Saturday, March 9, 2013

Three Times A Loser

Everton's Wembley dream is over. In a ludicrously pathetic display, the Toffees failed to overcome a stylish Wigan Athletic side and missed their chance to return to the Twin Towers for another FA Cup Semi-final. If you can't beat a team at home that is struggling in 17th place in the Premiership, you don't deserve to go anywhere. And this was one of the worst Everton displays I have even seen.

Roberto Martinez's Wigan played energetic, fluid football that caught the eye, and Everton were smashed by a three-goal onslaught in as many minutes. Nobody at Goodison saw it coming, and after going down 3-0, some fans felt they had seen enough. The first goal from left-back Maynor Figueroa came direct from a corner. Everton, with their imposing overall height, shouldn't be beaten that easily at corners, but there you go. To make matters worse, captain Phil Neville then played a pathetic back-pass to Callum McManaman. The 21-year old took the opportunity with aplomb, sprinting past Sylvain Distin to clip the ball past Jan Mucha for a 2-0 Wigan lead.

The dust had barely settled, when Everton, visibly reeling and seemingly in a collective state of concussion, conceded a third to winger Jordi Gomez, who curled home superbly after being given space just outside the box. This was over before it began. Several questions need to be asked of this debacle: why did Steven Pienaar start on the right instead of the left? How can Fellaini and Osman play so poorly? How is Phil Neville still not retired? When is Jelavic going to get his form back? Is David Moyes going to leave the club?

No comments:

Post a Comment