This morning at work got a call from an agitated colleague who'd popped out for something to eat and (inevitably) ended up in the bookies. He was rambling madly down the phone that Rafa had chucked it. All based on the fact that one of the online spread betting companies had suspended all bets on Rafa either getting the punt, or more likely, marching out on some dumb ass principle that he should be given complete control over player signings! This from the man who gave us Lucas, Josemi, Babel, that caveman Dossena, from Italy amongst many others. Anyway, the story swept through the offices and betting shops in London resulting in lots of chatter, speculation and ultimately, absolutely nothing.
How often do these kind of things happen? How many times have we all done the greyhound chasing the rabbit trick only to race round the corner and find no rabbit? Amazingly enough, I am now hearing the same story being repeated by 'proper' radio people on Five Live.
Come on Real. Stick it to them.
Wednesday 25 February 2009
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Arteta Is Out
I've been away for a few days, enjoying the result of the Villa game and anticipating a decent shot at 3 points at the home of the 'best fans in football' on Sunday.
The great thing about being in America is they don't give 2 hoots (make that 200 hoots in New York) about football. Nothing. Nada. No interest whatsoever unless you're at school or college. They've even managed to relegate Ice Hockey to somewhere behind NASCAR and the College Football and Basketball seasons in terms of media profile. So what I'm trying to say here is I didn't hear anything about football until Monday when I was catching up on the match result from Sunday, which became an irrelevance once we learned that Arteta was gone for the season.
Sure he's got his faults has the little Spaniard. As often noted, he can fall short against the biggest teams in the Premier League, but then many others do too. The reality is that Arteta is Everton's only real creative force; he's our play-maker and the only one we've had for years. He dominates set piece play, takes most of the free-kicks, penalties, and given the time can 'manage' a game for us. On his day, he's excellent. Maybe not quite good enough for Spain and I can't see a Big Four ever signing him, but for us, he is irreplaceable.
The impact of losing Yakubu was significant and we've clearly suffered without him. Saha was a gamble and looks set to fill in his usual return of missing half the campaign, scoring a handful of goals. Fellaini hasn't quite worked out. Castillo was obviously bought after one viewing of a video and the theory that if you've played in the Balkan leagues you've got to be tough. But we've managed without them, or in Fellaini's case, with him.
The loss of Arteta is a disaster. I don't see a replacement anywhere in the squad. We'll need to somehow replicate elements of his creativity using the likes of Osman and Pienaar, which will look as unpalatable as it sounds. Moyes has done well to put a brave face on it. Saturday's game will show us what we're likely to expect for the remainder of the campaign. With Arteta, I had plenty of confidence at securing the European spot and of a trip to the FA Cup semi-finals. Without him, Moyes has to change things as we're likely to score even fewer goals.
The great thing about being in America is they don't give 2 hoots (make that 200 hoots in New York) about football. Nothing. Nada. No interest whatsoever unless you're at school or college. They've even managed to relegate Ice Hockey to somewhere behind NASCAR and the College Football and Basketball seasons in terms of media profile. So what I'm trying to say here is I didn't hear anything about football until Monday when I was catching up on the match result from Sunday, which became an irrelevance once we learned that Arteta was gone for the season.
Sure he's got his faults has the little Spaniard. As often noted, he can fall short against the biggest teams in the Premier League, but then many others do too. The reality is that Arteta is Everton's only real creative force; he's our play-maker and the only one we've had for years. He dominates set piece play, takes most of the free-kicks, penalties, and given the time can 'manage' a game for us. On his day, he's excellent. Maybe not quite good enough for Spain and I can't see a Big Four ever signing him, but for us, he is irreplaceable.
The impact of losing Yakubu was significant and we've clearly suffered without him. Saha was a gamble and looks set to fill in his usual return of missing half the campaign, scoring a handful of goals. Fellaini hasn't quite worked out. Castillo was obviously bought after one viewing of a video and the theory that if you've played in the Balkan leagues you've got to be tough. But we've managed without them, or in Fellaini's case, with him.
