This is my first post so please go easy on me.
There seems to be so much I dont know after reading some of the excellent articles on this site and I still find it hard to believe that BK is such a charlatan. Surely he is better than an american or worse still a pair of americans who are in it purely for the money?
I don't want to get into all that as I don't know enough about it. My concern as a fan of 37 years is what's happening on the pitch. Only 4 months ago there was an air of optimism that we would break the top 4 this year with the right recruit and once again we have failed to capitalise on last season. From January to May 2010 we were second only to Chelsea and with the acquisition of a decent goals scorer we would have challenged this year.
Our squad though is still the best I have seen at Everton. It is by no means the best team and we are still a long way off the quality we had in the mid 80's.
Satrting with Tim Howard and Mucha in goal I can't complain. They aren't as good as Petr Cech but they are certainly amongst the top 5 goalkeeping duo's in the league.
Defensively we aren't doing too badly either. With the emergence of Coleman I am convinced we have a gem who will continue to improve and its nice to have some much needed pace in the team. We also have Phil Nevile who may not be a spring chicken anymore however his experience and voice are essential and he is always missed when out of the side. Even Hibbert has looked good this season at times so at right back we have no issues.
Baines seems to get better every month at left back and his display against Brimingham was outstanding. The current news about Man Utd's interest in him is worrying as I can't think of a better left back since I started watching the Blues in the 70's. The worry here is cover. Who is our second choice left back if Baines gets injured? Distin?
At centre half in Jags we have a class act that would probably get in most premiership teams. Johnny (Someone gag me) Heitinga also looks like a different player at the back when he plays there and we always play better football when he gets a game. Whether he stays around remains to be seen and I am sure I am not alone in thinking that he isn't a centre midfielder. Distin is great some weeks and awful the next and I hope he finds the form of last season quickly.
With people like Luke Garbutt, Shane Duffy hopefully waiting in the wings, defensively we are ok if we can keep them all for a few years so I hope Moyes avoids tinkering with what he has as the priorities are at the other end of the field.
In midfield we seem to have too many options and it is here that we need to sell someone to fund the striker we need.
It is sad to hear Fellaini won't play in the Derby as he showed at Birmingham that he was getting back to his best again. With Hansen likening him to Viera at his best last year and still only 22 we have potentially one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe. I'd still take a £15 million+ bid though if it meant we got a top goalscorer in exchange.
Arteta is a class act and probably the key reason I renewed my season ticket this year after his storming performances in dragging us up the table in 2009/10. Again though I would consider and £18 million bid if the Net talk is true about Arsenal sniffing around to replace Fabregas. Then we have Rodwell, Osman, Neville and Johnny who can cover this role as well as Cahill.
When all are fit surely one of these options needs to be sold to fund priorities elsewhere? Rodwell is our most valuable asset and I am still not sure how good he will become or what position will be his best. When we sold Rooney in 2004 it gave us a platofrm from which to build so maybe its time to do the same thing again? If the financial debt figures mentioned on this site are true then this is probably going to happen sooner ratehr than later. If Arteta, Fellaini and Rodwell were all fit he would probably be on the bench anyway! I just hope Moyes gets it to buy a player that can take us forward if we do cash in.
Osman frustrates me as much as anyone in the team and I feel let down when he starts. When you look at the likes of Chelsea with their power and pace all over the pitch how are we ever meant to compete with poor little Ossie who looks like a schoolboy in comparison?
The same can be said of many of our team who are just too slow to hurt teams. Billy, great left foot but ridiculously lacking in pace. Piennar is extremely talented yet also unable to beat a man. I love Tim Cahill for his grit, determination and bravery nearly as much as I loved Andy Gray but he is the main reason why we end up playing 4-5-1. He cant play in a 4-4-2 and he isnt a striker and he is also lacking in speed. We simply won't be able to compete with the top teams unless we get more fleet footed players in our team.
I was talking to a member of Everton's physio team last week and they said that Moyes has found another gem in Gueye. Apparently he has a thunderous left foot and pace to burn, he regularly impresses in training and there is plenty of talk of him being Piennar's replacement. I really hope this is true as it looks increasingly likely we are going to lose him for nothing at the end of this season. That is a travesty waiting to happen as Piennar's workrate is second to none although I would much prefer to see a player that opposition teams back away from. Lets hope if the Arsenal rumours are true that we can get some money for him in January!
Too many times recently teams like Wolves and Newcastle have come to Goodison and defended with a high line to compress our midfield all because they have no fear of us getting behind them resulting in 1 point from what should have been 6.
Our forwards are a bit of a sorry bunch. We really miss Saha although his loss of possession against Wolves when not even under pressure was schoolboy like and how many games are we going to get out of him this season? Not enough probably?
The Yak was almost unstoppable 2 years ago and looks to be regaining some form and looks like he may have finally joined weight watchers. How many chances does he need though to score? 2 years ago with the chances he has had in his last few games he would have scored at least 3. Maybe the fact that his manager didnt want him hurt in the summer but I sincerely hope he finds form as if he can get 15 goals this season and starts scaring and bullying defenders again as well as he did in 2008 then we will look a different side.
