Everton Slip to Mourinho's Beat

Article by e-Everton Correspondent Kenneth Jarvis

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Tottenham all over again. Having been the better team for long periods of the match, Everton find themselves on the end of yet another defeat but come out of this match with much credit.

I'm not sure there is a better back 7 than at Everton and Howard, Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Baines, Barry and McCarthy pick themselves. It is the front 4 that have been the problem in these games and has been the problem since Lukaku stopped scoring and subsequently got injured. Distin in particular was exceptional today and finally took one of those inswinging freekicks that Lampard and Gerrard seem to be specialists in to breach Everton.

Again Everton couldn't convert their possession into clear cut chances. Everton had mores possession than Chelsea yet only had a third of the shots. The injury of Traore may have made the difference in the end but Naismith played well but just didn't have the quality to make Chelsea pay.

Just like against Tottenham the games seemed to change on our substitutions. Barkley was terrible and has been terrible since he broke his toe. I'm not sure if he is still in pain or in thinking about his injury he has affected his confidence but he doesn't look right at the moment and isn't adding anything to the team. McGeady and Deulofeu didn't get enough chances to be in the ball as Everton surrendered a lot of possession in the final 20 minutes of the match.

Pienaar played well and contributed much to the positive way Everton played. I thought his substitution was harsh and I believe contributed to our loss of control on the match. Deulofeu and McGeady are much more direct and traditional wingers and Pienaar likes to keep ahold of the ball more and bring other players into play. This helps Everton to control games and create chances off the back of this. It may have been the case that we had too many Hollywood players on the pitch at the end and in trying to win the game we ended up losing it. Not saying that is a bad tactic, indeed I think the opposite. 3 points are a lot more valuable than 1 and agree with the notion of trying to win games at the risk of losing them. It may be that Martinez learns from today game and sees that going all out may not be the wisest move against a title challenger in their own ground.

As I said at the start though, Everton came out of this game with a lot of credit. Mourinho's record at Stamford Bridge is phenomenal and not many teams will have caused him so many problems. The same old problem exists for Everton and one we hope is addressed in the transfer window by the purchase of more quality attacking players and quite obviously a striker.

This game will put Everton further behind and a fair amount of points behind their rivals. It may be best to assess the situation again in 4 games time. West Ham, Cardiff, Swansea and Fulham await and are all very winnable games and if the likes of Tottenham and Liverpool drop points then, it may give Everton a way back in but for now, it look a very long shot.

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