Could I Get the License Plate of that Red Bus Please?

Mondays suck. Mondays after an Everton loss in the Merseyside Derby REALLY suck. It truly is like getting hit by a bus, and not in the "I just drank myself to the verge of a coma on Bourbon Street celebrating the Saints winning El Game Grande" run over by a truck feeling. We're talking actual being crushed by a large red shite bus.


As is often the case with the derby, it's not the loss that causes the pain, it's the details of the loss. Saturday was no different, in fact Saturday was downright awful. Despite having a man advantage for close to an hour, Everton was unable to create chances, unable to make Pepe Reina break a sweat, unable to do anything...other than play an ineffective and demented form of hoofball. If Frankenstein's monster could be converted to a football performance, Everton's second half might be what it would look like. Random arms and legs hastily attached to a random torso and given a loose definition of life. In fact if you were to watch the second half of Saturday's match without knowing any events from the first half and you were to leave the TV on mute, you might not even realize Everton had a man advantage. It really was that bad.

Nothing like a 45-minute Phill Neville hosted horror show to start your weekend.

There is no question the loss of Marouane Fellaini to an ankle injury late in the first half was a huge blow to Everton's plan. David Moyes rashly substituting a still not match fit Mikel Arteta was the second. As fans and observers we can second guess manager decisions until the cows come home (unless they are still partying on Bourbon Street), so I will.

With Fellaini out and a man advantage thanks to the red card on NAME, Moyes should have taken a deep breath and subbed in Seamus Coleman. Move Phill Neville in to Fellaini's defensive mid position and allow the younger, faster and more creatively gifted youngster to bomb down the wing and work with Landon Donovan. The Neville-Donovan combo on the right side is clearly not working. Neville's apparently inability to do anything but hoof in a long ball prevents Donovan from being truly effective in his role. Then again the typically more effective combination of Baines and Pienaar on the left wasn't exactly tearing it up either. Still, despite my appreciation for Phil Neville and what he's done for Everton, he's hurting their offensive effectiveness right now. People are starting to ask when Tony Hibbert is going to come back for pete's sake!

Neville was also directly responsible for the lone Liverpool goal after failing to take inside position from Dirk Kuyt on the corner. He never should have allowed Kuyt to be between him and goal and Tim Howard deserves some blame as well for not commanding the traffic in front of his net. It was a real communication breakdown between to veteran players, not something you can afford to have happen in any match, let alone in a derby against a club notorious for thieving a result.

The goal, Neville's struggles down the wing and the entire sqaud's general malaise allowed Liverpool to implement their hideous ugly yet maddingly effective "everybody behind the ball" tactic. Worse yet, Everton repeatedly were caught by Liverpool on the counter attack when errant long balls were easily intercepted and sent back towards Tim Howard.

In other words, it just a really bad Saturday.

I trust in David Moyes and I believe in his ability to lead Everton, but even the best managers have a bad day. I feel that Moyes did not react properly on Saturday and he payed the price with the poor result. Now Everton faces a tricky mid-week challenge against Chelsea without Fellaini, without Steven Pienaar (whose reckless and challenge happy style on Saturday earned him a red card) and having to deal with another blow to the club's confidence.