retired_hollieo

Murphy in a rage as Everton go into financial meltdown

Well I wanted a challenging job for this years clan game and it looks like I've got it, big time. Everton are in a world of crisis trapped in a quagmire of financial hell thanks to the expolits of the previous few regimes. It will take a lot of effort to steer the club through what is undoubtabley the most difficult period of its history.

The fans are in a rage and the manager is putting on a brave face after being put in the position of having to watch powerlessly as his impressive early season start is totally wiped out by boardroom shennanigans and a slide into administration. This nine point deduction sees Everton go into freefall down the Premiership table from the heights of sixth place to a lowly and ultimately false position of 17th. FFS, even Southampton are above us and they have the "legendary" Peter Crouch up front. Enough said.

Understandably, some of the fans have questioned the managers role in this outcome but most agree with his explanation that he was virtually powerless to prevent such an outcome. On taking control of Everton, the squad was already threadbare, with around 20 professional footballers on the books. The reserves and youth team did not contain any players of Premiership quality. In the first team squad, only Yobo and Gravesen would have attracted offers that would have made any dent in a bank balance that was already sitting at £10m in the red.

More significantly, the combined sale of both players, with the additional cost of having to delve into the transfer market to replace them and the difficulty in attracting players as good given our wage retraints of around £10K a week, would most likely have seen the situation become even worse if the club slid into the Championship, perhaps never to return. :thdn:

With receivers currently dealing with all transfer activity, I am pleased to see that when the vultures swarmed (barely 30 seconds after the news was broken) over Yobo, Gravesen and Zurawski - they had the intelligence to give Nilsen, Steel, Bouchard and Hardy (who even had the gall to offer us the sh1te Bosvelt) a flea in the ear. Feck off you mercenary swines.

I am currently hoping that the boardroom problems are sorted out asap and I'll soon be weloming a new board and an influx of cash to the club, which would make Everton competitive once again.

Despite this, results on the pitch continued to encourage the manager that his new signings were settling in well and that at this early stage in his Everton career, Murphy is on the right track.

Carling Cup 2nd Round

Sunderland 0 - 2 Everton

A tricky lie away to the Stadium of Light. Everton started the game brightly with a midfield stiffened by the inclusion of Lewandowski, Gravesen and Sivok. Polish international forward Zurawski ploughing a lonely furrow up front by himself.

From the kick off, Everton took control and early long rangers from Sivok and Hysen just narrowly missed the target. On 40 minutes the pressure told. A nice triangle of play between Naysmith, Sivok and Tobias Hysen, resulted in the Swedish youngster firing over a bullet cross that was beauitifully converted by Zurawski at the near post. A cracking goal as the Polish international's clever movement left Gary Breen for dead. The tie was wrapped up in the 53rd minute when a long ball by Teddy Lucic, was superbly taken down on the turn by the magnificent Pole Dancer yet again. Breen was dumped on his arse, Zurawski fired into the bottom corner. Beauitiful.

After the game Murphy complimented the team performance with barely concealed enthusiasm

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Everton have been a light touch in this competition for a number of years so it was great to be come to such an intimidating atmosphere and dominate the game. Let me assure the fans that we'll be taking this competition seriously this season. It's about time Evertonians had a trip to a Cup Final once again. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


FA Barclaycard Premiership


Aston Villa 0 - 0 Everton

Villa lined up in 4-1-3-2 fashion as appears to be quite popular in FM already. Everton put five across the midfield to counteract the threat of Veron. All in all, Everton were the better side in a largely dull game. With the onus being on Villa at home I was pleased to restrict them to 1 shot on target compared to our 5.


Everton 2 - 2 Manchester City

This is already going down as Everton's game of the season so far in a superb tactical battle between both managers - exactly what FM is all about. Before the game I was quietly confident we would take the erractic City side at home, especially after an unshevelled Hardy confirmed with a pale, sweaty face at his press-conference that his main threat Nicolas Anelka would be sidelined through injury. He He I chuckled as I sipped a whisky in the office watching Hardy on Sky Sports News. However, I was soon seen necking the whisky down when the news that my own star striker had sustained an injury and would also miss the game filtered through.

