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Thursday, 31 March 2011

Everton v. Aston Villa: A Preview

By: Brian | March 31st, 2011
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After a two week break, the Toffees return to action in the Premiership with the loss of a few players to injury, heightening an already dire situation. Over the break injuries to Jack Rodwell and Seamus Coleman have hurt an already threadbare squad, but on the bright side Tony Hibbert celebrates his 10-year anniversary at Everton with hopes of a victory that could help propel Everton up the table.

villa

Earlier in the season Everton travelled to Aston Villa to try and end their losing streak, but were unsuccessful as they fell 1-0 despite an excellent effort from the visitors. Since then both teams have followed similar paths of dropping needed points, and as a result neither team is as high in the table as their supporters would have hoped based on past seasons.

As mentioned earlier, both Seamus Coleman and Jack Rodwell picked up injuries over the break that forced both to withdraw from their respective international squads, and hopefully both players will be fit for this weekends match. Tim Cahill was also absent from Australia’s victory against Germany in the midweek, while Victor Anichebe was able to participate in Nigeria’s 3-0 victory over Kenya in which he also scored a goal. Thankfully both Leighton Baines and Phil Jagielka made it through the international break in perfect health despite some heavy rumors about an injury to Baines.

Of course all of these injuries make Moyes team selection a bit problematic, but below is a lineup based on everyone being healthy for the weekend:

Beckford

Cahill

Osman – Neville – Rodwell – Coleman

Baines – Distin – Jagielka – Hibbert

Howard

Regardless of how healthy the team is, Moyes seems certain to maintain the same back 4 as against Fulham, with Phil Neville most likely needed in the midfield to fill in for an injured Mikel Arteta. Baines, Distin, and Jagielka have all been stalwarts in the back, and while Hibbert may not be as talented as Neville at the right back position, he is certainly more than capable of filling in for a few games, and maybe he will get lucky and finally score for the club.

In the midfield, Osman is almost certain to start on the left side, with Neville moving up from the defense to a central midfield position. Assuming Jack Rodwell is fit, he will partner alongside Neville in middle, while Coleman will start on the right side if fit. Should Rodwell be unfit to play, it is likely either Heitinga or Billy will get the start alongside Neville. With Heitnga’s recent comments over break, the smart money is probably on Billy to get the nod over Heitinga should Rodwell be ruled out. If Coleman is also ruled out, look for Neville to move over to the right side, and either Billy or Heitinga will get the start in the midfield, and possibly both of them will start together should Rodwell and Coleman be out of this match. Another possibility on the right could be Victor Anichebe, but Moyes has shown a preference to playing the Nigerian international up top, much to the team’s detrmient.

Up top Jermaine Beckford seems almost certain to start given the fact he is the lone striker on the roster to have scored this season, and if fit Tim Cahill would be almost certain to start in his favored role of the withdrawn striker. If Cahill is kept out of the squad, Anichebe is likely to partner up top with Beckford in a classic 4-4-2 formation.

Everton will certainly be the favored to win this match, considering they are going up against a defense that has allowed 51 goals this season, tied for 3rd most in the league. In addition, Everton have yet to lose at Goodison Park since November, with 4 victories and 3 draws in that time, although Aston Villa has certainly had the Toffees number over the past few seasons with the team not losing to Everton in the past 9 league meetings, something David Moyes will be keen to change.

On the Villa side, Stewart Downing is certainly a player to watch, and the Toffee defense will certainly be careful of Luke Young who scored the only goal in the previous meeting this season. Although Brad Fridel has gained another year in age, he is still a top goalkeeper in the EPL, and more than capable of denying Everton a deserved victory.

Saturday’s game is on at 3pm in England, and 10am here in the US, and can be found on FoxSoccer.tv, or your favorite internet stream. Leave your thoughts and comments about Saturday’s game below, and as always we will gave a gameday thread up at Royal Blue Mersey for everyone to talk about the game. Everyone enjoy your weekend and make sure to check back for our thoughts and analysis after the match, and until next time COYB!

