FA Cup Heartbreak

There’s nothing like a bit of FA Cup heartbreak to get you writing again!

Well where do I even start?

What an explosive game. It had everything a proper cup tie needs, a red card, scuffles between your own players (LOL West Ham), a penalty shoot out, spectacular saves, a beauty of a free kick, a perfect tribute and so much more.

Despite the fact I’m gutted and it feels more like we lost the FA Cup final, not the third round, I feel more inspired that this injury stricken Everton team are starting to turn it around. The passion and fight they showed last night was tremendous.

It only seems right I start with Joel Robles and his amazing performance. When I learned that Tim Howard was injured, I wanted to cry, we had a shaky sub goalie in Robles with not a lot of match experience for us. But I hold my hands up, he has improved with every game he has played and last night his one handed saves kept us in the game.

He was calm and organised throughout the game and we didn’t see the usual flappy performance he sometimes displays. It was such a cruel, cruel way for him to end the night. A ‘hammer-blow’ as the BT pundits kept calling it, (don’t get me started on them!) for Robles to be our man of the match to then be the man to end our cup run. I must admit I didn’t have much hope that his spot kick was going to go in and then for him to have to stand in goal and face that Adrian, I just knew that was it. We wouldn’t have even made it past the 90 minutes without Robles so his head should be held very high.

As biased as this may sound, I really believe we were the better side and deserved to win that tie. I’d like to move on to the referee, thoughts?

McGeady’s sending off was fair and didn’t really do us much harm apart from it leaving the final spot kick to Robles, but how many of us think McGeady would have scored it anyway?! One of my contacts has suggested that the FA should review his sending off, in the hope he might get a three match ban, rather than just one. (He’s not a fan of McGeady’s.)

At least the sending off urged Martinez to bring Mirallas on, something he should have done anyway, though I appreciate he isn’t quite match fit. The ref for me scores about 5/10. He – as Bobby said post match – wasn’t consistent enough.

“My only complaint is you want a bit of consistency with the physicality West Ham were playing with, the yellow cards weren’t shared out in the same manner.”

How was Andy Carroll not booked for persistent fouling? Nolan was booked for them and that was it, they were nasty, time wasters, shirt pullers, elbowers, fouling, sneaky players and deserved to have been in the ref’s book more than we were. The final straw was when he had a word with Robles while holding a yellow card, did he not see this?!

Picture from Daily Mail.

Adrian was awful! Practically screaming at Naisy!

Moving on, Phil Jagielka was everything we needed him to be last night. A stalwart in defence, strong and defiant. He has also been shaky of late but showed no hint of a wobble last night. The same can’t be said for John Stones, but he is young and still has much to learn and is already so much better than he’s been.

Lukaku would have undoubtedly had a lot on his mind following the sudden and tragic death of Junior Malanda, but like a true professional he powered on. He got his goal and fittingly made an emotional tribute to Malanda which nearly had me in tears.

Lukaku was proving his worth, he was all over the pitch, hungry for the ball, playing some really fancy football and then that goal! Bravo!

I couldn’t believe it when we went up 2-1, I thought that was it, we’ve got this. The roar of the travelling 3,000 fans was heart-warming! The skill Mirallas showed in the run-up to that goal was breath-taking, world class skill! To run and weave in and out of about 4 West Ham players showed the truly amazing player he is.

But alas, the football God’s wanted a penalty shoot out and my word they got one. I was beside myself, literally could not cope, I was pacing around the room, sat on the floor, clutching a cushion to my face, jumping for joy, yelling at the television and then finally sat with my head in my hands.

I wonder if you can work out which parts of the match my sister and I are talking about here…

So it wasn’t to be this time and despite thinking we’d hit ‘the turning point’ already this season, I finally think last night may just be it…

I’ll leave you with my favourite part of the match.

Until next time Blues…

 

 

Will We Miss Mirallas’ Midas Touch?

It was confirmed on Tuesday that Kevin Mirallas will miss the remaining three games of the season with a groin injury.

In an interview with Everton TV, Martinez  said: “Kevin’s scans came back and they have revealed a small tear in his groin. He is going to be out for the season which is a real disappointment and a shame because he was in a phenomenal moment of form. “But the memory we have of his performance against Manchester United is a terrific image. The way he took his goal and how he was a dynamic force throughout the game – it was an outstanding performance. “It’s a great way to finish the season if it’s the last game he is going to be involved in this campaign.”

“It is not a major injury. It could be anything up to five or six weeks, and that’s looking at the worst-case scenario. Kevin is a quick healer and I would be surprised if he is not available after three or four weeks. “It’s a shame because we had three really important games and Kevin has always been really influential this campaign. But the most important aspect now is that we get him fully fit and ready to participate with Belgium in the World Cup.”

As Martinez touched upon, Mirallas played really well in the 2-0 win against Manchester United and it is a shame he will miss the remaining games of the season – away to Southampton, the last home game of the season against Man City and the conclusion of the season away to Hull City. He seemed to be coming into a run of form, so for that to be cut short, I think, will hit the squad, but we have always come up with alternatives. When we lost captain Phil Jagielka to injury, John Stones stepped up massively!

Kevin Mirallas seems to be in good spirit, taking to his Instagram account to share his thoughts.

The 26 year old Belgian international has scored 9 times for us this season and has set up 10, his work up and down the pitch has been vital to each game. He does appear to have somewhat of a ‘Midas touch’, his ability to turn games around and weave his way down the pitch to set up goal scoring opportunities is something that will be missed. In a way the silver lining is perhaps that it has happened with only three games left, I think it would have been more of a blow, had he sustained the injury a few games prior to the United game.

The Everton Page on Facebook asked for your thoughts on how much of a loss Mirallas will be. Thanks for getting in touch and here are some of your views.

Comments from ‘The Everton Page’

Comments from ‘The Everton Page’

Comments from ‘The Everton Page’

Comments from ‘The Everton Page’

I agree with what a lot of you are saying, in that there are plenty of people available to ‘step up’. Aiden McGeady and Gerard Deulofeu have looked impressive lately and both can provide the impact we need in Mirallas’ absence. I particularly agree with the first comment from Steve Nelson, Mirallas has been inconsistent this season, but he did seem to be coming into his own and as everyone seems to be saying, he is going to be a loss. As we all know we are missing a lot of players through injury at the moment and it is another blow to have yet another strong player out.

Saturday’s game away to Southampton will be a big test. Against a team that has been very good this season and with the number of absences we have, everyone needs to work together and go out fighting once more. The race for 4th is still on, it is ours for the taking.

In Martinez we trust.

 

Until next time Blues…