Everton sank to their fifth loss at home in a gale on Wednesday night despite a freak goal by Tim Howard. Everton started brightly, buoyed by the return of Landon Donovan. Donovan won a free kick in the opening minute, slaloming past Samuel Ricketts before being dragged down just outside the box. Everton looked the more likely to score initially, as Stracqualursi and Saha spurned chances and Leon Osman had a shot tamely saved by Adam Bogdan.

Bolton tried to hit back through David Ngog, who ran clear of the Everton defense after the wind caused the ball to bounce dangerously past Tony Hibbert and Phil Jagielka. Sylvain Distin managed to slow Ngog with a challenge before Phil Jagielka came sliding in to put an end to the danger. In making the challenge, Jagielka injured his knee and was forced off in 42nd minute, replaced by Jack Rodwell. John Heitinga shifted into Jagielka’s right centerback position.

Everton’s best chance for a goal in the first half came in the 44th minute when Landon Donovan ran clear of the Bolton defense and appeared to be taken down from behind by Ricketts. Despite a long discussion with both Donovan and Phil Neville, referee Phil Dowd refused to give a penalty (though the play was almost a mirror image of the foul he gave in the first minute on Ricketts). The half ended scoreless.

Everton began the second half in dominant fashion, ramping up the pressure on the Bolton goal to no avail. Leon Osman, who was orchestrating Everton’s play in the middle, was substituted because of injury in the 52nd minute, replaced by Magaye Gueye. In Osman’s absence, Everton began to fall apart, giving away balls in their own half and allowing Bolton needless scoring opportunities.

Any hope David Moyes had of making an impact sub was foiled in the 61st minute when Jack Rodwell pulled up, feeling his hamstring, and had to be replaced by Tim Cahill. And then it happened, the ball was laid back to Tim Howard who fired it up toward the strikers. The ball took a bounce at the edge of the 18-yard box and picked up speed in the wind, sailing over the head of Adam Bogdan into the Gwladys Street net (video). Howard, feeling for Bogdan, refused to celebrate.

Everton supporters’ joy was short-lived, as RS cast-off and part-time diver David Ngog, given far too much space in the box for the second time in the half, found the bottom corner of Tim Howard’s goal and leveled the score in the 67th minute. Bolton was not done and, in the 78th minute, Gary Cahill found space following a Martin Petrov free kick and fired another shot past Howard. Leighton Baines almost saved a point at the death when his free kick hit the crossbar but the match finished 2-1 to Bolton.

Talking Points:

Tim Howard’s Goal: I’ve gotten a number of texts from friends since the match fawning over Howard’s goal. I’m glad that it got Everton on mainstream TV in the U.S. for the first time since probably 2009, but the goal was a product of some horrible wind and Howard scored our only goal against a team clinging onto the bottom of the table. He wasn’t that pumped about it, and neither am I, because we lost to Bolton.

Louis Saha: Louis Saha cannot start again. Against Bolton, he had three clear opportunities that he failed to even put on target, scuffing them with his good foot. Add those to the similar one he missed on Sunday and it is surprising to see him still included in the starting lineup week after week. He’s scored one goal in 15 matches on 43 shots. I’d rather see Conor McAleny get a start against both Tamworth and Spurs than watch him jog around the pitch and miss both passes and shots. 

4-4-2: This match should be highlighted because David Moyes decided to come out in a 4-4-2 for the first time in recent memory. Unfortunately, the formation appeared to be some of the cause of Everton’s demise after the loss of Leon Osman and Jack Rodwell. We couldn’t manage to get any sort of control of the ball with the likes of Phil Neville and Tim Cahill in the center. David Moyes wanted to use this formation to exploit Bolton’s defensive frailties, but it was our own frailties going forward that took center stage.

Injuries: Injuries killed us against Bolton. Phil Jagielka, Leon Osman and Jack Rodwell all went off injured. I pray that neither Jagielka nor Osman suffered long-term injury because the defense without Jagielka was awful and our midfield without Leon Osman had to rely on Phil Neville’s meager creative spark. This team needs Marouane Fellaini and Royston Drenthe to recover, and quickly.

Man of the Match: The wind, with an assist.

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