No Joy For Everton Against Manchester City

Ross Barkley (Chao1989/Flickr)

Travelling to the Etihad on Saturday evening, there was a sense that Everton could claim a Premier League scalp against Manchester City if only they managed to take their chances and push themselves hard. But, despite some hard work, they simply couldn’t bring themselves to move up a gear to go level on points with fellow Champions League hopefuls Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur as they fell to a 1-0 defeat.

Unfortunate to be on the wrong end of some terrible officiating, the Toffees fell behind to a first-half goal when a penalty was awarded by Andre Mariner after James Milner went down in the box under a challenge from Phil Jagielka. No doubt, it was a soft penalty with minimal contact involved and the away side will have felt aggrieved to fall behind in such a fashion.

And up stepped Yaya Toure to smash home the spot-kick to gift them an early lead. Of course, all this had happened after Sergio Aguero was forced to come off injured after just two minutes, replaced by young Citizen star Jose Pozo.

Roberto Martinez’s men held their own for the first 15 or so minutes, and they even managed to make a few forays into City territory, but there was just no final end product to allow Romelu Lukaku smash home.

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Buoyed somewhat by the number of injuries the hosts were dealing with, you got the sense they would create at least one clear-cut opportunity before the match had ended, especially with Pellegrini’s star striker no longer posing a threat.

Before then, though, it was a case of some atrocious rough-housing from the Sky Blues as Eliaquim Mangala and Fernando were both booked for a couple of very dangerous high-foot challenges – one occurring in a crowded area in the 18th minute as Mangala stuck his studs into the back of Samuel Eto’o and the other taking place with Everton on the attack a mere eight minutes later.

Regardless of intent, it really seemed as though both players should have been dismissed for dangerous play, but again the referee was partial to a mistake.

Arguably the visitors’ best opportunity of the opening half came 39 minutes in when Kevin Mirallas volleyed a deflected cross at goal, but it flew narrowly wide.

Following the restart, the match continued at its flat pace for the opening quarter hour as neither side looked like taking the tie by the scruff of the neck.

Then, there was a bit of excitement for the league-chasers as Samir Nasri and new youngster Pozo could really have sealed the win much earlier, but they spurned two great chances. As for Everton, with Ross Barkley on the field of play, they looked a lot brighter and more inventive and it soon began to pay dividends.

Dictating the pace of the game, the young England international added a much-needed spark to proceedings as he continued to prowl around the edge of the opposition’s 18-yard box.

Late on, Lukaku really should have squared things up with a terrific volley in the 82nd minute after Eto’o had flicked through a delectable pass, but he was cruelly denied by a fantastic reflex save from Joe Hart in between the City posts.

The disbelief on the 21-year-old Belgian’s face was clearly visible, but it just summed up their night as did their final corner of the night which was poorly struck to let City off the hook. A lack of incentive, combined with City’s superior determination proved decisive in how the spoils were shared and fans will hope Everton can learn quickly from the mistakes of starting a match such as this so slowly.

All in all, Everton will feel unlucky that they couldn’t take advantage of a City team that just looked like they were going through the motions, especially as they were expected to go all-out for the victory, considering their upcoming Europa League encounter with Kuban Krasnodar has little bearing on anything.

Do you think Everton missed a chance against City on Saturday? Can they bounce back next Monday?