Last night I slipped out of work early to head over to Goodison Park to watch Everton v’s Larissa in the first group stage of the UEFA Cup.
It was a good match, Everton where being dominated during the first 10 minutes and the crowd where pretty quiet, however we soon took control and from a short corner Osman crossed and Cahill just back from injury directed the ball into the net, probably one of the easiest goals he’ll ever score.
In the second half Everton went 2 up from a sublime piece of football, Cahill again started it by putting Baines clear down the left and he crossed the ball on the floor early for Pienaar to back heel into Osman’s path who hit it low and hard with the outside of his right boot and it swerved delicately in the air and just inside the post with the goalkeeper rooted to the middle of the goal.
The game then turned a little and Larissa came forward and managed to score after a mix up between Howard and Lescott, stupid goal really, however Everton never do things easily (back to chewing the nails).
With less than 10 minutes to play, Everton cleared and the ball rebounded onto Gravesen’s head and he headed it forwards into Anichibes path, he took it in his stride and after shirking off a shoulder barge from Dabiaz (ex-barcode) he managed to tuck the ball into the back of the net with covering defender and keeper wrong footed.
Overall it was a really good game, we played some good football in a 4-5-1 formation which really suits Everton. Man of the Match had to be Cahill, his energy and goal settled Everton into a good stride, he only just pipped Osman to that for me as he again had another good game in the middle of the park.