The loss of Arteta is a disaster. I don't see a replacement anywhere in the squad. We'll need to somehow replicate elements of his creativity using the likes of Osman and Pienaar, which will look as unpalatable as it sounds. Moyes has done well to put a brave face on it. Saturday's game will show us what we're likely to expect for the remainder of the campaign. With Arteta, I had plenty of confidence at securing the European spot and of a trip to the FA Cup semi-finals. Without him, Moyes has to change things as we're likely to score even fewer goals.
Monday 16 February 2009
Everton 3 - 1 Aston Villa
What a great game of football that was. Obviously helped with having the best possible start, followed by a swift Villa equalizer and it then looked like anyone's game for the remainder of the 70 minutes until Cahill ended the tie with 15 mins left on the clock. At that point it definitely looked like Villa gave up the ghost. Finally. Cahill, as we've become accustomed to, has this innate ability to become seemingly invisible to every centre-back in England, even the best ones. He did it repeatedly against the latest lumoxing oxen that O'Neill has filling in the central unit of their back four culminating in the goal that has Everton looking forward to a home tie against the winners of the Boro / West Ham replay next week (c'mon on Boro).
From the opening exchanges it was clear that to be remotely comfortable against this Villa team, Everton would need a 2-goal cushion. Although it is fair to say that Villa probably only had 5 or so concrete attempts on goal - all poorly taken aside from the brilliant Howard save from Carew - I wasn't relaxed until Cahill's strike. I got the impression that the players felt that on the pitch. It was noticeable for a period in the middle of the second half that Villa, gaining momentum, were pushing on. Lescott for the first time in weeks temporarily lost his cool and positional sense and the midfield didn't do enough to protect the back four. However, the terror twins of Young and Agbonlahor were slightly off-colour and Carew morphed into a performance similar to that of the visiting Drogba a few months ago; arms aloft, moaning to the ref, yelling at his team mates.
Yet again, Moyes and his backroom people came up with a formation to suit our resources and counteract the potent attacking threat of Villa. Aside from the excellent James Milner, the rest of the Villa front players and Petrov were not allowed their usual control. Villa definitely play the percentages and I get the impression they'll have to get a bit cleverer if they want to take on the big sides in England and Europe. Once Everton pushed back, Villa's main attacking threat came from cross-field passes or their standard high-speed crosses into the box. Everton made sure they didn't give away too many set pieces, a specialist theme for Villa's assault on any opponent. The only time Agbonlahor got a clear run at the Everton back line, guess what? Hibbert tripped him for the opening goal from the spot.
Aside from that mistake, the defence once again were tight. Yes we were under the cosh for a 15 minute period in the second half, but the resilience and strength of this Everton team is becoming unavoidable. Deprived of Fellaini, Pienaar and Osman (I'm not even going to mention the striking options), from the regular first team, the incoming Rodwell and Gosling were excellent and the returning Anichebe put in one of the most impressive shifts in his stuttering Everton career to date. Cahill and Jags were their predictable best.
Whoever comes out of the replay at the Riverside next week, we've got to fancy our chances of a trip to the all-new Wembley in mid April for a semi-final. The FA couldn't face another repeat of the Portsmouth-Cardiff final of 2008, and must be delighted that 'warm balls' ensured the big guns were kept apart in the quarter-final draw.
I've said this repeatedly to anyone for weeks now. I'd hate to think where we'd be with a couple of centre-forwards in this side.
From the opening exchanges it was clear that to be remotely comfortable against this Villa team, Everton would need a 2-goal cushion. Although it is fair to say that Villa probably only had 5 or so concrete attempts on goal - all poorly taken aside from the brilliant Howard save from Carew - I wasn't relaxed until Cahill's strike. I got the impression that the players felt that on the pitch. It was noticeable for a period in the middle of the second half that Villa, gaining momentum, were pushing on. Lescott for the first time in weeks temporarily lost his cool and positional sense and the midfield didn't do enough to protect the back four. However, the terror twins of Young and Agbonlahor were slightly off-colour and Carew morphed into a performance similar to that of the visiting Drogba a few months ago; arms aloft, moaning to the ref, yelling at his team mates.
