Donovan, Howard: Everton vs. Sporting Lisbon [R] Europa League 2/16 12:45 EST

Neville (?) almost releases donovan on a counter with a long ball forward. LD is marked by 2 defenders, but the keeper is first to it. Looked like it was handled outside the box to me..

 

that's it 2-1

 

What on Earth is this color commentator talking about? Who said Sporting was going to be "cannon fodder"? Who was that stupid?

 

ATDHE with one of the worst feeds I've seen yet. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate being able to see the game at all. But this is just ridiculous. When will cable providers get a clue and just give viewers the opportunity to pay for a game rather than giving people more reason to just keep scouring the net and stealing a view. Although, I'd want my money back if I paid to watch this one.

 

There was a pay feed from uefa.com.

 

that was one irritating game..Distin made Califf look like Walter SAmuel out there (on that play)...

Watching Real Madrid-Lyon on Fox and/or Manu-AC Milan on MSG+.....Both just kicked off.... Awesome!

 

it's very simple to get reliable, high quality feeds. download ppl. run it off a thumb drive if you're scared of spyware. problem solved.

unfair result for everton, i thought -- sporting rarely looked dangerous but they take advantage of an unforced error from one of the many unnecessary backpasses from the wingbacks. swinging the ball through the back is fine, but not when the attackers are pressing so hard that you're going to take the risk of a dangerous 1v1.

Thought Donovan put in a solid night. Everton miss Fellaini, but what else is new. Osman was busy and Saha was very good as well. A draw in Lisbon isn't a cakewalk but it shouldn't be impossible for Everton, either.

 

When is the return leg in Lisbon scheduled?

 

How did Landon do? ( I missed the game)

Ives site's seems to think he had a terrible game. They are so negative over there.

 

Terrible? Not at all.

He was his normal self. He wasn't being sprung on many through balls (which is unfortunate, as it is one of his biggest strengths) but he combined neatly and worked hard defensively.

Looked to me that when playing on the right he was asked to give width, wound up getting pinned against the line a lot and sending a lot of one-touch passes right back to Neville (so he could hoof it forward). He flipped over to the left for about 20 minutes in the first half and looked dangerous. When he played on the left he pinched in and combined with Baines more than once to send Baines in on overlapping runs.

He didn't take any corners (Baines and Arteta did) but had a nicely weighted free kick that Yobo headed over the bar. He drew some fouls and generated a nice chance in about the 70th minute that would've had Everton up 3-0. He also had a shot blocked and skied a volley in the opening 15 minutes or so.

He was fine. Not stellar but certainly not terrible. Like Everton in general really.

 

Oh, and the return leg is in 9 days, I believe.

 

I frequent Ives site all the time and almost 70% of people there wants Donovan to be super human in ALL of his games......any lackluster on his part, they rip him to shreds...........Mentality being, "we applaud you for saving the baby from the fire, but YOU SHOULD HAVE PUT OUT THE G**%$&N FIRE"........jeez, just be happy the baby was saved.

 

What's wrong with Massive Fro, 6 months out is that true?

 

its true, and thats devastating news to Everton.

 

I didn't see it, but it sounds like you are saying the play was on a pass back or around the back? if so, UGH!

 

Clearly wasn't his best game but it was far from terrible. Average game here means an awesome one against Man U, right?

 

when I looked at Skysports , the fans rating had him as the co-highest ranked Everton player.

 

Anyway you want to slice it, it was absolutely a brutal play by Distin. The pass was routine, maybe who ever passed it to him shouldn't have, he was put under pressure immediately. But he still butchered the play, took a bad touch then stumble or hesitated, was stripped then fouled in the box to make the matters worse. Just brutal, absolutely brutal.

 

LOL! (You know it's true!)

 

Second half thoughts, I missed the beginning: Thought Everton was rightfully punished for sitting back defensively rather than try to keep possession with the 2-0 lead. Hurt by Arteta not being 90 minutes fit as his sub was a non factor. LD had a couple of giveaways trying to play too fast but also had a nice feed up the gut and helped out defensively. I'd give him a average grade from what I saw....

 

Donovan was pretty disappointing today, few good touches and all that but quiet. I keep willing him to run at players but he just doesn't want to. When he took on one of their players and nipped the ball to draw the foul he looked electric. I think someone needs to tell him that forward passes are legal, we're not playing rugby.

 

If Pienaar is back., and influential, does that mean they've reoriented the attack up the left wing? (Didn't see the game.)

If that's the case, Moyes may be holding Landon back, as we've seen him do. Nail down your flank, possess the ball, keep the right number of players behind the ball. Donovan is very good for all that. I've criticized him a great deal in the past for timidity (I was at the ********ing ******** ******** Ghana game) but Landon can execute a game plan terrifically. We've seen Moyes yell at him to stay back after he tried an aggressive dribble down the flank. We've also seen Moyes ask him to give Ashley Cole some trouble, and he did that.

 

Not true. Ives site stated that he did poorly in the first half but was much improved in the second.

"They are so negative over there." Ives is over here (in the US) isn't he?