Back down to earth for Everton...

Everton drank from the UEFA Cup midweek, with Moyes' boys turning what was quite possibly their worst performance of the season, being outplayed, outshot, and outfought. Suddenly the Toffees changed from robust brawlers into pliant youths, unable to handle their drink or pass the ball coherently.   

  The manner of Everton's defeat, coming as it did to their Italian twins Fiorentina - a team, like them, trying to break into the top four, must have been incredibly galling. Legend has it that if you encounter your doppelganger you are doomed to be haunted by their image forever, and Everton will have to work hard to exorcise the memory of their stumbling, off colour, display in Florence.

In Italy the press wonder whether Fiorentina are a large small club, or a small large club - they stand on the precipice of success just like Everton. Either way Fiorentina played all the football, Everton looked like a sheep in wolf's clothing, and 2-0 was a result that flattered the Toffees and not the Italians. In fact only an immense performance from the ever elastic Tim Howard and a negligent miss from Santana late on kept the deficit at two.

Whether or not this result seeps through to our domestic form remains to be seen, and I was left wondering if this bad performance would be a swift squall over our campaign or a permanent change of climate at Goodison.

Our wretched week started with Liverpool regaining fourth by completely overwhelming West Ham - who weren't so much a walkover as a mass roadkill convention. On Thursday we got soundly spanked by our evil twins in Florence, and on Saturday we discovered that our young striker James Vaughan would be off to see Dr Richard Steadman for yet another operation on his knee ("to have a bit of cartilage trimmed,"according to Moyes).

And then there were three; Yakubu, Johnson, and Anichebe, a mere trio of senior strikers at the club, a dangerously shallow paddling pool of resources for a team wading into a battle for Champions League qualification and success in Europe.

Most Evertonians rate Vaughan as the most promising young prospect we have, but he has been hit with a cruel succession of serious injuries. When he dislocated his shoulder in pre-season, fellow Toffee youngster Vic Anichebe revealed that Vaughan had become so downhearted that he considered giving up football. His latest injury will see him out for the rest of the season, yet another worrying and long lay-off.

All this was a prelude to yesterday's game against the Black Cats, and we got a huge slice of luck against Sunderland, a team desperately clawing for every point and surely keen to make amends after our 7-1 romp against them at Goodison. The fact that Moyes started with both Yakubu and Andy Johnson - our two "get out of jail free" cards - showed just how important this result was. Our 1-0 win was courtesy of  a scrappy AJ goal with more than a sprinkling of handball, nevertheless the goal and the three points that it secured will be gratefully accepted with open arms, even though the performance was very flat. Next up in Europe is Fiorentina at Goodison, and in the Premier League we play Fulham away, whilst Liverpool face Reading at home.

A poor week, of haunting doppelgangers and black cats...Back down to earth for Everton.

Ed Bottomley