A second-half Leighton Baines penalty rescues Everton a point at Sunderland in a 1-1 draw.
The Blues came from behind to record a second successive league draw, with thanks to Leighton Baines who delivers from the penalty spot once again.
Tim Howard – 4
It baffles me that Goalkeepers can still get beat from free-kicks at this level. It’s Sebastian Larsson, you know he’s good at set pieces, you know he’s going to aim over the wall, you know he’s going to hit it well. Everyone in the ground and watching at home could of told you that. These are the sort of saves Howard needs to start making. It was only one of three shots on target that Sunderland managed.
Leighton Baines – 7
Once again Baines is our saviour, executing a coolly taken penalty to grab a point. Leighton managed to create 3 good chances in this game which were squandered by our less than effective strikeforce. Leighton never gave the ball away cheaply with an impressive 94.6% pass accuracy, as well as completing 2 accurate crosses and 2 successful dribbles.
Sylvain Distin – 6
Back in the lineup Sylvain played his 200th game in an Everton shirt on Sunday. The frenchman had a whopping 14 effective clearances as well as creating 1 chance and a 90.9% pass accuracy. It’s important that Distin remains fit as there is no real replacement.
Phil Jagielka – 6
The defence did well in the game against Sunderland, didn’t allow many goal scoring opportunities and in the end lost their clean sheet solely because of a poor showing from their goalkeeper. Jags led the defence with 2 tackles, 2 interceptions and 8 effective clearences.
Seamus Coleman – 7
Thought Seamus had a really productive game, causing all sorts of problems and ultimately getting the all important penalty at the death. Coleman dribbled past 4 people and created 1 chance as well as having 2 tackles and an interception.
James McCarthy – 8 (Man of the Match)
Both McCarthy and Barry picked up knocks in this one and are suspected to face some time out, this could be disastrous for the football club. Everything goes through the two of them and as McCarthy showed on Sunday he is essential to this team, we all better pray these are minor injuries. 3 interceptions, 3 tackles and 5 interceptions as well as a blocked shot on defence. 1 shot, 1 chance created and 3 dribbles on offence.
Darron Gibson – 5
Came on in the 12th minute for Barry and showed glimpses of his old self with a very high 94.2% pass accuracy and the most passes on the pitch with 86. I just feel he gave the ball away in vital areas too often and didn’t look very effective in the final third. It looks like Gibson will be a prominent feature in the squad now so he’s got to get back to full fitness.
Aiden McGeady – 4
Didn’t too do a lot, 1 shot, 2 chances created and managed 6 crosses that were fairly aimless. The Everton attack were pretty useless in this one, no real penetration or desire to score goals.
Ross Barkley – 6
Only player that looked as if they wanted to take people on and run at the Sunderland defense, in the first half alone he managed to dribble past 4 players and created 2 chances. I thought he showed some real class in his performance, and although he does give the ball away on occasion (dispossessed twice), he still shows great desire to attempt thing that others won’t. Ross managed 5 shots of which most were wildly off the mark and had a pretty successful pass accuracy of 91.5%.
Samuel Eto’o – 5
Created 2 chances, and attempted 3 shots, 1 on target in a game where he didn’t have as much influence as he would of liked. The game started off so well with some great link up play with Lukaku that resulted in a great chance for Eto’o to score. I expect him to put those away, he will have to start scoring if we are to win these games away from home, in front of a half empty Stadium of Light with thousands of whinging Sunderland fans.
Romelu Lukaku – 4
Apart from the early link up play with Eto’o, Rom was anonymous in this one. Gave the ball away 6 times and had a dismal 60.5% pass accuracy (lowest on the pitch). I want the lad to succeed more than anything but it’s just not going for him at the moment.
Overall Team Rating: 5.18
In a week when Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs all dropped 3 points it would have been the perfect time for Everton capitalise on this and grab a win. However, you support Everton and they just don’t ever capitalise on these kinds of situations. This game was there for the taking which it makes it even harder to take, added with the fact that we seem to have lost 2 of our key players it’s fairly depressing. West Ham at home next week, you have to feel that game needs to be a victory.
Interesting facts:
- Baines is only the third Everton player to score 20 penalties for club. He is now behind only David Unsworth (23 pens) and Trevor Steven (23 pens).
- Everton have the third highest pass accuracy and possession in the league with (85.4%) and (59.3%) respectively
- Baines had 6 assists and 2 goals this season, he has been directly involved in more goals than any other defender in Europe’s top 5 leagues this season.