Some catching up

Everton must be going into the new year not knowing whether to be positive or not...The Newcastle game was pretty good. A game that Everton largely controlled and instead of being held at bay or scoring but being pegged back almost imediately we managed to nick a scrappy goal and then consolidate.

After Anichebe had dribbled his opener in we actually looked more confident but a head-to-head the edge of their area lead to us losing concentration and conceding a penalty. Emre sparked off a melee from nowhere, not sure how (rumours abound about spitting or racist abuse) and the ensueing delay didn't help Martins in his preperation for his penalty. It's fair to say it's the worst penalty I've ever seen live...it's possibly the worst pen since Diana Ross in the 94 world cup opening ceremony.

So 1-0 to us at half time...after the break we pressed on and scored from a corner and after Phil Neville had scuffed in his first goal for the club (own goals excluded) we were actually comfortable as the final whistle approached...a very unusual feeling for us it has to be said.

On new year's day City beat us 2-1 (with anothe Johnson penalty claim ignored) so our christmas run was WXWL. Not too bad but the extra point from the City game would have made it look tonnes better.

Not sure which was we'll go...Hibbert and Cahill are coming back but rumours abound at Super Joleon Lescott has attracted interest from Real Madrid. This would be an awful loss for the team. He has been immense since joining. I'd rate him amongst Moyesies best buys.

The weekend see us take on Blackburn in the cup...bad time to play them methinks.

The Cricket capitulation ended last night...a crippling disappointment. Really annoyed about it. You can't really defend the players, their attitude just seemed wrong. Going home for a week instead of fitting in another game. Declining to play warm-up games, bringing their families over and doing their own thing, sticking with the 2005 team no matter how out of form they were.

5-0 leaves the Aussies like pigs in shit gloating away at us.

Still at least we won't hear the phrase "Australia just played some great cricket" again for a while...oh wait there's still the one dayers and we are rubbish at that.