Yet again, Moyes and his backroom people came up with a formation to suit our resources and counteract the potent attacking threat of Villa. Aside from the excellent James Milner, the rest of the Villa front players and Petrov were not allowed their usual control. Villa definitely play the percentages and I get the impression they'll have to get a bit cleverer if they want to take on the big sides in England and Europe. Once Everton pushed back, Villa's main attacking threat came from cross-field passes or their standard high-speed crosses into the box. Everton made sure they didn't give away too many set pieces, a specialist theme for Villa's assault on any opponent. The only time Agbonlahor got a clear run at the Everton back line, guess what? Hibbert tripped him for the opening goal from the spot.
Aside from that mistake, the defence once again were tight. Yes we were under the cosh for a 15 minute period in the second half, but the resilience and strength of this Everton team is becoming unavoidable. Deprived of Fellaini, Pienaar and Osman (I'm not even going to mention the striking options), from the regular first team, the incoming Rodwell and Gosling were excellent and the returning Anichebe put in one of the most impressive shifts in his stuttering Everton career to date. Cahill and Jags were their predictable best.
Whoever comes out of the replay at the Riverside next week, we've got to fancy our chances of a trip to the all-new Wembley in mid April for a semi-final. The FA couldn't face another repeat of the Portsmouth-Cardiff final of 2008, and must be delighted that 'warm balls' ensured the big guns were kept apart in the quarter-final draw.
I've said this repeatedly to anyone for weeks now. I'd hate to think where we'd be with a couple of centre-forwards in this side.
Saturday 14 February 2009
Sunday's match
Without subscribing to the notion that if we don't win tomorrow, that fantastic result against Liverpool will have been pointless, a small part of the brain cannot avoid seeing it that way. So if we don't win on Sunday I'll be a tad disappointed. The way Villa are playing at present, it could be tougher than the recent spate of matches against Liverpool, Arsenal and United. I love what they're doing in the League putting the heat on Arsenal and Chelsea. Nothing would shake up the predictability of the Premier League's closed shop if either miss out on that luxury money from the Champions' League, particularly if City start throwing the cash around for the next 10 seasons, and both Villa and City subsequently become Sky's new BFs.
Villa are built like every other Martin O'Neill team I can remember. Big and strong up front, big and strong at the back with bags of pace across the park. They keep it simple. You could say they're a long-ball side with a little bit more guile. They don't have a single player as creative as Arteta, but we don't have anyone as quick as Young or Agbonlahor.
Villa have got bigger fish to fry, competing in the League and in the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup. But I can't see O'Neill treating any competition with the snooty disdain that Wenger and Benitez do. O'Neill never won the FA Cup as a player and has stated enough times down the years of his desire to win it.
Let's hope we catch them sleeping. We owe them one.
Villa are built like every other Martin O'Neill team I can remember. Big and strong up front, big and strong at the back with bags of pace across the park. They keep it simple. You could say they're a long-ball side with a little bit more guile. They don't have a single player as creative as Arteta, but we don't have anyone as quick as Young or Agbonlahor.
Villa have got bigger fish to fry, competing in the League and in the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup. But I can't see O'Neill treating any competition with the snooty disdain that Wenger and Benitez do. O'Neill never won the FA Cup as a player and has stated enough times down the years of his desire to win it.
Let's hope we catch them sleeping. We owe them one.
Sunday 8 February 2009
Waterfields, Rivington Road
Finally I made it to the old site of the Pimbletts shop on Rivington Road (locally known as the City Road shop) for the first time since Pimbletts became a footnote in the history of St Helens alongside Pilks, Jonny Vegas and Bobby Goudling.
From the outside appearance, the shop has had a coat of purple paint, which I assume is the corporate colour of Waterfields. Inside I thought I was in a Greggs. Standard production line pre-packed sandwiches and funny looking like cakes. They could have been french fancies I suppose? Anyway, there were no pies visibly on display. Not knowing exactly what the new branding means - aside from the main fact that the pies are now made at the Waterfields Bakery and obviously use their recipes - I asked what pies were available. Beverly kindly started listing them but once we'd got to 5 including Meat 'n Potato and Steak, I'd heard enough. I explained I'd not been back since Pimbletts went under. Beverly confirmed it was 'the same, but different'. Enough said I guess.
