Photos: Everton 2-0 Sunderland – Landon Donovan Scores First Premier League Goal, Made To Feel ‘Normal’ By Phil Neville

Ollie Irish

28th, January 2010

3 Comments

By Ollie Irish

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Picture 13 of 15

Everton' Marouane Fellaini jumps with team mate goalkeeper Tim Howard as they attempt to clear the ball

By thunder, Sunderland’s season is going down the toilet. They haven’t won in the league since mid-November and the relegation zone looms large below, like the Great Pit of Carkoon. Everton were very good value for this win and coasted through the second half, on the back of Tim Cahill and Landon Donovan’s first-half goals. Sunderland were pants.

Donovan’s loan spell is going very nicely indeed, thanks for asking, and he has admitted, in an interview with the BBC, that he feels super-comfortable at Goodison:

“You kind of get a sense of family and community here that I haven’t felt at other European clubs. I think that wears off on you and when you feel comfortable and you feel at home you’re going to play better.

“It’s been seamless for me since day one, I walked into the locker room and Phil Neville was in there and he just talked to me like I was part of the team. He made me feel normal and everybody is the same way.”

Translation: “I didn’t have time to learn to speak German in any of my stints in the Bundesliga.”

To be fair, Phil Neville makes everyone feel normal – it’s his face.

If Landycakes keeps up this form, I wonder what his future holds. He would surely want a permanent move to the Premier League, no?

Posted in Everton, Photos, Sunderland

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3 Comments

  1. Grant says:

    Ollie,

    As a few people have noted Stateside, the looming work stoppage in MLS, which might irreperably harm the development of MLS and footie here in general, could also have an unforseen benefit in that it may allow LanDo to keep playing with Everton until the end of the Premier League season.

  2. Hirsty says:

    I’d wager a large sum of money that they are going to make the move permanent, work stoppage or not.

  3. Peter says:

    With Arteta and others coming back for Everton, I worry about where Landon will fit in to the first 11. He won’t replace Pienaar or Fellaini, and Osman/Bilya are more natural on the left wing. He won’t replace Cahill as a withdrawn striker because of Cahill’s superior air threat. So, as well as he has been playing, I think he is competing with Arteta, which is a tall order.

    Also, Moyes has commented recently that high transfer fees are a thing of the past, clubs are in poor financial health, etc. Will he really pay $14m to MLS for Donovan?

    I would love nothing more than for Donovan to go to Everton full-time, however I’m not sure it can happen. I think Lando was wrong to sign a long term contract with MLS just before his Everton and WC10 spells. I think he was too risk-averse.

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