Well I predicted a tight and nervy win, but Everton managed to grab their first home win of the season with a touch of swagger on occasions. And the difference? Well, it had to be their returning players that not only gave us a boost but also allowed certain players to play their natural game in their right positions.
And the ‘Retro Day’ theme was fully in evidence when we played at times like we did last season at last.
Following a well-timed international break there were surprise returns for Seamus Coleman, Ross Barkley and James McCarthy, whilst Alcaraz came into the heart of the defence alongside Jagielka to replace John Stones. This was opposed to Distin coming but as we’d expected. More on him later. Osman also came in with Naismith out wider than normal and Barkley supporting Lukaku.
Now you’ll all have seen the highlights so I won’t do a minute-by-minute report, but it was fantastic to see Barkley back in action, with him seeming to have a lot of time on the ball and less of a need for him to track back all the time. This was provided by McCarthy and Naismith, who ran like maniacs covering for him, Naismith and Lukaku, who still for me could do a hell of a lot more each game.
In turn, McCarthy had been released from his role of babysitting/shielding Hibbert at right-back via the returning Coleman and could therefore move back into a central position and maraud round the pitch at his leisure. Even Alcaraz seemed to play well in terms of being able to bring the ball out as he and Jagielka dealt with the Villa ‘attack’ with ease.
In terms of the goals, the ever-excellent Baines created a couple of them – the first being a wriggle to completely fool the Villa left-back and provide a quality right footed cross to Jagielka who nodded home from a yard. The second was created from excellent vision from Osman, who grabbed the ball and took a quick free-kick, passed it to Baines who looked up and squared it perfectly to Coleman who was pointing and screaming to exactly where he wanted it – on the edge of the 6-yard box. Lovely stuff.
The other goal came from Lukaku, who collected the ball from Barkley and struck it towards goal from a tight angle. Let’s face it, Guzan should have saved it as it squirmed underneath him, but he needed that goal so I’m not going to argue with it.
So that’s the first game in our block of 6 matches in 3 weeks that could change our season around. Up next for the SuperBlues will be Lille away, where 4.3 million Everton fans will be landing in France for the match apparently. I think we’d all take a draw from that one wouldn’t we?
As for Distin – well, that looks like he’s doomed doesn’t it? Unless we get another injury of a suspension of course, but to not even be in the squad for the match tells us everything we need to know. He’s obviously fallen out with Martinez at least and isn’t interested in playing for us any more. Who’s to say he hasn’t been like for that a while? He’s not been on Twitter since late August. Maybe all that milk curdled his brain slightly? Sorry… Ah well, let’s get rid in January and bring someone else in. COYB!