City last night turned in their worst performance of the season so far against a motivated Toffees side at Goodison Park. The team never really got going and ended up lucky to escape having conceded just a couple as the opposition rallied to a comfortable victory buoyed by terrific midfield duo Marouane Fellaini and Steven Pienaar.Roberto Mancini chose to start with Roque Santa Cruz in attack alongside Carlos Tevez, but the Paraguayan inflamed his previously injured calf within three minutes and was replaced by the seldom interested Robinho. The first twenty minutes weren't awful, Petrov cut in from his adopted right flank and forced a parry from Tim Howard with a curling drive, and later Robinho blazed a left-footed far-post volley over the bar after Tevez had headed a Zabaleta cross on.
The final seventy minutes were all Everton, and they thoroughly deserved the three points. They were better than us in every area of the pitch. Their first real chance was carved out by impressive American winger Landon Donovan down the right. He exchanged passes with the lively Pienaar and crossed for scrabble favourite Bilyaletdinov whose header was too weak to cause Given any real problems.
Wave after wave of Everton pressure came at us, and from set-pieces especially we struggled to cope with bouffanted Belgian Fellaini. First he tested Shay with a header, then had acres of space to control and volley wide from the edge of the area. His performance really set the tempo of the game, and without wanting to sound overly gushing about an opposition player he was absolutely faultless. Bilyaletdinov then forced a terrific stop from Given, latching on to a throughball and smashing a volley, the Irishman tipping over.
The opener arrived in the 36th minute. Steven Pienaar was proving a real live wire, never letting our midfield settle and regularly forcing errors. He stepped up to take the free-kick that had correctly been awarded for a naive foul just outside of the box by full-back Zabaleta. The wall didn't really do it's job and the relatively tame but well-placed set-piece found its way into Given's goal.
Our only other real effort in the half fell to Craig Bellamy, the Welshman cutting in on to his favoured right peg and curling a shot just wide of the far stick. Seconds later and the game was more or less over, a high ball over to Saha and Micah Richards penalised for having a fistful of shirt. The fact that these things happen dozens of times a game makes no difference, it was foolish and costly and always a penalty. Saha lashed his kick straight down the middle to make it 2-0.
The injury to Santa Cruz wasn't the only blow on that front. Carlos Tevez tweaked a hamstring but did finish the game and appeared to have ran it off. Martin Petrov also pulled up before the interval, possibly a calf strain, and was replaced by Benjani. More unfortunate knocks at a key time of the season, but that's football, and without them i still don't think we'd have had enough to take anything from the game.
Mancini did at least try to change things, but sadly not to the effect of previous weeks. A Garrido free-kick floated just over and Robinho wriggled through but was judged offside after a nice move, but nothing was happening in the final third and Everton were easily able to take their foot off the gas and sit back a bit knowing we were unlikely to really hurt them.
On the hour Robinho was taken off after doing very little. I counted two or three examples of challenges he ducked out of, but he was no worse overall than several others. During his time on the pitch he was involved in a couple of our better moves, though they hardly resulted in many clear-cut chances. He does need to show a bit more, well a lot more, truth be told, but it was a poor showing all round and the incident will probably be overplayed in tomorrow's press.
It's hard to take any real positives from the performance, but Wright-Phillips return from injury lifted the team slightly, and at least we were keeping the ball in the opposition half, if remaining blunt as a butter knife around the penalty box. Bellamy blasted over after a deep Tevez cross from the left was put back across by Zabaleta, but it was never going to be our day. Fellaini and Cahill both hit the woodwork with headers in the latter stages, Fellaini's effort by way of a great save from Given after poor marking from a corner.
There are no excuses, really. Everton were well organised, up for the fight and full of ideas. We were lethargic, half-hearted and not at the races. Johnny Heitinga marshaled his back-line well, Fellaini looked like a world beater, Donovan terrorised Garrido, Pienaar again impressed, Baines was a constant outlet and Saha's dropping deep troubled our defence. We were completely bullied in central midfield and created little.
Perhaps a defeat will have a galvanising effect, disappointing as it was. When you're cruising and winning games questions don't get asked, and there's no doubt we were poor at Boro and in spells against Blackburn on Monday. Results and performances like this one of course aren't good for confidence, but they can prove a wake-up call and hopefully the lads will take out their frustration on Tuesday night.
All sides are beaten occasionally, and beaten well. Everton have had their fair share of hooky results so far, Liverpool are suffering them most weeks, even United, Arsenal and Chelsea are undone now and again. It's no fluke that we are, or at least were, the most difficult side to beat in the division, just on this occasion we weren't up for it and were outfought by a side who were, and one who had a real point to prove, just as we were recently against Chelsea.
Fair play to Everton, they got the victory in a game that due to a certain summer transfer had an added edge around it. Perhaps they'll now go on and push up the league a bit. Whilst no-one is ever in a false position they're a top six side and one who've earned it on merit over a number of seasons. The deterioration in relations between the two clubs in light of the Lescott deal has been unfortunate, and hopefully this result can bring a certain amount of closure, though their manager's programme notes indicate that might not be the case.
More important is how we now react. When you're not used to losing games there's always the chance that confidence might be more effected. Top sides go out and right their wrongs and i'm sure we will. This was a chance to make up ground, but we're still well on course for the ultimate aim of the season, to finish in the top four. The recent run never meant we were title contenders in a million years, and one defeat shouldn't have us reaching for the prozac.
Team:
Given, Zabaleta, Garrido, Richards, Kompany, de Jong, Petrov (Benjani '46), Barry, Tevez, Santa Cruz (Robinho '8 (Wright-Phillips '60)), Bellamy
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