Everton 4-0 Stoke - 30 / 11 / 2013 Full match report

Match facts




Everton: Howard, Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Oviedo, McCarthy (Stones 74), Barry, Osman, Deulofeu, Pienaar (Mirallas 83), Lukaku (Jelavic 80). Subs not used: Robles, Hibbert, Heitinga, Barkley.

Goal: Deulofeu 45, Coleman 49, Oviedo 58, Lukaku 79.




Stoke: Begovic, Cameron, Shawcross, Muniesa, Pieters, Nzonzi, Whelan, Walters (Shea 59), Adam (Jones 59), Assaidi, Crouch. Subs not used: Palacios, Wilson, Wilkinson, Sorensen, Ireland.

Booked: Cameron, Whelan, Pieters.

Attendance: 35,513.


Referee: Mike Jones.

Everton 4, Stoke City 0.

Deulofeu (45), Coleman (48), Oviedo (58), Lukaku (79)

SORRY Stoke sank to their heaviest defeat under Mark Hughes thanks to a wretched offering here at Goodison this afternoon.

It was Merseyside misery all the way for Stoke after they failed to leave the starting gates against their much livelier hosts.

All eyes in the visiting contingent were on Spanish under-21 international Marc Muniesa after he was surprisingly handed his Premier League debut in place of the injured Robert Huth in central defence.

But it was his former Barcelona team-mate, 19 year-old Gerard Deulofeu, who grabbed the headlines with a goalscoring debut for Everton.

He opened the floodgates with Everton's first just before the break - and the game was over before the hour after Everton had raced into a three-goal lead without really breaking sweat.

Only Asmir Begovic, with a typical performance between the sticks, distinguished himself in the Stoke line-up during a pretty dreadful afternoon.

Muniesa's inclusion was one of two changes to Stoke's starting 11 after Oussama Assaidi was handed a rare start as replacement for hamstring victim Marko Arnautovic out wide.

It was a familiar figure having to distinguish himself early on, however, when that man Begovic scrambled low to his right to paw out Gerard Deulofeu's 20-yard free-kick just over the Stoke wall.

There were plenty of gaps amongst a modest but vociferous away following as a meaty Glenn Whelan challenge on Leon Osman suggested the visitors intended to mean business this afternoon.

Long diagonals aimed at Romelu Lukaku were keeping Muniesa and Co on their toes as Everton tried to generate the momentum of their Merseyside derby seven days ago.

Begovic was in action to foil Deulofeu for a second time in the 15th minute when, after the referee had missed Steven Pienaar's foul on Charlie Adam a few seconds earlier in midfield, the Everton winger saw his deflected shot beaten out by the City keeper at his near post.

Stoke were struggling to rustle up any goal threat inside the first quarter of the game, while at the other end Erik Pieters made amends for an earlier failure to control the ball by heading a menacing right-wing cross behind at the far post.

Everton remained in the ascendancy as Osman's deflected shot left Begovic going one way and his outstretched hand the other to claw the ball out.

The big Bosnian even recovered in time to block Lukaku's follow-up - before seeing the Belgian had already been flagged for offside.

Stoke's passing, meanwhile, was leaving Hughes banging his hand against his forehead on the touchline as too many moves petered out in no man's land.

Muniesa tried to inject some quality by breaking on half-way and back-heeling a pass... before remembering he was there to play centre half and back-tracking towards his own goal.

Lukaku's first header on goal didn't arrive until the 39th minute, but despite outjumping both Muniesa and Ryan Shawcross it was a lukewarm effort wide of the mark.

Stoke's first effort on goal came in the 43rd minute, meantime, after Peter Crouch nodded down Geoff Cameron's long punt forward to leave Jon Walters controlling before shooting too tamely to really trouble a well-placed Tim Howard.

Everton had the lead their possession had warranted when Deulefeu succeeded where he had failed at the start of the half by finally beating Begovic just before the half-time whistle.

He cut in from the left, played a one-two off Steven Pienaar, then regained possession off Gareth Barry's touch before smashing the ball home as Begovic leapt towards him.

Half-time: Everton 1, Stoke 0.

Whelan's early booking for wrestling with Lukaku didn't bode well for Stoke at the start of the second period.

Stoke simply had to offer more going forward to make a game of it, but their task got a whole lot harder when Coleman doubled Everton's lead.

There was a great deal of fortune about the goal, but that couldn't fully excuse Stoke's part in proceedings.

Having failed to cut out Deulofeu's dinked cross from the Everton left, the visiting defence simply looked on, it seemed, as the ball deflected off Barry to allow

Coleman to nip in between Pieters and Assaidi at the far post and score with a probable mis-hit into the opposite corner of the net.

It was effectively game over if Stoke's first 48 minutes was any indication of their goal threat to come in the remaining 42 minutes.

And it could have been 3-0 shortly afterwards when a rare Stoke attack broke down to leave the ever-influential Deulofeu bursting upfield and into the Stoke area.

Whelan very nearly tripped him - which would have been a red card - before the 19 year-old Spaniard shot against Begovic and saw Lukaku's folow-up similarly foiled.

Things simply went from bad to worse for Stoke shortly before the hour when Oviedo took possession from a left-wing corner near the edge of a crowded area before side-steping Charlie Adam and smashing his shot in off Begovic's right-hand post for 3-0.

Adam was replaced by Kenwyne Jones and Walters by Brek Shea immediately afterwards, but it was miracle workers City needed now.

There was a glimmer of hope when Jones quickly slipped in Crouch for a shot just left of the Everton goal, but Howard spread himself big to block Stoke's best effort thus far.

And Stoke should have been on the scoresheet on 68 minutes when Pieters centred low from the left and Shea went with his right, instead of his left, and missed the ball in front of the Everton goal.

At times Everton were running almost at will at Stoke from midfield and Shawcross was lucky to escape a booking for blocking Pienaar's progress towards Begovic's goal.

Lukaku's quiet afternoon got a whole lot louder when Oviedo escaped Shea down the Everton right and centred low and hard for the big Belgian to easily touch home his side's fourth with what proved to be his final touch before being subbed straight after.

It was all too easy for Everton.

Entering the final 10 minutes it was a case of how many now for the home side, in all truth, as the menacing Deulofeu drew a cluster of defenders towards him before going down amid unanswered shouts for a penalty.

Kevin Mirallas stepped off the Everton bench and very nearly joined the fun with a first-time effort that sent Begovic to the ground to prevent a fifth.

And Begovic had to spread himself far and wide to prevent fellow sub Nikica Jelavic sliding home a shot after sneaking through on goal unopposed.

TEAMS

Everton: Howard, Coleman, Oviedo, Jagielka, Distin, Deulofeu, McCarthy (Stones,74), Barry, Osman, Pienaar (Mirallas,83), Lukaku (Jelavic,79). Subs: Robles, Hibbert, Heitinga, Mirallas Barkley.

Stoke: Begovic, Cameron, Pieters, Shawcross, Muniesa, Walters (Shea,59), Whelan, Nzonzi, Adam (Jones,59), Assaidi, Crouch. Subs: Sorensen, Palacios, Wilson, Wilkinson, Ireland.

Referee: M Jones (Chester).

Att: 35,513.

Cards: Everton - none. Stoke - Cameron (foul,42), Whelan (foul,46), Pieters (foul,64).


Source: Stokesentinal