The good, the bad and the ugly: Everton 1 - Wolves 1

The good

There was some good passing in the first half of today's dreadful tie to Wolves. With excellent movement and lots of pace, we actually started the game off well, something that rarely happens. But of course, again, we couldn't score a goal to save our life, but I'll get to that in the bad. Lots of effort was shown by Pienaar, if that counts for anything, and Heitinga was pretty solid in his first league game after the World Cup. Distin had a pretty decent game as well, and I'll eat my words from last week as Hibbert was also pretty good.

The bad

I feel like this will be a long list. Regardless of his effort Pienaar's passing for most of the game was atrocious. The only thing worse in terms of accuracy was Bily's shooting. I have been sticking up for Bily since he showed up at Everton, but today he made me think twice. His key attribute was always his ability to shoot with power and score. Today just wasn't his day and I think the team suffered because of it. Times like today, I wonder why on earth we signed Saha. Not only has he not scored in the league in ages, he actually cost us the win today. Careless play, and a lazy attitude from him, set up the goal that not only cost us two points, but very nearly got Heitinga injured. At the end of the day, we fell apart in the second half. We were sloppy and slow and it cost us.

The ugly

I sincerely hope that Lee Mason will never be able to ref an Everton game again. The reffing truly was horrible and I'm just thankful we came out of this match without any injuries. Wolves were allowed to get away with murder to put it simple.

Moyes' tactics were also ugly. At home, we need to play two strikers. Everyone knows it so just do it already.

Ugh, at the end of the day this game was just terrible. I am actually losing years off my life with every game I watch.

Not as bad as last year I guess

Premier League day one: Blackburn 1 – Everton 0

There really is nothing like losing your first game to leave you completed dejected. Today started full of promise, with all of our players back from injury, no one could stop us, except of course for the hard-hitting Blackburn Rovers. At times, we looked like a team that had never played together before. Which simply isn’t the case, since we didn’t start any of our new signings. Moyes seems to have the “England syndrome,” playing players based solely on what they have done for the club, not what they could do today. In my opinion, if we want to challenge for the top four or even the league we have to drop some of our heart and relegate them to the bench to come on if we need them. Neville is not good enough for a top-flight team anymore. He is too slow and probably hasn’t made a good pass in years. It’s time for him to retire and join the coaching staff. I’d also really like to know what Coleman has to do to make the team. He wasn’t even on the bench! Our substitute for Neville, if he had come off was Hibbert! This is simply unacceptable. Our defense looked terrible at times, our midfield sometimes nonexistent and our attack left by the wayside. The solution to having nothing going down the right was to move Pienaar over. Why would you change a player’s position when the only thing working for the team, was his partnership with Baines.

I won’t even bother talking about possibly the worst goal-keeping error in recent history, because I’d rather just forget about that and focus on what needs to change. Here is the team I would like to see Everton play:

Howard

Coleman Jagielka Heitinga Baines

Fellaini

Bily? Arteta Rodwell Pienaar

Beckford or Saha

I’m still hopeful for the season, but fear next week against Wolves will be a repeat of today. Fingers crossed it won’t.

Maybe summer is not all bad

I wrote this post a while back but forgot to post it. Given Everton has just signed Arteta to a new deal. I thought it might be a fitting time to post it, even if it outdated.

If your favourite team is owned by a Russian billionaire, or a Sheikh, I’m sure the summer months are filled with hope, anticipation and an overall feeling of promise. Every day brings the chance that your team has added a bigger, faster, more talented player. If you are an Everton fan, these two-and-a-half months are pure and utter torture. Each morning you awake to the dread that one of your best players has been traded, or at the very least is rumoured to be leaving. These days are a nightmare. Last summer’s Lescott debacle undid our entire season. This year, there appears to be many players on the proverbial chopping block. I cannot even begin to consider the devastation if any of the current rumours are true. Not only is there a permanent cloud over Pienaar, but Arteta’s future seems to lie in the balance. First it was Manchester City, then Arsenal and then Arteta simply wanted to go back to Spain to be closer to his family. Today, he is in Australia, a good sign, but Manchester City have once again raised their ugly head supposedly offering Stephen Ireland, Nedum Onouha and Michael Johnson for our beloved Spaniard. Why would we want players that have been warming the bench to replace arguably the linchpin of our team? This must be a joke! If we could just keep our team intact, this could be our year.

