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Everton 1-1 CHELSEA: Where Did That ‘Good Moment’ Go?

EVERTON 1-1 CHELSEA

For anyone who was worried about how we’d keep the momentum going after our win against Bolton, I’m sure they’ll have been relieved to see that after that minor blip, normal service has been resumed.

Yes, the return of something much more familiar to us this season, as we struggled to make our presence felt in this one. In fact, the way our players go missing in games is almost as impressive as Lord Lucan’s vanishing act. And my word, there was plenty to marvel at in this one…

For example, who is that bloke out there claiming to be Michael Essien and what made him think we wouldn’t notice? Why does the invisible man have such a vendetta against Didier Drogba? What did Florent Malouda ever do to Phil Neville? And why does Salomon Kalou always do something like that just when you’ve been slating him?

I’m not sure there’s an answer to those little mysteries but getting on to the game itself, I’m guessing the words uninspiring, toothless and lucky would probably suffice as a review. A pretty nothing first half where the only real stamp put on the game came from Phil Neville – and even that was more on Malouda’s ankles than the game itself.

Diniyar Bilyaletdinov failed to test Petr Cech with a soft shot early on but the first real chance came courtesy of Ashley Cole caught napping by Fellaini, although Coleman wasn’t a match for Cech either with his subsequent shot. Half hour in, Ramires played Anelka in nicely, only for the out of sorts Frenchman to hit it straight at Howard. Malouda then gave us a minute of his time, forcing the Everton keeper to put his shot out for a corner. And Mikel Arteta wrapped up the first half with a long range effort just past our post but all in all, a thoroughly uninspiring first 45.

Worse was to come though, with an even worse showing from us at the start of the second half with some poor defending leaving Ramires to clear up from Saha and Fellaini calling Cech into action again. The predictable script then followed its usual course with Saha scoring his 11th goal against us around the hour mark. A Leighton Baines corner found the former United man better than John Terry did and this time, Cech couldn’t keep him out.

If the goal was a wake- up call, you’d have to say it was more a gentle nudge in the ribs than the screeching alarm clock and I’m sure I wasn’t alone in thinking Carlo responding with the exchange of Florent Malouda for Salomon Kalou, smacked of a man devoid of hope as much as ideas.

Still, the Chelsea manager clearly knows something the rest of us don’t because a counter-attack with some surprisingly accurate passing up the pitch brought the Ivorian in to play with an angled shot into the corner of Howard’s net. Ramires could have got us an undeserved win late on if the post hadn’t come to Everton’s rescue and Cech kept us in it for the replay with a late save from Beckford.

Overall then, a completely under-whelming performance leaving a lot more questions than answers – why does Ancelotti insist on playing Essien when he clearly hasn’t got the effort in him right now? Why rush Lampard back if today’s performance was the best we could expect from him? Has Didier Drogba retired and forgotten to mention it? And would the replay be better watched with the aid of a blindfold?

Stroll on!

TEAMS

EVERTON: Howard, Neville, Heitinga, Distin, Baines, Coleman, Arteta, Fellaini, Rodwell (Beckford, 86), Bilyaletdinov, Saha.
Unused Subs: Mucha, Hibbert, Jagielka, Gueye, Osman, Baxter

CHELSEA: Cech, Bosingwa, Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Essien, Lampard (Mikel, 87), Anelka, Drogba, Malouda (Kalou, 70).

Unused Subs: Hilario, Ferreira, Bruma, McEachran, Sala.

GOALS

EVERTON: Saha 61

CHELSEA: Kalou 75

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