Ridiculously, for the second time this season, Everton drew 3-3 despite being 3-2 up after 97 minute – (Christ) – Chelsea this time the beneficiaries of the most exasperating of habits. Yet again Roberto Martinez’s side failed to turn a 2-0 lead into a win, showed naivety and softness in conceding, and were undone by a familiar combination of centre-back and goalkeeping errors. For once however, they were not quite the architects of their own downfall, merely complicit in their own demise after two slices of rotten luck robbed them.
The first-half was meek. The Blues’ rejigged back four with Bryan Oviedo at right-back and Phil Jagielka taking Ramiro Funes Mori’s place in the middle held firm. Everton overran Nemanja Matic and John Obi Mikel but poor pass selection and weak finishing undermined midfield superiority. Bryan Oviedo, Romelu Lukaku and Ross Barkley were particularly wasteful. The two flashes of attacking quality – Willian’s powerful drive and Kevin Mirallas’ neat turn and right-foot strike – were well-repelled by Tim Howard and Thibaut Courtois.
A mad second half saw Everton steam into a two-goal lead, rapidly blow it before forging ahead merely to enable the equaliser. John Terry’s own goal and Mirallas’ half-volley, both assisted by Leighton Baines either side of Barkley hitting the lost, had Evertonians in dream land, or imminent recurring nightmare land as it may as well be known. Cesc Fabregas drew a sharp stop from Tim Howard with an instinctive flick before taking complete control as Everton lost the plot for a few minutes. A perfect long ball befuddled Jagielka and Howard to leave an unguarded net for Diego Costa, before Fabregas’ wayward shot cruelly deflected in off Muhamed Bešić to cancel the deficit in seconds.
Shoddy for the first, unlucky for the second, Everton want to be most concerned about the bit in between. Somehow, one minute and 41 seconds was enough time for Stones to lose possession, Baines to present Oscar with a shooting opportunity, Howard to foolishly play a short pass, Stones to hit an intercepted long ball, dispossess Terry then lose it to Oscar, and for Barry to boot Pedro’s cross into touch. Before Fabregas had even approached the box and calmly worked his way in via Costa, Everton had six chances to clear. The game management criticism was most valid in the spectacularly dreadful 65th minute.
Changes
Oviedo departed on a stretcher shortly after in what was described by the Costa Rican on Twitter as “just for caution“. Precautionary stretcher is a new one on me; the four minutes contributed to the initial injury time total of seven a rare case of precaution engendering risk. This kick-started a period of end-to-end raggedness as substitutions altered shape and momentum. Funes Mori’s arrival saw Stones switch to the right as Kenedy and Loic Remy injected impetus for Chelsea. Mirallas’ one-on-one fired straight at Courtois was the standout chance, though Mikel’s whistling, 30-yard strike warrants a mention for obvious reason.
The home crowd, still mourning the Special One but appreciative of the Occasionally Handy and Actually Quite Decent One, had realistic expectations of victory, but Everton’s fading goal threat was boosted when Gerard Deulofeu replaced Aaron Lennon. On the stroke of 90 minutes, Deulofeu’s high, curving centre freed the head-bandaged Funes Mori at the back post to flick into the net with his weaker foot. What was that about dream land? Just like the Bournemouth debacle, the time spent celebrating merely extended the possibility of the draw.
Everton blocked well, particularly down Chelsa’s right and defended aerial balls confidently. Howard even mustered the rare courage to claim a cross. But there was a general lack of purpose to their closing moments. Against Man City in the League Cup, Everton took minutes off the clock by moving the ball safely and quickly. Here we saw frantic clearances, lazy dribbles and tired challenges. A simple forward pass into the corner from Deulofeu to Mirallas may have been sufficient to kill the game, but the former’s failure to evade Cesar Azipilicueta and the latter’s naivety in fouling Remy reversed the possibility.
When three Everton players lost their headers from the cross, that became an inevitability particularly with John ‘It had to be him’ Terry, on his 700th club appearance, bearing down on goal. The back-heel was an unnecessary low blow, Howard’s slow-motion reaction almost tragicomic relief, but the officials missing Terry a yard beyond Everton’s well-organised back four was extremely harsh after an afternoon of bad luck and poor officiating. A linesman’s howler was the difference between a thrilling win and a tedious draw. Everton now have a home game against struggling Swansea and a League Cup semi-final second leg away at Man City to prove that it was indeed an unfair reflection of their current defensive improvement.
—————————————————————————————————————————————-
By Chris Smith
Follow me on Twitter @cdsmith789.
The post Familiar failure for Everton but misfortune the key factor at Stamford Bridge appeared first on therussianlinesman.com.