AndyC
Player Valuation: £70m
As I see things, Everton and Bill Kenwright in particular as the Chairman, have a massive dilemma on our/his hands.
We have a team that is stuttering, rumours of dressing room unrest, ‘star’ players leaving and/or appearing to be getting above their station… and we are far too close to the relegation battle for comfort.
On top of that or at the head of it we have a manager who seems to me to have lost his way.
He had a tremendous first season as his gameplan of possession dominated, proactive attacking football worked marvellously well on the bedrock of the solid defensive formation he inherited from the Moyes era. We had a goalie who whilst not the best was capable, two marvellous attacking fullbacks and two decent centrebacks with a wonderful prospect in John Stones breaking through.
The midfield was a joyous mix of experience (Barry), stamina and tenacity (McCarthy), youthful exuberance and talent waiting to blossom (Barkley) and tireless work ethic (Naismith) all feeding a mercurial Mirallas and Lukaku, a beast in the making.
On the back of the success brought by Everton largely taking the rest of the Premiership by surprise in that style of aggressive, pressing, possession-based – dare one suggest almost Barcelona-esque – ‘philosopy’ we all went into this season with hopes high of a new dynasty being heralded in at the Grand Old Lady. And with the benefit of hindsight, BK was wrong to reward Martinez so early into his initial contract, we all fell for his charm and the apparent return of the good times before waiting to see how the second term panned out.
Sadly and truthfully, we are in real danger of reaping the reward of appointing a manager who is defensively naïve and in whose coaching staff – all ex-Wigan bar Ferguson – I personally have little or no faith in. And I defy anyone to show me exactly what positive effect upon our forwards Ferguson is having.
Our number one goalie has deteriorated badly, and the number two whilst showing some promise of late, simply cannot afford to make a mistake as we dither on the cusp of the bottom three. Our two attacking fullbacks are both shadows of the players they were last season and the centrebacks patently could not sustain the play it out from the back mantra of last season, because basically, they are not comfortable with it.
The only bright things about the defence is a couple of promising performances from Luke Garbutt and John Stones. We will definitely have to protect and secure Stonesy as sure as eggs are eggs, one of the big-money clubs will come a knocking shortly with a big wedge of cash for his signature.
To the midfield and Barry has lost form, for me he is perhaps trying too hard to be the midfield general in the absence of McCarthy – who we miss badly – and referees just seem to have it in for him. Ossie, while technical very gifted has never had pace or enough of a physical presence and like McCarthy has succumbed to injuries and ol’ father time.
Barkley, for all his promise and undoubted talent, is losing his way in the quagmire of a crowded midfield and needs someone or something to help him find the space that he can exploit with his ability to go left or right. For me, Ross needs a mental help and I’ve long advocated the club asking/getting someone like Colin Harvey to help him, not on the training field, more in a one-on-one mentor role to dissect his game and endorse/encourage/re-construct all the good things while highlighting the mistakes the young man is sadly making because he too, like Barry in my opinion, is trying too hard.
Nais is a grafter, but not a thoroughbred and when things don’t work out for him as they largely didn’t against WBA last night, he begins to look distinctly average. I love his work ethic, but we need more guile and craft.
Besic has been the most impressive player for me during this eight-game winless run, he is so self confident, wants the ball and to be involved, looks to set people going forward and can tackle. Yes, he too has made a few mistakes, but I see a real gem in this lad and if bulks up a little and can add some genuine pace to his game, he could be a world-beater.
McGeady whilst gifted is far too erratic. He needs to play solely on the wing as we badly need some width and an outlet for Coleman to play to and with, he should be given the ball in front of him to run onto at pace and told to take defenders on, beat them, get to the byeline and cross, stop stopping to turn inside as it inevitably and inexorably leads him to lose possession or the ball going backwards and we lose momentum.
