The 10-man advantage

A couple of quick points before I move onto the meat of this article. The first bad tackle in the match was Carragher on Pienaar int he first minute. That was a far worse challenge than the one Pienaar was ultimately sent off for, and set the tone of the match. I don't think Pienaar ever released the ball without receiving a kicking. It was obviously their game plan to target Pienaar and Fellaini, leaving the foot in at every chance. This culminated in Kyriagkos's two-footer, and Steven "shit house" Gerrard's lunge on Pienaar (whilst he was on the floor). The difference between Everton and Liverpool fans is that we know Yakubu has a tendency to dive and we don't like it. Whether it's genuine rose-tinted spectacles or just a lack of understanding of the game, I think pretty much everyone else acknowledges that Gerrard is one of the worst divers in the Premiership. Also, Liverpool are an awful team. Without Torres on the field, and with Gerrard too busy either falling over or kicking people, they are impotent going forward. Ngog? Seriously?

I've always been skeptical of commentators and fans that refer to a "10-man advantage", feeling that any half-decent side should make an extra player count. To some extent this is just the difference between tactics and implementation - whilst in theory there's more space on the park to exploit, in practice it changes the way the opposition play (both in terms of their ambition and their resilience). After yesterday's Derby I wouldn't pretend that the result was down to anything other than the fact that they outplayed us in the second half (all over the pitch), but I did notice something that is worth commenting on. In short, it made me realise that sometimes there's actually two reasons why having fewer players can be turned into an advantage:

1. The galvanising effect: This is what most people have in the back of their mind when a team "responds" after having a man sent off. Especially if the red card is deemed an injustice, it can act as a catalyst for increased tempo and camaraderie. I was never a decent player, but can remember the effect of a sending off on the mental attitude of the whole team. It could act as a catalyst for concentration levels to rise and a sense of injustice spurs action. Intuitively you'd think this effect is stronger if you're at home, but perhaps that adds more pressure than support. Maybe it's an away performance that you'd expect this to really kick in. Regardless, when 10 men sit back and park the bus (as Liverpool did) it can get very hard to open them up. If they nick a goal through awful defending at a set piece (as they also did), it becomes even more difficult to break them down
2. The fear of payback: But possibly there's a second advantage. The first half of the Derby was fantastic - real blood and thunder stuff. Pienaar was lucky not to see red with a mistimed tackled on Mascherano, Fellaini might have seen red when going over the top on Kyriagkos, but make no mistake, the Greek's two-footer was of a different degree and a totally deserved sending off. At that point, however, after the referee had allowed things to spill over, it became obvious the countours of the game would change. Andy Gray made consistent reference to how Moyes would be telling Everton players to stay on their feet and avoid jumping in. It was obvious to everyone watching that there would be more players sent off, and chances were they'd be an Everton player. My claim is that this attitude not only carried over until halt-time, but explained why our second half display was so meek. Sure enough, Pienaar is eventually sent off for one of the most benign challenges of the day. If it wasn't for Gerrard's play acting it'd be hard to see it given as a free kick. But as soon as the ref blew there was a resignation of inevitability - he's off. The fact that it came in injury time (allowing Liverpool fans to argue that it was 11 vs. 10 for the second half) is beside the point. It was confirmation that the referee was looking to level things out, and the anticipation of this affected our play.

I'm not trying to detract from the simple truth that we were out-thought and out-fought in the second half, but at halftime I had an awful feeling that we'd be pulling out of tackles for fear of payback. If we'd have gone down to 10 men sooner maybe that would have played to our advantage (since the game would have opened up and we could have played with less fear). But as it was the referee managed to have a major influence on our Derby disappointment. Again.

Comments

[Jim]

"It was confirmation that the referee was looking to level things out, and the anticipation of this affected our play."

Bravo - as excuses go that's magnificent - I never realised Ricardian equivalence could be applied to football.

More accurately, after being lucky to escape two red cards in the first half, Everton finally decide to stop mauling the opposition and try actually playing football, only to realise they can't. And yet they still committed about twice as many fouls as Liverpool. Oh, the harsh injustice of it all, which somehow leads back to Steven Gerrard!

"Also, Liverpool are an awful team"

Says you, but what does that make Everton? "The best squad in Everton's history" has failed to take a point or even a goal off us this year.

"Ngog? Seriously?"

He's got as many goals as your second-highest scorer, Tim Cahill, from fewer games, half of them as sub. Or put another way, four times as many as Yakubu, who cost about ten times as much. So yes, Ngog. Seriously.

[Jim]

Oh and Ngog also won the corner that led to the goal yesterday. So yes, I'm very pleased with his performance.