Forget Results - Fellaini Is Everton's Biggest Loss

After week upon week of false dawns at Goodison Park, the last thing the Everton faithful would have wanted is for one of their top players to get injured. Given the club’s luck of late, it appeared almost inevitable that injury would strike down a key component of their squad as they look to avoid relegation and kick on up the table towards top-half solidarity.

One would have expected the player to be Louis Saha, a player with a track record of injuries, or Mikel Arteta, who is starting to come back into form after playing below-par for a long time. However, it is midfield engine Marouane Fellaini who suffered an ankle injury last weekend against Sunderland which requires surgery, leaving him sidelined until the end of the season at least.

Fellaini celebrates one of his nine goals from his debut season

After arriving on Merseyside from Standard Liege for a club record £15m fee in 2008, 23 year-old Fellaini has established himself as a first-team regular for the Blues. His debut season is arguably his best so far: he won the Young Player of the Year award having come to the Premier League with a reputation for being a box-to-box midfielder from his time with Liege.

Since then he has almost been forced to become more versatile. Everton’s luck with injuries has been nothing short of awful in the last few years and this left Fellaini to be deployed as a second striker behind Tim Cahill for large parts of his Goodison Park career.

His best position, in the eyes of those who know him best – the Everton fans, is defensive midfield (the ‘Makelele’ role) where he can make the Blues tick.

Occasionally, Fellaini will be anonymous. The recent loss at Bolton is an example of this though the performance of every Everton player on the day was, to put it very kindly, below-par. When he performs like he did in the FA Cup at Stamford Bridge against Chelsea last month, he can be one of the best midfielders in the league.

Fellaini's influence will be a big miss for Everton

Following a superb performance in a home victory against Manchester City - in which he made a mug out of Craig Bellamy with a superb turn on the halfway line to the delight of the majority of the nation - Fellaini’s manager, David Moyes, was purring with the Belgian. He cited that Fellaini was “as good as anyone in the league” and it’s difficult to disagree.

It appears that when Fellaini plays well, Everton do too. This correlation has seen the 6 foot 4 midfielder become one of the first names on Moyes’ team sheet thanks to his ability to break up the play and start Everton attacks with his passing. Whilst he may not be the most aesthetically pleasing player to watch, he is effective. Interest from clubs such as Chelsea, Manchester United and Real Madrid does not come without good reason.

There seems to be some form of symmetry between last season and this for Fellaini. He missed the last part of last season with an injury after going in for a tackle with Sotiris Kyrgiakos in the Merseyside derby at Anfield. The time off will do him the world of good but, obviously, he is of no use to the Toffees from the treatment room.

Amidst all of the talks of crisis at Goodison Park from sceptical Blues fans, they should see that the biggest loss for Everton is not the FA Cup defeat to Reading but that of their midfield maestro.

Tranmere 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday

Tranmere picked up their second win in four days as second half goals from Lateef Elford-Alliyu, Ian Goodison and Enoch Showunmi eased the Whites to a 3-0 win over a lacklustre Sheffield Wednesday, who had Giles Coke sent off, at Prenton Park.

An unchanged Rovers starting XI saw new loan signing Robbie Weir come into the squad but he had to settle for a place on the bench following his arrival from Sunderland on Monday.

Reda Johnson headed over from a corner early on for the Owls, who started brightly with plenty of possession in the opening stages of the game.

Tranmere, however, went closest in a poor first half as Ash Taylor could only put his header into the side netting following a great cross from Aaron Cresswell.

Jamaican sensation Ian Goodison was having yet another solid game at the heart of the Tranmere defence alongside Mark McChrystal and the veteran defender was at his best to clear a cross that was heading straight to the unmarked Isaiah Osbourne.

Lateef Elford-Alliyu celebrates his fourth goal in his last three games

A drab first half was brought to a close following speculative efforts from Tranmere midfield pair John Welsh and Joss Labadie that were no threat to Weaver in the away goal.

Tranmere were given a warning early in the second half as Gary Madine headed narrowly wide from a corner following a mix-up between goalkeeper Tony Warner and McChrystal.

The home side, having absorbed the Wednesday pressure, soon took the lead as Lateef Elford-Alliyu continued his purple patch with a fine header, out-jumping Michael Morrison, from a John Welsh cross for his fourth goal in three games - his fifth of his loan spell from West Brom.

The match swung even further in Tranmere's favour a few minutes later following the sending off of Giles Coke for a late, two-footed tackle on Welsh for which the midfielder could have no arguments.

It looked even more costly as the home side doubled their advantage from the resulting free-kick.

Aaron Cresswell's superb delivery went through a crowd of players and was eventually met by Goodison at the back post for his fourth goal of the season.

Giles Coke sees red for his two-footed lunge on John Welsh

Elford-Alliyu went close to scoring his fourth goal in three days but his shot was saved well by Weaver following a clever corner routine.

