The Originals

Dixie

Frank — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 19:28:40 +0000

Today marks the 30 year anniversary of the death of the greatest player to ever lace up a pair of boots. What William Ralph Dean achieved in a blue shirt will never be outdone and his name will forever live in the history books

R.I.P Dixie

William Ralph Dean

22 January 1907 – 1 March 1980

“When did Man U start playing in blue?”

Frank — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 11:44:54 +0000

Really?

Was that Everton out there yesterday?

Match report to follow

Whats the score?

LET’S PLAY DARTS….

Frank — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 04:11:38 +0000

The Brick FC are hosting a 32 player darts tournament on
Friday 29th January
There is an entry form for the tournament at THE BRICK – entry costs just £5

The draw will take place at 6.30pm
with the first game on the oche at
7.30pm PROMPT

Winners will receive a trophy and the overall winner receives a case of Budweiser.

PLEASE COME ALONG AND SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL AMATEUR SIDE

sometimes….

Frank — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:29:41 +0000

We like to have a bit of a laugh and poke fun at the fans of the next club we are playing. With some clubs it’s quite easy, others harder then something just jumps out at you.

It’s another FA Cup game, another home game, we beat these recently and on teh back of last weeks fantastic show we must fancy our chances.

Anyway…back to those Brummies…..Sometimes there are no words..

All you need now is a kipper tie......That would be noice, two sugars, ploise."

OWNED !

Frank — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:03:56 +0000

It’s taken this long to catch me breath….Not a lot to say really, performance of the decade ? I had a conversation earlier today in which I suggested that as blues we expect success yet we don’t demand it. We won’t take success over all else. People may mock but the moment Goodison rose as one as Fellaini owned Bellamy will be added to the list of things we, as blues, appreciate. It didn’t win us nothing, yet the feeling was absolutely tremendous. maybe, just maybe we will look back on it one day and…….here’s yer match report.

Everton hosted Manchester City in the late kick-off for their first home league game of the new decade. And against opponents who Moyes described in his pre-match notes as “lacking class” and giving us “no respect” with regard to the Lescott saga in the previous summer. If he sought to provoke a reaction from the Goodison faithful, it worked to perfection as throughout the Everton crowd was extremely noisy and hostile, which served to provide the true meaning of “home advantage”. If only we could muster the same reaction for all 19 games, Goodison would once again become the fortress it once used to be.

I agreed to meet my Man Utd-supporting mate in the George and Dragon in Chester for this one. I got inside just as the teams had entered the field and was paying tribute to the victims in Haiti, the Togolese football team in the wake of the attack in northern Angola, and also to Alex Parker, the Everton defender of the 1963 Championship-winning team, who’d passed away after a heart attack in the last two weeks at the age of 74.

The team noted two changes from the draw at Arsenal – Bilyaletdinov preferred in central midfield to Osman who’d picked up a hamstring strain, and Distin, back after his groin injury, in place of the soon-to-be-departing Lucas Neill. Donovan again was dispatched on the right of midfield, supported by captain Neville. For them, no Lescott. Robinho was left on the bench by new boss Roberto Mancini, with Santa Cruz up front with Bellamy and Petrov supporting the wings.

The game kicked off and for a brief moment, City were in the ascendancy to begin with, fashioning the first real chance when Petrov cut inside Baines, sold a dummy to Fellaini before curling a left-footed effort which bounced at the last second forcing Howard to parry. Then Robinho, on as a sub very early on due to an injury to Santa Cruz, missed a glaring opportunity when another cross from Petrov was flicked on to him at the back post. However, his side-footed effort was harmlessly placed over the bar.

The near miss only served to spur Everton on and soon enough we found ourselves getting a foothold in the game, Bily screwing wide when well-placed and Donovan trying to dink the ball over Given but the ball dropping wide of the far post. In midfield, we weren’t giving City a minute, with Fellaini serving as an excellent foil in front of Heitinga and Distin. Pienaar, however, was absolutely everywhere in the first half, constantly on the move.

With about 30 minutes gone, A hopeful punt from the back was half-headed clear to Petrov by Richards. However, the Bulgarian was not alert to the onrushing Bilyaletdinov, who controlled the ball before fizzing a half-volley over, Given just touching it on its way. From the resulting corner, Cahill headed over. Despite missing numerous chances, we were certainly in the ascendancy, winning the midfield battle much to the annoyance of Gareth Barry.

It was no surprise then, when, on 36 minutes, the hosts took a deserved lead. Saha picked up the ball inside the left channel, cut inside Richards before being pushed over by Zabaleta, around 20 yards from goal, about 6-7 yards left of the D. It favoured the right-footer, Baines and Pienaar standing over the football. Pienaar it was, and thanks to Nigel De Jong moving slightly off the wall, the sweet right-foot curled the ball between him and the wall beyond the despairing dive of Given, low into the net. Rightly deserved, and cue bedlam at GP. Pienaar ran over to a steward in congratulations, in front of the City fans, no less.

