It won't be a game that will go down in history, but a dour, drab pedestrian end-of-season match against Pompey will at least be remembered for a glorious last minute strike from Diniyar Bilyaletdinov.
The Russian winger has divided opinion among Evertonians this season. Many see him as the 21st century version of Kevin Sheedy, while others think he is another one of David Moyes big money flops, along with the likes of Per Kroldup and James Beattie.
I'm sitting on the fence here, I know, but I think he is somewhere in between. For starters I always think it is fair to give foreign players a season to settle in. A move to a new country and new culture brings challenges both on and off the pitch and you often see better performances from players once they have settled in.
Bilyaletdinov arrived late in the transfer window from Russia, a vastly different division to the Premier League. He has also played a whole year without a break as the league in Russia is out of kilter with Western European football.
Read the rest of this entry.
No comments:
Post a Comment