Sticky toffee win

I could bang on about a game of two halves but that would be such a cliche. I could be grateful for the 3 points and an afternoon's entertainment with the guys but that would be neglecting the impact this game had on my stress levels and heart condition (I mean the condition of my heart not a heart condition). I could even report on such delights as the Spurs fans chanting "USA USA" when Landon Donovan missed an open goal from two yards. Instead though I will give player ratings for each half. I think this says it all.

By the way, the ratings are out of ten and are the numbers after the name not the squad numbers which are at the front.

First Half (Spurs 2- Everton 1)
01 Gomes 7
03 Bale 9
19 Bassong 7
20 Dawson 7
22 Corluka 8
06 Huddlestone 7
12 Palacios 7
14 Modric 9
21 Kranjcar 8
09 Pavlyuchenko 8
18 Defoe 7

Second half (Spurs 0- Everton 1)
01 Gomes 5
03 Bale 6
19 Bassong 5
20 Dawson 5
22 Corluka 5
06 Huddlestone 1 (Kaboul 52 mins) 5
12 Palacios 6
14 Modric 7
21 Kranjcar 6
09 Pavlyuchenko 6 (Crouch 82 mins) a big fat zero
18 Defoe 7 (Gudjohnsen 71 mins) 2

If you prefer high level critical anlysis from people on the front line this is what David Moyes said: "It was a game of two halves. Tottenham were better in the first and we were much better in the second. "
And this is what 'arry said: "Overall I thought we played well and we were terrific at times in the first half. "
Yeah well, they must have been watching too much of the smug non analysis on Match of the Day.

{insert balls joke here}

Went to Everton with the boy and a mate on Sunday. I'd have taken 2-2 before the game but after being 2-0 up and missing a hatful of chances it felt like a defeat in the end. Defoe's penalty miss just rubbed salt into the wound.

Much more interesting was what we saw as we walked into the ground and found our really uncomfortable terracing/ seats. (both me and the boy came out with rotten back ache from standing on narrow tilted terraces the whole game- it was like going back 30 years; the whole ground is like that though- charming and nostalgic but ultimatley pretty crap). We saw what we took to be the Everton mascot doing the rounds along our side of the pitch."Dad....what does their mascot look like to you?" There was no context, no explanation, just a giant pair of bollocks with big eyes, a smiley face and pretty grotesque hairs poking out the top dancing around behind three women who (again inexplicably) were wearing Gazza-esque plastic arses. Of course it transpired that it had something to do with testicular cancer awareness which is no laughing matter but they could have flagged that up a little. I'd have loved to have made jokes about the appropriateness of this as a mascot but they came back well and made mugs of us even though it was only 12 mins of the game. Before their first goal you could hear Spurs fans suggesting Moyes bring on Mr Testicles to give them a bit more up front (damn I knew I couldn't get through this without a crap joke) in place of the rubbish Jo. Instead he opted for Saha and Yakubu and they (Saha especially) made all the difference.

The mascot is actually called Mr testicles. We didn't catch his first name but the boy thinks it's probably Dave.

Their fans were pretty poor I have to say. I can recall them beating us at the Lane and coming away feeling pretty crap about our noise levels but it wasn't half as quiet as it was at Everton for the first 80 mins. 'Just like the library' echoed round the ground along with 'We've got Jermain Defoe; you've got our stereos'. You could see the players buck their ideas upwhen the crowd got going. prior to that it seemed to be one 12 year old girls squeeking 'USA, USA, USA' .

The other thing that amazed me was how close Anfield and Goodison are. I've only ever been on a coach before to either ground and had no idea they were spitting distance away from each other. Makes the whole ground sharing thing seem to make sense. To be honest Everyon could play in Stanley Park (which sits between the two grounds) and the ice cream stand there and the public toilets would mean the faciliies were better.

apparently Mr Testicles has his own blog (thanks to best mate for flagging that up- it's in his favourites list) http://mrtesticles.blogspot.com/2007_07_03_archive.html