City started the game with an attack in the first minute that had goal written all over it. Mills split our defence with a long raking pass to Fabrice Fernandes. As the Frenchman rounded Wright and got ready to pull the trigger, Joseph Yobo sprinted like a cheetah and superbly made up the ground to block the shot. A minute later Everton were ahead. Gravesen surging through the midfield sprayed a lovely ball out to Leon Osman on the right. Osman's cross was perfect for the onrushing Gravesen to bullet the ball past Dodgy Keeper James, who was on his PS2 at the time.

After this it was a case of Everton domination but it took until the 70th miute for us to extend our lead when Gravesen's corner was nodded home by Calaio for his second Everton goal. From here the match turned on two decisions. Everton's domination was so complete, Murphy felt he could risk withdrawing the injured Calaio for Chadwick and substituted the influential Gravesen for Sivok. Around the same time Hardy went more attacking and suddenly I knew the risk had backfired as Chadwick struggled to hold possession when we moved forward.

In the 86th minute Fernandes pulled one back for City and as Everton moved to slow the tempo and keep their shape, an 88th minute equaliser from Shaun Wright Phillips rocked Goodison Park to the core. In fact, Hardy was unlucky not to win it as Wright made an outstanding save from Fowler in the final minute.

After the game Murphy was full of praise for Hardy's managerial expertise.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> From our perspective I'm very unhappy at the slack defending that let City in for two late goals. That was a right royal kick in the nads. However I have to credit Hardy for his brave managerial decisions in the last ten minutes. Many other clubs would have thrown in the towel, but City's adventure in attack gave them a point they barely deserved over the course of the ninety minutes. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


Next after the news of administration came through, I knew I was in for a tough time up at Middlesbrough. The squad were queuing up to see the chairman about their futures and it was a tough task for me to keep their minds on the game. To that end, I cleverly released a few statements to the press regarding the importance for the club to get back on its feet as soon as possible. There could surely be no better place to start than at the Riverside.

Middlesbrough 2 - 1 Everton

Well it appeared that my plan paid off despite a defeat in a game we dominated from start to finish. How Middlesbrough were still in the game to bag a breakaway winner will go down in legend as one of those unanswerable mysteries of life. My explanation is simple however. Liggins was a jammy bas**rd!!

The opening goal of the game was absolutely superb. From a corner, Everton kept possession and as Osman threaded a nice pass to Hysen, the Boro defence looked tight just like their manager when it comes to his round in the pub. However, they didn't reckon on another moment of magic from the Swede. With a perfectly timed reverse pass, Hysen sent the entire Boro defence the wrong way as he played Calaio in on goal. With one touch the Italian controlled then fired past Patrice Luzi.

To my amazement Liggins came rushing out of his dugout a face as red as beetroot. I thought he was about to berate his defence, but instead Liggins rushed to the linesman haraginging him about offside. to my amazement Liggins grabbed the flag off the lino and started waving it furiously in the air, hoping the ref would see him and chalk off the goal. Such desperation and unsurprisingly the ref ignored the Boro managers protests. For god sake man, the basic rule of football is play to the whistle. The goal rightly stood and Liggins sat down in a huff.

Unfortunately for us luck was now to completely desert Everton. The lead was shortlived as Boateng - a player not renouned for his long shooting took aim from 30 yards. As expected, the shot was bound for the corner flag but took an astonishing deflection of the Everton number seven, Lewandowski and deflected viciously into the net. A typical Boro goal but that didn't deter Liggins from performing a little jig on the touchline. Riverdance it wasn't. :p

At half time I urged the lads on. And they responded. On 47 a vicious shot from Calaio flashed just wide. On 55 Hysen blasted narrowly over. And two minutes later Liggins took a starring role in the Great Escape as Sivok smashed a 25 yarder off the bar. Boro were hanging on. Everton continued to pepper the Boro goal with effort after effort but the winner just wouldn't come.

And then, the injustice. 80 minutes on the clock and as an Everton attack was broken up, Doriva played Malcolm Christie in on goal. As the Everton defence scrambled back, Christie calmly rounded right, his shot just beating Lewandowski and Yobo to the goalline. Even after this setback Everton responded, Watson firing two good chances straight at Luzi. The whistle blew and I congratulated an ecstatic Liggins before disappearing down the tunnel cursing my luck....

