Mancini's game plan was clear, he wanted our full-backs to put crosses into the box, a lot of crosses, that's why he started with Maicon and Kolarov at right-back and left-back respectively, rather than starting with Zabaleta in one of the two positions, despite the Argentine being a better defender than the the Brazilian and the Serb.
Edin Dzeko started alongside Tévez up front and it was clear from the early stages of the game that it wasn't to be our day, Edin's touch was, well to be frank, as good as it usually is, quite awful. He began by knocking a ball into touch and in truth, it should have been an easy ball to control.
Fellaini caused problems for City for much of the game and completely dominated Yaya in the incorrectly dubbed 'Battle of the Beasts'. Given that they were without the likes of Mirallas and Coleman, although the latter doesn't play as much as he used to, Everton had a different game-plan to the one that they have used for much of the season. A game-plan very similar to that they used with great effect against United in August. Long-ball tactics. Now this isn't a dig, football is football and it's up to managers to find the best way to beat a team whether that be playing fast counter-attacking football like Real Madrid or Alan Pardew's hoof-style ball game. Anyway, Everton lumped the ball up to Fellaini on more than a few occasions, and on more than a few occasions he succeeded in holding of Yaya and bringing it down. Additionally, Jelavic ran the channels very well and as always, his movement was excellent, alhtough yesterday much of it occurred outside of the box. If you happen to watch the game after having read this, keep an eye out for how often the Croat pulls off either Kompany or Lescott to the side where they can't see him, their blind spot so to speak. If the ball was coming from Hibbert on the right, he'd pull off to Kompany's right, and if Baines sent a diagonal from left back, Jelavic would loiter on Lescott's left side.
Maicon gave Baines a bit too much space for my liking when the left-back, donning a shit moustache despite it being December 1st, was in a position to deliver a cross. In fact, Everton's goal came from such a cross. Whipped in from a relatively deep position, the big, frizzy-haired Belgian saw his initial saved by Hart before knocking away the rebound. Fellaini had peeled off to Zabaleta at the back post and while Pablo is an excellent full-back, in an aerial battle, that is a mismatch.
City levelled things from the spot. About time we saw a player punished for being an arse in the box. Lee Probert penalised Fellaini for man-handling Dzeko in the box both prior to and during the delivery of a corner. "You see that stuff every week" I hear the masses cry. Well, one shouldn't, it's a foul. Tévez slotted it away.
Kompany was back to something close to his imperious best, alongside Lescott actually. Nastasic missed out due to injury, one received during the warm-up I'm led to believe.
Barry was also very good, the same cannot be said of his partner in midfield Yaya Toure, who once again looked lethargic and off the pace. Once again, he looked tired and as stated above, he was no match for Fellaini when it came to going shoulder-to-shoulder or when they challenged for a header. Toure's passing wasn't close to what it should have been, even those little passes that keep things ticking over, he gave the ball away sloppily prior to Everton's goal and on more than one occasion, gave Barry a hospital ball. It's been a while now since we last saw one of Toure's breathtaking bursts up field, something that he should be looking to change next Sunday against a team whose central-midfield is far from athletic.
Silva and Nasri put in safe six-out-of-ten performances, Silva possibly having the better game of the two, but neither created much, if anything, which surprised me somewhat as an Osman-Gibson central-midfield duo is far from the strongest.
Finally, some fans took exception to Mancini bringing off Tévez rather than Dzeko when he brought on Aguero. I'll admit that I thought, and still do think, that bringing of Carlos was the wrong decision but Mancini had his reasons, one of them probably being that both Argentinians are short-arses so offer very little when it comes to defending set-pieces. Then again, maybe that's not the approach the champions should be taking.
A tough game and one from which Everton thoroughly deserved to take away a point.
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