Goodison Park stumble

The Portuguese wizard was one of the principal offenders for the crime of wasting chances

Man Utd entered the match on a high after a 3-0 win over Celtic in the Champions League group matches. The goals may have looked suspiciously offside but nevertheless Berbatov got his name recorded on the scoresheet for two goals. Rooney scored another yet again to round up a continuing superb run of form. Given that context, both Berba and Rooney were expected to rip Everton to shreds. Everton has never kept a clean sheet at all this season and their defence had been leaking unnecessary goals even though they are scoring upfront. Interestingly, Louis Saha is lined up against his former club and it remains to be seen if he would haunt Ferguson back or proved that Fergie was indeed right to sell him away.

When Darren Fletcher opened the scoring at the 22nd minute, there was hardly any surprise. Everton's defence were all over the place and a couple of good saves by Howard kept them in the game. What was impressive was that the Scotsman had shown an appetite for goals this season and he's now the joint top scorer with Rooney at 3 League goals. Depending on how you look at it, having Fletcher as Man Utd's premier league joint top scorer so far is of not exactly something the fans would boast about around. It meant that the lads that are supposed to be getting the goals aren't trying hard enough. Afterthat, Man Utd were just plain wasteful with their chances that they get. One of the main criminals were Ronaldo who squandered a handful of chances. By his high standards, he should be knocking them in especially at instances where he had at least 5 seconds to aim and shoot. Berbatov was effectively shut off by and he had little chance on the ball.

At the second half, Everton changed their approach to be more physical and apparently the rough style had unsettled the Man Utd players. The Toffees did not hesitate to go full plunge into challenges whenever United had the ball. Everton's approach was effective in getting the United players distracted and broke their usual chain of attack. Even Ferdinand got pissed off and worked up with Gary's bro and his former teammate, Phil Neville. Everton's tactic worked well and on the 63rd minute, Fellaini (a.k.a. Afro guy/Phua Chu Kang hairstyle) climbed above both super centerbacks Vidic and Ferdinand to head the ball in for the equaliser. Ferguson is left fuming wondering how in the world could England's best center defensive partnership were both beaten at the same time by a newcomer in Everton. It was horror time for United as Ferdinand's once again moment of "absent-mindedness" came at the wrong and worst possible time. A minute after the equaliser, Ferdinand (apparently half-dazed smoking weed+marijuana the night before) lost the ball to Yakubu and allowed him to smash a ball across van der Sar. The Dutchman was clearly beaten but alas, perhaps divine intervention had a part to play when the ball bobbled to hit the post, much to United's relief.

All the physical approach threatened to reach boiling point when Wayne Rooney was booked on a late tackle on Arteta. It's a seasonal tradition that Wayne gets booed whenever he returns to Goodison Park. However, he decided to show his PDA (Public Display of Affection) to the folks at his original stomping ground. As they jeered him, Rooney kissed the badge on his shirt and that incited even more outrage from the Goodison crowd. The referee saw his behaviour and warned him on that. Lol, apparently Rooney wants to imitate the Gary's PDA a couple of seasons back in front of the Liverpool fans. Fergie did not want to risk his ace striker in getting red carded at such a hostile environment, so he brought him out and that prevented Rooney from scoring his 100th career league goal at Goodison Park. United huffed and puffed, and even the introduction of Tevez could not inspire a last minute fightback. They missed the chance to keep tabs with both Liverpool and Chelsea and have to be contented with the 1-1 draw. For Everton, I think it's as good as a win for them. It's more of a two points loss to United.

Hull City are on a rampant mode! They ruthlessly whipped fellow newboys West Brom 3-0 right at their doorstep and the Tigers are now TIED 20 points with Liverpool and Chelsea for FIRST place.(that is until tonight's match between the top two). Hull City for Premier League CHAMPIONS please...lol!! I bet the bookies probably improved their chances to be higher than Spurs or the Toon Army..hahahaha. That's really admirable stuff from a team who has never competed before in a top division competition for the whole of their history. Hmmmm..however, I foresee their fairytale run coming to an end soon as they meet both Chelsea and Man Utd consecutively next. I'll be VERY impressed indeed even if they managed to secure a draw in either of them. All hell will break loose if they somehow managed to win one of the games..haha.