I loaded up on pies, tarts, buns and vanilla slices. Sunday, the family passed judgement.
The pastry was good. Different - Waterfields use a browning agent - but good. The filling was OK. The steak was different no doubt. More steak mince I'd say than lumps of beef, which may take some getting used to. The Meat and Potato (Dad's choice), was a tad mushy, but overall good. Slightly missing the pepper 'kick' of the Pimbletts' recipe I thought.
The fruit (blackcurrant) tart looked completely different and I feared the worst when I bought it for Mum. Pimbletts' tarts were flat, bigger but not deep-filled. The pastry was always pale and crumbly. The Waterfields version to me looked like a mince pie. Mum's a expert here with 60 years experience eating Pimbletts' fruit tarts. You can imagine the risk. I got a text this morning that said it all: "fruit tart - delicious".
So the pies and tart passed the litmus test. The disappointment came with the vanillas. My excitement at seeing they were on sale was tempered when I looked at what Bev stuck in the box. Small, perfectly formed, sticky looking icing. They could have come from any tin-pot bakers anywhere in the UK. The Pimblett's vanillas were loaded with a unique custard-flavoured filling that was lumpy and rough. The pastry was layered and flaky, the icing stuck to your fingers for days. Waterfields' vanilla slices are manufactured, bland and creamy. A major letdown.
There remains an alternative in St Helens and that is Burchalls. I'll try there next.
From the outside appearance, the shop has had a coat of purple paint, which I assume is the corporate colour of Waterfields. Inside I thought I was in a Greggs. Standard production line pre-packed sandwiches and funny looking like cakes. They could have been french fancies I suppose? Anyway, there were no pies visibly on display. Not knowing exactly what the new branding means - aside from the main fact that the pies are now made at the Waterfields Bakery and obviously use their recipes - I asked what pies were available. Beverly kindly started listing them but once we'd got to 5 including Meat 'n Potato and Steak, I'd heard enough. I explained I'd not been back since Pimbletts went under. Beverly confirmed it was 'the same, but different'. Enough said I guess.
I loaded up on pies, tarts, buns and vanilla slices. Sunday, the family passed judgement.
The pastry was good. Different - Waterfields use a browning agent - but good. The filling was OK. The steak was different no doubt. More steak mince I'd say than lumps of beef, which may take some getting used to. The Meat and Potato (Dad's choice), was a tad mushy, but overall good. Slightly missing the pepper 'kick' of the Pimbletts' recipe I thought.
The fruit (blackcurrant) tart looked completely different and I feared the worst when I bought it for Mum. Pimbletts' tarts were flat, bigger but not deep-filled. The pastry was always pale and crumbly. The Waterfields version to me looked like a mince pie. Mum's a expert here with 60 years experience eating Pimbletts' fruit tarts. You can imagine the risk. I got a text this morning that said it all: "fruit tart - delicious".
So the pies and tart passed the litmus test. The disappointment came with the vanillas. My excitement at seeing they were on sale was tempered when I looked at what Bev stuck in the box. Small, perfectly formed, sticky looking icing. They could have come from any tin-pot bakers anywhere in the UK. The Pimblett's vanillas were loaded with a unique custard-flavoured filling that was lumpy and rough. The pastry was layered and flaky, the icing stuck to your fingers for days. Waterfields' vanilla slices are manufactured, bland and creamy. A major letdown.
There remains an alternative in St Helens and that is Burchalls. I'll try there next.
Thursday 5 February 2009
Everton 1 - 0 Liverpool
"What are you Liverpool-supporting press going to do?"
"You all look stunned."
Well done David Moyes. Sublime.
"You all look stunned."
Well done David Moyes. Sublime.
Monday 2 February 2009
Arshavin, Keane, Jo...
