Stuart Pearce's Manchester City side went down to a disappointing defeat at Goodison Park, with David Weir scoring the only goal of the game in the eighth minute.
City were dreadful in the first half and could have fallen behind inside two minutes when the lively Leon Osman raced through and fired against the crossbar.
And although they improved in the second half, they created only a handful of openings and even the arrival of Andy Cole couldn't lift a game that ended with the dismissal of Stephen Jordan for a second yellow card.
A 'greedy, greedy Barton' banner hung from the City fans' enclosure, only to be removed by a steward to cheers from the visiting support who chanted Barton's name.
Of more concern for City was the space being given to Leon Osman by Kiki Musampa, playing in a central midfield role rather than his usual position on the flanks.
On two minutes Osman got in behind Musampa and raced into the box to see a rising shot cannon off the bar.
And Everton were soon ahead. Mikel Arteta's eighth-minute corner was met in the box by Tim Cahill and his downward header was weakly nodded away by Richard Dunne and straight to Weir, who deflected the ball past David James.
Spectator
City boss Pearce had chosen to start new signing Georgios Samaras, with Andy Cole dropping to the bench, but with the Blues' midfield, Barton apart, seemingly reluctant to tackle the striker was a virtual spectator for long periods.
It took City until the 32nd minute for their first shot, Sylvain Distin providing Musampa with a pass which saw him send a low drive wide of the far post.
Barton then got a cross in from the left, Darius Vassell got a touch on it back to Trevor Sinclair, who unmarked from the edge of the box ballooned a shot high over the bar.
Then Sun Jihai sent in a cross from the right but Vassell's header dropped six yards wide of the far post.
Having seen his side put in a miserable first half performance, Pearce disappeared at the break with a face like thunder, and his annoyance clearly sparked new life into his players who improved markedly after the break.
A few more City tackles were flying in and Stephen Jordan was booked on 55 minutes for bringing down Arteta.
With 59 minutes gone, the visitors came close to an equaliser when Samaras powered a fine header inches over from Barton's left-wing corner.
Two minutes later, Pearce took off Albert Riera and replaced him with Cole. The Greek moved to the left and helped create a fine opening for Musampa, who saw an 18-yard shot go straight into Wright's arms.
Everton had been quiet in the second half, but the ever-alert Tim Cahill did get in on the left to lash a dipping drive over the far angle. Barton was then booked for a foul on Cahill.
And with City pressing forward, Trevor Sinclair, Vassell and Samaras all had shots in a mad scramble in Everton's six-yard box, but the danger was eventually averted.
And that was City's last real chance, though not the last action. With two minutes remaining, Jordan - who had been walking a fine line with a succession of fouls - finally got a second yellow card, then red, to reduce City to 10 men.
And to complete a forgettable afternoon, Dunne was booked a minute later after a foul on Davies.
A poor performance. What went wrong? Have your say.
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I did not get involved in all the hype that was written after the Newcastle game and now I know why. You really can not get carried away by two good results (the Rags and the Newcastle one).Consistency is what it is about and this was absolute rubbish-what is wrong with the motivation that should be behind this team when they come off a comfortable win. The away form is really depressing-since the two wins in August we have taken just five points from a possible 30-not exactly "European" form is it? The defence seemed pretty untroubled but then Everton do have one of the lowest scoring records in the premiership. We really do not have any class in midfield and why that department was not strengthened in the window I do not know. Musampa is Ok when things are going well but just does not have the heart to turn things around when the going is tough. As for Joey today-take the money for him in the summer. I did not understand why Riera was taken off as having a big man upfront requires some one who can cross a ball and JB leave the dead ball kicks to him.having said that I cannot understand why Cole aws on the bench today as it is pretty obvious that big "Sam" is going to take a little while toadjust. I have read a lot of sweet words this week both in the postings and what SP had to say-the problem is that actions speak louder than words and for me there was a total lack of motivation yet again. After 50 years of following my beloved Blues, this is nothing new and I suppose the rollercoaster will continue but lets have a little less of the "talk" and a little more of the commitment. SP's comments before todays game "No half measures", we will play with "a high tempo", we can't have "any passengers". I'll be interested to read the next episode!
