The Uefa Europa League Group D fixture between Everton and Sigma Olomouc at Goodison Park on Thursday Aug 20, 2009.
Life after Lescott may not be so hard after all. After a summer of distraction over their central defender’s flirtation with, and his seduction by, Manchester City culminated in their embarrassment at home to Arsenal, in his enforced absence, David Moyes’s side took the first steps on the road to recovery.
True, the opposition were only Sigma Olomouc, though the Czech side did enough at least here to suggest that the images of terror their name will forever conjure in Aberdeen are not entirely unwarranted, and true, it was only a Europa League qualifier. After a 6-1 home defeat, though, any win, any win at all, will do.
Lescott may have been ostracised from training, with attendant schoolmaster tirade from Moyes ringing in his ears, but he was in attendance in the directors’ box to watch the team-mates he has “disappointed” with his “poor attitude,” a sign that, perhaps, he is not quite the heartless villain his manager has cast him as during the endless saga of his drawn-out move to Manchester City.
A lesser professional, perhaps, would have allowed themselves a wry smile at the sight of his team-mates, punch-drunk from Arsenal’s rampage, struggle to overcome the sort of nervousness a 6-1 humiliation can engender, proof in a sense that not all of the blame for that decimation can be laid at his door. Everton were disjointed, groggy, almost, their passes uncertain, their marking sloppy.
Exiling Lescott was never likely to be a panacea for Everton’s early-season malaise, however unavoidable it was. In a sense, the longer the stalemate continues, the more it will contribute to it. Joseph Yobo, never the finest reader of the game, and Phil Neville, slotting into an unfamiliar role in the centre of defence to compensate for the self-inflicted absence of Lescott, looked unsurprisingly uncertain.
Moyes will no doubt be hoping that if Mark Hughes is to match his asking price of around £30 million there is no more shadow play. The Scot may have insisted there was “still a place” for Lescott at Everton should the club not receive a suitable offer, but it is hard to believe manager and player can be reconciled with so much poison in the Goodison air. Far better for Moyes to pocket a vastly inflated sum for a prosaic player and move on, armed with a new defender – David Wheater of Middlesbrough has emerged as the favoured target – as well as Ever Banega, the Valencia midfielder, and Vladimir Bystrov, the Russian international winger, both of whom could join this week.
His defence tottering, twice Tim Howard was called from his line to deny Michal Hubnik, once appearing to fell the schemer illegally – no doubt relieved to see the Portuguese referee read it as a dive - before diving full-stretch to his right to tip Michal Ordos’s 20-yard striker over. All Everton could muster in response was a shot from Leon Osman which flashed wide, their chances limited by Olomouc, compact and technically adept, monopolising the early possession.
Slowly, though, the hosts established a foothold, forcing their guests back more through sheer force of will than superior ability. Nevertheless, their two-goal lead at the interval owed as much to luck as it did to judgment. Saha somehow bundled Marouane Fellaini’s low cross in at the near post, before Rodwell, imperious all night, thundered a 20-yard shot past an apparently unsighted Petr Drobisz.
Good fortune or not, it was just the tonic Everton needed. After the break, they assumed complete control, helped in no small part by another blistering effort from Rodwell, unleashing a rising drive past Dubisz – this time blessed with a perfect view but cursed by utter helplessness – from Pienaar’s lay-off.
From similar range, but a different angle, Saha drove home a fourth, but the songs from the stands celebrated only the name of the home-grown hero, substituted to a standing ovation.
No doubt, after scoring twice, the Goodison faithful will be dreaming of possessing their very own Frank Lampard, or Paul Scholes, the standard-bearers for the last generation of free-shooting, goal-scoring midfielders. The Scot though, sees a different future for his brightest starlet, believing him to be a prime candidate to mature into a ball-playing central defender. Life after Lescott may not be too hard at all.
Match details
Everton (4-5-1, r-l): Howard; Hibbert, Yobo, Neville, Baines; Osman, Cahill, Rodwell (Gosling 77), Fellaini, Pienaar (Vaughan 83); Saha (Jo 79).
Subs: Nash, S Duffy, Wallace, Baxter.
Booked: Neville.
Sigma Olomouc (4-5-1, r-l): Drobisz; Silva, Dreksa, Skerle, Onofrej; Hubnik, Kascak, Otepka (Bajer 62) , Horava, Petr (Janotka 74); Ordos (Sultes 46).
Subs: Lovasik, Veprek, Ulma, Stepan.
Booked: Hubnik.
Referee: Lucilio Batista.
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