Mirallas, whilst pacy and skilled can be frustrating, and his penalty antics last night were shocking, simply shocking. He seems to think he is above everybody else – who on earth allowed him to take the ball off Baines ? What did the manager or the captain say or do to ensure that the Number One penalty taker – Baines – took the penalty, nothing and in my eyes that was not dereliction of duty by both Martinez and Jags, it was abdication of responsibility and leadership.
Can anyone honestly imagine what would happen tonight if the RS get a penalty and Borini grabbed the ball ahead of or off Gerrard?
Lukaku is not a lump-it-up-to centre forward as that simply is not his strength or indeed preference, he is a channel runner. He needs the ball exactly to his feet as all too often his first touch has all the delicacy and finesse of a JCB, but when he can turn and run at defenders, he suddenly looks a whole different player.
We need more pace in the team, we need to use more width in our play and most of all, and quickly, we need to tighten up a the back and that I’m afraid is where we find the real Achilles heel in Roberto Martinez.
He simply cannot coach effective defensive play. None of his teams have ever looked anything like as sound as we did last season, remember that was a defence he inherited from a truly defensive coach in David Moyes.
Bill Kenwright wants to and will stay as loyal to his appointed manager as long as he can, that’s his nature and that’s the way he wants Everton to be seen - as loyal, stable and not a knee-jerk reaction club. His problem though is that Martinez and the way he is running the team/squad is showing all the traits of his Wigan teams, and given our next three games, alarm bells must be ringing in his head and office.
But as Chairman, with whom the book will stop, he must surely be making some form of contingency plan if things worsen… and I fear they will, as the mini-revival we saw in the games against City and West Ham away disappeared last night and it was back to the Boxing Day/NY Day level and that simply cannot be allowed to continue.
And while I’m banging on, the aging, injury-prone squad needs culling… Gibson, Pienaar, Distin, Howard, Ossie, Hibbo as well as selfish sods like Mirallas need to go. I’d keep Jags and Barry as I believe that with the right (younger) legs around them, they can be the experience element the team will need, but we need to either buy smarter or be willing to bring on the youth once survival is assured and on into next season.
We have a team that is stuttering, rumours of dressing room unrest, ‘star’ players leaving and/or appearing to be getting above their station… and we are far too close to the relegation battle for comfort.
On top of that or at the head of it we have a manager who seems to me to have lost his way.
He had a tremendous first season as his gameplan of possession dominated, proactive attacking football worked marvellously well on the bedrock of the solid defensive formation he inherited from the Moyes era. We had a goalie who whilst not the best was capable, two marvellous attacking fullbacks and two decent centrebacks with a wonderful prospect in John Stones breaking through.
The midfield was a joyous mix of experience (Barry), stamina and tenacity (McCarthy), youthful exuberance and talent waiting to blossom (Barkley) and tireless work ethic (Naismith) all feeding a mercurial Mirallas and Lukaku, a beast in the making.
On the back of the success brought by Everton largely taking the rest of the Premiership by surprise in that style of aggressive, pressing, possession-based – dare one suggest almost Barcelona-esque – ‘philosopy’ we all went into this season with hopes high of a new dynasty being heralded in at the Grand Old Lady. And with the benefit of hindsight, BK was wrong to reward Martinez so early into his initial contract, we all fell for his charm and the apparent return of the good times before waiting to see how the second term panned out.
Sadly and truthfully, we are in real danger of reaping the reward of appointing a manager who is defensively naïve and in whose coaching staff – all ex-Wigan bar Ferguson – I personally have little or no faith in. And I defy anyone to show me exactly what positive effect upon our forwards Ferguson is having.
Our number one goalie has deteriorated badly, and the number two whilst showing some promise of late, simply cannot afford to make a mistake as we dither on the cusp of the bottom three. Our two attacking fullbacks are both shadows of the players they were last season and the centrebacks patently could not sustain the play it out from the back mantra of last season, because basically, they are not comfortable with it.