To be continued.

retired_hollieo

Just a quick update on the website.

Unfortunately, neither Mark nor I can gain access to the webserver at the moment, which is the reason why the tables haven't been put on the web. This has been the case for quite some time now so if we can't get access soon, we'll look into moving it somewhere else.

It has absolutely nothing to do with Everton being 17th.

retired_hollieo

Pagi and Steel brushed aside - Andy Nilsen to suffer cup exit, probably!!

Yes three games to catch up on, starting with Pagi's first visit to Goodison Park.

Everton 3 - 1 Bolton

The first shock was that it was the Bolton team bus that Pagi stepped off this season and not his beloved Charlton Athletic!! Once I had got over that, a quick look at the Bolton team sheet revealed that Pagi was in difficulties and struggling to put out a side for this fixture - six injuries decimating his squad before the match. Having heard whispers Pagi was considering reverting back to his favoured 3-5-2 formation, Everton were under pressure to deliver in a game they were now big favourites to win.

The match got off to the worst possible start. Bolton kicked off and went straight onto the attack. Tricky winger Giannakopoulos got into the box and after performing his worst poncy Ronaldo step over impression, managed (just like the spotty Man U player) to con the referee into awarding a penalty against Lewandowski. A blatant act of gamesmanship from the Greek lad as Speed stepped up to open the scoring.

Everton were level on 10 minutes, a flowing move from the midfield and Osman's cross is headed on by Hysen, for Zurawski to fire in a magnificent volley. Everton's superiority began to tell and the next 20 saw Jaaskelainen make a few excellent stops. On 41 though we broke through to take the lead with a deadly cross from Hysen, met with a bullet header from close range by Calaio. And on 49 another cross from Hysen was met by the same man to tap in and wrap up the game.


Carling Cup 3rd Round

Everton 4 - 0 Leicester City

Everton progress to the last 16 and an away tie with Andy Nilsen's Portsmouth, courtesy of a hammering of Leicester City at Goodison. Premiership quality told hugely here as Yobo (22); Calaio (32, 40) and Zurawski (90) wrapped up the win.


Premiershhip

Southampton 0 - 2 Everton

Before the game Rob Steel was highlighting Southampton's very poor home form and underplaying his sides chances in the game. As Everton had failed thus far to win away from home in the Premiership, Murphy responded by also playing down his sides chances. Most pundits were predicting a draw in this match.

However on the day, Everton put in their best away performance of the season to date, completely dominating the entire match, registering 13 efforts on goal to the Saints' three. We were helped by getting off to a magnificent start. On 6 minutes Tomas Gravesen curled a fantastic free kick past Niemi from 30 yards to give us the lead. It would be hard to top that goal, but on 21 minutes, Zurawski did just that with a goal that finished 3rd in the goal of the month competition. Taking a short pass of Sivok, Zurawski had enough space to turn and fire a curling effort from just outside the area into the far corner. Superb again from the Pole who is turning into a real Premiership hot shot.

16th place then with a record of 5-4-3. A pleasing nights work.

retired_sweetfitchic

Mixed results for the Baggies

Couple of players brought in :

Young striker Marcus Berg came in for 10k from IFK Goteborg.

David Limbersky was signed for 650k to provide cover in the midfield, although he has been pushing for a first team spot.

Improvement

After a disappointing start to the season, manager Morris reassured fans that the team will come good, and there were glimpses of it in the following matches.

Middlesbrough 0 - WBA 2

A good result for West Brom, although a pretty even contest, WBA had the cutting edge that Boro seemed to lack. Tsiartas justified his 25k a week showing some delightful vision to lob Schwarzer from 30 yards. A counter attack in the second half killed the game as Kanu wrapped things up with a very well timed run and calm finish.

WBA 4 - Bolton 1

Another day another human manager defeated Bolton took the lead early on through Kevin Davies, but he paid for that later as he got carried out on a stretcher in the 56th min, heheh.. anyway an N'gotty OG, penalty scored by Zdebel, and strikes from the ever potent Matusovic and Pezzarossi earned another three points for the baggies.