Well, we got our striker and for that I'm grateful. Jo is in from City until the end of the season when presumably we hand him back because we really don't want to be spending £19m or whatever ridiculous value is put on Jo's head in July.
I'm delighted we got someone because I just couldn't see us maintaining our push for 6th place relying on Victor and Tiny. OK Jo's scoring record at City is appalling. 3 goals in 9 appearances and those three came courtesy of 2 against Omonia Nicosia and a single in the 6-0 rout of Portsmouth, a bit after Pompey thumped us 3-0 at Goodison. But the whole Jo at City saga comes with the caveat that he was signed by the previous regime, and therefore we're told that Hughes 'doesn't fancy him'. We have to assume Sven or the Thai did. Let's hope it was Sven. So Jo hasn't had a fair crack at the whip. He'll get that at Goodison because we have no alternatives.
Some trivia-related nonsense springs to mind. I think he's our second Brazilian (behind Rodrigo - for those low on memory, read this), surely has the shortest name of any Evertonian, and must be the most expensive player we've ever borrowed? Another thing, I can't think of any other signings we've made from City since the days of Kendall's first return when he nipped down the East Lancs and came back with Mark Ward and Alan Harper in the boot of his car. That's quite rare in over 15 years.
We'll hopefully get our first sight of Jo against Bolton on Saturday because he's ineligible for Wednesday night's Cup replay. Probably a good job because he'd likely get sent off for being on the same pitch as Shabby Alonso which seems to be the FA directive we didn't get told about for this season.
I'm delighted we got someone because I just couldn't see us maintaining our push for 6th place relying on Victor and Tiny. OK Jo's scoring record at City is appalling. 3 goals in 9 appearances and those three came courtesy of 2 against Omonia Nicosia and a single in the 6-0 rout of Portsmouth, a bit after Pompey thumped us 3-0 at Goodison. But the whole Jo at City saga comes with the caveat that he was signed by the previous regime, and therefore we're told that Hughes 'doesn't fancy him'. We have to assume Sven or the Thai did. Let's hope it was Sven. So Jo hasn't had a fair crack at the whip. He'll get that at Goodison because we have no alternatives.
Some trivia-related nonsense springs to mind. I think he's our second Brazilian (behind Rodrigo - for those low on memory, read this), surely has the shortest name of any Evertonian, and must be the most expensive player we've ever borrowed? Another thing, I can't think of any other signings we've made from City since the days of Kendall's first return when he nipped down the East Lancs and came back with Mark Ward and Alan Harper in the boot of his car. That's quite rare in over 15 years.
We'll hopefully get our first sight of Jo against Bolton on Saturday because he's ineligible for Wednesday night's Cup replay. Probably a good job because he'd likely get sent off for being on the same pitch as Shabby Alonso which seems to be the FA directive we didn't get told about for this season.
Sunday 1 February 2009
Say It Is So, Jo..
Lame title I know but, hot off the press (and there seems to be legs in it), we may have a striking option arriving imminently.
Everton are apparently in talks with City over the possibility of borrowing Jo for the rest of the season. Not sure Jo was getting much of a game at City before Bellamy's arrival, but now his opportunities seem even more limited and Hughes appears not to fancy him, in the manager's vernacular.
He's tall and obviously has some talent and IF he arrives, Moyes will need to rebuild his confidence, and work out a system to incorporate his ability. He won't be eligible for the FA Cup.
I like him. Jonny says he's mince. Could be that sort of player.
http://twitter.com/mencityfc and here at the Telegraph.
Everton are apparently in talks with City over the possibility of borrowing Jo for the rest of the season. Not sure Jo was getting much of a game at City before Bellamy's arrival, but now his opportunities seem even more limited and Hughes appears not to fancy him, in the manager's vernacular.
He's tall and obviously has some talent and IF he arrives, Moyes will need to rebuild his confidence, and work out a system to incorporate his ability. He won't be eligible for the FA Cup.
I like him. Jonny says he's mince. Could be that sort of player.
http://twitter.com/mencityfc and here at the Telegraph.
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