To put it simply, it was an afternoon where everything went wrong for Everton.
In fact, they could have been left on the pitch by themselves after the final whistle and they still wouldn’t have scored.
Sunderland came to Goodison and executed their game plan perfectly; albeit it with more luck than a lottery winner.
Everton dominated the game, but even with their 73% possession failed to create a stand-out chance.
Leon Osman ran the show in the first half hour, coming close to opening the scoring on three occasions.
The first two were similar, with curling strikes narrowly beating the post, and the third was a powerful shot straight at Costel Pantilimon. Osman had initially played Lukaku through on goal in the latter, but Pantilimon denied the Belgian striker.
Sunderland gave very little in the first half, with only a tame long-range strike from Connor Wickham to mention.
It was a dull game, with a slow pace and a nervous Goodison crowd, which was perfect for the visitors.
The second half began in the same fashion as the first, with Everton piling the pressure on the Black Cats.
A flurry of corners for the Blues brought them close to the opener. Wickham nearly turned the ball into his own net following a Phil Jagielka header, and the Everton captain then saw an effort turned over the bar by Pantilimon. Romelu Lukaku, who hasn’t scored in open play in the Premier League since December 3rd, then managed to put a free header wide from another Baines corner.
Shortly after, Sunderland showed their first real sign of life.
From a Seb Larsson cross, Danny Graham blazed over when he should have done far better.
Sunderland then took the lead in the most bizarre circumstances.
Leon Osman gave the ball away in midfield, and the visitors worked the ball out wide to Larsson. His cross was poorly dealt with by Gareth Barry, who headed it straight to Jordi Gomez. The Spaniard’s wild effort was going about ten yards wide, but it hit the leg of Graham, bounced into the ground and looped over Howard into the net, via the woodwork.
Graham was incredibly trying to get out of the way of Gomez’s shot, but he had his first Sunderland goal, and his first for over two years.
They should really have been two up when van Aanholt ran unchallenged through the Everton defence, and skewed his effort wide from no more than six yards out.
This sparked the Blues back into life, with Seamus Coleman seeing a shot deflected wide following some juggling on the edge of the box.
The closest the home side came to an equaliser was through James McCarthy.
The Republic of Ireland international lashed a shot from over 20 yards onto the base of the post, and then fired over from inside the box after a surging run.
It was clear that it wasn’t going to be Everton’s day, especially if Lee Probert had anything to do with it.
He was lenient with Sunderland throughout the game, ignoring pushing and pulling, and failed to book Seb Larsson and Wes Brown for dangerous tackles from behind.
His worst mistakes were yet to come.
Coleman was clearly tripped in the box by Jermain Defoe, who was on a yellow card, as he was about to tap in a Romelu Lukaku cross.
Probert ignored the challenge.
He also chose to not deal with a rugby style tap-tackle from Steven Fletcher on John Stones in the build-up to Sunderland’s second.
Stones had given the ball away to Fletcher, but recovered until the Scot slipped in the area, at which point he was pulled to the ground. Not a foul apparently.
The ball then fell to Adam Johnson, whose deflected shot flashed across the face of goal, and was palmed into the net by Defoe.
The linesman, who could not have been in a better position, deemed that using a hand to score a goal is not an offence, and allowed the goal to stand.
No blame can be attached to Howard. The American couldn’t have done a single thing about either goal, and needed more help from his defence, as well as the officials.
Boos rang out at the full-time whistle, as Everton slumped to their second defeat in a row.
Sunderland, after recording their second consecutive win at Goodison Park, moved up to 14th, but Leicester and Aston Villa’s wins mean they go into their last two games in 16th place.
The Blues have a lot of work to do over the Summer.
Teams
Everton – Howard 6; Coleman 7, Jagielka 6, Stones 5, Baines 5 (Garbutt – ’74, 5); McCarthy 7, Barry 5 (Mirallas – ’58, 6); Lennon 6 (McGeady – ’86), Barkley 6, Osman 6; Lukaku 4.
Sunderland – Pantilimon 7; Jones 6, Coates 6, Brown 6, van Aanholt 7; Larsson 7 (Bridcutt – ’84), Cattermole 6, Gomez 6; Defoe 6, Graham 6 (Johnson – ’74, 6), Wickham 6 (Fletcher ’84).
Referee – Lee Probert 4
Attendance – 38,246