WBA 2 - Sheff Utd 2 (WBA win 3-2 on pens)

What should have been a fairly straight forward cup tie turned into serious hard work as we had to come from behind to take the game into extra time and eventually penalties. Andy Gray and Stuart McCall were on target for Sheffield as they took the game to West Brom. Matusovic got the two goals which got WBA level adding to his ever growing reputation. Comments about Matusovic's talents have been made by many, including Everton gaffer Murphy. No chance mate especially with the state of your club

But anyway WBA marched on to the next round of the carling cup!

Saints 0 - WBA 4

A scoreline no one would have predicted as Southampton hit the self destuct button having three players sent off, and then blaming the ref, tut tut WBA were already in control by the first dismissal , a header from Brazilian defender Argel from a corner kick putting them ahead. The first red card came in the 44th min, Petras the man to go. Matusovic got his first of two goals from the freekick, the lad just cant help but bang em in! Kanu added the forth after two more saints players left the field. Manager Chris Morris later congratulated the referee Rob Styles on a fine performance :thup: Next up was Arsenal, and spirits were high!

WBA 0 - Arsenal 4

Heres what happens when you get cocky against Arsenal. You get hammered. Henry hatrick, disappointment all round :thdn:

Fulham 2 - WBA 0

With morale at a record low from the dubbing the week before, the team produced one of their worst performances of the season. Only a couple of shots on goal, and lucky to concede just the two. It looked as if West Brom were slipping back into bad habits, not what we want at all

WBA 3 - Palace 1

But what better way to get smiles back on faces than a visit from Crystal Palace? With Palace rooted to the bottom of the table with 3 points (even less than Newcastle! :eek a win was always on the cards. Goals from Kanu and Matusovic in the first ten minutes set the mood for an easy afternoon, before Julian Speroni decided 'if you cant beat em join em' and threw the ball into his own net. Zdebel got sent off which evened things up a bit, but Palace never looked good enough to threaten, although they did get one back through the on-loan Nicola Ventola, they will surely get relegated.

WBA 3 QPR 0

A few reserves made appearances in the Carling Cup 3rd round as the Baggies recorded a comfortable victory. Teenagers Marcus Berg and Scott Agnew came on off the bench and did well. The goals came curtosy of Matusovic, Pezzarossi and Argel. The reward for the victory? A visit from Manchester United in the 4th round, so an easy path to the next round then :cool:

Liverpool 2 - WBA 3

A truely memorable match at Anfield where WBA showed they are not a 'Championship side' by any stretch of the imagination. Jan Kristiansen put West Brom ahead in the 25th, leading to a tactical move which tried to slow the game down and contain the home side. It didnt work. Jermaine Jenas' sublime 30 yard strike into the bottom corner levelled the scores. Xabi Alonso made it 2-1 Liverpool after half time and hope seemed to be slipping away.. Another change of tactics saw WBA pressing every ball, and playing at an incredibley fast pace. It paid off as clinical striker Matusovic levelled the scores on the 80th minute much to the disgust of the home support. Three minutes later he repeated the feat to secure a well deserved victory. Fantastic!

An entertaining few weeks leaves West Brom mid table on seventeen points, a position well above the relegation scrap everyone expected them to be in. Although still early on, if Matusovic continues to slot em away who knows where it could take WBA this season. The future is bright!

retired_hollieo

Two Premiership defeats keep Everton in potential trouble

Mixed news after last nights session. Firstly, Everton finally came out of administration as a new board takes control, wiping out Everton's £15m debt and providing some much needed funds for the transfer kitty. Great news as Murphy escapes with his squad intact.

Gary Naysmith puts his contract worries behind him, signing up to June 2006 and Tomas Sivok underlines his potential by winning the young player of the month award for September.

On the pitch it was mixed:

Premiership

Everton 0 - 1 Arsenal

The Wenger boys came to town riding high in the league as expected. With Everton on a good run I was optimistic that we would get something from the game. Lining up in a 4-5-1 formation, the players were told to keep it tight and try and get something on the break, as we expected Arsenal to control possession.

The game followed the expected pattern. Arsenal's class in all areas told during the game with Everton relying on Zurawski to create something up front. Arsenal put on incessant pressure for the entire game but to their credit Everton refused to submit to the superior skill.

