

West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Everton: After such a good win, we should have expected an uninspiring loss. And that is exactly what we got.

Everton 1-0 Chelsea: There was nothing to play for on the final day but we ended on a high thanks to a goal from Jermaine Beckford (above) that will go down as one of Goodsion's greatest. He picked up the ball on the edge of his own penalty area and ran solo to the opposite end, before calmly chipping over Petr Cech in front of the Gwladys Street. A standout moment in a forgettable season.

So, there you have it, my season review. We've been less consistent than my Mum's watery gravy and there's been more ups and downs than Jordan's knickers. But we have seen enough towards the end of the season to retain hope for the next campaign, and even though our season wasn't the best our seventh place finish was an improvement on last year.

It's a funny old game.

Beckford reaches double figures as Everton end on a high

Old Chelsea schoolboy Jermaine Beckford settled the match against his old side with a fine solo effort, later described by Manager David Moyes as being like something out of Roy of the Rovers. It certainly was a fine goal to settle a lively game that ended with Everton deservedly claiming the final points of the season.

The 1-0 triumph over the second best team in the country was succeeded by the customary lap of honour, as Evertonians were left to wonder 'what if?', whilst simultaneously bursting with hope for next season.

It was made even more impressive by the fact that we had to deal with a shocking refereeing performance, the sending off of Seamus Coleman and an opposing starting eleven that had been assembled for £160 million.

Moyes plumped for a 4-5-1 formation, dropping Anichebe in favour of Beckford. Phil Neville was ruled out after picking up a mouth infection following a midweek trip to the dentist, and so the midfield was Coleman, Rodwell, Heitinga, Osman, Arteta. The back five was unchanged.

It was an Everton display full of energy, atypical for an end of season affair, and we could have taken the lead early on. Rodwell's surge down the right hand side earned a corner, which resulted in Phil Jagielka's headed effort hitting the crossbar. The chances kept coming as we assumed control on the game. First Coleman, after a neat interchange with Beckford, found himself in a good position but took too much time on the ball and the chance escaped.

We then had a clear penalty claim, but referee Peter Walton, who had a 'mare by all accounts, waved played on after Osman was hacked down from behind by Alex. Osman couldn't believe it, and neither could the Park End crowd.

For all our efforts, Chelsea did, at times, look dangerous at the other end. Only some great defensive work from Distin and Jagielka thwarted Anelka and Lampard in Chelsea's attack. Chelsea had a spell of possession, but failed to carve out any more real chances, and we really should have been ahead before the half was out.

A fabulous pass from Arteta set Beckford free of Alex, but the striker contrived to send the ball out for a throw-in. It took a very slight deflection, but it was a horrendous miss.

That was the last notable action of the first half and just five minutes into the second we were down to ten men. Seamus Coleman lunged at John Obi Mikel and won the ball, but his studs were showing and the reactions of the Chelsea players contributed to the youngster receiving his marching orders courtesy of a second yellow card.

The Goodison crowd rose to applaud Coleman off the field in an acknowledgement of a fantastic debut season which has seen him win Everton's Young Player of the Year award and receive a nomination for the PFA Young Player of the Year award. Not bad for £60,000.

Chelsea, assuming a man advantage, took control of the game in midfield. John Terry went closest with a 20-yard strike that cannoned off the post, but it was far from one-sided. Petr Cech had to sprawl to keep out a Beckford effort, and Arteta's shot from the perimeter of the box went narrowly wide.

Chelsea had the ball in the net after Howard flapped at a free-kick and Ivanovic took advantage, only for the goal to be correctly ruled out as offside.

It was Everton, though, that took the lead with a 74th minute goal. And what a goal it was. It was a goal so good that it made a mockery of Everton's insistence that the end of season awards ceremony is held before the end of the season. It was a goal that had Goodison rocking and roaring with approval. It was the tenth goal of the season from Jermaine Beckford.

He picked up the ball just outside his own penalty area and drove up the pitch. With nobody in front of him but five Chelsea players, most centre-forwards would have been inclined to hold the ball up and wait for support. But Beckford carried on running. His sheer pace took him past two but the task was still monumental. On the half way line he was confronted by another pair of defenders. A lucky ricochet set him through, one-on-one with Cech. The ball had ballooned into the air, but Beckford controlled in perfectly in his stride, taking one further touch before executing a sumptuous chipped finish over the onrushing goalkeeper.

He stood, arms raised, in front of the Gwladys Street. The grand old lady was rocking. It was a goal so good that if it had been scored my Messi it would talked about for years.

Goodison was alive, it was party time. Torres, who had been largely anonymous, was taunted with cries of 'Ladyboy, ladyboy' and 'you're just a sh*t Jermaine Beckford'. The place was rocking.

Beckford's mazy run and finish proved to be a great end to a season of ups and downs that ended with a seventh placed finish, a slight improvement on last year.

This last day victory has inspired confidence amongst Evertonians. Now we just have to hope that our confidence hasn't vanished by the end of August.