Business and Social Media

Today’s business environment is going through a major change, with the increasing popularity of social media. As we have all seen, social media can be an effective way to get a key message out to the public, both quickly and honestly. Sporting events, and everything really, have been impacted by social media. At the end of the day, sports teams are businesses and like anything else, they need to adapt to the current climate and adopt these methods of communicating with their audiences. So what is the best way to tap into social media? I personally believe that Twitter is currently the most effective social media platform for business today. The speed of Twitter is undeniable and its ability to reach people and spread virally is part of its success.

Twitter forces businesses to cut out all the clutter that surrounds their usual messaging to stakeholders. They are limited to 140 characters to get the story straight.

In the past, if a crisis hit a corporation and they did not respond in a timely manner they would be criticized. This is definitely something that Twitter can change. It allows businesses to provide constant updates of information, in real time, to their audiences and make them a part of the conversation. Communicating on Twitter also demonstrates how important the customer is to the company. They can give their audiences additional information, to help them feel valued. I don’t think Twitter will necessarily be the best tool for all businesses, but for many it will. Sports teams are a perfect example of how they can involve fans (consumers) in the conversation about a team. As a fan, you probably are unable to influence the decisions made by a team, but through Twitter, the fan can be given the most up-to-date information, which they can then retweet or reply, but in the end they will be then involved. It is this involvement and ultimately investment that companies can achieve by using Twitter.

The power of Twitter is unquestionable, but the real question is will it last? Will businesses and people get tired of having to limit their conversations to 140 characters? Who knows. But for now, if Twitter fits with the brand identity, it is definitely a tool available for businesses to use effectively to increase their profile with their audiences. If I am conversing with you, I feel like I know you and that builds my trust. And trust is invaluable to any corporation.

The Montage and YouTube

It used to be when you missed a game, you would not be able to see the goal of the year that everyone is talking about. You would try to remember to watch the news to see the recap, but this wasn't always possible. And that would've been it. You would have missed the chance to enter the conversation around the water cooler. And then four years later the conversation would start up again and once again you would be shafted. Well not anymore my friends, because YouTube has pretty much ensured we will never again miss a thing.

One thing that I love at the end of the World Cup is watching the montages created, summarizing the tournament; they remind me of the highs and lows and usually tap into the emotion experienced by the fans and the players. With that being said, the BBC makes one hell of montage, which I think you should watch; BBC 2010 World Cup 2010 Closing Montage is probably my favourite. It sends shivers down my spine and even made me tear up a little.

Watch it, enjoy it and think about how this tournament has affected the way the world views sport and South Africa. Then revel in the fact that without YouTube you would have never have seen it. Thank you BBC, YouTube and ABCDJLG, because I do love a montage.

#WORLDCUP Twitter's first World Cup

I must say initially I was skeptical of the power of twitter, but the World Cup has made me a believer. You can follow players, managers and governing bodies like FIFA, as well as soccer fanatics across the world. I watched most games while on twitter viewing tweets from those I'm following and watching people battle it out for the country they're following. You get updates as fast as if you were watching the game itself, which is just brilliant. On a superficial level, you could even input little flags into your tweets and when you tweet #worldcup a soccer ball showed up. Very clever. Since the beginning of the World Cup, twitter trending topics have consistently included World Cup related items like players names and the elusive Vuvuzela. It even had my dad asking me what was Dave Fleet saying about the England team. Today, one day after the final, #worldcup is still a worldwide trending topic, where all things World Cup related have been monopolizing space. The greatest thing about twitter and soccer is that even though the World Cup is now over, twitter lives on and I fully intend to make use of it when the Premier League starts up again in August. I can't wait! Stay tuned for my thoughts on the best goal of the tournament.

We're half way there!

So, I have been neglecting my blogging duty in part because I spend so much time following the World Cup, I have no time to write about it. But with the knock-out stages about to begin, I figured I'd wrap up my thoughts on the group stages. For the most part I wasn't surprised. The South Americans are dominating. They are attacking teams, which I am all for, because lets face it, defensive teams give soccer its reputation for being boring. So far, these defensive teams have been punished, Italy in particular. We all knew when their team was picked, that they had no creativity up top, simply not the players they used to have, and they suffered because of this. I did expect them to make it through, but they didn't and I haven't seen an Italian flag since. The refs started off well, but have made some horrific mistakes, punishing the US probably the most and Chile certainly didn't deserve to have a player sent off against Spain. There have been good, games and bad, amazing goals and ones that I still can't believe went in.

Anyways, I think that is all I have time for now; Uruguay and S. Korea are about to start. For today's games, I think it will be 2-1 Uruguay and 1-0 US.

