Landon did not play nearly as well as the other midfielders but that is not a slight on him. Landon was good, very effective but the others were outstanding. Landon fits in so nicely and so smoothly that to the blind eye you would swear he's been there for a while. The guy looks acclimated. Is Landon integrating fully, yet? Hardly but he's showing he belongs. I suspect he's going to continue to flourish and before too long put one in the net. I've kept on eye on Everton all season, obviously since Timmy's there, and these last two games have been arguably their best. Is it coincidence or has Landon's arrival sparked a good run? I'm not quite sure yet. The next match could/should be an indicator. Nevertheless, I couldn't be happier for Landon. This loan is EXACTLY what we've all wanted for years.
I've seen people on here saying Donovan was better than Bilyatedinov, which was clearly not the case.
Landon and Timmy both get 7 from Sky. LD="Adapting to the Premier League well" TH="Had very little to do but did it well" Two of the subs got 6, but otherwise all 7,8, and 9. I don't disagree.
Sky gave Donovan a 7 rating. Thus far the fans have him rated at 8 http://www.skysports.com/football/user_ratings/0,19768,11065_3150683,00.html Fanhouse has rated Donovan an 8 http://football.fanhouse.co.uk/2010...0-honeymoon-over-for-mancini-as-city-back-to/
if your interested bbc call in about the game http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/playlive/bbc_radio_merseyside/
You can see what people over here in the UK thought on the BBC site http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/8462281.stm I quote "1925: Jose Baxter, 17, comes on for Landon Donovan, who has had a cracking home debut, the American"
Skysports Ratings. Howard 7, Had very little to do but did it well Neville 7, Heitinga 7, Distin 7, Baines 7, Donovan 7, Adapting to the Premier League well Fellaini 9 Pienaar 9 Bilyaletdinov 8 Cahill 8 Saha 7 http://www.skysports.com/football/user_ratings/0,19768,11065_3150683,00.html
i'm not. i'm interested in that, but that's not what my post was about. someone said earlier that "Everton had been playing lights out football before Donovan arrived" ... which we all know is incorrect. I posted the comment from the analyst as a counter point to that. as i said earlier, Everton were very good in the Merseyside derby this year. But other than that, I haven't seen many performances as good as last week at Arsenal and this week home Man City. I'm guessing most Toffee fans would say that today's match was the club's best in a long, long time. The SKY announces seemed to indicate so, but what do they know? They're only paid to follow English football.
All in all, another solid match for LD. I think he definitely had more silly give-aways offensively today than he did against Arsenal. He was indecisive and selfless on his goal opportunity in the first half. While it's difficult to score at that angle and Given had closed it down well, in those situations you have to just give it a go and hope you slip it past somehow. If you don't get a goal, it can't be held against you b/c it was difficult to begin with. But for me, LD is really asserting himself defensively so far in the EPL. I've really been impressed with his tracking back and closing down the opposition. I think he's been integral in Everton's return to form b/c opposing teams are really having problems getting it out of their defensive third, thanks in part to Donovan's pacy defensive work. Work rate has been really nice also. In general, his pace/fitness seems to be very apparent in the EPL and I really think through the course of this loan, his teammates will learn to take advantage of it more often. He's also winning over the fans/team. I say keep up the good work.
Agreed. Which makes sense given the fact that the other midfielders have been playing as a team all season. I expect that this game will be comparable to his time at Everton overall in that he will probably not stand out but he will probably not look out of place. In the end he will be exactly what Everton needs from him: a quality player to solidify the squad.
i mean there was a reason they were attacking more on the left than the right and i think the fact the bilyaletdinov was on the left side had much to do with it
7 is spot on. He had some miscues and moments where you could tell that he's not quite at EPL levels of decision making quickness yet, but he was strong defensively, provided several good corners including one that led to a post, and several nice other impressive touches that give you a sense that he'll be involved in some big plays once he continues to get his feet wet.
I actually didn't find that much different in the two. They both could have scored and Donovan really should have been given the chance to create something on the play where they didn't give advantage. I think more than anything the Everton midfield collectively were great. Each of them had spells where they were quite ineffective especially Pienaar, Donovan, and Cahill, but on the other hand they all dug in and worked together. Pienaar had a wicked free kick (over the wall and lower close corner...wow). Fellaini was dangerous on set pieces and played a great Dmid role and probably the star of the game. Everton though outfought Citeh. They wanted the game more and played quite disciplined. I'm sure others will disagree with me, but by and large I thought it was a collective dominance from Everton rather than individual brilliance that decided the game (now, Pienaar did have that free kick moment). If I'm David Moyes I'm jubilant after that game because of the team performance.
you mean a mid-table Premier League team didn't want to commit the majority of its attacks through a loanee in his second game with the club?????? NO WAY!!!
Lando had great effort and hustle today marking on Bellamy and SWP. His offense wasn't the best, however, he did find Bilyaletdinov early in the match with a great cross that Bily headed weakly. overall, i'd say he had the worst match out of the 4 MFs, however, that's a credit to the other three players. they were excellent. lando was above average today. 6/7 out of 10 is a fair assessment.
well sure, but there is more to that than "bily was playing way better" Also, baines getting forward so much plays a role.
Everton had some great performances from midfield to the top of the eighteen, past that they weren't much - both goals were a result of foolish fouls. Team pressure was the key today, Man C. couldn't get anything going. Felt like Donovan was a bit off his game and not quite on the same page with his team. He certainly didn't hurt the team, won a few corners, tracked back, and his corners were good. Not a great day, not a bad one... Fletch was dominant.
Sure, they were jabbing with the left and going for POWER on the right. I think they wanted to neutralize ManCities attack down the right. Petrov has been on fire and his crossing is excellent. But also, why attack down the side with a player who has played one match for you? Doesnt seem too smart.
I think an overlooked "adjustment" LD has to make will be seeing way less of the ball than he is used to. A much bigger factor than adjusting to the EPL in general, imo.
C'mon now....there are good number of players that have walked into the EPL and played well, some even better than Donovan.
No doubt the hard work in the match was done by Fellaini, Pienaar, Cahill and Bily. I thought Saha created trouble as well.
thought the best part of donovan's game was his defense. he tracked back with great determination and really helped disrupt Citeh's attack down his side, even more so than against arsenal. i also thought the corners that he took were more than solid - he was pinging them on fellaini's head at will. too bad the ref didn't give advantage on that one play later in the 2nd half where donovan's speed had gotten him through. as has been noted, some poor giveaways/decision making kept this from being an outstanding performance, but it was still a quite good one. everton as a whole played absolutely outstanding and donovan has fit in quite nicely in these first two games.
there was better attack distribution last week in landon's first game for the club, so i don't think thats a good explanation. you're just trying to make excuses for landon. in reality imo, i think his performance was just more cautious this week.
Watching people break their backs not to applaud Donovan would be funny if it weren't so goddam pathetic.