Landon Donovan postgame interview

Landon gives BBC Sport a post game interview on his debut vs Arsenal. He comments on the pace of the Prem vs MLS and gives a quick assessment on his play. Not a bad first day considering the opponent and it won't get any easier... Up next, Manchester City. BBC Sport also interviewed David Moyes on the match and praises Landon on his first game.

Donovan makes debut vs Arsenal

Got to admit I was pretty excited to see Landon starting against the Gunners. Even more happy with his contribution. Not a bad first day for the Yank.

I'm So Excited!

So Landon is excited to play in the Premier League. Being given the #9 shirt has to put some pressure on him and the media in England will actually pay attention to him. So I hope his excitement doesn't cause him to freak out Jesse Spano style. I'm so scared!

More Donovan at Everton news

Landon Donovan was officially unveiled to the media today and what surprised me is that he received the number 9 shirt. Talk about expectations! Landon also revealed that David Beckham helped him in his decision to go on loan to Everton. Will Donovan fail or succeed? And what would be a successful loan spell? Let us know what you think.

Everton through to round 4 as Landon arrives.

Landon Donovan was in the stands to see his new side's win over Carlisle United (League One) in F.A. Cup round 3 action. James Vaughan was the first to put Everton in the lead after picking off an embarrassing back pass from Adam Clayton in just 12 minutes from the start of the whistle. If David Moyes' side thought this was a taste of things to come they were sadly mistaken. The Cumbrians proved to be a worthy adversary and Kevan Hurst was the man to prove that. In just 6 minutes after Vaughan's goal, Hurst put away Adam Clayton's long range bomb that Tim Howard could only parry in the path of Hurst, which he put away from a yard out. As the game wore on Everton grew increasingly frustrated until Tim Cahill put the Toffees ahead in the 82nd minute. Leighton Baines added the insurance goal with a 90th minute penalty that made sure Carlisle's dream of advancing was laid to rest, and gave the blue side of Liverpool a sigh of relief. No word yet if Donovan will feature in the match against Arsenal on January 9th.

Landycakes To Everton

Landon Donovan has signed a loan deal with Everton just days after signing a 4 year contract extension with MLS and the LA Galaxy.

Donovan Possible move to Everton

Everton vs AEK Athens

Good to see something positive with Tim Howard's squad. With all those injuries mounting, it's starting to remind me of New Castle United's string of rotten luck before they got relegated.

Poor Attitude Lescott Dropped.

LONDON, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Everton have dropped England defender Joleon Lescott from the squad for Thursday’s Europa League clash with Sigma Olomouc, disappointed manager David Moyes said on Wednesday.
The decision appears to have brought Lescott’s departure to Premier League rivals Manchester City closer even though two approaches for the player have been rejected.
Moyes told a news conference the 27-year-old was not in his plans for the first-leg playoff tie at home to the Czech side because he was disappointed by his attitude following Saturday’s 6-1 home defeat by Arsenal on the opening day of the season.
Lescott handed in a transfer request after two attempts by City to sign him were rejected by Everton before the match.
City manager Mark Hughes, appearing at a news conference after his side’s 1-0 win over Barcelona at the Nou Camp later on Wednesday, was reluctant to comment.
“At the moment he’s an Everton player and we fully respect that,” he said. “There’s nothing more to add at the moment.”
Everton said on their website (www.evertonfc.com) Lescott did not train with the first team on Wednesday.
Moyes added: “I’m not including Joleon Lescott in the squad. His attitude in the past few days has been poor and for that reason I won’t include him”.
“I’ve always thought he was a good lad. But I think he has not only let himself down but his team mates too.”
Lescott’s omission means Joseph Yobo is the only fit and available senior central defender in the squad.
Phil Neville and Jack Rodwell played in central defence in pre-season games against Coventry City, Blackpool and Malaga.
Lescott has played seven times for England and was an unused substitute in last week’s friendly international against the Netherlands in Amsterdam which ended in a 2-2 draw.
Lescott signed for the Merseyside club from Wolverhampton Wanderers for five million pounds ($8.23 million) in 2006.

Arsenal Gun down Toffees

WTF?! I agree with Sterlinho... I didn't see this coming. Poor Timmy got worked, no thanks to his D.

Wow, I didn't see that coming!