The only bright things about the defence is a couple of promising performances from Luke Garbutt and John Stones. We will definitely have to protect and secure Stonesy as sure as eggs are eggs, one of the big-money clubs will come a knocking shortly with a big wedge of cash for his signature.
To the midfield and Barry has lost form, for me he is perhaps trying too hard to be the midfield general in the absence of McCarthy – who we miss badly – and referees just seem to have it in for him. Ossie, while technical very gifted has never had pace or enough of a physical presence and like McCarthy has succumbed to injuries and ol’ father time.
Barkley, for all his promise and undoubted talent, is losing his way in the quagmire of a crowded midfield and needs someone or something to help him find the space that he can exploit with his ability to go left or right. For me, Ross needs a mental help and I’ve long advocated the club asking/getting someone like Colin Harvey to help him, not on the training field, more in a one-on-one mentor role to dissect his game and endorse/encourage/re-construct all the good things while highlighting the mistakes the young man is sadly making because he too, like Barry in my opinion, is trying too hard.
Nais is a grafter, but not a thoroughbred and when things don’t work out for him as they largely didn’t against WBA last night, he begins to look distinctly average. I love his work ethic, but we need more guile and craft.
Besic has been the most impressive player for me during this eight-game winless run, he is so self confident, wants the ball and to be involved, looks to set people going forward and can tackle. Yes, he too has made a few mistakes, but I see a real gem in this lad and if bulks up a little and can add some genuine pace to his game, he could be a world-beater.
McGeady whilst gifted is far too erratic. He needs to play solely on the wing as we badly need some width and an outlet for Coleman to play to and with, he should be given the ball in front of him to run onto at pace and told to take defenders on, beat them, get to the byeline and cross, stop stopping to turn inside as it inevitably and inexorably leads him to lose possession or the ball going backwards and we lose momentum.
Mirallas, whilst pacy and skilled can be frustrating, and his penalty antics last night were shocking, simply shocking. He seems to think he is above everybody else – who on earth allowed him to take the ball off Baines ? What did the manager or the captain say or do to ensure that the Number One penalty taker – Baines – took the penalty, nothing and in my eyes that was not dereliction of duty by both Martinez and Jags, it was abdication of responsibility and leadership.
Can anyone honestly imagine what would happen tonight if the RS get a penalty and Borini grabbed the ball ahead of or off Gerrard?
Lukaku is not a lump-it-up-to centre forward as that simply is not his strength or indeed preference, he is a channel runner. He needs the ball exactly to his feet as all too often his first touch has all the delicacy and finesse of a JCB, but when he can turn and run at defenders, he suddenly looks a whole different player.
We need more pace in the team, we need to use more width in our play and most of all, and quickly, we need to tighten up a the back and that I’m afraid is where we find the real Achilles heel in Roberto Martinez.
He simply cannot coach effective defensive play. None of his teams have ever looked anything like as sound as we did last season, remember that was a defence he inherited from a truly defensive coach in David Moyes.
Bill Kenwright wants to and will stay as loyal to his appointed manager as long as he can, that’s his nature and that’s the way he wants Everton to be seen - as loyal, stable and not a knee-jerk reaction club. His problem though is that Martinez and the way he is running the team/squad is showing all the traits of his Wigan teams, and given our next three games, alarm bells must be ringing in his head and office.
But as Chairman, with whom the book will stop, he must surely be making some form of contingency plan if things worsen… and I fear they will, as the mini-revival we saw in the games against City and West Ham away disappeared last night and it was back to the Boxing Day/NY Day level and that simply cannot be allowed to continue.
And while I’m banging on, the aging, injury-prone squad needs culling… Gibson, Pienaar, Distin, Howard, Ossie, Hibbo as well as selfish sods like Mirallas need to go. I’d keep Jags and Barry as I believe that with the right (younger) legs around them, they can be the experience element the team will need, but we need to either buy smarter or be willing to bring on the youth once survival is assured and on into next season.
