Photo Credit: Dan Westwell/Flickr
Unable to cause an upset against Manchester City, despite a second-half surge in belief, Everton fell to a 1-0 defeat on Saturday evening against the league champions. Indeed it was an early first-half penalty from Yaya Toure that put The Citizens in front as Roberto Martinez’s men slumped to another away defeat, missing out on the chance to go level on points with both Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur. So, here’s a look at our player ratings from the game.
Tim Howard 7: Dealt with pretty much everything that came his way and was his usual boisterous self, shouting vocals above the din to organise his back-four. Couldn’t do anything about Yaya Toure’s penalty, however.
Tony Hibbert 6: Slotting in to a conventional right-back role, Hibbert was a decent force. Wasn’t hugely tested by James Milner, although he was kept busy keeping an eye on him.
Leighton Baines 6: Did his utmost to bring Romelu Lukaku into the game with a few teasing long balls from left back, but it just wasn’t enough and it really summed up their lack of invention.
Sylvain Distin 6: Probably should have been punished more by City in this game, but with Jose Pozo, an unknown, and later Edin Dzeko entering the fray, the hosts were unusually rusty in front of goal.
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Phil Jagielka 6: Terribly unfortunate to give away the early penalty as Milner went to ground and couldn’t seem to let it go for the rest of the tie.
Seamus Coleman 6: Deployed at the right side of midfield for the match, the Republic of Ireland international looked a little ill at ease in a relatively new position. Although he made a few surging runs down the flank, his crossing was a little below par.
Kevin Mirallas 7: He looked Everton’s biggest threat until Ross Barkley was introduced and he did his best to find a way through the Citizens’ defence, coming close with a free-kick and a long-range volley, in particular.
Muhamed Besic 6: Never a player to back down, he threw in a few niggling tackles and fouls here and there to stop the likes of Yaya Toure running rampant through the middle. And while it worked to an extent, it just highlighted how uninspired the side were at times because they didn’t look to have a plan ‘B’ until it was too late.
Gareth Barry 5: Didn’t do a whole lot and needed to step up and create a more physical nuisance of himself. Martinez will expect more from one of his first-team regulars during the busy Christmas schedule but he won’t be available for the Queens Park Rangers tie due to suspension.
Samuel Eto’o 6: Almost produced a godly assist to set up Lukaku in the 82nd minute but the shot didn’t go in. Unfortunately that was the Best contribution the Cameroon international made all match, despite trying to come into the match more and more.
Romelu Lukaku 7: Starved of service for much of the game, the Belgium international will have felt frustrated at his side’s lack of creativity. Forced to drop deep at times, he did his best with whatever came his way and will feel disappointed at having been denied by Joe Hart so expertly. He’ll get a well-deserved rest until the next league match.
Substitutions:
Leon Osman: N/A
Ross Barkley 8 (MOTM): A strange one for a sub to get the ‘Man Of The Match’ award, but he was a real spark-plug for the Merseyside outfit who did his utmost to haul his side back into contention when he was introduced in the 56th minute. Was head and shoulder ahead of the rest of his team-mates, but he simply couldn’t do it all on his own.
Who was your stand-out performer?