Followed it on the web,dismal.Words escape me.Something really has to be done about the tragic lack of consistency.Very poor.
same old city,what did you expect,get rid of (superstar) barton
i love city till the day i die but why the hell can we not get some consistency in this side 2 questions WHY DROP COLE TO THE BENCH AND WHY DID RIERA GET TAKEN OFF HE WOULD OF BEEN BY FAR BETTER STAYING ON TO SUPPLY THE AMMO FOR THE 3 STRIKERS NOW I WOULD NOT NORMALY SAY THIS BUT BARTON WAS BAD SO THE CENTRAL MIDFIELD SHOULD OF BEEN CHANGED??????????????
Here we go again. Another abysmal away performance turned in by city. For gods sake Pearce, please get the formation and tactics right for the villa game. For starters, Musampa is not a central midfield player, infact he shouldn't even be in the starting eleven in the first place. Midfield is the big problem for me. We're simply getting overrun at the start of games, going a goal down, and look clueless as to how we can get back into the game. Sort it Pearce. I don't want our season to end at Villa Park in two weeks time.
Why oh why, can't we string 2 performances together. I'm so fed up it's unbelievable. Can SP tell me now which team is going to turn up against Charlton.
I bet he doesn't know. Stuart sort some of these lazy over paid so called stars out.
CTID
Once Everton got the goal they are one of the best if not the best team in the EPL to hang on to a 1 - 0 win. "Get rid of those UNLUCKY Yellow shirts".
Central midfield was always our Achilles heel and should have been sorted during January and long before "Barton through his toys out of his pram". Maybe the people who use these pages, see a different game to the coaches at the club? We still had 82 minutes to get a goal and with our top scorer sitting on the bench,it was hardly inspiring stuff. Our only way of qualifying for Europe shall be through the FA Cup, so lets get it sorted before the Villa game please ?
Anyone who's called Claudio Reyna "rubbish" in the past ought to re-think their words. City were far better early in the season when Reyna was healthy. I'm not saying he's a superstar, but he definitely wins balls in midfield and finds his teammates with passes. His return, when healthy, will not be a day too soon.
Another dissapointing away defeat--not helped as they took the field by a section of the City support unfurling flags attacking Joey Barton.It seems that the supporters are dividing into two groups--one group who give full support and backing to whoever wears the Sky Blue shirt and the other section of so called supporters who if they continue in their actions will do great damage to the club.I would like these idiots with the flags to be identified and have there season cards withdrawn.
eeerr, don't know whether I should point this out, but we were actually better under KK.
I don't don't think you've got any idea, tactically, Stu.
Musampa in central midfield? He should be on easyjet back to Spain. Did anyone notice Danny Murphy was for sale for 2 million? Let him go to Boro, he might find that shirt he lost.
Oh, and SP, you don't like the TYPICAL City tag? We'll do something about it, It is TRUE, and we're all sick of it.
we are very consistent! WLWLWL.M usampa cannot play in the centre of midfield. he is a last 15 minute Left winger. Put Ireland back in the centre until Reyna comes back and tell him to get stuck in!!!
We are fine when teams let us play free flowing football eg newcastle,united,Birmingham.
As soon as teams stop this eg Bolton we do not have the nouse to overcome it. Barton is clearly not the answer and I'm saying this ignoring all the off field activities recently. Until we get an international class playmaker the rest of the team will not be able to move on.
