Must admit, that penalty did feel like it was a big turning point in our season…
Not only did it kick Everton into life at Bournemouth to start being more positive but it has also seemingly given Martinez the prod he needed to send Tim Howard into semi-retirement in the MLS. Interviews following the match seem to suggest that unless injury or suspension looms for Robles that might be the last we see of Flappy-Hands in a truly competitive game. Hurrah!
He’s now kept 4 clean sheets in 5 games (with us winning all four matches) showing what might have been if he’d been given a chance sooner and as we have Villa away and West Ham at home coming up that record has a great chance of being extended.
John Stones also seems to be slightly out of favour with Martinez, with Jagielka and Funes Mori taking control of the central defence. Funny thing was that whilst everyone was praising Jags for his ‘no-nonsense approach’ on Saturday he actually played in the style of a League 2 battering ram, punting the ball out of play every few minutes. Perfect for Bournemouth away but I suspect that Stones might sneak back into the starting line-up ahead of the Chelsea cup game.
I was just very pleased that Distin didn’t get his ‘revenge’ on us in what is probably his only game of the season and that Dan “Boooooo!” Gosling deflected Ross’s shot over the keeper. Cheers lads!
Meanwhile we saw Niasse in the Everton shirt playing a match for the first time as opposed to in pictures acting as if he’d won a competition to be part of the squad for a season. He did a few things in a tidy manner and tried a flick or two on occasions but didn’t really have much chance to show us what ‘raw’ talent he has.
He seems the type of player to me to be incredibly grateful to be at the club for a while but (based on previous comments he’s made to the media) I just hope that he doesn’t get too fed up of being on the bench too much and cause a few issues.
The draw gave us the usual pre-Wembley kick in the nuts as we got a revitalised Chelsea squad at home as our ‘prize’. Lets hope that we have an early evening kick off and create a decent atmosphere in the style of the Man City semi-final (first leg please, not the second…). It’s an utterly winnable game though and actually one that I’d prefer to someone horrible like Palace at home.
Imagine losing to Pardew at home and seeing his happy grid dancing around the pitch with glee. No thanks… Our expectations are high though and it makes it 4 times in the last 5 years that we’ve reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Shame we’ve not progressed past this point apart from the once, and we don’t like to talk about that.
At least it was nice to see the BBC correspondent get a load of abuse on Twitter after he told Hiddink to get ‘measured up for his suit’ live on BBC1 for being impartial. Can’t beat Evertonians for a cracking fume on social media!
So there is a rest of about 10 days for the Super Blues who have flown off to Dubai as a reward for almost getting to a cup final (hmmm…) before they go to Villa Park in what could be a hugely hilarious fume-fest. Wonder how Lescott will get on? Get your popcorn out lads and lasses!
Ps. Anyone know why Lukaku looked so annoyed during the game and afterwards? He didn’t celebrate his goal at all and generally stumbled round the pitch for most of the game. Anyone see anything?