Congratulations to Landon on his first EPL goal !!! I hope he gets a permanent signing with Everton -- its exactly the right team for him. Thanks to David Moyes for showing faith in American players. GO Everton !!! GO USA !!!
I really hope he doesn't keep up that pattern. Every single time Landon is taken out, Everton's defensive pressure suffers noticeably and the other team begins to put on some pressure. When he stayed on against Manchester City, they weren't able to mount any real attacks the whole game, including some late tackles made by Landon himself. Not only that, but Landon's speed is also increasingly important as the game wears on. As someone else said, he is most dangerous in the 75-90 minute period when others start to slow down. We've seen him stay on one time in that period but even then it was with defensive responsibilities. We saw how Donovan benefitted from Beckham's abilities and Arteta is better at this point than Becks. Its scary to think about what that partnership is capable of.
Classic Donovan goal - control the ball and do something dangerous with it. I loved his shot cleared off the line, too, it was a great effort. He's showing his speed and looks in great form, at least from the highlights. Was Fellaini open for his cross on the first goal or what?
to ask a question asked before in this thread (but I believe unanswered): is this Landon's first European goal? or did he get one (or two) with Leverkusen?
Landon did not score with either Bayer or with Bayern. He scored in exhibition matches with Bayern, but not any matches that were official. That was his first official European goal..
So in the 2nd half when Everton played Saha behind the defense and Landon made that blazing 80-yard run to join the attack, I was thinking there had to be a fair number of Everton fans looking at each other and saying, "damn that boy is fast!"...
He had a big fat zero with both clubs. This was his first and as I stated waaaay back in the thread it's been long overdue.
I disagree - did you see the ManCity game? - it may not be jogo bonito but I don't think it's that painful. And that Sunderland side was "dire" - so your analogy doesn't really work for me.
Can someone please total up how many minutes Landon Donovan actually played in Europe before Everton? I'm pretty sure he's passed his Bayern Munich minute totals by now at Everton, and is probably rapidly approaching his Leverkusen total. It shouldn't be long before he passes the two combined. Landon's "failure" in Europe has been consistently a function of Landon not actually playing soccer in Europe (sometimes by his own wishes). We have to start to learn that you learn nothing about a player (Landon Donovan, Freddy Adu or any player of any nationality) by watching him sit on the bench. I've seen it a hundred times in baseball and there's nothing that suggests to me that player evaluation in soccer (or any sport) is so much better that it doesn't happen here either. Whether it's Doug Flutie or Jack Cust, you can't actually claim a player has failed at a level until you actually let him play there. Given the minutes Donovan had been given previously, Clint Dempsey was a failure in Europe too.
Donovan also had another goal in the match called back for an offside violation. Donovan has now scored four times in five exhibition matches for Bayern, to become the team's top goalscorer in 2009.
Why are we commenting about a game about a year old? And did Donovan even play for Everton in January 2009? I kid, I kid.
In his last two stints in Germany he saw exactly 400 minutes of playing time across all competitions (which include 1 DFB Pokal and 2 Champions League appearances). At Everton, he's seen 309 minutes of playing time so far.
re: the announcers saying it was "gift-wrapped" -- the color man in the booth (can't remember the name at the moment) was extremely down on sunderland for the entire match and didn't really have a kind word for everton at all. I also don't think donovan was going far post, just by the way he squared his hips and where the follow through for his shot went, but really there's no way for us to know. it went in the net and the kid's playing well, and that's good enough.
You took it the wrong way pal. I was meaning at this junction in his career at 27. One would have assumed 10 yrs. ago when he was 17 starting out at Leverkusen that at 27 he would have many, many European goals. But we all know how the story goes. As it does with many young players. So for me, Landon bagging a goal in Europe was long overdue.
watched the whole match - for once I could watch in Sky while you guys needed streams. He played well and within himself. Didn't really try and make anything happen but was aggressive in his runs without the ball. Although noticed that he stopped running whenever his fullback, Phil - kick the ball over everyone's head - Nevill got it. Everyone keeps it on the ground pretty much for Everton but him, who, I believe didn't make more than two passes on the ground. Two things stood out, he's still VERY quick and several times tracked back and surprised people and won the ball. He's actually pretty good in the air, winning numerous balls. His goal was a nice run (are you watching Jozy/EJ/are we out of strikers already?) and being the right place and then just a good finish. The shot that was cleared off the right showed more skill and he had more to do there, again a good run. Looks like he might have license to run into the middle but not sure as i noticed Cahill talking to him ALOT - which might be a good thing as he's actually integrating. Met up with a friend the other night before the match and his buddy is an Everton fan and was just talking about how he thinks he's a good signing and what did I think. I just said the first thing that came into my mind which was, "you were lucky to get him". He just smiled and asked again and I just said it again and I said 'you'll see'.
no he didn't score any when he was there... I'm sure video clips have been going around here but this link is for Showtime Arabia's Premier League site... they post 2 minute clips of every premier league match each Monday - they're usually up there a day or two after games and it's a good place to view/download match highlights of not just YA games but of EPL games in general. Click on 'Highlights': http://www.orbitshowtime.com/premierleague/default_en_gb.aspx This on goes directly to the Everton v Sunderland game.. Landon's goal is @ 0:38 http://www.orbitshowtime.com/Premie...gb.aspx?ccode=MP&fname=3150811_026_28&sno=638
I was thinking of you guys when Donovan scored. Enjoy it. He played well. Pissed he didn't get two though! Donovan is an Everton player. You can just see how he interacts with the other players. He and Cahill seem to be friendly too!
foreign 17 year olds were not allowed to play in the BL. That is one of the great myths here. For most of his first stint at BL, it was not legal for him to play in a BL game.
I'm well aware of that. But come on you are stretching. You get my drift which is when he was 17, in Europe, we would have expected him to remain there and at this point, at 27, would have loads of goals. Not a hard concept. Those expectations didn't pan out for a variety of reasons. Therefore to me, a European goal is long overdue.
He and Cahill have complimentary skills and can make each other better, so it's nice to see that they're developing some field chemistry. I think the Pienaar-Cahill-Donovan combination is a potent one in that between the three of them, all with different strengths, I can see Everton getting a lot of attack out of them while keeping the team's shape and not sacrificing much solidity. The three can create and finish a lot of chances for each other.