With 91 minutes on the clock, Murphy was getting ready to celebrate a hard fought point, when Patrick Vieira picked up the ball just outside the Everton box. Moving into the area, unchallenged, Vieira hit the most composed shot of Arsenal's afternoon, winning the game by firing into the bottom corner. Totally gutting!!


Carling Cup 4th Round

Portsmouth 1 - 2 (aet) Everton

A fantastic match at Goat's Fratton Park which ended with an amazing 42 attempts at goal. Both Shaka Hislop and Richard Wright had outstanding games as both sides forgot all about defending and just went for it.

For the majority of the 90 minutes, Everton were the better side and went into the lead through Leon Osman just before HT. However after about 80 minutes, Nilsen changed things and all of a sudden Pompey were on a roll. Their domination of the last 10 minutes of the game lead to an 87th minute equaliser, as Everton struggled to contain Kamara.

However, Nilsen had employed cynical kicking tactics in his attempt to win the game, forcing Murphy to withdraw Zurawski after 62 minutes following repeated dirty hackings. Pompey's yellow card total continued to mount, and Nilsen's tactic spectacularly backfired in ET, as his side were reduced to ten men. Fighting fatigue, Everton rallied and got their just reward, when Steve Watson slotted home late in the day. This sets up an away quarter final to Rob Steel's Southampton.


Premiership

Fulham 2 - 0 Everton

Fulham are a good side and I wasn't looking forward to this fixture. On the day, Fulham deserved to win, although it took an awesome free kick from full back Bocanegra to give them the lead. A cracking shot which beat Wright and the defender on the line all ends up.

Everton couldn't really get a foothold in this game and with time running out, the Toffees moved into an adventurous formation. With the equaliser refusing to materialise, we were caught out in the 91st minute by a Brian McBride header, to give Fulham the points.

retired_ron

Boult's Credentials Questioned

After a very successful start to the premiership season, Blackburn Rovers fans were over the moon with the appointment of rookie manager Rick Boult. As the weeks have passed, results have began to slip due to injuries and suspensions. Now, in the wake of a tough christmas calender, Boult has decided to takw a leave of absence from the managering role for 2 weeks to 'sort his head out.'

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> It is true, results have been hard to come by in recent weeks but i feel once the squad is back to full strength we can keep up the push for a top 10 finish. The fans have been very understanding and the board know rome wasn't built in a day. The squad here is relatively small compared to other premiership clubs but within the next few years players will be added to boost the squad. it is also true that i shall be taking 2 weeks out of my managering role for 2 weeks. I have not yet made a good enough excuse for the leave of absence so i am unable to quote further <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

With manager Boult gone and morale at Rovers low, will the club and its fans be able to taste premiership football next season or will they fall short, leaving the club the laughing stock of Lancashire (well, still ahead of City).

retired_hollieo

Enjoy your holiday Rick.

See you in two weeks

retired_kdanclair

The Unpredictables

Ok, eleven matches to report on now, so here they are:

Man City 1-3 Spurs

A very very dissapointing result for us in this game. The defence and midfeild looked very shabby. It seemed that the midfeild had forgot how to pass and the defence just couldnt contain the inform Defoe who scored. Also David James was back to his usual form after a surprising good run.


Chelsea 4-2 Man City

Despite the scoreline I was happy and impressed by my teams attitude and performance against one of the championship challengers. It was all looking great at half-time as it was 2-1 to City, who scored a goal just before the break with a free-kick from Reyna. The goal conceeded was a soft one to be fair but I was content. In the second-half Chelsea really turned on the style with three well worked goals.

So, in the end a well won game for Chelsea and an expected one.


Leeds 2-2 Man City (Man City won on Penalties) (Legue Cup 2nd Round)

A draw would have been a fair result, but ofcourse it had to go to extra-time and pens. Man City were very lucky not to lose this one as Sibierski again scored in the last few minutes(86th).

To be honest, apart from the four goals and penalties, it was a very uneventful match with not many clear-cut chances. Leeds only had one good chance and scored it, the other was scored from a wonder strike by former WBA player, Sakiri.

Through to the third round then with a tie against Southampton at St. Mary's.


