Landon Donovan Had Another Good Game

[White Noise]

Everton 2 Sunderland 0: David Moyes eyes Europe as American Landon Donovan breaks goal duck

By John Edwards

Last updated at 11:55 PM on 27th January 2010

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Strains of 'USA, USA' rang round Goodison Park, but it was Europe that figured in David Moyes's thoughts as his side's revival continued to gather momentum.

The Everton manager is beginning to sense another Europa League may not be out of the question after the way his improving side have shaken off their early-season lethargy.

Sunderland had no answer to their midfield guile and cutting edge, as Tim Cahill opened the scoring in the seventh minute and Landon Donovan inspired the USA chants with his first Everton goal 12 minutes later.

Perfectionist that he is, Moyes's delight with the flow and finesse of a commanding home performance may have been tempered by an acceptance that the winning margin should have been bigger.

While Tim Howard remained untested prior to an instinctive one-handed stop from Bolo Zenden in the 88th minute, there was an abundance of near-misses at the other end, with George McCartney pulling off a spectacular goalline clearance to deny Donovan and Leon Osman firing narrowly wide soon after.

It extended their unbeaten sequence to eight games in the Barclays Premier League stretching back to the derby against Liverpool at the end of November and lifted them above Fulham into ninth place.

Moyes was particularly pleased with his two goalscorers, saying: 'Landon has settled in really quickly and when you consider he had a record of near enough a goal every other game in America, there is every reason for believing there will be more to come from him.

MATCH FACTSEVERTON (4-5-1): Howard 6; Neville 6, Heitinga 6, Distin 6, Baines 8; Donovan 7 (Arteta 75min, 6), Osman 7, Fellaini 7, Cahill 7, Pienaar 7 (Anichebe 90); Saha 6 (Vaughan 77).

SUNDERLAND (4-5-1): Gordon 6; Mensah 6, Nosworthy 5 (Da Silva 59, 6), Kilgallon 5, McCartney 7; Henderson 6, Cana 6, Cattermole 5 (Reid 46, 6), Richardson 5 (Jones 25, 5), Zenden 6; Bent 5. Booked: Zenden.

Man of the match: Leighton Baines.

Referee: Phil Dowd. 

'Tim's game continues to come on, as well. He has improved over the past month and I can see him coming up with a few more goals.

'We have got a bit of momentum going and the trick is to make sure we keep it going. We wanted to get the Birmingham FA Cup defeat (on Saturday) out of our system quickly and I think we did that.'

Sunderland were without a win at Goodison since Peter Reid was manager 14 years ago, and they seldom looked like ending the jinx, once Cahill made the early breakthrough.
So close: Sunderland defender John Mensah manages to track back and snuff out a chance from Everton striker Louis Saha

Marouane Fellaini was the instigator as he controlled a pass from Leighton Baines and chipped it into the area, where Cahill timed his run to perfection to glance a header beyond Craig Gordon.

Donovan has been a lively presence on the flanks since arriving on loan from LA Galaxy at the start of the month, and he showed he has an eye for goal to go with his darting runs as he opened his Everton account at the fourth time of asking in the 19th minute.

Cahill won the aerial duel for Baines' long punt forward, and, to the consternation of Sunderland manager Steve Bruce, Donovan was allowed to steady himself before firing a low left-foot shot past Gordon.

With Steven Pienaar finding his range with some crisp, pinpoint passing, more goals seemed certain to follow and would have done, but for Matthew Kilgallon whipping the ball off Louis Saha's toes in front of goal and McCartney hurling himself in the way of Donovan's goalbound shot before colliding with a post.

Sunderland belatedly mounted an attacking threat, with Zenden's 88th minute drive and a header from substitute Kenwyne Jones that Howard also dealt with, but it was far too little, far too late.

Bruce, who lost Lee Cattermole to a hamstring injury at half-time, said: 'I sound like a long-playing record, but once again we gave away goals far too easily.

'We simply cannot defend properly. We are on an awful run and have to start showing a better attitude.'


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1246561/Everton-2-Sunderland-0-Landon-Donovan-scores-goal-Black-Cats-woeful-run-continues.html#ixzz0dssFmiTz

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

The Toffee's I know up north think very highly of him and would love it if the move became a fulltime one

[Logicalman]

My opinion of LD is (very slowly) changing, and I truly hope he does well up north. If he does, it will prove the nay-sayers (like myself) wrong, and I am very happy to admit that when the time comes.