Category: Reviews

Tags: David Moyes, Everton, Jack Rodwell, Leighton Baines, Leon Osman, Phil Neville, Reviews, Seamus Coleman, Tim Cahill, Toffees
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Sunday, 6 March 2011

Bolton 3-2 Aston Villa: Buzzing

By: Matilda | March 5th, 2011
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63817148 What a match! Even from a neutral’s perspective, this was an exciting one. While neither team showed much on the defending side of things, the fast paced attacks coming from both ends made it difficult to blink. To me matches like this are better than watching Barcelona completely outclass some poor team. Each team really going for it, providing competition and keeping you on the edge of your seat. Obviously Bolton are no Barca (or Brazil), and this was not the best performance from them I’ve seen this season. But it had heart. We were down a goal twice, and came back each time. It didn’t feel like I was actually watching Bolton. It was unbelievably elating.

This is not to say that there weren’t moments when my stomach sank into my toes. Just four minutes in Villa brought the nerves when Bent went one on one with Jussi, but somehow lost control of the ball and I could breathe again. In the 14th minute Bent made up for his previous misstep by nudging the ball past Jaaskelainen after a great cross from Kyle Walker. Our defense was nowhere to be seen. I must say, we’ve lost quite a bit of organization while Zat Knight’s been out. It is interesting how integral he’s become in our team, especially considering my original misgivings.

From that point, Villa certainly looked the better team, but not by much. Both sides continued to launch scintillating attacks, only to give the ball away in the final this. Bolton had some good spells of possession and some nice passing, but then undermined it with the one sloppy pass that gave the ball away. Bolton was given two successive free kicks around the box in about the 35th minute, but managed to waste both of them by hitting the (rather solid) wall. It looked as though Coyle’s half time words were not going to be very nice, when suddenly, a minute before halftime, Gary Cahill did something great. Cahill, the very same man who left Villa for Bolton because he couldn’t break into the first team, escaped his marker to nod a Petrov corner into the back of the net. And so we went into the break level.

The main issue that Bolton had in the first half was a lack of organisation and communication. This continued for the first part of the second, especially in defense. We were lucky not to concede in the 54th minute when Cahill deflected Bent’s shot off the line and then Jussi saved the shot Young made off the rebound. However Villa got the goal they were pushing for just 10 minutes later when Albrighton smashed home Downing’s cross. Once again, the Bolton defense was not even close, having failed to get back after a Villa break away. Thing got worse in the 69th minute when Wheater committed a stupid foul inside the box and conceded a penalty. At this point, I thought the game was over. The likelihood of Bolton coming back from two goals down with 20 minutes to go was slim indeed. Ashley Young stepped up to the spot. Mercifully for the men in white, he sent a mediocre penalty to Jussi’s right, and the big Finn saved it.

Jaaskelainen’s success seemed to spur Bolton on and after that we were playing much more aggressively. In the 74th, only 5 minutes after the close call, Gary Cahill equalised for the second time. He leapt up, unmarked to head Stu’s corner right at Friedel, who parried. Cahill then quickly ran to pick up the rebound which he shot into the goal, showing quite a bit of skill for a central defender. Bolton were really going for it now.

And sure enough, they got it. 10 minutes after the equaliser, Klasnic put himself on the score sheet after receiving the ball all alone in the middle of the box. This was not the Bolton we all used to know and resent. This team had heart. This team wanted to play football, wanted to score goals, wanted to win. Technical brilliance may not have been abundant in this game, but excitement sure was. It may not have been our best performance this season, but it was the best game to watch. I love you, Bolton Wanderers.

Goals can be found here

Category: Results

Tags: Ashley Young, Aston Villa, Bolton, Gary Cahill, Ivan Klasnic, Jussi Jaaskelainen, Marc Albrighton, Results
Tweet « Bolton v. Aston Villa | Home | Comments | Add your comment Yvonne Mason | March 5th, 2011 at 4:03 pm

Mattie, Great coverage! TO be such a huge fan, you always get the objectivity just right. Keep it up! (Maybe next time you could write from Virgina Woolf’s POV haha).