Posts Tagged ‘Tim Cahill’

Moyes feared for Everton

Toffees dent Spurs’ dreams

Manchester United 3-0 Everton

Manchester United had won only two of their previous five Premier League matches, and were eight points behind Chelsea at kick-off, but they quickly trimmed that back to five with a comfortable victory over the basket case poor Everton resemble at present.

It is interesting to note that, at this stage last season, United were running third, behind Chelsea and Liverpool, and they stayed there until the new year, when they hit the top on the back of an irresistible surge of 11 successive wins.

Traditionally, they move up as the Christmas decorations come down. This time, however, there is no Cristiano Ronaldo to leave opposing defenders with what, in George Best’s heyday, they used to call “twisted blood”. Ronaldo’s replacement, Antonio Valencia, not only lacks his predecessor’s mesmeric skills on the ball, he is not contributing his share of goals.

No team has experienced a worse catalogue of injuries than Everton and they were again without seven first-teamers, including such important figures as Mikel Arteta, Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville and Steven Pienaar. On the credit side, Tim Cahill was passed fit to play. Notable absentees from the United line-up were Rio Ferdinand, John O’Shea, Jonny Evans and Dimitar Berbatov. Without Berbatov, injured on international duty with Bulgaria, Sir Alex Ferguson partnered Little and Little, aka Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen, in attack for only the second time in the league. Ominously, on the only other occasion, United lost at Burnley.

The combination provided an interesting sub-text: might they dovetail effectively for England at the World Cup? Probably not, on this evidence. They were rarely on the same wavelength in the first half.

Louis Saha, who spent more time in the treatment room than on the field in his mutually frustrating spell with United, was back at Old Trafford for the first time as an Everton player and keen to demonstrate his worth by adding to the nine goals he had scored this season – the most recent at West Ham last weekend.

His first attempt left something to be desired, a “Thierry Henry”, as surreptitious handballs will now be known, found Steve Bennett eagled-eyed where Sweden’s Martin Hansson had been Mr Magoo in Paris.

As might have been expected, United made all the running and were rewarded after 35 minutes, when they took the lead in handsome fashion. Valencia’s headed knockdown fell to Darren Fletcher in the centre of the D, where the Scot met it with a flying right-footed volley that ripped into the top right-hand corner of Tim Howard’s net.

Everton’s visible discomfiture was reflected in back-to-back bookings for Cahill and Marouane Fellaini, and Howard had to be smartly off his line to thwart Owen in pursuit of the second goal that would have settled the issue before half-time.

David Moyes sent on an extra striker, Yakubu Aiyegbeni, in place of young Dan Gosling for the second half. It was a midfielder, John Heitinga, however, who raised Evertonian spirits with a curling 20-yarder that demanded Edwin Van der Sar’s careful attention. The United keeper was soon called upon again, advancing from his line to sprawl at the feet of Cahill. In the collision, both players were injured and needed treatment.

The Owen of old would surely have put the outcome beyond doubt 10 minutes after the break, when he took the ball wide of Howard, but nudged it too far to the left to get in a decent shot. Rooney was more impressive when he clipped the crossbar with a shot from 25 yards out.

The second goal United needed for comfort came midway through the half, when Ryan Giggs’s corner from the left came back to him and his second delivery was driven in by Carrick from 17 yards out. Everton knew the game was up. One goal was likely to be too much to pull back, two was mission impossible. Valencia drilled in the third from wide on the right, with the aid of a deflection.

Fulham 2-1 Everton

Damien Duff is a footballer who deserves a change of fortune. After a nightmarish spell at Newcastle United, which was scarred by physical injury and psychological torment, he transferred to Fulham in search of the good times.

As he departed Craven Cottage today, he could feel them roll once again. The winger had been part of the Republic of Ireland’s vital World Cup qualifying win away to Cyprus last Saturday, which has set them fair for a play-off shot at the finals in South Africa and, back on domestic duty, he settled this encounter in his team’s favour with a searing late drive, which careered beyond the clutches of the Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard and flew into the bottom corner. It was some way to register his first goal for Fulham and not even the knock that forced him off before full-time could dampen his afternoon.

It was the proverbial game of two halves. Everton led through Tim Cahill’s header and they appeared ready to close out a much-needed victory, having entered the game with two defeats from three in the Premier League. Cahill’s goal was his 38th for the club in the Premier League and half of that tally have been from headers.

But instead Fulham rallied and, after Paul Konchesky’s heavily deflected effort had restored parity, Duff got the goal that kick-started their season. It was Fulham who secured the second win of their League campaign.

David Moyes, the Everton manager, was left to reflect on what might have been. He had given a vote of confidence to the right-back Tony Hibbert and the left-winger Steven Pienaar, persisting with them in his starting line-up and leaving the expensive new signings John Heitinga and Diniyar Bilyaletdinov on the substitutes bench. Competition for places at Goodison Park has been ratcheted up a notch.

Moyes’s faith in the young midfielder Jack Rodwell also remains apparent. The home-grown hope continues to start ahead of Marouane Fellaini and it was Rodwell who almost fashioned the breakthrough in a stop-start and generally niggly first half. He tried his luck from long-range and, when the shot deflected off Aaron Hughes, the Fulham debutant goalkeeper David Stockdale had to change directions in a flash to block.