I suspected at this point, City might push for an equaliser, but instead we pushed on for a second. Just as my mate arrived, Bily missed a great chance to make it two when he screwed another shot wide from the left channel. Fair enough to him for having a go but he needs to get a few more of these on target.

In stoppage time, City pushed forward with Bellamy curling an effort from the angle wide, and then Everton went and made it 2-0 on the stroke of half-time. On the counter-attack, Donovan cut inside the right channel and fed the ball to Saha, with Richards in close accompaniment. The Englishman kept tugging at the Frenchman’s shirt, but in fairness to Saha, he didn’t go to ground. However, the linesman flagged and Andre Marriner pointed to the spot. From the reaction I think Saha believed he’d been judged to have been offside, not realising a penalty had been given. Once it had, he was straight in to take it, planting it firmly down the middle. 2-0 and cruising.

The expected onslaught in the second half never came. Whatever City threw at us, was easily dealt with by the superb Pienaar and Fellaini, with the back four mopping up any scraps that did find their way through. Robinho suffered the ultimate indignity when on the hour, the substitute found himself subbed to the jeers of the Everton faithful. He was worse than useless and Wright-Phillips put forward a good case as he contributed far more than the Brazilian in 30 minutes.

Everton missed two good opportunities to make the result more emphatic. First, on 76 minutes, a corner from the right swung in by Donovan was met brilliantly by Fellaini. Given palmed it onto the bar but from the rebound, Bilyaletdinov, with the goal at his mercy, blazed over. All he really needed to do was get the foot over the ball and it was 3-0. Then, two minutes later, good work by Pienaar and Baines down the left saw the latter swing over a superb cross to the unmarked Cahill. His free header clattered off the bar when last season, it would have nestled in the corner, an example of his season summed up in one movement.

There was still time for the skill of the weekend, Fellaini capping his MOTM performance by performing a Maradona-style pirouette in front of Bellamy. The only way that could have been made any sweeter was if it’d had been done to Lescott himself. City had one last hurrah but first De Jong hit the wall from a freekick and Zabaleta blazed the follow-up into the Park End.

An excellent victory, then, and Everton remain undefeated in 2010. Arguably the best performance this season, dwarfing the Arsenal away game, as we made City look distinctly average. 3 or 4-0 wouldn’t have flattered Everton in the slightest, such was our dominance.

Player Ratings:

Howard: 7 – Virtually a spectator after the first 10 minutes. But a 7 nonetheless for a well-deserved clean sheet.

Neville: 8 – By jingo, we’ve missed the fella. No nonsense, proper defending. Supported Donovan well.

Heitinga: 8 – Continued his very impressive form of late. I remarked to my mate during the game that I’ve worked out what Heitinga means – it’s Dutch for “Jagielka”

Distin: 7 – his blip in November, on the basis of this performance, suggests he was, as suspected, playing with an injury. Much more assured today.

Baines: 8 – Supported a lot better and showed much of last season’s form. Let’s hope this becomes the norm rather than the exception.

Fellaini: 10 – just about the perfect performance from the Big Fella, save for a goal, denied only by the excellent Shay Given. Superb throughout, and €15m starts to look good business all of a sudden.

Pienaar: 9 – Outstanding with Fellaini in the centre of midfield. Deserved his goal, his third in three league games. Long may this continue, hopefully with a new contract.

Donovan: 8 – again, a good performance from the loanee on his home debut. Full of running, his pace does give defenders something to think about.

Bilyaletdinov: 8 – Much improved from the Russian after a short break during the Arsenal game. Needs some rest still though, as he looked to be blowing after about 15 minutes, but a good game nevertheless.

Cahill: 7 – Quiet, but effective. Linked play well and caused City’s defence all sorts of problems. Spoiler for the other players.

Saha: 7 – Scored but otherwise a little quiet, but very much overshadowed by the midfield four. Held up play well to play in others.

Subs:

Vaughan: 6 – Not on long enough to really warrant a judgement on his performance

Baxter: n/a – Only on for a minute or so, can’t judge.

Moyes: 10 – Superb today from the manager. Stoked the players and fans right up before kick-off, and gave us the motivation we needed. Tactically got it spot on, and in the post-match, you got the sense he enjoyed that one. Top man.

All in all, a very satisfactory performance, with Birmingham up next in the Cup at home. In December when the sides met at Goodison, they shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw. However, Everton were much the better side and despite Birmingham’s remarkable run of 13 games unbeaten in the league I can’t see past us winning comfortably this time around.

you know they are, they really are…

Frank — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:57:44 +0000

Next up…

Manchester City. To be honest I can’t find a bad word for them. Ricky Hatton, Noel Gallagher and The King of Timperley, the man himself Frank Sidebottom. They have been bought out more times than we have denied having buyers, had a fat centre forward who made boss bog rolls, and have neighbours who used to be just like them but forgot that when you embrace the dollar you lose your identity.

