It's Official: Cahill Signs Extension

This really isn't really news because we knew it was going to happen, but I have to post this because it is official now. Tim Cahill has signed a long-term contract that will keep him with Everton until 2014.

Extensions, Rumors, and More!

- The Toffees are trying to wrap up Tim Cahill to a four-year extension before the World Cup. That's smart by Everton. If Cahill impresses even more at the World Cup, the Toffees would have more trouble in wrapping him up.

- Everton is linked with Peniel Mlapa, a 19-year old Togo born German striker from 1860 Munich. This is another great move by Moyes and the club to find cheap and young talent to fill the roster. I think this is a great move, but it will help us more in the future. We need to get a top notch striker that can come in and score goals immediately!

- A story from the Liverpool Daily Post caught my eye. A local "business consortium" from Liverpool unveiled a possible plan to get Liverpool and Everton new stadiums. It is called a "Siamese stadium" and is pretty much two stadiums combines by one common wall. While I think this is an innovative way to save money (180 - 220 million pounds according to the business group), I think the stadium would ruin the experience of supporters of both teams. I would actually rather have one stadium for both teams, even though that seems impossible in the Prem League. Just see the picture, you'll understand.

- I still can't get over that Bily goal in injury time yesterday. Just phenomenal.

Injury time penalty wins it for Everton!

Everton 2 - 1 Fulham

After Chris Smalling deflected a Victor Anichebe header into his own net in the 50th minute, Everton brought an all out attack. Nothing seemed to work out as the Toffees seemed be out of contention for Europe with a draw. But an injury time penalty on Tim Cahill by Chris Baird seemed to bring black the fading dream of Europe for Everton. Mikel Arteta converted the penalty and Everton is still in contention for 7th place and the last spot for the Europa League.

Cahill, Yakubu propel Everton

Everton 3 - 2 Blackburn

Cahill’s 90^th minute strike keeps Everton in the hunt for Europe. Everton dominated possession all match, but Tim Howard and the defense struggled immensely on set pieces. The scoring started early, with a converted penalty in the 4^th minute, after Mikel Arteta was clearly fouled in the box by Ryan Nelson. From there on Everton dominated most of the half, but never created any good opportunities to go up two. In the 20^th minute, Arteta lucked out by only picking up a yellow card after poking Morten Pedersen in the eye. Blackburn slowly started picking up their attack after this incident. Most of their chances were created during set pieces, where Everton’s fullbacks and Tim Howard looked lost. Everton were lucky to go into the half unscathed.

The second half began with some more pressure by Blackburn, and they finally equalized with a phenomenal strike by Steven Nzonzi. The Toffees attack started to seem feeble, and Moyes made two changes, the second one being Yakubu for Tony Hibbert. This move proved to be the difference. Within 20 seconds of coming in, Yakubu found the back of the net. This was done after a long throw by Baines was headed toward Yakubu by Victor Anichebe. Yakubu headed the ball in with a defender falling into him. Two minutes later, on a counter-attack by Blackburn, Jason Roberts powered a strong shot following a through ball to equalize again. This match started to look tantalizingly similar to the last two matches played by Everton. Cahill had something to say about a draw though. Cahill, on a recent scoring tear, tapped in a short cross after Yakubu made some astonishing moves on the left side of the box to bring out the goalie. This 90^th minute goal kept the dream of Europe alive and puts the Toffees within striking distance of Aston Villa and Liverpool.

The addition of Arteta and Yakubu made an immense difference in the play of Everton. Arteta held possession for Everton (63% for Everton compared to 37% for Blackburn) and changed the dynamic of the game for Everton. Yakubu created goal chances, something Everton lacked in the first half. Cahill also continued his goal scoring streak by putting another one in the net after scoring two against Villa. This victory was essential in Everton’s hopes to get to Europe and shows how important Arteta is to the team. As long as our team stay healthy, we should have quite a good chance to finish at least in the top 7 and hopefully make it to the Europa League (given Portsmouth is still denied).

Next week Everton plays Fulham at Goodison Park. If Everton wants any chance of making it to Europe, a victory would be very wise.

More Late Defensive Woes for Everton

Aston Villa 2 - 2 Everton

Everton continued its disappointing three game stretch of draws, the last two of which it blew leads late. This time, it was against an Aston Villa side that equalized in injury time by an own goal from Phil Jagielka. After beating Manchester City 2-0 away on March 24^th, Everton seemed within striking distance of the top 7 and a Europa League berth (given that Portsmouth is refused a berth). The Toffees are currently in 8^th in the Premier League, 4 points behind Aston Villa and 5 points behind Liverpool (Villa have a game in hand). While the Aston Villa-Everton match started off with equal opportunities for both sides, Tim Howard had to be called to action with a couple of quick reflex saves. Tim Cahill scored his 8^th goal of the season in the 23^rd minute with, what else, a header following a corner. Agbonlahor equalized for Villa in the 72^nd minute just to be outdone by Tim Cahill two minutes later with another free header following a corner. Everton lost the lead again in injury time with a Jagielka own goal. Ashley Young crossed into the box from left-center and Jagielka, trying to head the ball out, deflected the ball into his own net.

This was another disappointing result for the Toffees. Though I can’t be too disappointed in coming away with a point from Villa Park, I feel we deserved more. It seems we have reverted back to the ways of mental and defensive mistakes that had struck earlier in the season. The main problem seemed to be tiredness and a lack of possession towards the end of the game. While I won’t completely pin the blame on Jagielka for heading the ball into our net, I will blame the lack of pressure given by our midfielders and forwards to players crossing in balls towards the end of the game. This occurred during both goals but was more important in the second, due to the fact that Young got free vision to place his cross right in front of goal. The first goal was a good play by Agbonlahor, but I couldn’t help realize that our defenders were all out of place during his header. I remember these same problems during the beginning of the season where The Toffees would play excellent soccer for 75 minutes and collapse for 15 minutes in the middle of the second half and give up a flurry of goals. The main reason behind these collapses earlier in the season was a chemistry problem between the defenders because of all the injuries we had. The last couple of drawn games seem to stem more from a void in midfield, particularly the loss of Arteta and Fellaini. While Pienaar, Osman, and Cahill are all playing great, they all are attacking midfielders who create offensively in order to score. Heitinga was playing well in the defensive midfielders role until his injury. Rodwell played great, but he did not do what we seriously needed. He couldn’t keep possession on Everton’s side and slow down the game after going ahead. Instead we lost possession after forcing attack. Arteta would take his time to find the right opportunity to attack and until then would keep possession. This is what we are lacking late in games and we might have even held on to a victory if not for the Heitinga injury. Someone really needed to step up to be the pivot in the midfield. None of the midfielders took on this responsibility and Everton ended up with only a point. Arteta should be coming back from injury soon, but until then Moyes needs to find a player that is willing to control a game like Arteta has done in the past. If that doesn’t happen soon, Europa League qualification will slowly slip from our grasps.