Yesterday’s match was no different. Everton dominated play for much of the first half, keeping good possession but unable to turn that possession into goals. Then, out of nowhere, Wolves attacked and the referee awarded them a penalty which they gladly put away (0-1, 37’).

The goal gave Everton the sense of urgency that was previously lacking and we drew level when Phil Jagielka scored with a towering header off of a set piece (1-1, 44’).

The second half proceeded much like the first half, with Everton creating a few goal scoring opportunities, keeping a lot of possession, but unable to find the breakthrough. For their part, Wolves had no business getting a point yesterday. Everton had ten more shots and eight more corners. Yet, the score was tied with only ten minutes remaining. Then, Everton’s luck evened out as the referee penalized a foul on Vellios (or was it Saha?) on a corner. Leighton Baines put a silky finish into the bottom left corner and Everton ran out winners. Never in doubt.

Talking Points:

Penalties: Both penalties were soft. Certainly, Fellaini shouldn’t have invited Edwards to go down by sticking his leg out but that wasn’t a foul for me. As you may be able to tell from above, I think our penalty at the end was so soft that I’m not even sure whom it was given against. I guess it was the foul by George Elokobi on Vellios but Saha made a meal of a bump in the back from Stephen Ward, which looked to be more of a penalty than the hold on Vellios. This match was quite reminiscent of the match against Blackburn, no?

Scoring from open play: Or, rather, not scoring from open play. We haven’t scored from open play in three matches. As happy as I am about scoring from set pieces and getting penalties, our inability to score from open play makes the other 87 minutes of the match rather painful. Yesterday, our possession in the attacking third lacked confidence and our finishing made Wolves look like they haven’t shipped twenty goals in the first twelve matches of this season.

Tim Cahill: Tim Cahill needs to score. He hasn’t scored since Dec. 20, 2010. I’m not sure exactly what’s wrong but he again missed a shot he normally would’ve finished yesterday. Clearly, he’s aging. As he’s aged, though, the number of offensive threats at Everton has diminished. Right now, it doesn’t look like we’re showing teams anything that they haven’t seen from us for the past three years and Tim looks isolated. He’s never been the fastest and, since he hasn’t been finishing well, he’s not nearly the threat that he has been in years past.

Everton’s Defense: I thought our defense played particularly well against Wolves. Kevin Doyle has been a thorn in our side in recent years; Jags and Johnny handled him and more yesterday. A couple of nervy moments aside, it was a solid performance. It probably helped the Wolves are offensively challenged.

Man of the Match: Phil Jagielka (he put in a real captains performance yesterday, scoring a vital goal and returning to his solid self on the back line)

Up Next: Bolton Wanderers, who’ve shipped the most goals in the Premier League to date (29).

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