A warm welcome to you all (you know who you are) enjoy.

The conversation often goes “yeah…is right lad, City, they are just like us aren’t they”.

To be honest, nobody is like us. We’re Everton aren’t we…

…City want to be Everton.

FORUM…

Frank — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:35:03 +0000

There are plenty of Everton forums out there (correct plural forae). All with their own particular flavour. We will be doing a bit of a “critique” of some over the coming weeks. All light hearted, none of it meant as an affront. It’s just something we, as blues, seem a bit scared of. We don’t do the internet…yet we do. We don’t care for Forae, yet we have thousands registered on the ones that are there. It would be easy to just start slagging each other off, what’s the point ? Each forum has it’s own cliques and each forum in turn classed as a clique by…yes..other forums. Complete madness.

Anyway….here is the Originals forum, feel free to sign up, spend ages posting and then tell all your friends “the internet ? it’s full of dickheads lad”

We are one of many, yet we are ALL blue !

"it's only the internetz lad"

Beautiful…

Frank — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 23:18:17 +0000

“From what I remember now when I see it back I think I will say it is the most beautiful goal I have scored.”

Let’s be honest….it’s as good a goal since Rooney’s against the same opponents. The old “you would have settled for that in the morning” is about right as I had an Everton win outright, Piennar first/last goal and Everton to win 2-1 betting slip in my hand when the fourth official raised his Magna-Doodle board telling us there was five minutes overtime. You can’t win ‘em all eh ?

We took it to Arsenal from the off, we were the better side and came away with a result “the top four” would die for. That’ll do for me.

Here’s your match report from Peter Roberts….

As the Big Freeze decimated the footballing fixtures up and down the country (only 7 matches were played on the Saturday across 4 divisions), Everton fans were left with the daunting trip to the Emirates Stadium to take on an Arsenal side who had taken a miserable Everton side apart 6-1 on the opening day of the season. However, confidence restored after a mini-run which had seen Everton undefeated in the league since the derby turnover at the end of November, spirits were high and with the weather wreaking havoc, maybe a chance of an upset.

Moyes included new loanee Donovan in a 4-5-1 formation on the wide right of midfield. Neville was moved to right-back in place of Hibbert who suffered a groin strain in the FA Cup win over Carlisle last week. Saha was deployed as the lone striker with Pienaar, Cahill, Fellaini and Osman the other midfielders. Bily and Vaughan were on the bench along with what seems like the customary 4 subs selected from the Academy.

The game kicked off and straight away, Everton seized the initiative. Saha wasted a good early chance by blasting high and wide from an excellent Pienaar delivery. For the first few minutes, it seemed, Arsenal couldn’t hold the ball for love nor money, Everton harassing them into mistakes aplenty. Donovan’s direct running was causing the left-back Traore (Armand, not Djimi) all sorts of problems and this continued for much of the afternoon. The American doesn’t quite have the guile or craft that Pienaar or Osman can provide but he has pace and is definitely adds another dimension to our forward play.

On 12 minutes, it was no surprise when Everton took the lead. A corner from the right-hand side by Donovan was met by the smallest person on the pitch, Osman leaping between Vermaelen and Gallas, timing his run from the edge of the box to perfection, to bullet a header past Almunia and despite the efforts of Denilson, into the net. Delight for the travelling Everton fans. In four seasons of playing at the Emirates we have scored first three times, all three within the first 12 minutes of the match. A useless trivial statistic but notable nonetheless.

Arsenal managed to get a foothold in the game and starting to test the Everton rearguard. However, time and time again their forward progress was halted by the superb Fellaini, who got in tackle after tackle to win the ball. The referee, Peter Walton, one who I have criticised in the past, was excellent, allowing play to go on when there was no clear indication of a foul. The big Belgian is a bit ungainly but is clearly now up to speed with the pace of the league unlike last year. The efforts of Fellaini meant that the supply line to Arshavin, playing upfront in lieu of their normal forward line, was cut off.

Arsenal did draw level but only thanks to a lot of good fortune. An intricate passing move found its way to Denilson. His shot was on course for Tim Howard’s safe hands but the ball deflected off the unlucky Osman and found its way into the net, wrong-footing the American goalkeeper. A cruel blow for Everton and for a while, it looked like Arsenal would eventually find their rhythm. However, the endeavours of Everton were not to be sniffed at and despite not creating many chances amid the swirling snow, we were in a game against Arsenal and they knew it.

