Everton Preview

[brfcshabba]

How on earth has Everton got away with some of the tackles

[evertonfan]

This ref is a joke. Pedersen booked for nothing, whereas this niggly lot have got away with murder.

Benni has handballed 3 times so far, not too sure where Everton have murdered to be honest with you. To me it seems there have been fewer bookings than usual, not what anyone expected in a fixture like this.

[American Rover12]

Bentley's free kick deflected and saved, rovers make a mess of following up and finishing

[rog of the rovers]

Draw probably a fair result. Would have taken it before the game. Stops the rot at Goodison in the league anyway! Still unbeaten since the Chelsea semi-final!

[evertonfan]

Seems reasonably fair. Rovers by far the better side against an appalling Everton in the first half and Everton were the better side in the second one. 50-50 possession. 8 shots on target each and 5 off target each.

[brfcshabba]

A fair result I think, first half we dominated but Everton came back strong in the second half, either team could have won it but I'm sure not many people on here expected us to be unbeaten in August in the league

[tony gale's mic]

well chelsea was a draw after 90 minutes too...

anyway still a good start to the season. boro away, arsenal home and everton away are 3 games we easily could have lost, two hard games and one tricky game and we have 5 points in the bag, could easily have been bottom with those opening three fixtures.

[yorkblues]

should have won the game in the first half.the ref was a joke

for me samba motm.dunns best game so far

[Oklahoma]

The game was live here but the cable connection kept falling due to the bad weather.

So, I only saw the beggining and the end lol

[Exiled_Rover]

Benni has handballed 3 times so far, not too sure where Everton have murdered to be honest with you. To me it seems there have been fewer bookings than usual, not what anyone expected in a fixture like this.

Neville has committed multiple fouls, very much deserving of a yellow. Jagielka hacked down Bentley with no intention of getting the ball.

[Eddie]

Another poor ref. He made most of the right decisions, but how no Everton players were booked is beyond me. Really have to look at that as two points dropped. We were in control and should have scored more and really pressed, but we asked for it and it proved costly. Bentley, Benni and MGP were all a little off. Dunn, Samba, Savage and Santa Cruz (should have just either headed it out or kicked it clear for the goal) were all good. Lots of positives to take from the game and we played well, but we really threw it away and that is a shame.

[doctorryan]

We've done our usual get ahead then take our foot off the throat. Rubbish.

Yep. 2 points thrown away after getting an early lead again. This match should have been over at the half. 62 minutes with the lead & ............@#*&%!. We just can't get that 2nd goal most of the time. So much for staying in touch with the leaders.

[eddiewac]

Ya can hardly call it handball, jesus, we were the best side for most of the game, Everton were getting back into it a bit in the second half but only really after 70mins, Neville committed about 7 fouls and somehow wasn't booked, dunno how McFadden got away with a few of his away, double standards yet again, typical, Pedersen was booked for "time wasting" im guessing, never in a million years can ya call that time wasting, we should've won really but i suppose a draw away at Everton is a fairly good result

[philipl]

Come the end of the season, this could be a very costly two points chucked away. Everton had no answer to Rovers' attacking threat in the first half but all credit to Moyes for turning it around. That said we should have closed this one out.

Riley was his usual rubbish self. ridiculous early booking for nothing much then a stupid "time wasting" booking on MGP BUT

- nothing for two quick in succession cycical fouls by Neville

- nothing for a really bad foul by Jagielka

- nothing for a straight elbow into the cheek by Neville on MGP

Utterly cynical biased anti-Rovers refereeing yet again.

Gary O'Reilly in the commentary- what an ignoramous!

Samba- man of the match.

We are going to destroy somebody when Roque and Benni click.

[Eddie]

Neville has committed multiple fouls, very much deserving of a yellow. Jagielka hacked down Bentley with no intention of getting the ball.

Not to mention Johnson. Few bad challenges, particularly one that he was lucky to even stay on the pitch for, let alone not even be booked.

