Blackburn/Everton Notes

Good win for Rovers. Have to say, I still think they will have trouble scoring enough, but today both young forwards, Nikola Kalinic and Mame Biram Diouf, looked very impressive. Another good performance, perhaps surprisingly, was had by El Hadji Diouf. For some reason, Sam Allardyce is able to get the best out of the enigmatic talent from Senegal. If these three can find some good form and score some goals, Blackburn will have a hell of a season.

As for Everton, not a very good performance from them. Most alarmingly, Mikel Arteta was not able to create anything going forward. The team was also set up tactically in a less than convincing manner. I like David Moyes, and he is one of the better managers in Europe, but he has made one decision that I just don't understand. Marouane Fellaini was a brilliant signing a few years ago, and the youngster has done an outstanding job all over the pitch for Everton, but he has always been at his most effective in an attacking midfield role, pushing up just behind the main striker. So, given this, Moyes played him in a holding midfield role, right in front of the defensive back line. Fellaini didn't play badly, but he failed to influence the game in any substantial way. I think Moyes will have to push him much further up the pitch for Everton to reach their potential.

Europa League Hopefuls (Everton)

Another club with a great manager in David Moyes. It is really amazing what Moyes has built at Everton, similar to Arsene Wenger or Alex Ferguson on a smaller scale. And to be honest, his club has not given him a great deal of support. There has been some money spent, but for me, Everton are a real sleeping giant in England. They may not be capable of Manchester City or Real Madrid level spending, but the squad should certainly be deeper than it is. This lack of depth places a definite ceiling on the club's potential.

The top 14 players at Goodison Park can compete with any team in the world, but winning a Champion's League spot over the 38 game league season is a test of an entire 25 man (plus youngsters) squad. When the inevitable injuries, suspensions, and fixture pile-ups arrive, can Everton cope with the demands? I can't see it. At some point in the season, they will wobble. Last season, it was a slow start. This wobble, which often coincides with an injury to Mikel Arteta (there is no Landon Donovan to replace him this time), will cost them a Champion's League spot, and might keep them out of the Europa League, depending on who wins the domestic cups.

If everyone stays healthy, and I mean every single player in the squad, for the entire season, Everton may even put a scare into the clubs fighting for a top 4 spot. But everything would have to break perfectly for that to happen. I would guess they will finish seventh or eighth.

Gretar Steinsson

He has had a good season for the most part. But the sending off against Everton was just stupid. Even if a forward is on a breakaway, he still has to keep his composure, beat the keeper, and do it before the other defenders get back. Steinsson could have just kept running next to Yakubu and made things difficult before he got a shot off. Instead the Icelandic defender got sent off, and gave Everton a free kick in a great position, which Arteta put in the back of the net.

On the whole Bolton played well, although very defensively, and you could argue they deserved a point based on the first 70 minutes, but once the red card appeared there was only going to be one outcome.