Three Points - Gone With The Wind!

First impressions, they say, last.  I'm not mad keen on these kind of stadiums.  Breeze block soulless constructions.  No heartbeat.  Maybe I'm an old fart but you've gotta have at least a second tier on even one stand surely?!  It's the same, all the way around the ground.  Some take the piss out of Everton FC for the Park End banners of recent seasons, informing anyone who bothers to look at them of our various achievements but I'd rather have them on the outside of "MY" stadium than a "border wraparound" screaming Walkers crisps inside the ground.  Personally, I found it tacky.

The view and the facilities may indeed be better than what we have at present but modernisation without a nod in the direction of tradition leaves you feeling just a bit empty.  Something missing that you can't *quite* put your finger on!  A bit like our own Park End perhaps!!

Anyway, the game:

To say it was a fresh day in Leicester is an understatement.  It was blowing a gale.  Some wag thanked Above for no Unsworth present.  Cruel.

Leicester started more positively, helped by the wind and their secret weapon - about 3,000 windswept pieces of plastic.  Everton looked static.

The game wasn't helped one bit by arguably the most inept performance given by a PROFESSIONAL Premiership ref.  Just how on earth is Barry Knight officiating at this level?  Shocking.  We could argue all day and night about Duncan Ferguson's dismissal but from where I was sitting it looked as though Duncan (harshly booked moments earlier) gave Knight the opportunity he relished.  Cue an early bath yet again.  Having now seen the TV pictures it's hard to excuse Duncan for grabbing Freund by the throat.  However, I could perfectly understand and appreciate Duncan's sheer frustration at that precise moment.  That's how Knight officiated throughout.  We weren't necessarily a dirty side yet picked up cards freely - about as freely as the wind scattered litter across the pitch.  Rooney's yellow was laughable!  He challenged the Leicester defender down on the touchline in front of us with the result that the Leicester player (bigger than our kid!) hit the deck. Now, if it was a foul it was a foul!  It's hard to describe perfectly but if you can imagine the tackle taking place and nothing happening then for a few seconds before the referee eventually decided to book the offending player! It wasn't a case of a referee (or his assistants) spotting a foul challenge and booking a player at that instant, for his offending challenge.  A nothing challenge resulting in Wayne Rooney now finding himself suspended. Petty officialdom.

What made matters worse, in the first half, were two successive Leicester City corner kicks not taken from the proper area.  Evertonians were livid, screaming at the "referee's assistant" (standing all of 25 millimetres away from the corner flag) to stop the Leicester player taking either kick from outside the area.  It was little things like this that infuriated all watching.  We're being slightly paranoid in highlighting the argument that it was mainly ourselves on the wrong end of some bad calls - but christ did it feel that way!  On a day like this, what better way to top it off but to concede an injury time equaliser.  Summed it up perfectly.  Gutted.

Sometimes, when you feel you're more sinned against than sinner, you create a feeling from within, a resolve - a resolve to hit back.  Rooney epitomised this after Duncan's dismissal.  He made one great run from wide left, initially, cutting through the Leicester midfield/defence.  On the edge of the box, with defenders closing in and the keeper closing the angle, he dragged his shot wide left.  It would've been a fine individual effort. It's not the first time he's got himself into a position like that only to drag his shot the wrong side of the post.  There's time we forget though that he's only 18 years old!  In the same move, as Leicester's defence parted like the Red Sea, it was patently obvious that Steve Watson has absolutely no pace at all.  Vainly he tried to keep up with Rooney but despite having acres of space in front of him and looking like "the obvious
ball" for Rooney to play - pass out right for Watson to slot home into an empty net - the truth was that he hadn't the legs.  One for the summer sales perhaps?  Watson, not Rooney!!!