MEMO to Manchester – there’s far more to Everton than lumping the ball up to Marouane Fellaini, and make no mistake they play to win.
The derogatory assessments of Roberto Mancini and Alex Ferguson recently barely left more than ruffled feathers at Goodison, but even so they were made to look rather daft at Villa Park on Saturday.
The Blues tore into Aston Villa with all the ominous ferocity of the thunder and lightning which rumbled across Birmingham before kick-off.
And if they can avoid any injuries to their key men, Everton will subject many more shaken opponents to their scintillating form of Blitzkrieg this season.
This was supposed to be something of a bogey ground for David Moyes’ men. They hadn’t won at Villa’s fine old ground in the Premier League at the last seven times of asking, but ennobled by their blistering first game against Manchester United they blew the hosts away.
There’s a confidence about the Toffees at the moment, born of belief in their talented side and a summer where they haven’t been the victim in the transfer market.
Everton took the lead with a goal which would not have looked out of place at Camp Nou. Their midfield clicked with panache, as one-touch interplay between Darron Gibson, Marouane Fellaini and Leighton Baines allowed Steven Pienaar to nonchalantly curl a fine effort past Shay Given.
At times before Pienaar’s return in January, especially after Mikel Arteta’s departure last summer, Everton’s play was functional but often joyless in execution. This was gloriously different.
Three minutes in and the hosts were reeling. Then Nikica Jelavic fluffed a good chance at the far post from Baines’ inch-perfect cross, by which point the Croatian should have been on the score sheet already even if it was not through lack of trying. He battled gamely and won a corner which he almost scored from, this time flashing a far better header just over Shay Given’s bar.
But although Villa were battling to try and reassert themselves Everton remained dangerous on the break as Gibson latched onto Osman’s blocked shot and unleashed a dipping 25-yard volley that was inches over.
Such was the Blues’ threat, offering them gifts was unwise and Villa duly suffered. Phil Jagielka did tremendously to zip to the byline and send a soaring cross into the area which Fellaini connected with from 12 yards. Shay Given looked ready to comfortably parry the Belgian’s header, but the ball struck his wrist and skewed into the net. As Fellaini joined Pienaar in a celebratory dance by the travelling fans neither looked too bothered about the element of fortune in the goal.
Fittingly after watching a performance full of zest, brio, and left-sided magic the away section chanted their tribute to Kevin Sheedy – showing the Everton legend he is very much in their thoughts as he is treated for bowel cancer.
With Paul Lambert’s transitional and young outfit understandably demoralised the Toffees were rampant. Jelavic could have had a hat-trick, and probably should have had a penalty when the striker was shoved in the area as he was poised to latch onto Baines’ cross.
Even when Villa rallied and Charles N’Zogbia broke into the area Gibson did superbly to track the Frenchman and block him.
Tim Howard spoke about rhythm after the victory over United, and Everton were flowing as the break neared. Mesmerised by their approach play Villa could only watch as Baines and Fellaini combined to free the left back near the byline. He might have struggled beforehand but Jelavic proved why he is so deadly by peeling off his marker and collecting Baines’ cut back delivery to finish with a trademark first time flourish.
There was a fright for the visitors after the break just as they were about to crash in a fourth. Naismith was through on goal and about to pull the trigger when he was denied by a heroic sliding tackle from Nathan Baker. Hearts were in mouths though as the Scot fell awkwardly and appeared to twist the knee in which he ruptured cruciate ligaments last October. The speed at which Everton’s club doctor and chief physio raced onto the pitch suggested their concern, but luckily the summer signing rose gingerly to his feet and was able to continue.
The news got better for the Toffees when Villa were reduced to 10 men. Ciaran Clark only got the slightest of touches on Jelavic as the striker surged past him but it was enough to impede him, and with Clark the last man Michael Oliver had no other option than to show him red. Gibson chipped the free kick just off target from the edge of the area.
Villa were beginning to wilt badly and just like United, finding Fellaini too hot to handle. The Belgian was dragged down on the left flank, and the superb Gibson slipped the free kick short to Baines who found Piennar with the South African only denied only by a wonderfully redemptive save from Given. From the resulting corner Sylvain Distin rattled the cross bar with a thundering header.
With the game won changes ensued. First Naismith was risked no further as Seamus Coleman was introduced, then new signing Kevin Mirallas made his debut as a replacement for Gibson.
The Belgian international might have scored with his first touch too, as Coleman burst to the byline and fired a low cross across goal which he was ready to dispatch but for a marvellous block from Ron Vlaar.
The Villa Park faithful were watching through their fingers, but had a reason to cheer when Tim Howard made a rare error. Howard lost the flight of Karim Al Ahmadi’s shot from outside the area and could only parry it into the net.
The Blues tired then, with the proximity if this fixture to their victory on Monday beginning to take its toll on heavy legs. Nevertheless Mirallas thought he’d earned a penalty when he went down after colliding with Vlaar in the area with 10 minutes left. He went one further too after heading past Given from close range, but was denied by the off side flag.
It’s not the time for premature predictions, but if Everton carry on in this form it’ll become harder for Moyes to contain the optimism that this could be a special season for the Goodison faithful.
Never mind grumpy old Sir Alex just ask Gibson, a player Moyes pinched from him in January and someone who’s clearly learning the words to the club’s anthems. In the words of the old Goodison shanty, no doubt he'd tell you: “Everton’s the team that play beautiful football”.
