Wolves 0-0 Everton

Everton extended their unbeaten run but failed to take all three points in an unsurprisingly drab encounter with Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molinuex.

With Mikel Arteta missing from the centre of midfield Everton were always going to struggle for creativity through the middle, and the onus was on Steven Pienaar and Leon Osman to provide a bit of craft from wide areas.

The two diminutive midfielders combined to create Everton’s best chance of the opening stages, with Osman getting on the end of Pienaar’s cut-back and forcing Wolves’ American goalkeeper Marcus Hahnemann to make a good save with his feet.

Everton probably did enough to feel aggrieved at having to settle for a draw, as Louis Saha, Tim Cahill and Dan Gosling all had opportunities to open the scoring, but Wolves were solid, hard-working and organised, and in a way it’s difficult to begrudge them a share of the points.

A win would have temporarily taken Everton to within two points of Liverpool, but in truth a late run at the Champions League was never really on the cards anyway. It’s easy to talk about ‘what ifs’, but even with the horrific injury crisis that Moyes had to contend with there’s still no excuse for some of the points Everton dropped in the early part of the season (the 1-1 home draw with Wolves springs to mind), so let’s not feel too sorry for ourselves.

Hopefully the players are desperate to play in next season’s Europa League and will continue to perform right up until the end of the season (which given some of their dreadful pre-December performances is the least they can do), because if that’s the case then there’s every chance we can catch Aston Villa.

Next up for the Blues is a home game against Gianfranco Zola’s woeful West Ham. The Hammers have lost five on the bounce and Everton should be looking to give them a serious hiding. West Ham have a couple of decent players in Scot Parker, Valon Behrami and the much-improved Carlton Cole, but all in all they shouldn’t be good enough to outplay, or organised enough to frustrate, a team as good as Everton. Key word there being shouldn’t, of course.

Assuming Arteta is out again I’d like to see Moyes give Diniyar Bilyaletdinov a game. West Ham aren’t the most physical team so the willowy Russian should be perfectly capable of imposing himself against them. Maybe bring him in at Jack Rodwell’s expense, with Leon Osman moving into the centre alongside Johnny Heitinga

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Well, a lot has happened at Everton since the last time I updated this page.

Marouane Fellaini turned Super Saiyan around November and looked about as good a centre midfielder as any in Europe, only for a shithouse challenge from Liverpool’s Georgios Kyriakos to end his season in February.

Everton played quite well in the season’s first derby at Goodison back in November but still managed to lose 2-0. The return game at Anfield, in which Fellaini was injured by a two-footed lunge that also saw the aforementioned yard dog Kyriakos sent off, was nothing short of a disgrace. Despite Liverpool playing over half the game with ten men, Everton produced a pathetic demonstration of predictable attacking and farcical defending, and were deservedly beaten 1-0.

There have been a few truly fantastic performances though; the most notable being the 2-2 draw away at Arsenal and back to back home wins over Chelsea and Manchester United. However, these were followed by a woeful collapse in Portugal which saw Everton crash out of the Europa League at the hands of Sporting Lisbon.

The performance in Lisbon and defeat at home to Birmingham in the FA Cup third round have been the most frustrating points, as those competitions represented our only chance of turning this season into one of success rather than transition. As it stands Everton will have to keep winning right up until the end just to qualify for next year’s Europa League.

Landon Donovan came and went. The American spent three months on loan from Major League Soccer’s LA Galaxy and his pace, work rate and direct running showed David Moyes exactly what this Everton side have been missing since Andy Johnson's departure. It’d be great if we could somehow bring Donovan back permanently in the summer transfer window, but given the club’s awful financial state it seems unlikely.