Solid as a rock

By Chris Kirwan
March 4 2003

The Blues picked up another 3 points with a solid, if unspectacular, performance. First half they were poor, but the Blues improved drastically in the second half, and we were even given relaxing finish courtesy of a rare two goal cushion.

Moyes was grateful for David Unsworth getting his considerable frame in the way of a Harry Kewell shot, or we would have been in the same situation as Sunderland. But like the Sunderland game the defence was never really tested. The Leeds midfield was poor, but to lay the blame for that solely on the sale of their midfield stars would be wrong; the Blues provide evidence that you don’t need a quartet of stars to function well. But the biggest disappointment for Leeds’ fans must come from the constant underperformance of Kewell and Viduka up front, and that to allow them to play in their favoured positions Alan Smith is shunted out to the right flank. Kewell may have had Leeds’ only opening, but I cannot recall one occasion on which he ran at the Everton defence, despite being labelled “the best dribbler in the Premiership”. In fact the only time Leeds got any penetration from the flanks was when James Milner was introduced, and Venables is quite sensibly protecting the youngster from the current shambles.

Moyes must be thankful the Blues’ first half display was not punished by Leeds, and according to David Unsworth told his players exactly what he thought of their performance “early doors”,

"What made the difference? A bit of a rollicking at half-time from the gaffer! That would have done it! He just wanted us to pass the ball more and get forward a bit more - and we did that.

"There are times when you need a bit of a kick up the backside and it was justified on Saturday. We were just a shade off what we normally are in the first half, but we certainly did the trick in the second."

Unsworth was once again excellent on Saturday and thoroughly deserved his goal. His confidence has returned under Moyes, and he is aided by being settled at left back, rather than being shifted around his various positions. But the men of the match were the players who combined for the second goal; Radzinski and Li Tie were superb in the second half. In recent weeks Li Tie has begun to settle down in the Everton midfield; he isn’t caught in possession quite as much, and looks more at home when accompanied by a more defensive-minded colleague such as Gemmill.

Meanwhile Radzinski is showing the form that he gave fleeting glimpses of last year far more consistently this season. He is one goal short of Ruud Van Nistelrooy’s Premiership total, and will surely keep his place despite the return of Rooney. I still don’t have great confidence in his finishing (with his miss at home to Bolton last season still fresh in my memory!), but like Andy Cole he creates enough chances every game to score, and seems more clinical when not given time to think about his finish.

The Blues have a week to prepare for the game at Charlton, but despite this extra time for injured players to get closer to full fitness Moyes will be delighted to be able to retain a winning side. It’s fantastic to have players the calibre of Yobo, Rooney, Campbell and Hibbert ready to step in should injury, suspension of loss of form occur. Moyes stated that,

“It’s not just the 11 on the pitch, it’s throughout the squad. They all want to play, there’s no sulkers, there’s people on the bench who are top players and suddenly we have a strong squad.

“If we have shown character and maturity, that’s good. The players deserve enormous credit for the way they have changed around.”

Hopefully their reward will come in the shape of a well-deserved European jaunt next year.