Tommy Spurr sent a free kick over the bar as Wednesday struggled to make any sort of impression upon the game, creating next to nothing which left the front pairing of Gary Madine and Clinton Morrison frustrated.

Tranmere sealed the points with ten minutes to go as they had done at Plymouth on Saturday. Aptly, it was Enoch Showunmi who scored it, firing home a coolly taken volley against his former club following a brave header from Joss Labadie to give the Nigerian his second goal in two games and his ninth of the campaign.

Wednesday rarely threatened the Tranmere goal as the game fizzled out with the home side leapfrogging their opponents at the final whistle to move into the dizzying heights of 15th place. The Whites are now six points clear of the bottom four with three games in hand over the likes of Swindon and Plymouth.

The three points also sees Les Parry's side stretch their unbeaten run to five games with just one defeat coming in their last eight games.

Clinton Morrison shows his frustration as the Owls lost on the road again

The performances of the entire team in recent weeks have been superb and it is showing that the players are enjoying their football. Showunmi and Elford-Alliyu are scoring goals and playing with confidence whilst the back five look like a solid unit; as does the midfield.

Wednesday, on the other hand, slip to another away defeat ahead of their FA Cup tie at Birmingham on Saturday. The Owls were poor, particularly in the second half, and lost their heads after the first Tranmere goal: Coke's sending off justifies this view.

Whilst it is clearly a transitional period for the club, it does not excuse experienced professionals such as Clinton Morrison from being completely anonymous from start to finish.

There appears to be a clear lack of harmony within the squad as the new faces try to settle in. The fans, who travelled in large numbers and were the best to come to Prenton Park so far this season, deserved better and rightfully booed their players off at full-time after none came near the away end to applaud their fantastic support.

Gary Megson clearly has a massive job on his hands whilst Les Parry keeps Tranmere ticking along nicely with safety beckoning for another season at least.

Blinded By Brilliance

Form is temporary; class is permanent.

An old cliche but one that rang true at Old Trafford on Saturday as Wayne Rooney's spectacular overhead kick left Joe Hart stranded and made sure that bragging rights stay with the red half of Manchester until next season at least.The 77th minute goal was the final meaningful act of a closely fought Manchester derby that was arguably the most important for years.

And what a moment it was: flinging himself into the air, Rooney finally wriggled out of Vincent Kompany's back pocket and connected perfectly with an overhead kick to deliver a quality finish to Nani's cross - and a killer blow to City's already fading title chances.

David Silva's fortuitous goal that epitomised the old adage of taking a goal scored off of someone's backside had cancelled out Nani's opener and gave Manchester City hope of a win at Old Trafford that had the potential to blow the title race wide open once more in a season which has ebbed and flowed since Blackpool topped the table on the opening day.
Rooney, however, had other ideas.

It was the type of goal most can only dream of scoring so it is perhaps appropriate that a strike of such quality was to be scored at the Theatre of Dreams.

Rooney strikes to break Manchester City hearts

Given his form for both club and country this season, it was surprising to see Rooney attempt such an ambitious effort on goal. For a man who has only 6 goals all season, he did not look short on confidence when he sent the ball into the top corner to put all inside Old Trafford into a state of shock/jubilation/anger (delete as appropriate) at what they had just witnessed.

Should we be amazed at the quality of the goal? Yes, of course. It is a contender for goal of the season, without doubt. Rooney, himself, has said it is the best of his career to date. Sir Alex Ferguson struggled to recall a better goal post-match. However, the reaction from fans and the media to the goal should not go overboard.

Whilst the goal is indicative of the quality that Rooney possesses in abundance, suggestions that the 25 year old is back to his best are, for me, premature.

Following his two goals against Birmingham City at Old Trafford a few weeks ago, you could see signs that the Rooney of last season - who left a devastating mark on most games he played in - was returning.

The facts, however, do not change.
Dimitar Berbatov has been the main man at Old Trafford this season with 19 league goals to his name already; leading the Premier League goalscoring chart from Manchester City's Carlos Tevez, who was shackled well by Chris Smalling and Nemanja Vidic on Saturday lunchtime.

Rooney's bad form has even seen him take a back seat to the young Mexican, Javier Hernandez, who, more often than not, has seized the opportunity with both hands; scoring his own variation of goals ranging from the spectacular to the downright bizarre.

Rooney's form this season has been poor in comparison to his 34 goal season in 2009/10

Rooney has struggled after a poor World Cup and has come under intense scrutiny from some parts for his performances this season. He has looked nothing like the player who scored prolifically last season.

After his superb goal, there is no doubt that he will have re-endeared himself to the Old Trafford faithful. However, it is vital that Rooney remains firmly grounded - though not literally if it means we will see more goals like the one of yesterday. If there is one man to give him this reality check it is Sir Alex Ferguson, who has been there and done it many times before.

If Rooney does indeed return to somewhere near his best then it spells trouble for Premier League defences and I doubt it will be too difficult to find the turning point in his season.