The referee, Peter Walton, was too central to the action in the first half for the neutral or, indeed, the two managers; Moyes threw his arms about in exasperation on the touchline. Walton’s decision to penalise Danny Murphy for a foul on Pienaar, however, was indisputable – the former Liverpool midfielder was booked on what seemed to be the totting up procedure – and, from the free-kick whipped in by Leighton Baines, Everton forged ahead. Cahill pushed off Brede Hangeland and rose above Dickson Etuhu to power home his header. Fulham’s fans in the Hammersmith End, who were forced to endure the Australian’s celebratory boxing routine with the corner flag, appeared unaware that Cahill appeared to have started his run from an offside position.

The home team’s best efforts in the first half came from Clint Dempsey but when he jumped to meet Duff crosses, he could not direct his headers or fashion sufficient power. Everton might have extended their advantage before the interval but Hughes made a saving tackle on Leon Osman, after he had burst on to Pienaar’s ball forward.

Fulham had Andy Johnson back earlier than expected from a collarbone injury to face his old club but, together with Bobby Zamora, he struggled to escape the shackles of Sylvain Distin and Joseph Yobo. Zamora’s muscular tussle with Yobo was one of the features of the afternoon; the Fulham striker felt that Yobo wanted the shirt off his back long before the full-time whistle.

It was incumbent on the home team to raise the tempo in the second half, to give the crowd something to feed off and they did just that. They stepped on to the front foot and made it clear that Everton would not have it all their own way yet the equaliser nonetheless carried a heavy slice of luck.

Murphy’s free-kick from the edge of the penalty area struck the defensive wall but Konchesky’s effort on the rebound flicked off Distin and wrong-footed Howard. It was Konchesky’s second goal in 85 appearances for the club.

Everton were undermined further soon afterwards when they lost their captain, Phil Neville, following a sickening clash with Etuhu. Both players leapt in for the ball but Etuhu, following through, clattered his studs into Neville’s left leg. After lengthy attention from the physiotherapist, Neville was carried off on a stretcher.

Fulham entered a purple patch and Duff’s goal was the crowning moment. Everton knew it was not to be their day when Fellaini, on as a substitute, headed too close to Stockdale from point-blank range and, from the rebound, Murphy cleared off the line from Yobo. There was still time for Hughes to make another saving challenge on Yakubu, who had been sent on by Moyes as Everton went for broke.

Republic of Ireland 0-3 Australia

This was not how Giovanni Trapattoni had envisaged the fine-tuning for next month’s pivotal World Cup qualifying tie against Cyprus in Nicosia. To the Republic of Ireland’s fiercely pragmatic Italian manager, the result is all that matters and so the second defeat of his 13-match tenure was the prompt for frustration.

Momentum had been checked, optimism diluted, although it ought to be noted that Ireland bounced back from the only other reverse under Trapattoni, in a Dublin friendly against Poland last November, with the crucial qualifying victory over Georgia. There was also a tonic when the news filtered through of Cyprus’s 6-1 humiliation in Albania.

Perversely, Ireland had looked comfortable during the first half and for spells of the second, pressing onto the front foot and examining Pim Verbeek’s Australia, only for Tim Cahill to showcase, not for the first time, his cold-blooded finishing ability. Twice in the space of six minutes before the interval, the Everton man rattled shots past Shay Given and the mood was deflated.

Cahill has a grandmother from Cork and, as such, he might have qualified for Ireland. “I didn’t know that, I thought he was half-Samoan,” said Verbeek, who watched the left-back David Carney seal victory with a stunning 30-yard drive into the top corner. “I’m just glad that Tim was on the pitch for us.”

Trapattoni will regroup before Nicosia and stress the positives, such as Robbie Keane’s mercurial threat and the flashes of penetration from Aiden McGeady. Chances were created. He could not, however, be as pleased with his team’s loose defending on Cahill’s goals or the continued lack of creativity in central midfield. The difference was Australia’s clinical edge, although Trapattoni admitted that the visitors had been “stronger” in midfield. Lessons must be learned and the set-back taken in stride.

“It was a severe lesson for us and the dressing room is down,” said Trapattoni, who discovered that Kevin Doyle had aggravated his hernia problem and could be a doubt for Nicosia. “But I am not worried. This is pre-season and many of the players did not have minutes behind them. Australia were in 30-40% better condition than us. We deserved to score two goals. Cyprus will be a different game and, for sure, we can play differently. With three or four games in the league, my players will improve.”

Australia, ranked 16th in the world and already qualified for the World Cup finals, were polished opposition. They might have led through Mile Jedinak’s header, only for Shay Given to save at full stretch but, just as Ireland were enjoying a concerted period of pressure, Australia broke to forge ahead. Cahill exchanged passes with Scott McDonald and, in the absence of any Irish challenge, he lashed low beyond Given. Ireland had the numbers in defence but it did not matter.

Cahill then made it a clinical one-two punch. Once again, Ireland’s back line allowed Australia too much space, Rhys Williams cantering in to sting Given’s palms and, from the rebound, Cahill rammed home.

Ireland reasserted themselves in the second half and Glenn Whelan and Keane combined for the substitute Stephen Hunt to drag a shot wide of the far post. Keane, who had fashioned and spurned an excellent opening in the first half, twisted past Jade North to fire in a shot that was blocked while Ireland finished with a flourish. Keith Andrews, another substitute, rattled the base of a post on 88 minutes, but the die had been cast and Carney’s rocket merely salted Ireland’s wounds.