Everton Vs Middlesbrough - Big Match Preview
By Ross • Nov 15th, 2008 • Category: Featured Articles, Match News
VS 
It’s another Sunday kick off for the Boro, in a difficult game which we’ll be hoping to see at least a point dropped in the hat to add to this season’s tally.
Boro have had little luck at Goodison park which will leave many with doubts of getting a result, but now is probably the best time to chalk up some points on the board against the Scouse club. However, despite their form dipping in and out this season, they still hold a respectable place in the league one point and one position ahead of us.
This weekend will see the return of our former Nigerian striking ace, The Yak, as he likely returns to the starting line-up following a spell of injury. He’s no stranger to scoring goals wherever he is, and notched up a decent tally of goals last season for Everton. Yakubu currently has three Premiership strikes under his belt this season and he’ll probably be wanting to increase that tally, especially against his old club. Never the less, Yakubu left the club under “dodgy” circumstances, so i wouldn’t be suprised to hear Boro’s away contingent boo’ing each time he receives the ball, then again, i would… i’ve lost all respect for the man.
Everton’s most widely recognised nickname is “The Toffees” or “The Toffeemen”, which came about after Everton had moved to Goodison. There are several explanations for how this name came to be adopted, the most well known being that there was a business near the ground called Mother Noblett’s Toffee Shop which advertised and sold sweets, including the Everton Mint, on match days. This also
led to the Toffee Lady tradition in which a girl walks around the perimeter of the pitch before the start of a game tossing free Everton Mints into the crowd. Another possible reason is that there was a house called Ye Anciente Everton Toffee House near the Queen’s Head hotel in which early club meetings took place. The word “toffee” was also slang referring to Irishmen, of which there was a large population in the city at the turn of the century and who tended to support Everton rather than city rivals Liverpool.
They are currently a club on the up going by the last couple of seasons, but in general, are regarded as severe relegation flirters. At the moment, Everton currently runners up for the record of most years in top flight football, behind Arsenal… but that has looked like being shattered on many occasions as Everton are quite used to having a good season only to be dissapointed the next by coming close to relegation only to survive. I suppose that’s good in a way, at least they get to Celebrate success and failiure one way or another.
Everton’s illustrious honours include winning the old First Division nine times and receiving runner’s up medals on seven occasions. Their trophy cabinet also holds five FA-Cups with their players receiving a further seven runner’s up medals. As you can see, they’re no stranger to success, with a further two League Cup wins and even a European Cup winner’s Cup. The most suprising of their honour’s is that in 1985 they were actually named The World Team of the Year by the World Soccer Magazine.
David Moyes will be looking nervously over his shoulder with the Boro currently sitting a point behind his team in the table, and Gareth Southgate will want to take advantage. But it’s not only Everton that are having a hard time of things in the consistency department this season. As ever, Boro are showing signs of inconsistency, but the season appears to be leveling itself off. It is a shame though that we couldn’t capitalise on some of our other results, while still having the luck… such as against the Aston Villa game.
The hot topic at the moment is whether Boro can get points from Goodison on Sunday.
Late goals have cost us a few points this season, and adding those “omg we should have won” games onto our points tally shows us exactly where we should be sitting in the league this season. Games against Liverpool, West Brom, (arguably one of our best displays) and Sunderland (another match winning display) are all games which, if we were actually a friend of lady luck, would have had points from. From a calculated 9 points, ideally, 7 of those would have been ours, which would put us in third place in the league, one point ahead of Arsenal. Yes, we can complain and look back all day if we want to, and it’s nice to speculate where we could be and yes, should be sitting in the table, but atleast we can take pride in what Boro could actually achieve this season if things went our way in the grand scheme.
To be fair though, it was a pretty average game against Aston Villa last week and if it wasn’t for the quick reactions and the never die attitude of Tuncay, we may have gone home licking our wounds, but things really weren’t as bad as a few individuals made out. Those who are familiar with “The Hatchet Man”, an idiot, no skilled pathetic journalist who abuses his Daily Mail collumn with articles that attempt to attack a team and draw in fan’s to basically “have it off” with him, wrote a pretty damning article slating Alves and his finishing ability, and im not sure how many other people believe that his is crap, but that really isn’t the case and i’d try and convince readers otherwise.
Alves is still the best finisher at our club and to be fair, those weren’t really ideal chances. Let’s take a look at Alves’ first suspect chance… the left footed side-footer. The ball came in so fast, but before that atleast three other Boro players had a chance to score. Alves was marked by two players when he received the ball unexpectidly and could only direct the ball past the post. I’d lay the blame on the buildup players who should have had a shot on goal. Secondly, there’s Digards long range strike, which the keeper parried. I’d agree this could have been a different story, but at the end of the day, the ball was so close to the keeper anyway and on such an angle that the ball would have been saved, or hit the keeper anyway if he attempted the lob. So keep faith people, he will deliver. If he gets the chances, he will definately score the goals… but if he doesn’t get the chances, lets not blame him either because it isn’t his fault if he doesn’t get the service.
everton: possible team line-up and team news
Everton look set to field their best team this week [left], which see’s the return of coveted striker Yakubu, who recently, has been linked with a move to Tottenham.
New signing Fellaini has been a revelation in the centre for Everton, often being their source of creative play in the absense of Tim Cahill. He missed last weeks game through suspension however he’s back in contention and will take the place of Jack Rodwell in the centre, as he takes his place on the bench.
Victor Anichebe looks set to be replaced by The Yak, who will be partnered upfront with recent in-form goalscorer Louis Saha
Currently, Everton only sport two injury victims in the treatment room.