It's almost time!

So the World Cup opening concert is tomorrow and I am far too excited. Every day I see more flags about and can’t wait for a month full of soccer and celebrations across the city. I will do my best to watch as many games live, but will have to result to watching some on the DVR.

It is time to share my predictions for this upcoming tournament. I will admit now that I have never been good at predicting the outcomes of any sporting event, because I am unable to separate my heart from my head and tend to choose teams I want to win instead of those who will probably win.

In the past, for the most part, South American teams have won in South America and European teams win in Europe, does that mean this year an African team will win? My guess would be no, but the weather in South Africa at this time of year might help some teams. Since it is winter in South Africa and I’ve heard some of the stadiums are in areas that are quite rainy, could this benefit European teams? Maybe even England? I guess only time will tell…

That being said lets take a run through the groups (current rankings are in brackets):

Group A – South Africa (83), Uruguay (16), Mexico (17), France (9)

I think this is one of the groups I am most torn about with who will advance to the next round. I’m drawn to Mexico and hope that South Africa will advance because the tournament atmosphere, I believe, will suffer if they get knocked out right away. It is hard to believe that France won’t make it through, given their team is stacked with incredible players, but their poor coaching leaves me thinking it won’t happen for them this year.

Player to watch – Steven Pienaar, South Africa and Everton’s golden boy, creative in midfield and can change direction so easily, it’s a pleasure to watch. I just wish he would shoot more often.

Group B - Argentina (7), South Korea (47), Nigeria (21), Greece (13)

Every time I watch Argentina play, I think they are unstoppable. They have so many good players and play a game that is incredibly entertaining. They have a coach, who is a little unpredictable to say the least, I wouldn’t even be surprised if he were to bench Messi. But when all is said and done, I think Argentina will blow the rest of these teams away and safely cement themselves as the winners of Group B. For runners up, I’m not sure, I’m leaning towards South Korea, because I tend to think Nigeria will go far and they almost always let me down. South Korea is a definite underdog, but they’re hard working and I think they will squeak through.

Player to watch – Lionel Messi, his low centre of gravity makes him incredibly difficult to play against, but as we saw in the champions league, he can be played out of a game fairly easily. Can’t wait to see who is featured as Argentina’s strikers, they simply have too many to choose from.

Group C – England (8), Algeria (30), U.S. (14), Slovenia (25)

Initially I thought that this might be England’s year, but after seeing the final team selection, and with Gerard newly appointed as Captain, I think that they’ll make it through, but probably not as far as the final. I’m going to say they will be Group C’s runner up and I think the U.S. are going to take this group.

Players to watch – Landon Donovan and Wayne Rooney.

Group D – Germany (6), Serbia (15), Australia (20), Ghana (32)

Don’t know what to say for this group, not really interested. Germany will be a tough team to beat, as they are always defensively strong, so they’ll take this group. I think Australia will make it through in second.

Player to watch – Tim Cahill, he always plays fantastic for Australia and will probably be their top scorer.

Group E – Netherlands (4), Japan (45), Denmark (36), Cameroon (19)

The Netherlands is another team that I usually believe will go far. They have a solid squad with great players in every position. They will take this group fairly convincingly with Cameroon probably as runners up.

Players to watch – Wesley Sneijder and if fit, John Heitinga; he is a versatile player who is great defensively and going forward.

Group F – Italy (5), New Zealand (78), Paraguay (31), Slovakia (34)

Of all the teams in the top 10, Italy managed to get by far the easiest group. They are a team that I don’t think have a chance at repeating the win. They are nowhere as good of a team as they used to be and I still don’t think they deserved to win last time, but they will win this group, with Paraguay probably taking second. Paraguay is a well-organized team.

Players to watch – Oscar Cardozo of Paraguay, after scoring three goals in two games against Everton last season, I’d like to think he’ll have a good tournament.

Group G – Brazil (1), Ivory Coast (27), North Korea (105), Portugal (3)

Brazil will win this group, no question. I’m going to pick an underdog for runner-up in the Ivory Coast. I really hope Drogba recovers in time to play some role for the Ivory Coast, because I think their chances of squeezing past Portugal are much smaller without him. They need Drogba’s leadership in order to be successful as well and his eye for goal will obviously help as well. Their coach Sven, will also make it harder for them to win, I honestly don’t know how he is employed, has he ever one anything? Portugal simply leave me underwhelmed, Ronaldo is never his best, but if he were to play like he does domestically, they could do well. Either way, this group will have some games that shouldn’t be missed.