In a year where most people were saying that Arsenal would drop out of the big four, Wenger's boys responded with an emphatic win at Goodison Park. The game isn't even over yet and the scoreline is 5-0 (Eduardo scored to make it 6 as I'm writing this). Cesc Fabregas scored two goals in the second half to close the door on any type of come back that David Moyes had planned. Early on I was unimpressed with the play of Jo and surprised by the space that the Everton defense were giving the Gunners. Poor marking on two free kicks led to goals by William Gallas and former Ajax player Thomas Vermaelen. American goalkeeper, Tim Howard couldn't do much to stop the goals in the first half but the second goal by Fabregas went through the legs of the former MetroStar in an embarrassing loss. Here is the complete Gamecast.

Update: Luis Saha scored in added time to get the consolation goal to reward the Everton faithful. Man, that stadium was empty when he scored. Here's my theory on the game: David Moyes decided at halftime to just let Arsenal score at will so that Manchester City would stop their pursuit of Joleon Lescott. That defense looked worse than the 2008 Galaxy defense. Who would want a part of that?

The Streak Is Broken. Who Da Blame?

The MLS All Stars lost their first game to foreign opposition last night after winning five straight. The 1-1 draw sent the game to PK's and the Toffees prevailed. Some people may blame Freddie Ljungberg for the loss by missing his PK in the 6th round (including myself at first). But as I thought about it, I realized that a whole lot of these "All Stars" made mistakes or could have made plays to win the game for MLS. Here are some off the top of my head. Watch the highlights below to see for yourself.

1) Stuart Holden - A Gold Cup Final like mental breakdown gave Saha the Toffees only goal of the game.

2) Blanco - The guy had a great opportunity to shoot in the 21st minute that ended up killing a good attack. He also put in a weak free kick that Howard saw all the way. I guess his 30 yard run up doesn't work as well as it used to. Blanco never seemed to find the "magic" that he is known for.

3) Brad Davis - I know he scored the goal but it was a tap in. That doesn't excuse him from a whole night's worth of poor corners, poorer crosses and a MISSED PK! At least he scored on his chance...which leads me to the next player.

4) Landon Donovan - Easily the most explosive player on the field last night, the guy failed to score on an open goal off a great feed from Ljungberg. It was a Diego Forlan at ManU epic type miss. Howard can thank the post for the MVP trophy.

5) Commissioner Garber - As bad as it would have been to put David Beckham on the squad, DB7 is still a better player than a lot of guys on the All Star team. It would have been nice to have the Englishman's service from the wings, corners and on free kicks. And what's with the 7 sub rule? It didn't help having a limping Javi Morales out there for the end of the game. It made Landon have to move back to midfield and further away from the attack. That's not what we want out of our most dangerous player.

6) Davey Arnaud - Honestly, the guy didn't do anything out there. I hardly noticed him...until he missed his PK attempt.

7) Kasey Keller - He was mostly untested but he had his hands on Phil Neville's penalty kick and I originally thought he was going to parry it wide. I guess the guy has weak wrists because Neville's shot didn't look that hard.

8) Freddie Ljungberg - You could blame him for the loss, but he put in a very good 90 minutes and looked like the MLS's best player until Landon came in. His shot was weak, but now the Sounders know not to have him as their PK shooter. 0 for 2 for Freddie, which is probably why he wasn't in the original 5 shooters.

Watch the highlights below and let me know what you think.


English language highlights here. Full replay is available on ESPN360.com

The MLS All Star Game (Everton's away and Fredy's Boots)

Don't forget to watch tonight's MLS All Star game at 9:30 ET/6:30 PT on ESPN2/ESPN360 from Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy Utah. The MLS All Stars will be facing off against U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard and the rest of his Everton squad. A few MLS players will be wearing their own personalized boots for the occasion, including the shoe shown below belonging to a certain Fredy Montero. You can now personalize your own boots at Mi Adidas. I could see White Kix breaking the bank for Stuart Holden's new kicks. Nike has been doing this for years so it's nice to see Adidas catching up

I'm also interested in seeing if Everton wears their new away kits. They probably won't be, but now is as good as time as any to drop these pics I've been sitting on of the clubs new softer away image. Seriously? I can imagine wearing pink while defending your home grounds... but wearing pink away trying to steal points? I can hear the taunts now.