Everton 1, Zenit St Petersburg 0 - post match analysis

Dec 6 2007 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

WHILE across Stanley Park fingernails are being gnawed at the prospect of a European decider, Everton supporters have the luxury of treating their team’s final group game as an opportunity for some last-minute Christmas shopping.

After all, there will be few worries on the field in Holland in a fortnight after David Moyes’s side last night ensured their UEFA Cup campaign continues into the New Year.

Tim Cahill once again proved the man for the grand occasion, celebrating his 29th birthday a day early by finally breaking the resistance of a resolute Zenit St Petersburg with a trademark strike five minutes from time.

Coupled with Nurnberg’s 2-1 win over AZ Alkmaar, it was enough to secure not only qualification for the last 32 of the competition but also the all-important top spot in Group A with a game to spare.

Moyes’s men will avoid opposition dropping down from the Champions League when the draw for the next round is made on December 21, instead facing the more palatable option of a third-placed team from another group.

And given the manner in which they have swept aside all-comers so far in Europe, that should hold few fears for an Everton side that is becoming more accomplished with each Continental conquest.

Metalist Kharkiv, Larissa, Nurnberg and now Zenit.

All have offered a different challenge; all have been successfully negotiated.

Admittedly, Everton were last night aided by referee Kristinn Jakobsson’s controversial decision to dismiss Zenit

centre-back Nicolas Lombaerts for handball on the half-hour.

Although Mikel Arteta skied the subsequent penalty into the Gwladys Street End – shades of Andrew Johnson against Metalist earlier in this UEFA Cup campaign – it was the task of playing the final hour with 10 men that ultimately proved too great for the visitors.

Moyes had correctly identified Zenit as the strongest opposition in the group, with the Russia international Andrey Arshavin in particular a constant danger throughout.

Zenit manager Dick Advocaat had in contrast been less than complimentary about Everton, dismissing them as a long-ball team who relied on brute force rather than any great guile or skill.

The evidence last night will hopefully make the Dutchman realise how wrong he was. Changing perceptions has been a feature of Everton’s season, this win stretching their unbeaten run to nine games and a huge fillip ahead of their Carling Cup quarter-final at West Ham United next Wednesday.

Advocaat’s assessment steeled Zenit for a physical encounter, and their disruptive tactics meant Everton struggled to replicate the ruthless streak that had obliterated Sunderland 10 days earlier.

Chances that did come along weren’t taken such that profligacy seemed to have denied them victory until Cahill’s intervention, a sixth goal in nine games since returning from his long-term metatarsal injury.

“The gaffer said ‘go and get me goal’ and fortunately I managed to do that,” said the Australian. “I am just pleased for the supporters. We’ve topped the group now and it’s a big stage for us to go on to.

“We’ve worked really hard to be where we are. The gaffer has a group of players who want to play well together. For the staff, the supporters and everyone at Everton it was a special night.”

Everton’s hectic period of fixtures had persuaded Moyes to make four changes from the team that followed the 7-1 thumping of Sunderland with a goalless draw at Portsmouth on Saturday.

Zenit hadn’t played a competitive fixture since claiming the Russian title on November 11, their first championship in 23 years. And Everton sought to capitalise on the visitors’ rustiness in the first quarter.

An early scramble in the penalty area led to Arteta hooking the ball goalwards over a flapping Zenit goalkeeper Vyacheslav Malafeev only for an alert Kim Dong Jin to clear off the line. McFadden then spurned a decent opening when, after breaking from the halfway line and skipping beyond Martin Skrtel, his intended square pass to an expectant Johnson was too close to Lombaerts.

Zenit, though, gradually found their rhythm and began to string some decent possession together without ever testing Tim Howard, who had been passed fit after about of illness earlier in the week.

But the Russians should have been behind on the half-hour when Everton wasted a chance handed to them by referee Jakobsson.

An Arteta free-kick wasn’t properly cleared and, after Steven Pienaar returned the danger into the Zenit penalty area, Cahill flicked the ball over the on-rushing keeper Malafeev and struck a shot that was blocked on the line by Lombaerts.

Without consulting with his fellow officials, referee Jakobsson instantly awarded a penalty and dismissed the outraged Belgian centre-back.

Television replays revealed that ire was understandable, the ball striking Lombaerts on the thigh and then the chest before drifting out of play.

But Zenit were soon celebrating when the normally reliable Arteta, who scored from the spot in the previous UEFA Cup game against Nurnberg, blasted horribly over from the spot.

The Spaniard almost made amends minutes later with an ambitious 35-yard free-kick that had Malafeev scrambling across his goal to parry clear from his top left-hand corner, and Lee Carsley then released a shot that struck the inside of the post and flashed back across goal.

Zenit fashioned their first real chance five minutes after the interval when Howard was forced into a resourceful parry after Pavel Pogrebnyak had raced away from Phil Jagielka in pursuit of Arshavin’s smart pass. The increasingly influential Arshavin created another opening moments later with a clever chip over the home defence but Konstantin Zyrianov hurried his shot wastefully over. It was to be the last time Zenit seriously threatened.

Everton’s desperation for a goal was underlined earlier in the half when Andrew Johnson and McFadden collided in pursuit of a loose ball behind the Zenit defence.

Pienaar shot over, Arteta whistled an effort narrowly past the post and Carsley was again off target, but Zenit were happy to sit back and play on the break as Everton grew increasingly frustrated.

The introduction of UEFA Cup specialist Victor Anichebe from the bench gave Zenit’s defence an extra headache, the striker later followed by fellow youngster James Vaughan.

But it was Cahill that finally broke Zenit’s resistance five minutes from time. After his initial header from an Arteta right-wing corner was blocked, Lescott thrashed a shot that was brilliantly saved by Malafeev, but Cahill was on hand to force the rebound over the line from two yards.

It may not have been the Australian’s most spectacular strike, but it was enough to give Everton an early Christmas present to their supporters.