As for Beckford I dont think he will ever be good enough for the Premier league. He lacks pace, he has no upper body strength and whilst it was an easy gamble to take on a bosman I think we should cash in as soon as possible to recoup £4-5 million towards someone else.
Joao Silva was another one for the future but he isnt even managing full games for the reserves yet. I hope Moyes has the right coaching staff in place as he is yet to bring through a top forward the way he has unearthed so many midfield and defensive players.
Anichebe is not good enough for the blues. His body language on the pitch just looks wrong and his attitude a bit prima donna ish for me considering he has done nothing in the game yet. Sell him and try and get £2-3 million
Jose Baxter - is he any good? Sounds like he was the best player in our recent reserves game although if was worthy of playing for the blues then surely he would have made more of an impression by now.
James Vaughan - never going to make it after too many injuries - try and get £2-3 million
I am already looking at next season and I hope the following team is something we can aspire towards with the potential money we can recoup going towards 2 players. A striker and a right midfielder...
1. Howard (in the top 5 in the premier league)
2. Coleman (Fast and likely to trouble teams)
3. Baines (Best left back in the last 30 years)
4. Jagielka (England international)
5. Heitinga (Dutch International)
6. Fellaini (Best defensive Midfielder in Europe?)
7. We need a fast right midfielder (Landon Donavon?) - Beckford/Vaughan/Anichebe money
8. Arteta (Quality)
9. Yakubu (Hopefully will refind the form which made Davey pay £11 million)
10. Lethal partner for the yak with pace with the money from Rodwell
11. Gueye (if the rumours are true and the potential he must have shown to earn a 5 year deal)
Bench
12. Mucha
13. Distin
14. Neville
15. Cahill
16. Billy
17. Barkley (If he recovers from this bizarre double leg break)
18. Saha
That squad is probably the best we can hope for with our inability to compete financially with the champions league big 4, Liverpool, Man City and even Aston Villa so we are just going to have to grin and bear it and hope Davey can keep pulling off small miracles in finishing as high as we have done. It's sad times especialy after watching Everton through the 1980's when we were the best team in Europe. I think I'll go an watch Everton vs Bayern Munich or my new Sheedy dvd to cheer myself up!
Here's to 3 points and a memorable victory against the Reds tomorrow! COYB!
There seems to be so much I dont know after reading some of the excellent articles on this site and I still find it hard to believe that BK is such a charlatan. Surely he is better than an american or worse still a pair of americans who are in it purely for the money?
I don't want to get into all that as I don't know enough about it. My concern as a fan of 37 years is what's happening on the pitch. Only 4 months ago there was an air of optimism that we would break the top 4 this year with the right recruit and once again we have failed to capitalise on last season. From January to May 2010 we were second only to Chelsea and with the acquisition of a decent goals scorer we would have challenged this year.
Our squad though is still the best I have seen at Everton. It is by no means the best team and we are still a long way off the quality we had in the mid 80's.
Satrting with Tim Howard and Mucha in goal I can't complain. They aren't as good as Petr Cech but they are certainly amongst the top 5 goalkeeping duo's in the league.
Defensively we aren't doing too badly either. With the emergence of Coleman I am convinced we have a gem who will continue to improve and its nice to have some much needed pace in the team. We also have Phil Nevile who may not be a spring chicken anymore however his experience and voice are essential and he is always missed when out of the side. Even Hibbert has looked good this season at times so at right back we have no issues.
Baines seems to get better every month at left back and his display against Brimingham was outstanding. The current news about Man Utd's interest in him is worrying as I can't think of a better left back since I started watching the Blues in the 70's. The worry here is cover. Who is our second choice left back if Baines gets injured? Distin?
At centre half in Jags we have a class act that would probably get in most premiership teams. Johnny (Someone gag me) Heitinga also looks like a different player at the back when he plays there and we always play better football when he gets a game. Whether he stays around remains to be seen and I am sure I am not alone in thinking that he isn't a centre midfielder. Distin is great some weeks and awful the next and I hope he finds the form of last season quickly.
With people like Luke Garbutt, Shane Duffy hopefully waiting in the wings, defensively we are ok if we can keep them all for a few years so I hope Moyes avoids tinkering with what he has as the priorities are at the other end of the field.
In midfield we seem to have too many options and it is here that we need to sell someone to fund the striker we need.
It is sad to hear Fellaini won't play in the Derby as he showed at Birmingham that he was getting back to his best again. With Hansen likening him to Viera at his best last year and still only 22 we have potentially one of the best defensive midfielders in Europe. I'd still take a £15 million+ bid though if it meant we got a top goalscorer in exchange.
