Everton

Bolton Soapbox: at least we’re spared another cup defeat to Everton

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Out with a whimper, says Jake
Was there even a whimper, asks Jake, correcting himself

Ruby Tuesday. Had Sunderland won last night, that 40th anniversary cup run would still have been on – if only until the visit of Everton that won’t now be needed. An abysmal display against Bolton Wanderers, watched by a paltry crowd of 17,500 including our own, occasionally rejoicing but less occasionally suffering Pete Sixsmith, must have had poor old Bob Stokoe spinning in his grave. Another year, at least to wait for anything resembling the 1973 adventures. Pete’s considered judgement: awful, awful, awful – why do we bother? …

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Sixer at Goodison: a poppy-free account of nearly beating Everton

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Jake has been happier

As if watching another defeat was not bad enough Pete Sixsmith then had his finely written account of an otherwise pleasant weekend assaulted by technical gremlins (Monsieur Salut to blame). So here, again, is Pete’s description – without so much as a word on James McClean and poppygate – of an away trip that promised a pub crawl, entertaining craic with knowledgeable fans and being present at a Sunderland victory. As Malcolm Dawson put it, citing Michael Lee Aday’s philosophical response to partial failure: ‘two out of three ain’t bad.’ Still, Sixer did see the green shoots of optimism peeping out from behind the Everton induced blues …

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Martin’s Musings after Everton heartbreak: ‘played brilliantly, will come good’

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Jake in Spain thinks we're mainly down the drain

Martin O’Neill saw the same match as us and correctly identified a massive improvement in confidence and also some bad luck. How well we played and how unlucky we were are both open to debate. The simple truth is that we should not have allowed a lead to be overturned as it was – and we should have taken more than one of the four clear first-half chances …

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Sixer’s Sevens: Everton 2 SAFC 1. Spirited effort deserved better

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Jake gives Sixer star billing

At the Gurnell swimming pool in Greenford, west London this morning, a father and small daughter walked past and I spotted the girl’s bright but old Reg Vardy top. ‘Like her style but I fear she won’t be pleased later,” I muttered. We passed again outside as he drove off and we walked to our car. ‘Don’t be so pessimistic,’ he said after lowering his window. When Adam Johnson’s sweet finish gave Sunderland the lead on the stroke of half time, I forced myself to believe he had a point. It lasted until a brief spell in the second half that saw lead turn to deficit. So it went to script with yet another defeat and we still haven’t won there since 1996; at least we scored and, as Pete Sixsmith notes in the seven-word instant verdict on which he will build over the next day or so, played substantially better than on other recent visits to Goodison. It was also miles better than versus Boro or Villa but the run remains worrying …

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The Lars Word on starting the revival – at Everton or somewhere else soon

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Lars Knutsen: home is where the heart is

A visit home to Sunderland from US exile set Lars Knutsen thinking about when the GR – SAFC’s Great Revival – will start. Another defeat seems to many so obvious an outcome at Everton today that we might as well have have faxed the points to Goodison and saved on travel costs. But Lars recalls another November away trip when Sunderland managed to tear up the downbeat script …

Who the heck knows what is really going on at the Sunderland Stadium of Light at the moment? 

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Sixer’s Soapbox: more Merseyside blues as Fellaini fuels Everton fightback

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There is nothing Pete Sixsmith likes more than a pub crawl, utilising what’s left of our rail network where possible, some craic with knowledgeable football fans and being present at a Sunderland victory. Well as Michael Lee Aday once said, ‘two out of three ain’t bad’ and Sixer sees the green shoots of optimism peeping out from behind the Everton induced blues …

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