First, the negative: by my count Donovan had two bad plays; the one where he had the ball at the edge of the box in the first half, and kicked the ball out of bounds, and one bad pass right to a Man City player in the second part of the first half. He sprayed a couple of passes that turned into fifty-fifty balls. After a bright start to the game, Donovan had trouble keeping the pace during Everton's excellent second part of the first half. Donovan had trouble with Garrido, and didn't make Garrido work enough to stop him when he had the ball (a few times Garrido was able to hold his ground and stop Donovan one-on-one). The positive: Donovan's corners were causing all kinds of havoc, and he was consistently picking out Fellaini exactly where Fellaini wanted the ball. I believe he took 8 out of 11 corners for Everton, and at least five of them were dangerous. I think Baines started taking corners on the left side in the second half to reduce the amount of running Donovan had to do; he did look a bit gassed by about the 75th or 80th minute. Donovan had a great start, with a great cross right into the middle of the box in the 9th minute, and a cheeky chip attempt in the 19th. Was causing problems for Man City's defense for the early part of the second half, before he started playing more defensively. Everton did much of their work offensively on the left side of the field later in the second half. Donovan's defensive effort was excellent, and he helped shut down Tevez a few times. As an aside, Fellaini started very slowly, but went on to dominate the midfield for the rest of the game. Pienaar played admirably in the center of the pitch, especially in the first half. Everton's midfield completely dominated City's, and Donovan was certainly part of it. He adds a dimension to their attack that they don't usually have, with an element of finesse, creativity, and quality crossing that complements their usual direct attacking tactics very well.
Seems like when Baines (or whoever) was getting it on Everton's left side they would try to play through the midfield, i.e, Bily. When Neville had the ball, otoh, at right back, I believe 100% of the time he sent the ball over the top with a long ball rather than trying to play through Donovan to bring the ball up. For whatever reason.
Outside of a goal, Donovan's start has been perfect for me. He's not coming in with a big ego, and he's working hard on D. That's especially important for an American, and that's the route to take unless you are a physically dominant superstar. He's trying to earn the respect of his teammates by doing some of the dirty work. When you have someone with his speed and hustle on your team it can make a difference in the whole game by closing down some of the options on his side of the field that might occasionally be there. That's part of what can make the whole stronger than the sum of it's parts. Players do it in other ways as well. A good manager recognizes this and sees the contributions being made to the cohesion of the team. That's what makes Roy Hodgson such a good manager at Fulham. He can take less talented players and make them the better team by making them contribute what the team needs. Donovan is filling a need and making it difficult for the opposing team on his side of the field. I think it will get better as he adapts more to the team and league. That is a sign of Donovan's maturity over the last year.
probably true. i just think he needs to get his legs under him so he can play better with the ball at his feet. this is his first full 90 (almost) in about two months. that is the equivalent of a summer break for most PL players, and they get warm up games/friendlies before starting up the PL season (LD just got thrown in there and had to get up to speed). but i agree. i was surprised to see LD lose possession as often as he did in the 2nd half. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he's still rusty/adapting to PL. but obviously that aspect of his play will need to be of a higher quality. but other than that i think he's fitting in well.
Fletch...what can you say about fletch? He truly defines grace under pressure. http://www.bothteamsplayedhard.net/2009/03/16/4-million-true-but-hes-worth-every-nickel-of-it/
I happen to agree. But the game plan was clearly to play it down the other side and once the goal came tactics changed again. I think it will take two more games before we see Donovan flash with speed and confidence.
Donovan has made this team better. And it shows. One problem Donovan has still yet to correct when he becomes a small fish in a big pond.............is when he is near goal- he plays like an un-selfish bearded clam..............when he should be trying to score.
I wouldn't necessarily say unmatched but I was amazed that he rand down Bellamy who had a good 5-10 yard head start. Bellamy is known for his wheels. Even when SWP came in it didn't seem like a tired LD had trouble keeping up with him.
Does US Soccer keep any stats on the players 40 times? Would be interesting to rate them against other elite US athletes.
Yeah they keep stats on those. USSF is just like every other professional team. They may not publish them but there are no doubt stats. In the January camp especially so. I have read somewhere the January camps are loaded with speed drills and times. I should search and dog them up.
