EVERTON showed how far they have come at Manchester City last weekend.
David Moyes demonstrated a bit of balls.
He sent his side out there not to sit back and soak up possession, but to give it a real go and take the game to the champions.
It worked. And it showed what we knew already – Everton can compete with anyone on the day.
They don’t give anybody and easy game and that’s one of the traits they have gained from their manager. They might lack a bit of quality in certain areas but they weren’t frightened by City.
While Everton never really looked they could get the win, they were more than comfortable. In fact, they made City look like they have done in the Champions League this season, a little laboured and lacking in ideas going forward.
City, of course, know all about the problems Everton can cause, and probably gave Moyes’s men more respect than any other team to visit the Etihad in the Premier League this season.
City knew it was going to be a tough game, and Everton didn’t disappoint.
Marouane Fellaini is just having that stellar season, and thoroughly deserves to be Premier League player of the month for November.
His goal and performance at City extended that run of form. But if there is great encouragement from the Belgian, then there continue to be concerns about Nikica Jelavic.
Some goalscorers are simply natural goalscorers, who can miss four chances but not let it affect them and keep plugging away.
Then there are those that I would call streaky, an example of which is Tottenham’s Jermain Defoe.
Jelavic looks like he is missing confidence and needs an extra touch, but he still works for the team. But someone like Defoe, you could argue, if he’s not scoring his contribution is negligible.
That’s not true with Jelavic. And that’s important. Everyone knows about his one-touch finishing, and that doesn’t desert you forever. If Jelavic continues to work for the team, then his fortunes will change.