[Paul]

I thought we played extremely well today and fully deserved to win, very unfortunate we found out RSC can't defend!!

[tsnuf]

First half was awesome, I was so proud of the team, they played really well. Don't know what happened in the second half, but I was sad to see Stubbs and Carsley go off with injuries because Lescott and Jagielka were much better.

My ratings:

Friedel - 7 - solid, don't know how McFadden got that shot in

Warnock - 9 - excellent all game, although where was he for Everton's equalizer? Arteta marked by RSC..

Ooijer - 8 - Silly tackle in the first 5 mins, but he was unnoticeable for the rest of the match which is good for a defender

Samba - 9 - My MOTM, despite what I just said about unnoticeable defenders being good, he was extremely noticeable and in a good way!

Emerton - 8 - Thought he played very well today, his pace was very useful on defense

Gamst - 7 - So unlucky with the overhead, pretty good service from corners

Dunn - 7 - Really good in the first half, had a nice attempt on goal

Savage - 7 - Didn't do anything wrong, but I expected him to throw himself about more when we were losing it in the 2nd half. Didn't get booked!!

Bentley - 7 - Not so good on the crossing from open play, but good dead ball delivery, and often carried it out of our half

Santa Cruz - 8 - Good positioning for his goal, and was a useful physical presence up top

McCarthy - 5 - Not much from him today. Didn't challenge for any headers, that's for sure.

Subs - No time to make impact. Hughes really is curious with his refusal to put on any subs before 75 mins.

I thought Moyes subs changed the game in the second half.. don't know if I should credit him or not, as two of them were forced. Was a little disappointed that Hughes didn't change anything to counter it, but I am reasonably happy with the result. How did Neville not get booked though??

[Mr. E]

Incredibly frustrating. How many times did Everton clear off the line?? And a late equalizer too...

We should have tried to play the ball on the ground a bit more often too - Samba and Cruz are good in the air, but we didn't give Benni much to do. We need to mix it up a little.

Like last week, not a bad result, but we could and should have won.

Oh and Riley is, has been, and always will be a complete idiot. Yellow for MGP for time-wasting (!), while Neville could have been sent off 3 times - and nothing for him.

[yankrover]

Definitely a frustrating result. Everton's goal was deserved, I thought, but we should have been up by more than one at that point. We did outplay a quality team on their home field so I'm still feeling very optimistic about our season.

[Presty On Tour]

gutting to only get a point.

a 2 goal cushion would of been the final nail in the coffin but there we are.

still undefeated and nelsen back next game

[frosty]

We should have comfortably won after our great first half display. We fell apart in the second and couldn't string any passes together - a draw was a fair result. I just wish Santa Cruz had of cleared it for their goal though.....

[tchocky]

How on earth has Everton got away with some of the tackles

I can remember 3 Neville tackles that each deserved a yellow as much as Ooijer did. But did he get any?

Also the Pedersen booking was ridiculous.

Decent game though. I thought we were excellent in the first half. Fantastic stuff. It was a real shame we couldn't get another goal. That would have won it for us. Everton were best in the second half but far from as dominant as Rovers were in the first. As it turned out I'm happy with the point.

[den]

Only two candidates for MOTM for me, Dunn or Samba.

[Hasta]

I've just logged on to vote Samba for MOM. Not suprised he's got 100% of the vote so far.

Maybe it's because, like Savage, he's so distinctive that people notice him more. In any case he was awesome.

[American]

Only two candidates for MOTM for me, Dunn or Samba.

Agree that both were good, but I voted for Emerton (made sure I didn't read others comments before voting). Thought Emerton didn't put a foot wrong and offered some good passes going forward. Samba was my second, and was my first until the goal where he just stood there.

Didn't even remember in stretches that Benni was playing - one of his worst matches as a Rover.

All in all, a nice point away against a top 6 side.