I have revelled in last night. Maybe a little too much. But it's not often that Everton
ever sit top of the league, even if it's only for a day. If you break it down, it really was quite special.
Having spent over £40 million on "the best young talent" that the world has to offer, having spent over double our record signing amount (£8.5 million) on Bent, who may or may not make the starting lineup (!) the financial differences were highlighted painfully. I always said to myself - our starting XI is better than theres, but good old sky have a way of grinding you down. Soon I started to believe them - how could we compete with Spurs? everybody loves them! Jol's going to get them the title! how could Everton - "oh, they defend well, put pressure on you" the studio mumbled before the game, trying to force the attention back onto the beloved Spurs - compete?
Well, Moyes & the players never stopped believing in themselves and that's where my first bag of praise must go to. Moyes & his coaching staff were impeccable, they had the tactics spot on, they had the team brilliantly organised and motivated, he made them believe they could do it. Moyes had crafted a simply wonderful team spirit at Everton - and he has been a wonderful manager for us, too.
So, as I touched on, Sky kept focusing on Spurs. Slaphead McCallister and Gourmless Ledley talking their usual [Poor language removed], peddled along by that snivelling Richard Keys. Everton didn't get a look in - but maybe we prefer it that way, the underdogs, with something to prove... - anyway, that didn't stop the match getting off to a flying start.
Everton started brightly, and began to play some neat short-passing football, which culminated in a nice Arteta turn, before he was upended by the clumsy canadian Stalteri (filling in at LB). Arteta dusted himself off and whipped in a truly fantastic delivery; it bent away from Robinson at the last second and Lescott powered it into the net. 0-1, and already I was thinking "just 88 minutes to defend now!".
As you can imagine, Spurs came to prominance, the home fans behind them, after our goal. This was Spurs' only period of dominance, where they pushed forth in search of an equaliser. Everton defended excellently for their part, the back four were brilliant - in particular Yobo, who was carrying a slight knock, but forced himself to play on; he was fantastic - and it was uncharacteristic sloppy defending that let them in. Lescott, of all people, lost his head and his marker, and Gardner scored. 1-1, and didn't you get that feeling that a Robbie Keane/Dimitar Berbatov/Darren Bent hattrick was looming? Once again, the players didn't [Poor language removed] out like I was at home. They came back with great gusto, and instead of turning on the heat, Tottenham limped away. Anichebe was playing good upfront holding the ball up, and he laid on Arteta superbly, who returned the favour by picking Anichebe out at the far post with a deft chip. Their Portuguese "maestro" in defence Ricardo Rocha cleared well, before Osman collected the clearance and smashed it into the back of the net. 1-2, could you believe it? We hadn't let the equaliser affect us and we were back infront - brilliant! And now Everton began to assume control, some great passing from Carsley (!), Neville (!!) and Osman, all of the strings pulled by Arteta. When Anichebe was hauled down after a really poor and silly challenge, it looked like their would be only one man in blue stepping up to take it...but Mikel stepped aside. up came Alan Stubbs to power one into the net (after a...
slight deflection
) past Porky Paul for a deserved 1-3 lead. Magical - but could we hang on? In truth, I didn't relax until the whistle had blown I was that worried we'd throw it away...! but hang on we did, for a superb 3 points.
Seeing as all the action (apart from a berbatov header off the post, and a world class save from Howard) was in the first half, I'll stop with my in-depth analysis here. (sorry if it bored anyone haha!) and I'll say this.
Carlsey & Neville put on a tremendous game in midfield. I didn't think they could play together but they showed, if they keep it neat, tidy, and simple with their passes - instead of aimless punts upfield - they can work it, and they did! Neville provided some excellent passes, and Carsley was a man mountain protecting the defence, would've been my MOTM if not for the efforts of Yobo, and the deserved MOTM - Osman, who was brilliant! [Poor language removed] all you who said he couldn't hack it, I've always been behind Osman, one bad season doesn't make him a bad player, and I'm thrilled for him.
Arteta was great as usual with terrific delivery, but he also showed he could work his [Poor language removed] arse off, defending very deep almost as a leftback at times, tracking back, doing whatever was needed to secure the win. Is he the
complete midfielder?
Stubbs showed age doesn't count, he marshalled the defence well, Hibbert improved as the game went on, Howard made some great catches and one tremendous save...Anichebe held the ball up brilliantly and won some difficult headers, Johnson was excellent upfront. I'm going to guage the reaction on here in a minute, but I've been speaking to people who weren't impressed with AJ, so I have to set the record straight - he was superb! chasing the long clearances, and then making excellent, incisive passes back into the centre after doing so, always unselfish, always troubling their defence, and unlucky not to score.
In fact when you think about it, the whole team was great tonight. It's difficult but I'd say Osman was my man of the match, for being the Prem's top goalscorer and taking their midfield apart with his mazy runs. Well done Osman, well done the blue boys, well done Moyes.
A wonderful night to be a blue - it's not every night you beat "champions league contenders!" and media darlings Spurs 1-3 in their own patch.
Twice in 22 years! That's a record to be proud of