The game comes too early for Nuno Valente who is out with a knee injury. He’s rated doubtful for the game, but likely won’t return until the end of the month.
Lars Jacobsen is also out with a dislocated shoulder and isn’t due back until December.
middlesbrough: possible line-up and team news
Gareth will be tempted to play the same team that beat Aston Villa last week at Villa Park, so no changes are expected to be made to this weeks team.
Boro currently have three players in the treatment room.
Mido was taken from the pre-match warm up last week with a suspected Hamstring injury and he’s expected to be out until the end of the month.
Mohammed Shawky [thigh strain] and Rhys Williams[knee ligament injury] still remain sidelined until December and January respectively.
Team Talk
So what do the readers think about tomorrows squad? Personally, i’m happy.
I’ve been banging on about dropping Downing for the past couple of weeks, but this week i won’t complain if he’s in the starting Eleven. He had a good game against Villa last week, knocking in some good crosses and also taking a few well taken shots on goal. He also seemed to be getting around the pitch a little more, moving from the left into the middle and actually looking for the ball, which was good to see.
Digard and O’Neil looked OK in the centre and i remember a nice bit of passing movement on the edge of the Villa box before Alves had his side-footed miss. It was good to see but im sure O’Neil or Tuncay could of had a good chance to score!
Riggott looks set to keep his place in the team after some very good displays in the Boro shirt. He looks like he’s recaptured the form that we saw when he first arrived, which is great to see. Riggott always did have huge potential and was no doubt at one time good enough to start for England.
As a consiquence, Wheater is having to make do with a place on the bench, which is good to see. It’s a testiment to how well Riggott is doing at the moment.
Justin Hoyte is also bedding in to his role at right back with an assured display against Aston Villa. He was great defensively and he was a good attacking threat going forward, although his dribbling skills leave a lot to be desired.
team vs team statistics
Boro have a dreadful record at Goodison Park. Our last win was in the Carling Cup in 2005, where we came out 1-0 victors.
Over an amount of 63 games, on 42 occasions, we’ve came away with absolutely nothing.
Everton have only collected 1 win and 3 draws from the last six home games played, which leaves a lot to be desired, giving Boro a fighting chance to collect points. In this time, they’ve scored 6 goals, but a large 10 have been leaked at the other end.
Boro’s away form is none too clever either. We’ve picked up two good wins, but in losing three from the last six, we’ve scored 6 goals, however 9 have hit the back of the wrong net.
Everton’s 18 points from 12 games sees them lie inside the top half of the table, in 7th position. Middlesbrough’s 17 points from 12 games sees them lie inside the top half of the table, in 8th position, one point behind Everton.
Despite the stats, Everton are unbeaten in their last three home games,
They’ve won their last three Premiership games,
But haven’t drawn a match in three.
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Boro, believe it or not, are undefeated in their last three away games,
We’re currently four games undefeated
match predictions
I suspect this will be a good game of football to be honest. Boro have shown flashes of form and have definately been creating the chances and scoring some goals, but the same can be said for Everton for the last few games also. If Digard and O’Neil start, then that should provide ample competition in the centre against Fellaini and Cahill, although i fear their midfield definately has more of a scoring threat if they’re allowed to roam free.
Im not certain on the final score this week, so i’m going to make two predictions.
Boro will either win 1-2 or the match will be a 1-1 draw.
Key players i’d expect are going to be Fellaini for Everton, and i’d like to see Alves score for Boro.
Where can you see Boro play?
Currently, there are no links to view the Boro game on the internet. Please check back on sunday Morning where i will be updating this section of the article with links to the game.
If you are familiar with streaming football games over the net then you will already have the software.
If not, then do a quick google search for Sopcast and TVU. The games can also be viewed on Justin.tv [when available] and will also be published along with direct viewing links to Sopcast and TVU. The links will open the respective software automatically.
related post
Ross is A Redcar born Boro fan. Enjoys discussing and writing about all aspects of the club. Favourite players are Hignett, Juninho and Alves.
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Tough game this one for sure, i’m a little concerned about the midfield. Cahill and Fellaini can both grab goals and we need to keep an eye on them. I’d love to see Alves get on the scoresheet and put that miss behind him, a point would be a decent result and 4 points from 2 tough away games will be a cracking return.
i would say we are nearing the strongest side we can put out barring maybe Huth and Mido. Disappointed to see Wheater drop to the bench but you cant argue with Riggott’s performances and Hoyte is a much better right back
1-1 draw for me
Ah buggery, i put mido in to the team by accident, that was supposed to be alves
The squad is shaping up very nicely. Think about the players we might have on the bench in a couple of weeks when everyone is due back and fit - Jones, Wheater, Huth, Arca, Shawky, Johnson, Mido. All of these could easily be drafted in to the first XI. If you add to that the prospects like Williams, Grounds, Walker and Emnes, we have a pretty good ’second string’ available to us, which is great to see.
It does say Alves doesn’t it?
Agree with Dan, dont want to get carried away but things are looking up for Boro and hopefully a few players will come in in January to strengthen, maybe a couple of loan deals with a view to permanent move.
Yeah, strange thing going on, i replaced an image with the same file name and the old one was still showing… looks fine now though.
Draw will be a decent result tomorrow, hate Sunday games though. 2-2 I think, Tuncay and Digard with the goals
boro will never lose with tunny
Aliadiere missing through illness, looks like o’neil goes right side and Arca comes in
Hi what score is it
The game ended 1-1, with O’Neil scoring on the 8th minute and The Yak with a strike on 65