Players to watch – Julio Cesar, Kaka and Maicon.

Group H- Spain (2), Honduras (38), Switzerland (24), Chile (18)

Spain will take this group with Chile in second. Spain seems to be ready for this competition. After a disappointing loss to the US put them out of the Confederations’ Cup, they only have one thing on their mind. Hopefully they can stay injury-free to make things really interesting. At their best, they are currently the most entertaining team to watch. Their passing is out-of-this world as they continuously thread the needle successfully. Chile is a team that might surprise you. I was impressed after seeing their team play in the Under 20 World Cup in Toronto in 2007, where they came third.

Players to watch – David Villa and Xavi for Spain, Humberto Suazo for Chile.

Nowhere but here...

Toronto really is a fantastic place to be during the World Cup. Aside from the host nation itself, I would argue it is the best place for atmosphere, antics and variety in the world. Every day travelling about the city, you can't go five minutes without seeing a flag either flying outside of a house or attached to someone's car. If that wasn't enough, every team in the cup has a community to support it, in this multi-cultural city of ours, where you can watch a game with people from England, Italy, Algeria and Greece, just to name a few. If watching the game with fans who are going for a team that means the world to them isn't enough, then immerse yourself in the culture, food and beer during the game. This World Cup, I encourage you to visit various places across the city and be part of one of these communities for a couple of hours. You'll have the opportunity to go on a mini vacation every day and enjoy some quality soccer at the same time. And who knows, if you are like me and still don't know what team you are going to support, one of these communities might just adopt you for a month. Thanks Toronto, this is going to be a good one!

There's no splashing on grass

Last weekend, I watched Cardiff and Blackpool battle it out for a place in the Premier League. I must say not only was the game excellent, it was refreshing to see passion, heart and dedication in a game that was free of soccer's worst travesty -- diving.

With the World Cup fast approaching, I hope that it will be a demonstration of the best the world has to offer, but fear it will transcend into a diving competition. Not only is diving simply frustrating, it has become ridiculous. For this reason, I have decided to compile a list of the top 8 divers to watch. Even though most are at the top of their game, they are so ridiculous, at times it is embarrassing.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) - It is a wonder he does not hurt himself.

2. Didier Drogba (Ivory Coast) - No explanation needed. The man is a tank who probably wouldn't be knocked over by a truck on the street, but his theatrics on the pitch are unbelievable at times. He, like Ronaldo, must have taken the art of taking a hissy fit, because the 'fun' really begins when their dives are left unnoticed.

3. Arjen Robben (Netherlands) - Would score more goals if he stayed on his feet.

4. Steven Gerard (England) - One player who gets away with murder both on-and-off the field in the Premier League. To be fair, he only dives when he is in the final third and a dive in the penalty box is a bonus. I'm hoping he gets called for everything and if we're lucky, even gets sent off.

5. Nani (Portugal) - Don't think this pick needs much explaining, Ronaldo II, not as talented of a player but diving ability that would rival anyone.

6. Team Italy - This pick is a bit of an assumption. I am not up to date on many of the players that will play this year, but if history repeats itself, they'll dish it out (fouls) and dive if anyone comes within two feet.

7. Team Spain - There are just too many to name, most notably Torres, Busquets, Pedro and Fabregas. At times I have to turn off La Liga out of pure frustration. There must be something in the water.

8. Eduardo (Portugal) This decision is primarily formed because of the Champions League fiasco, I don't think he will make it on the pitch if I'm honest.

and just because I can, I would like to give an honourable mention to David Ngog, as he has proven to be Gerard's protege this past season.

Welcome to Beyond the Penalty Spot! This blog will detail my feelings on all things soccer related. I will make predictions on upcoming games, have post-game reviews and discuss transfer gossip and player antics both on-and-off the field.

I think it is important to first admit all biases that I have, which will be present in this blog. First, and most importantly, I am an Everton fan. This usually means I find it hard to criticize Everton players when they are on international duty and am sometimes too quick to criticize when they don the blue and white.

As the world cup is fast approaching it seems almost natural that this is where my blog will begin. I was born in Canada and my heritage is Irish so there won’t be a problem favouring either of them, because they did not qualify. I will however not be supporting France out of principle and familial allegiance. In the next coming days, I will post team profiles and players to watch. I primarily watch the Premier League, MLS and La Liga, so I admit my profiles may be lacking some information.

Thanks for reading!

FieLowe