I'm shocked that people are lumping Bilyaletdinov in with Pienaar and Fellaini. Man City was scared to attack down Donovan's side, so the ball was on the other flank the entire match. Bilyaletdinov was nothing compared to Donovan defensively. Then, because the ball was on that side, Bilyaletdinov was on the ball more, not because he forced his way into the attack but because he was simply there. Not only that, but he was quite selfish in the box at least 2 or 3 times. Most notable for me was when he was to the left of the goal with a defender in front of him and forced a shot while Donovan was in the center of the box with 5 yards of space. Now, it might not sound like it, but i do think Bilyaletdinov was very good. Offensively, he was outstanding the last 20 minutes of the first half, but disappeared in the second as much as anyone. I don't think anyone for Everton deserves less than a 6 or 7, but Bilyaletdinov just doesn't deserve to be lumped in with Pienaar and Fellaini as having a phenomenal match. High marks for Bilyaletdinov are coming from him simply taking more shots.
would be interesting. I would say Donovan might turn some heads with a 4.3 or 4.2 . I realize this stat is not that important in football, but I would probably say Donovan's 40 time after 80mintues of soccer doesnt diminish that much. Someone said that he doesnt like 1 v 1 match ups. I would say at midfield someone should just tell Donovan to put the ball 10 yards past his man and just beat him with speed. That opens up the cut back play for later on when he needs it.
I doubt Donovan can do a 4.4, but I also doubt most football players who can do a 4.4 would be as fast as Donovan after 70 minutes of running. With soccer players it's endurance + speed and not just explosive speed for short bursts like football players. Americans don't appreciate endurance as much as some other countries, but it's an athletic talent. It takes a little more effort to appreciate, and that's just not our thing when it comes to sports.
Donovan looked noticeably more tentative and error prone on the offensive end in the second half than the first half or last week. Then he stopped going forward at all. I'd like to bet that he was told that with a 2 goal lead he needed to conserve his energy for defense and let the others take the game to MC. Moyes knows he's not 90 min fit yet. So his lack of attack doesn't bother me...he was probably just doing what he was told. However, the tentativeness I don't like to see. Donovan is a player who has to be full of self confidence to play well, and he didn't have it today. Hopefully, that's just a matter of settling in a bit more with the team. On another note, I didn't see much comment on his shot early on in which he brought the ball across the top of the box and his shot was blocked for a corner. As the play was developing, I thought he had it in the bag. The approach towards the goal was exactly like his first Earthquakes goal as a 18 year old kid, except that one he drilled the shot to the far upper 90 with his left foot. I was expecting the same shot, but instead he went low and back to the near post. Would have been sweet had it gone in.
A lot of the 4.2 and 4.3 times you get with college football players are a myth. There was an article that called out either Florida or Florida State about false times. I can't remember which one. Here's a link to combine times: http://www.nfl.com/combine/top-performers A 4.2 would be faster time than any wide receiver had last year. I'm sure donovan isn't that fast. Stopwatch times especially should be taken with a grain of salt.
Another thought. It's certainly a good sign when the opposing teams chooses to attack down the opposite flank. Teams know how to attack the weak points (or play to their strengths). The fact that they went down their right time and again shows a certain amount of respect either for Neville or Donovan or both.
The announcers said that they thought he made the wrong decision, but I disagreed. Not that there weren't other possibly better options, but what Everton need from Donovan is work rate and aggressiveness. That was the aggresive move that shows confidense. When Donovan gets too passive is when he becomes a very average player and then 1 or 2 mistakes make the average player poor. My perspective anyway.
Haven't had a chance to read the in-game thread, but I hear it's kind of negative re: Donovan. Big surprise. He played very good in the first half; second half, he was off somewhat - missing some passes and poor touches. But he did some very good defensive work. Overall, I think he had a very good game - and the announcers and "pundits" agree. Can he do better? Of course. And we know he can. He knows he can too. But he contributed to a great overall performance from Everton that made Manchester City look silly. His loan is going splendidly. And bravo to Timmy for the shut-out!
I don't think he was anywhere near his best, but he worked hard all game and that will endear him to Moyes and the Everton fans. Everyone has off days but the great thing about him is he always works hard for the team, so he'll always contribute somehow. It seemed like he was told to sit back deeper in the 2nd half, because there were a lot of times he had space to make a run and sat back.
Honestly, this was not a good game for Donovan today, IMO. His touch was off, he was tentative, it was almost like he his he was playing a bit nervous, like his head was getting in the way. The good news is he refrained from making any silly mistakes, and generally did the smart thing both on and off the ball, and always showed effort and focus. It wasn't a good day for him personally, but he played responsibly and made sure he didn't become a liability. His TEAM had a very, very good day, and he didn't let them down. Moyes was in no hurry to replace him, eventually bringing him off in the 90th minute. I think he'll get another game. Particularly since the team chemistry seemed to be working very well, whether or not he was a big part of it or not. Everton's midfield as a whole was really lights out today, and the defense was also very good. Fellaini in particular was outstanding. On anything near this kind of form, Everton will find themselves back in the top half of the table by season's end. Timmy had a good game.