Diagnosis on Poor Start

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GrandOldTeam

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4-5-1 - Yakubu/Beckford up front on their own?

I've already moaned about this but I'm convinced it's no longer for us. In the absence of a world class striker and a confident, on song supporting balanced midfield capable of breaking down two banks of four - it's never going to be an accommodating line up.

Too many teams are setting up against us to grind out a result - and far too many poor teams have done that successfully against us the past year. Look at how many points we've dropped against poor opposition at home last season and this season. Newcastles players and fans reaction to their win on Saturday epitomises the point - most teams come to Goodison now thinking a point is a very good one and set up to nullify and frustrate an opposition who are stronger than them - and hope to pinch a goal.

We did the same when we were experts at 4-5-1. Teams would look at Marcus Bent up front on his own and become frustrated and think "We should be beating these". That doesn't happen any more. A point at Goodison is a good point for 16/17 of the 20 teams in the Premiership.

For me, that too many times has it been on Everton to take the initiative and too many times we've failed to step up to the plate. Too many times have the likes of Burnley, Wolves, Blackburn, Newcastle sussed out our one dimensional 'Down the left" approach. Too many times have they sat back and eventually thought "Is this all they have? We could sneak this" and grown in confidence.

The formation isn't the be all and end all, but we're making it hard for ourselves. We've acquired Beckford, a lad accustomed to a lower league and a striker along side him - and we then throw him to the lions on his own. It's no wonder the lad has yet to have an effort in the Premiership and looks miles out of his depth. At the moment he looks like a lazy, poor mans Marcus Bent.

The stabilizers need to come off.

Captaincy - A leader?
Are we lacking real leadership qualities? A can of worms but I think there's an argument to be made. Do we have any gifted players who will bark orders left right and centre? - Mikel?

Balance - Four players out of position on Saturday
Slyvain Distin. Granted, I don't appreciate the lads ability but this isn't going to be a tirade against him. I do think however that he has had a big contribution to our shocking start. Moyes is almost shuffling the pack to accommodate him and it has impacted our balance massively.

Maybe Moyes is thinking he spent a fair whack on Distin and is almost looking to get his moneys worth? but Distin playing seems to mean Heitinga being drafted into defensive midfield and Fellaini thrown all over the place. Both have suffered for it, particularly Heitinga.

Now, I'm no LMA manager of the year. To be fair, I'm not even that good on footy manager - but collective intelligence shouldn't be underestimated and I'm pretty sure a high percentage of Blues would prefer Heitinga and Jagielka centre back, and Fellaini in his natural defensive midfield position - where he won over fans and received his plaudits. Saturday was a regression to his first season when he was chasing back, giving fouls away with a clumsy demeanour and becoming frustrated.

Fellaini sitting deep also means Arteta is more inclined to support the attack in the final third, where his creativity and spark is desperately needed. Time and time again on Saturday we went long for a Fellaini flick on against a side sitting desperately deep - it was never going to work - certainly not to a isolated Beckford or to a not so mobile Yakubu.

While we're on balance, Hibbert/Osman. *groan*. I don't need to go into this but clearly our right side is borderline pathetic. Osman isn't a right winger, never has and never will be. No Blue will claim Osman is best on the right. Hibbert can do a job defensively, but if we're looking to grind down a stern opposition, we lack desperately down that right. I'm starting to think Osman doesn't do Hibbert any favours either - we've lacked so desperately down that right for so long it's only highlighted our full backs inadequacy going forward. If we had a decent right winger, then perhaps Hibbert would receive more recognition for his defensive duties but as it is, our right hand side outlet is too painfully obvious to ignore.

The frustrating thing with our right hand side is it looks like it could be addressed from the resources we have and it's most certainly broken so lets fix it.

There were widespread ironic cheers when Coleman was brought on to replace Hibbert at half time on Saturday - a kick in the teeth to our gaffer make no mistake. Hopefully he isn't stubborn enough to persist with Hibbert. Granted, Coleman will have defensive frailties but he'll learn. At home to Wolves, Newcastle and co is the time he should be on. Maybe even put Coleman right midfield with Neville right back.

We've also got a Russian lad on the bench. A lot of Blues will grimace with that sentence but he's no mug, he just needs managing and game time. YouTube him - or dig out some footage in the memory bank of some of the cracking goals he's belted in for us. Hiddink loves him, a Captain, a player who cost us £9 million. He's scored 7 for us in a limited amount of game time and would be an improvement on Osman.

Gueye. The lad started virtually every pre-season game?.......
Anichebe when he is back?

JUST ANYTHING OTHER THAN A RIGHT SIDED COMBINATION OF HIBBERT AND OSMAN!!!!!

