The match against Stoke on Sunday was the nightmare scenario for Everton. Everton struggles at the best of times against teams that go out to keep it tight at the back. This problem is made worse when that team neutralizes our set pieces with dirty defending. Add that to a referee who puts a blindfold on whenever the ball is in Stoke’s penalty area and Everton has little hope of scoring. Everton faced this nightmare at Goodison Park on Sunday. 

For the first fifteen minutes the match looked like it was going to be a dominant performance by Everton. We had all the possession, were playing good football and looked to be out to create some chances despite poor final balls from Bily. Then, like it always seems to happen, Stoke score on their first corner, with an unmarked Huth tapping past Howard from an unchallenged Dean Whitehead blast. After that, the game didn’t really change though, as Everton were still easily on top but could not turn possession into any good scoring chances. 

The second half started much the same way, with Everton dominating before Stoke came back into the game. To quell Stoke’s resurgence, Moyes brought in Jack Rodwell for the Bily (who really seems to struggle against physical defenses). The minutes after Rodwell came on were mired by the injury to Thomas Sorenson. Sorenson appeared to be concussed after his head collided with Tim Cahill’s thigh in a challenge (penalty shout). Yet, Sorenson remained on the field for a few more minutes before sinking to his knee and being taken off by a stretcher.

Vellios, who looked outmatched today against Huth and Shawcross, was the next to make way for Denis Stracqualursi as Everton pushed harder and harder for an equalizer. David Moyes even took off Tony Hibbert and played three at the back for the final few minutes. However, all of this was to no avail as Everton refused to turn any of the numerous opportunities into real chances. The best opportunity to equalize came through John Heitinga who was inches off of connecting with a cross from a short corner (and then unleashed his fury at failing on the net inside Stoke’s goal). 

Talking Points: 

Lee Mason: You can’t understand the match today without understanding how poor Lee Mason was. His decisions defied logic at times. To name a few of Mason’s glut of ridiculous calls: a Leon Osman foul on a diving Peter Crouch, a Tim Cahill foul after he’s been thrown off of the field by two Stoke defenders, two nasty sliding challenges on Seamus Coleman that went un-penalized, and a foul on Apostolos Vellios when Robert Huth had him in a bear-hug. Mason obstinately refused to construe anything that Stoke did on set pieces as fouls. Mason even took the extra step of actually donning a blindfold for each Everton corner in the second half. I’m almost certain that Marouane Fellaini has a good case for battery against Ryan Shawcross for the way that Shawcross ‘defended’ him today. Huth was no better. It was one of the dirtiest displays I’ve ever seen and Lee Mason turned a blind eye to it. It was disgraceful refereeing and it turned a tough day for Everton into something truly infuriating. 

Tim Cahill: Tim Cahill was put through the spin cycle today by the Stoke defense. He was held, pulled, tugged, shoved, and kicked. However, he still was not himself. He looks like he’s trying too hard to score a goal. It didn’t help that he was a punching bag for Stoke but he could really use a goal for some confidence at this point as his form of late has been worrying.

Attacking Options: David Moyes came out in the media this week and said that we didn’t have the quality striker that we need. Everton fans didn’t need to admit it. We know that we lack a quality striker. That’s why we struggle against teams like Stoke: because we don’t have anyone up top that is going to score a quality goal against an organized defense to force them out of their shell. This is why we struggled at the beginning of the season and required referees to bail us out against Blackburn, Bolton and Wolves. It’s why we’ll struggle to finish in the top half of the table. Hopefully we can do something about that in January.

No Shots on Goal at Home, against Stoke: The most depressing statistic to come out of the match today is that Everton created no shots on goal with 67% possession and ten corners. That’s an appalling performance and it can’t all be down to the referee. We had the chance to put good balls into the box and we either didn’t put in quality crosses, couldn’t get anyone on the end or couldn’t manage to beat the cheating Stoke defenders. We’ve now lost four matches at home to QPR, Liverpool, United and Stoke. We also have a draw against Aston Villa on our conscience. Our performances have to improve because we can’t expect to get the majority of our points away from home, not with this team.

Man of the Match: Marouane Fellaini. He was really our driving force today. You could tell he was causing a lot of trouble for Stoke with the way that they used three defenders to waylay him every time the ball came anywhere near him. You can thank Lee Mason for the fact that he didn’t score again today. 

Up next is Arsenal at the Emirates, and I don’t fancy it if I’m honest.

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