Man City 1-1 Charlton

Man City's run of bad form in the last few games continued as they played a very dissapointing draw aginst Charlton at the City of Manchester Stadium.

A dull match again with no real excitement in it(nothing that made me jump out my seat like normal anyway).

Next up was Niall Murphy's Everton. A tough test for Hardy's unpredictable team.


Everton 2-2 Man City

This has without doubt been Man City's most exciting and tense game of the season. Any hope of getting a result seemed to be out of City's reach when Hardy found out that Anelka would still be out through injury. Good news shortly followed however after Zurowski, the star Everton striker got an injury and would also miss the game.

City started the game in the first minute with an excellent chance, Fernandes wouldve scored after rounding the keeper if it wasnt for some terrific defending by the class Yobo. A few seconds after that attack Everton came back at City and scored a goal to round off a great move. The goal was scored by the brilliant Graveson who headed the ball firmly into the back of the net after an inch perfect cross from Leon Osman. David James was completely helpless.

The goal set Everton off as they continued to press City and they got their reward again in the second half when Calaio headed in a poorly defended corner. From there it looked like Everton weere home and dry, dominating the game and by now they were taking off a couple of their key players to rest them. As soon as this was done Hardy changed the tactics around a bit and the attacking seemed to be working as City started to take control and the defence was starting to win everything against Chadwick.

The pressure finaly paid off with a goal in the 86th minute scored by Fernandes, 2-1, game on. Then just two minutes later, Shaun Wright-Phillips arrived in the area too head in a great equaliser. City almost won it with a fowler 1-on-1, but the keeper stood big to make a great save and save a point for Everton.

This was a game that felt like a win for Man City after that late, late come-back and surely felt like a defeat for Everton as they just say couldnt manage to hold on to a two goal advantage. In fairness, Everton certainly deserved the win.

It was truely a great battle of the tactics so to speak from the two managers.


Southampton 5-0 Man City (League Cup 3rd Round)

What can I say about this one apart from we got absolutly torn apart?

A bad tactical decision in the second half let Southampton to go on and score three goals.

After this match Hardy went mental and started fining players all-over the place and also started kicking boots at players and just about anything-else that was lying around.

I didnt want to win this crappy competition anyway :p


Middlesbrough 2-0 Man City

I cant really comment on this game as I was banned from it by the board for my 'over-reaction'.

Nicky Butt scored the two goals so I was informed


Man City 2-1 Aston Villa

Another quite unneventful match for City who managed to just scrape a 2-1 win.

Shearer scored the only goal in the first-half. Vassel equalised in the second and Anelka wrapped it up in the 63rd minute.

It was nice to come back to a win after a one match ban.


Man City 0-1 Bolton

This was a game that in my opinion, we didnt deserve to lose. It seemed the draw would be the fairer result, but Jay Jay Okocha won the game with the only goal of the game.

This is how even it was:

Man City 11 shots
Bolton 10 shots

There was remarkably no bookings in this game, much to my relief as I cant afford to lose any more players. Five key players out now.


Southampton 2-2 Man City

Southampton still couldnt manage to register their first home win in the Premiership against the recent strugglers.

In another even game throughout except the last 10 minutes or so where the Saints dominated, Man City still couldnt get 'the rub of the green' to snatch a late win.

The goalscorers in this game was:

Southampton-Phillips(5), Ivana(57)
Man City-Anelka(10), Shearer(60)


Man City 2-0 Norwich

A comfortable win here where Nowrich had not a single clear-cut chance. No surprise with the win then.

With this win, City have gone into 10th position. Only 3-4 points away from the EUFA Cup spots. Arsenal up next to spoil things again obviousely.


This is the way it is for me in the league then:

Position-10th
Played-14
Won-5
Drawn-4
Lost-5
For-17
Against-19
Goal difference--2
Points-19


Well as you can see, a very up and down season, but we're still looking and hopeful for that top-half finish.

retired_kdanclair

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>(well, still ahead of City). <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


lol, no your not City 10th, Blackburn 14th.

retired_hollieo

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I cant really comment on this game as I was banned from it by the board for my 'over-reaction'. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Just want to clarify this had nada to do with me.