Everton were involved in a thrilling and fully enjoyable encounter to start their latest campaign with an almighty bang with a host of their highly paid stars putting in stunning displays ………. Who the frig am I kidding. Everton were in fact abysmal. With no signs of a creative spark combined with lacklustre passing and appalling finishing.
Everton were heavy favourites going into this game especially after Bolton thrashed the newly promoted side on the opening day.
Everton and QPR were both struck with selection problems as Everton were forced into leaving Arteta and Fellaini on the bench as they struggled with injuries. It was these injuries that saw the inclusion of 17 year old Ross Barkley who made his Premier League debut. QPR meanwhile were plagued by a stomach virus which saw the omission of DJ Campbell.
Everton started fairly brightly as it took a while for QPR to settle down. Everton could be forgiven for feeling slightly hard done by as they had strong claims for a penalty as Rodwell was sent tumbling inside the area. However the claims for a penalty were promptly waved away by Kevin Friend who it must be said didn`t have his best game as he allowed Cahill to be bullied and pushed all game.
Everton were unlucky not to take the lead when Leighton Baines thundered a well struck free kick off the underside of the crossbar which left Paddy Kenny planted to the spot.
Tim Cahill whilst usually clinical couldn`t grab Everton’s first goal of the campaign as he fluffed his lines when he put the ball wide with the open goal gaping before him.
QPR started to get into the game more as the half progressed. They seemed a lot more up for the game and willing to fight and their commitment started to pay dividends as they increasingly looked like the side most likely to break the deadlock.
And on the half an hour mark they did. Jagielka gave possession away cheaply to Buzsaky who slide the ball to Tommy Smith who took a touch and curled the ball past a sliding Jagielka and outstretched arm of Howard into the bottom corner of the goal.
Everton looked to have initially had the wind knocked from their sails but soon recovered to dominate the last five minutes of the half as QPR looked to maintain their leading into the half time break.
Within 8 minutes of the restart Moyes was already ringing the changes with the quite frankly appalling Rodwell being replaced by Arteta. This didn`t really have the desired effect of giving Everton an extra dimension going forward but Arteta was found to be ineffective down the left and it was a partnership with Baines that does not look likely to glean results anytime soon.
Shortly after the hour mark Moyes made a perplexing substitution replacing a hard working Beckford with Fellaini leaving Everton with no recognised forwards, instead the role was given to Cahill much to the disgust of the crowd who booed the decision. Barely ten minutes later Everton introduced the injury prone striker Saha. The Frenchman did frankly bugger all didn`t look interested and didn`t put one scrap of effort in.
Everton continued to draw a blank as the half dragged on with no new ideas and playing very one dimensional football. QPR looked most likely to extend their lead while on the break but some resolute tackling and outstanding turns of pace from Distin and Jagielka prevented the new boys from extending their lead.
The players were booed from the pitch after a disgrace start to what I think is going to be a long, tough season for the boys in blue
0 points gained 40 to go …
Player Ratings
Howard
6 Had very little to do other than pick the ball out his net.
Baines
6 Very ineffective didn`t get forward nearly enough was unlucky to be denied by the crossbar
Jagielka
5 Gave the ball away for the goal but didn`t do too badly otherwise
Distin
7 Run of the mill defending. Blocking, tackling all what you would expect from him. Showed some excellent pace to shore up the defence in the closing stages
Neville
5 His final ball into the box was an embarrassment and I have lost count the amount of yards of pace Neville has lost since he came to the club.
Rodwell
0 An absolute disgrace. Hopefully he will be sacrificed for new players before the end of the month before he puts in many more performances like this.
Heitinga
6 Solid enough in the midfield some wayward passing let him down though
Barkley
8 Probably our best player says a lot considering he is 17. Some nice passes and bits of creativity.
Osman
7 You know what you`re getting from Osman he never stopped trying and showed some neat touches
Cahill
7 Should have scored twice hopefully he will be back to some degree of scoring form soon as I honestly can`t see where else our goals are coming from
Beckford
6 Worked very hard and came very close to connecting with a couple of half chances
Arteta
5 Had next to no impact on the left when played with Baines they looked like strangers half the time
Fellaini
6 Won a couple of headers that was about it really
1 The less said about this waste of space the better
Manager Rating
3 Strange line up, tactics and substitutions bad day in the office