Half-time came and went without any changes from the visitors and the game kicked off again. Everton again were faster out of the starting blocks than the hosts and a number of chances went begging. Most of them appeared to come down the right hand side with Donovan’s direct runnign and pace causing problems. Although the American is predominantly left-footed, this helps when playing on the right as it allows him to cut inside the full-back. Eventually he tired as the game went on and was eventually withdrawn on 70 minutes for Bilyaletdinov. However, should he play like that for the next 10 weeks, it will be all for the better as he looked effusive and full of running.

6 minutes later, Saha was pulled for Vaughan to inject some life into a forward line which had become more and more lethargic as the game wore on. Rumours of a contract dispute may be a cause for concern but if Louis wants to carry on playing for us after the summer he needs to show it.

The second goal came after a sustained spell of Arsenal pressure. After a couple of corners, Osman broke down a forward move for Arsenal and instinctively moved it upfield to Cahill. His pass set Pienaar free, clear of the last man with no question of offside given he was still inside the Everton half when the ball was played. As Almunia went to ground, the South African impudently clipped the ball over him into the net to the delirium of the travelling faithful. Was this to be the moment we would beat Arsenal away since the days of Kanchelskis?

Within moments, it was nearly 1-3 as Cahill seized on the unfortunate Denilson collapsing in a heap to send away Vaughan. However, the youngster couldn’t get the ball out from under his feet and under pressure from three Arsenal defenders, shot straight at Almunia. Arsenal started to get desperate and with two minutes of stoppage time played, a ball found its way to Rosicky who fired into the net via the outstretched boot of Lucas Neill. A devastating blow and totally undeserved for Everton who had done enough to snatch victory from the Gunners. However, a point away is a fantastic result at a place where we have won once and drawn once previously in 16 visits in the Premier League.

Player Ratings:

Howard: 7 – Apart from pick the ball out of the net twice, didn’t do much.

Neville: 8 – How much have we missed this fella. Imperious in the tackle, leadership qualities aplenty and the team generally looks a lot more assured under him.

Neill: 7 – getting better but still has issues which need addressing.

Heitinga: 7 – solid as ever.

Baines: 7 – bit quiet but got forward. Could learn from Donovan how to cross a ball.

Fellaini: 8 – MOTM. Calm, collected, but also decisive. Looks more comfortable in the midfield enforcer role than at any other time in his Everton career.

Donovan: 8 – Close to MOTM but Fellaini just nicks it for me. Great running, has pace, causes problems. Loan signing nonetheless but a very good one at that.

Cahill: 8 – Hustling, nuisance performance, but lined with a quality pass or two, not least the one to set up Pienaar for the goal.

Osman: 7 – Tired as the game went on but a very good first half capped with a splendid goal.

Pienaar: 8 – Please stay, Steven, I beg of you. Without you this team is nothing special.

Saha: 6 – Not at the races today. Missed a couple of good chances which on his day, would have been buried.

Subs

Bilyaletdinov: 6 – Didn’t do much in the time he was given.

Vaughan: 6 – One good chance spurned.

Overall, a much better performance than expected but hope the momentum can be carried forward. City at home on the 16th with one eye possibly on their Carling Cup semi-final against Man Utd the following week. Let’s hope the Blue revival can be continued.

ALEX PARKER R.I.P.

Frank — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:35:16 +0000

Everton’s 1962-63 Championship-winning defender Alex Parker has died, after suffering a heart attack.

Alex was 74 years old. he will be remebered as a fantastic right back who played 220 times for The Blues and 15 Scottish caps, including a 1958 World Cup appearance in a 3-2 defeat at the hands of Paraguay.

Alex’s first professional club was Falkirk and he was a member of the Scottish Cup winning team of 1958. He joined Everton for £18,000 in June of that year along with another member of the Falkirk cup winning side, Eddie O’Hara.

Alex is remembered with great reverence by those who saw him play and those who played alongside him. A member of the glorious Championship winning side of 1962-63 it is said he was the greatest exponent of the slide tackle the game has ever seen. This coupled with his ability to surge forward from his right back position gave him legendary status amongst Evertonians. His Everton career came to an end in 1965 and after playing for Southport, Ballymena United and Drumcondra he came back to manage Southport for a short spell.

He retired from football in 1971 to take up the the life of a publican and ran “The Swinging Sporran” pub in Runcorn for many years eventually living his full retirement in Gretna.

A proud Scot and proud blue loved and respected by all who met him. Derek Temple a team mate in the outstanding League Champions side of 1962-63 said “Alex wasn’t just a smashing player, he was a great colleague and a genuine gentleman. He will be sadly missed and all our sympathy is with the family.”

We echo those sentiments. Alex Parker, Everton Legend, may he rest in peace.

sore eyes..

Frank — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 17:33:49 +0000

I spent two hours of this afternoon travellening across Liverpool in a journey that would normally take about ten minutes. After being dug out of the car park at Staples I crawled along Shaw Street to be greeted by something that doesn’t actually need any words. I could have stayed there all day.