Arteta is a class act and probably the key reason I renewed my season ticket this year after his storming performances in dragging us up the table in 2009/10. Again though I would consider and £18 million bid if the Net talk is true about Arsenal sniffing around to replace Fabregas. Then we have Rodwell, Osman, Neville and Johnny who can cover this role as well as Cahill.
When all are fit surely one of these options needs to be sold to fund priorities elsewhere? Rodwell is our most valuable asset and I am still not sure how good he will become or what position will be his best. When we sold Rooney in 2004 it gave us a platofrm from which to build so maybe its time to do the same thing again? If the financial debt figures mentioned on this site are true then this is probably going to happen sooner ratehr than later. If Arteta, Fellaini and Rodwell were all fit he would probably be on the bench anyway! I just hope Moyes gets it to buy a player that can take us forward if we do cash in.
Osman frustrates me as much as anyone in the team and I feel let down when he starts. When you look at the likes of Chelsea with their power and pace all over the pitch how are we ever meant to compete with poor little Ossie who looks like a schoolboy in comparison?
The same can be said of many of our team who are just too slow to hurt teams. Billy, great left foot but ridiculously lacking in pace. Piennar is extremely talented yet also unable to beat a man. I love Tim Cahill for his grit, determination and bravery nearly as much as I loved Andy Gray but he is the main reason why we end up playing 4-5-1. He cant play in a 4-4-2 and he isnt a striker and he is also lacking in speed. We simply won't be able to compete with the top teams unless we get more fleet footed players in our team.
I was talking to a member of Everton's physio team last week and they said that Moyes has found another gem in Gueye. Apparently he has a thunderous left foot and pace to burn, he regularly impresses in training and there is plenty of talk of him being Piennar's replacement. I really hope this is true as it looks increasingly likely we are going to lose him for nothing at the end of this season. That is a travesty waiting to happen as Piennar's workrate is second to none although I would much prefer to see a player that opposition teams back away from. Lets hope if the Arsenal rumours are true that we can get some money for him in January!
Too many times recently teams like Wolves and Newcastle have come to Goodison and defended with a high line to compress our midfield all because they have no fear of us getting behind them resulting in 1 point from what should have been 6.
Our forwards are a bit of a sorry bunch. We really miss Saha although his loss of possession against Wolves when not even under pressure was schoolboy like and how many games are we going to get out of him this season? Not enough probably?
The Yak was almost unstoppable 2 years ago and looks to be regaining some form and looks like he may have finally joined weight watchers. How many chances does he need though to score? 2 years ago with the chances he has had in his last few games he would have scored at least 3. Maybe the fact that his manager didnt want him hurt in the summer but I sincerely hope he finds form as if he can get 15 goals this season and starts scaring and bullying defenders again as well as he did in 2008 then we will look a different side.
As for Beckford I dont think he will ever be good enough for the Premier league. He lacks pace, he has no upper body strength and whilst it was an easy gamble to take on a bosman I think we should cash in as soon as possible to recoup £4-5 million towards someone else.
Joao Silva was another one for the future but he isnt even managing full games for the reserves yet. I hope Moyes has the right coaching staff in place as he is yet to bring through a top forward the way he has unearthed so many midfield and defensive players.
Anichebe is not good enough for the blues. His body language on the pitch just looks wrong and his attitude a bit prima donna ish for me considering he has done nothing in the game yet. Sell him and try and get £2-3 million
Jose Baxter - is he any good? Sounds like he was the best player in our recent reserves game although if was worthy of playing for the blues then surely he would have made more of an impression by now.
James Vaughan - never going to make it after too many injuries - try and get £2-3 million
I am already looking at next season and I hope the following team is something we can aspire towards with the potential money we can recoup going towards 2 players. A striker and a right midfielder...
1. Howard (in the top 5 in the premier league)
2. Coleman (Fast and likely to trouble teams)
3. Baines (Best left back in the last 30 years)
4. Jagielka (England international)
5. Heitinga (Dutch International)
6. Fellaini (Best defensive Midfielder in Europe?)
7. We need a fast right midfielder (Landon Donavon?) - Beckford/Vaughan/Anichebe money
8. Arteta (Quality)
9. Yakubu (Hopefully will refind the form which made Davey pay £11 million)
10. Lethal partner for the yak with pace with the money from Rodwell
11. Gueye (if the rumours are true and the potential he must have shown to earn a 5 year deal)
Bench
12. Mucha
13. Distin
14. Neville
15. Cahill
16. Billy
17. Barkley (If he recovers from this bizarre double leg break)
18. Saha
That squad is probably the best we can hope for with our inability to compete financially with the champions league big 4, Liverpool, Man City and even Aston Villa so we are just going to have to grin and bear it and hope Davey can keep pulling off small miracles in finishing as high as we have done. It's sad times especialy after watching Everton through the 1980's when we were the best team in Europe. I think I'll go an watch Everton vs Bayern Munich or my new Sheedy dvd to cheer myself up!
Here's to 3 points and a memorable victory against the Reds tomorrow! COYB!