Would anyone disagree that;

Our right side is turd and should be changed with any resource we have.
Fellaini is strongest in defensive midfield and should play there and only there.
If Heitinga plays, it should be centre back.
Coleman should play ahead of Hibbert at right back against weaker sides when we're at home.
Osman shouldn't play right midfield.
If any of Yakubu/Beckford/Saha are available at the same time, two should start together - or at least be on the pitch at the same time - against relegation candidates at Home - especially when we're losing. (Yak on for Beckford against Newcastle?)
 
I agree with most of that, but :

Hopefully he isn't stubborn enough to persist with Hibbert.

I actually think he is, why, oh why, am I still watching Hibbert and Osman on the right, its seriously blows my head off. If theres a worse right side in the World, I havent seen it.
 
Moyes has been getting his selection wrong, playing 3 or 4 people out of position every week.

Heitinga HAS to be CB instead of Distin.

Fellaini MUST play DM, not AM under any circumstances.

Osman IS NOT a RM, he should only be played in the centre, give Coleman a shot at RM.
 
Players in BEST positions:

Howard

Neville (gotta have him on the field...RB)
Jags
Heitinga
Baines

Coleman/Billy/Anichebe...take your pick. That's where the hole is.
Arteta...AM
Fellaini...DM (that means BEHIND Arteta)
Pienaar

Cahill or Beckford

Saha and/or Yakubu
 
Agree completely with that Bill.

If injuries etc occur, don't mess with the spine of the team (Fellaini DM, Arteta AM and Pienaar/Baines down the left).
 

For all the stick Neville takes, it's become apparent to me that having a leader on the field can make a difference.
 
All of the above, really. It seems Moyes would rather play players out of position in order to shoehorn them into a 4-5-1 just because they're his favourites (Osman, Hibbert) or "names" (Fellaini, Heitinga). Perfect example was Rodwell playing on the right the other week. Even at 1-0 down at home to Newcastle he wouldn't change the formation, just subbed like for like. It's mind-boggling, it really is. We're so one-dimensional at the moment it's pathetic.
 
Good point.

You get a system that fits your players rather than plugging your players into a system.

I guarantee (as would Ghost) that Billy would be playing more if Moyes had a system that would accomodate a player of his skill and ability.
 
Agree with most of that.

Wouldn't abandon 4-5-1 though. Cahill supporting yak/saha is still the way to go.

Beckford should only be used as a sub until he finds his feet. He has been handled very badly... Should have been introduced slowly.

Also coleman in midfield is just another player out of position.
 

Poor selection .
Top players playing intermittently / not at all .
Poor selection .
Beckford is patently NOT READY for a 4-5-1 . Least , not in this League .
Poor selection .
Injuries .
Poor selection .
Better players absconding responsibility and passing the ball consistently to Jags / Distin KNOWING that their only option is to launch it .
Poor selection .
Failure to make the most of opportunities .


Did I mention , poor selection ,..???
 
I don't believe that Cahill actually does enough in midfield areas to be considered a midfielder, he's a very much a forward, and that's been the case for a number of years now. He's our target man, he plays up against the centre backs, not the midfielders. Him and Yakubu have worked well together in the past, I don't see why they couldn't do that again, Yakubu link up play makes up for Cahill's lack of involvement in deeper positions and Cahill does the Yak's running.

As for the right handside, centre back pairing and centre midfield partnership - I couldn't agree more really. Heitinga and Jagielka at centre back, Fellaini and Arteta in the middle of the park, give Coleman a go on the right and hopefully Yakubu gets a run of games to get his sharpness back.
 
Agree with most of that.

Wouldn't abandon 4-5-1 though. Cahill supporting yak/saha is still the way to go.

Beckford should only be used as a sub until he finds his feet. He has been handled very badly... Should have been introduced slowly.

Also coleman in midfield is just another player out of position.

Maybe mate. But he's not had much professional football. Tony Hibbert was a striker for England school boys...

I can only fathom Coleman is being held back because of defensive concerns - he's looked pretty fantastic on every outing going forward - maybe he can be developed into a right winger?

Who knows. It's all out of desperation to address that right hand side. It really does squeeze the optimism out of me every time I see it announced.
 
Players in BEST positions:

Howard

Neville (gotta have him on the field...RB)
Jags
Heitinga
Baines

Coleman/Billy/Anichebe...take your pick. That's where the hole is.
Arteta...AM
Fellaini...DM (that means BEHIND Arteta)
Pienaar

Cahill or Beckford

Saha and/or Yakubu

im realy starting to think we could have superman on the pitch and it wouldnt make a difference!

once from what i can remember out of moyes reign have we started a season well when we finished 4th (and yes we finished that season [Poor language removed]) so maybe its the preparation in pre season or his motivation as we only seem to play with some fight when we are neck deep in crap!

come crimbo everything well ace again you watch!

we just gotta put up with these slow starts! its either that or moyes has to move on cuz i cant see it changing!
 

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