I am also against this idea that SP has of keeping a player in the team because he has a good game against a particular type of team .I firmly belive that we should pick a team to do a job. Most the the away defeats we have had this season could have been turned into draws which would have made a significant difference to our overall points total. Its very noticable how few draws we have accumulated this season,4 altogether and 19 since a score draw. Why don't we go for 4-5-1 away and see if we can get some points?
fans who boo joey are mad. Name a central midfielder better then joey .....not one. One day he will lead us out in the europian cup finals. GET BEHIND THE LAD !!!!!!!! ctid! MANCHESTER
Can only agree with other comments and especially about Barton.His passing is a disgrace for a premiership player and I lost count of the passes that went astray either to the opposition or out of play and the pass to Dunne was a suicide pass which could have left him with serious injuries. The problem with his poor passing is that it puts all the pressure back on the defence at a time when it is moving forward. Musampa tries hard, has fast feet and passes well but is not fast enough or can tackle for a mid field role. Ireland will be very good but to lightweight at the moment which beggers the question why didnt we go for a midfielder, Murphy springs to mind and would have filled the space. Guess its down to Reynor and hope he can stay fit. Still think SP is doing an excellent job but has to sort out the Barton problem quickly.
what was pearce saying midweek about not wanting to hear the phrase "same old city" well guess what stu - today was a perfect example of this phrase
This is doing my head in? WHY OH WHY can't we win two on the trot?! Hope the City of early season resurfaces soon and until the end of the season. THIS IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH! CTID
SP must be wondering what he took on here. I am sure that he would do some thing about our inconsistency if he just knew what. But nothing to do with our performances away from home but I am wondering if SP is doing the right thing by the Club to be selecting JB to play in the first team. The MEN has suggested that he is brave to pick him, but surely the right thing to do with a player who does not want to be at City, is drop him down to the reserves. In all honesty we haven't a chance of a Europe spot and it might affect our results for a while, but if he had gone just before the window had closed, then SP wouldn't have him anyway. Our young players have to be given the baptism of fire soon enough, so do the right thing Stuart, be brave, drop JB until he comes to his senses and withdraws his request to leave.
Villa must be really fancying their chances now.
barton out-thats all i can say..!! apart from see you at villa!!
i dont know to this day why managers change winning teams if all available...barton is creating a rift between city fans arguing all through the game on the terraces ...some boos some cheers its a headache that we dont need so either he signs or he doesnt play ...u cant have your own team getting jeered by your own fans...and hes part of the team on that pitch hes not one player .if he aint working proper then the team aint working ..Everton were buzzing off us putting our own player down then. I'm sicked to death of talking about this ..how long is it going to go on ...sp sort this headache out
Sometimes i think the writers here try to make things sound better than they are. A good header from samaras came close. he bungled what should have been an easy equalizer. i thought his performance was well below the 6 million price tag but it is only his second match. another close one but we never looked like scoring which seems to be the problem. what is that now, 6 prem games out of the last 8 without a goal? that is unacceptable.
Cue 'Consistency the Key' headline from Samaras or Riera. They've not had a go yet...
You may win one or two games against United, but you will NEVER EVER will be as good. bitter losers! Laugh is on red side of Manc...
lack of commitment has been the phrase of the season thus far it is not this at all but more so the relentless lobbing of the ball up field in the hope someone will chase it down david james starts it and everyone else chips in with their little share did we or did we not look a way better side than them when we kept the ball on the ground they had nothing for us to be worried about they gave us no time on the ball so instead of inteligent passes through the midfield we'd just lob it on up there hit and hope style we need to start our attacks away from home with a little more thought why not roll the ball out to jordan or sun then on to barton or sinclair back to barton to dunn across to distin distin riera through ball to musampa samaras holds two defenders off cheeky back heel to the on running vassell goooooaaaaaallll or james hoofs it up field cahill and musampa go up for it cahill wins nods down to beatti beatie loses out to a good tackle from distin back to james lobs it upfield out of play everton throw bla bla blathis to me is a problem that needs urgent attention on the training ground and has nothing to do with the quality of the squad up the bannana yellows maybe their slipping on their away shirts ctid
NO MORE YELLOW SHIRTS!!!!
EVER!!!!!!