UFO Info Week-End

After 23 minutes Alpay Ozalan just inside the Villa penalty area carelessly played a half-clearance to Murphy whose immediate shot thumped against a

After 23 minutes Alpay Ozalan, just inside the Villa penalty area, carelessly played a half-clearance to Murphy, whose immediate shot thumped against a post and rebounded to his feet. His second attempt was completely accurate and emphasised Liverpool’s growing control, particularly through their midfield movement.Litmanen’s fitness may not be perfect but his touch is almost so. His delicate pass through the Villa defence in the 32nd minute was taken up by Murphy, who slipped the ball sideways to Steven Gerrard. His instant shot flew past David James, who berated Alpay, who slapped his face. Angel may have been beginning to wonder about team spirit among his colleagues.John Gregory’s attempted answer to the questions Liverpool were setting Villa all over the pitch was to replace Ginola with Thomas Hitzlsperger and Alpay with Darius Vassell. That at least gave Dublin some support but getting possession in midfield was the real problem.Everything Liverpool had failed to achieve in their finishing against Palace, here they concluded with a flourish. In the 53rd minute Heskey took the ball wide to the edge of the penalty area before suddenly turning it back across the goalmouth.

Murphy had again moved in at speed and his shot deflected wildly off Gareth Southgate past the increasingly despondent David James.Such was Liverpool’s dominance that in the middle stages of the second half, when they felt that Litmanen had contributed enough, they chose to give Igor Biscan a run-out. And that was exactly what the game itself had become – a canter for Liverpool and a distant pursuit for Villa Merson was as frustrated as poor James. His control and vision was that of an artist among paintball competitors.The sight of Owen arriving as a late Liverpool substitute added further depression to the Villa side and especially their manager, whose future will undoubtedly be in question again should the club be knocked out of the FA Cup in this week’s replay against Newcastle.. One of the advertising hoardings inside Goodison Park is for a scaffolding company who advocate that they provide a “24-hour erection service”. In truth, there was little else on show yesterday to uplift the crowd.

The fact that Tottenham will be the happier of these two disappointing sides, because they earned only their third point away from home all season, says much about the quality of the game. One of the advertising hoardings inside Goodison Park is for a scaffolding company who advocate that they provide a “24-hour erection service”. In truth, there was little else on show yesterday to uplift the crowd. The fact that Tottenham will be the happier of these two disappointing sides, because they earned only their third point away from home all season, says much about the quality of the game.
The Everton faithful were reminded of their club’s glorious past when the championship-winning team of 1969-70 was paraded in front of the crowd before kick-off. “Those were the days,” you could hear frustrated fathers telling their sons, as the likes of Gordon West and Howard Kendall were greeted to rapturous applause.Even as recently as a decade ago, an EvertonTottenham game would have been the match of the day; the sort of vibrant fixture both players and fans look forward to. Yesterday, this was a meeting of old managerial minds, ancient clubs and prehistoric playing styles.Lining up in the blue corner ahead of the battle of the dinosaurs were Everton, who had scored only one goal and taken only one point from their previous six Premiership matches.

An added concern for the home side was the fact that they had defeated the visitors only once in their last 17 meetings.So statistics suggested Everton were unlikely to start the match in confident fashion. And so it proved, as Walter Smith’s patched-up team worked hard to get themselves into promising situations, before all too often committing an unforced error.In the white corner were Tottenham, another of the one-time top-five clubs in the country. George Graham’s men arrived at Goodison with a return of just two points from their season’s travels, which is easily the worst away record in England. The news that Sol Campbell and Les Ferdinand would miss the match through injury did nothing to increase the odds for a thriller.Both teams started the game with 51 Premiership goals between them this season – the same number as the leaders Manchester United – so perhaps their inability to break the deadlock in the opening period should have come as no surprise.Apart from a stinging left-foot drive by Thomas Gravesen and a well-directed header from the returning Kevin Campbell, which were both expertly parried by the Tottenham goalkeeper Neil Sullivan, the only other first-half action of any significance came in the form of two closely followed free-kicks. Both were given on the edge of the area, and both nearly produced the opening goal.