Possession heavy football will never work at Everton

[COYB]

4-2-4 Heavy possesion Counter Attack

---Southall---
Xavier--Distin--Unsworth--Drenthe
--Barkley---Rodwell-------------
Anichebe --Yak--Beattie--Lukaku-


I do realise there is a lot heavier players in past
but just done a quickie.

get this line up sorted Marco lid

 

[Nymzee]

I like vertical football myself and we are definitely not that.

 

[mmmmsnouts]

Possession football still works, but it has to be done with speed and purpose now. You can’t just faff around and pass the ball back and forth aimlessly like the worst of Martinez’s time here. Man City holds the ball for ages but they are always probing and looking to set up a scoring chance.

 

[SupaStake]

We do play pressing football.

We have the highest pressing stats in the league.

Sometimes it feels more like de-pressing football

 

[chrismpw]

Possession football, no matter how good the squad, can be utterly tedious to watch. I much prefer to see the ball moved quickly, with quick direct movement from the players into positions where they can cause damage. Mix it up between short balls and long searching balls - keep the opposition guessing. In my mind that's how Kendall mk1 and Fergie"s Man U used to play and it was both successful and entertaining.

 

[b-rad]

It will never work if we think it will never work.

 

[Saint Domingo]

View attachment 67475

An unknown fact about this photo is that it is Alan Ball and Howard Kendall laughing at the suggestion Everton can't play possession football

The team that used to be called the school of science now shouldn’t try and play possession football apparently.

 

[davek]

View attachment 67475

An unknown fact about this photo is that it is Alan Ball and Howard Kendall laughing at the suggestion Everton can't play possession football

It's staggering isn't it? The incredibly poor sense of history some have of this club.

We have many Kopite critics to push this line of propaganda (ironically, given that club's long tradition of anti-football prior to the 80s), we dont need our own pushing it.

 

[AndyC]

id rather have 11% possesion and win 3 nil...

I can't believe it, but I can't argue this notion

 

[orly]

The team that used to be called the school of science now shouldn’t try and play possession football apparently.

It's staggering isn't it? The incredibly poor sense of history some have of this club.

We have many Kopite critics to push this line of propaganda (ironically, given that club's long tradition of anti-football prior to the 80s), we dont need our own pushing it.

All seems a bit odd to me. Historically all of our best sides have been dominant, possession-based teams, and even in the modern era when trophy winning has eluded us, our better players (like Pienaar and Arteta) all understood the value of keeping the ball rather than forcing a long or rushed pass. For me, unless you've literally only watched Everton for the first time this season, when Gomes is out of the side, you'd know that.

 

[davek]

All seems a bit odd to me. Historically all of our best sides have been dominant, possession-based teams, and even in the modern era when trophy winning has eluded us, our better players (like Pienaar and Arteta) all understood the value of keeping the ball rather than forcing a long or rushed pass. For me, unless you've literally only watched Everton for the first time this season, when Gomes is out of the side, you'd know that.

You've heard of Thatcher's Children? We have Moyes' Children. Born into and weaned on hoofball, and who think that's what's representative of Everton, and what we should "aspire" to.

 

[Dougie]

All seems a bit odd to me. Historically all of our best sides have been dominant, possession-based teams, and even in the modern era when trophy winning has eluded us, our better players (like Pienaar and Arteta) all understood the value of keeping the ball rather than forcing a long or rushed pass. For me, unless you've literally only watched Everton for the first time this season, when Gomes is out of the side, you'd know that.

Yeah we struggle to keep and move the ball when Gomes is out. For me it’s not possession, it’s the speed we use the ball. We need to be 1 touch quicker, and play the ball infront of the player to run onto as oppose to feet all the time. This would make it easier to break teams down instead of giving them the extra few seconds to get into position.

 

[orly]

You've heard of Thatcher's Children? We have Moyes' Children. Born into and weaned on hoofball, and who think that's what's representative of Everton, and what we should "aspire" to.

There's an element of that, sure. But I think it is wider than that.

Teams have looked at Guardiola's Barcelona side (as was) and his current City side. They've realised they can't do it to that level, so their little footballing testicles have shrunk right back into their torsos. "Oh we can't do that, we shouldn't even try, or we'll get laughed at as a crap attempted facsimile." So what you've got now is even recently great footballing sides like Arsenal abandon their principles and take up the kick and rush brand that Big Red are currently a couple of years ahead on under teethy Jurg.

The saddest part about it is that by trying to buy Zaha and Doucore, we're trying to do exactly the same.

 

[davek]

There's an element of that, sure. But I think it is wider than that.

Teams have looked at Guardiola's Barcelona side (as was) and his current City side. They've realised they can't do it to that level, so their little footballing testicles have shrunk right back into their torsos. "Oh we can't do that, we shouldn't even try, or we'll get laughed at as a crap attempted facsimile." So what you've got now is even recently great footballing sides like Arsenal abandon their principles and take up the kick and rush brand that Big Red are currently a couple of years ahead on under teethy Jurg.

The saddest part about it is that by trying to buy Zaha and Doucore, we're trying to do exactly the same.

It's not beyond Everton to aspire to play a passing game (or any tem for that matter). It's just that if you dont have the enormous anount of cash, the personnel wont be top class enough to do it to the highest level consistently each game. If you accept there's going to be many reversals then you can play that way. Some will fail badly with it and be in danger; others will do better and present a challenge the peripheral teams in the elite. Our fans aren't prepared to accept that we should play expansive football unless it gets us top 5/6.

 

[Tubey]

You've heard of Thatcher's Children? We have Moyes' Children. Born into and weaned on hoofball, and who think that's what's representative of Everton, and what we should "aspire" to.

Yeah agreed, it's a legacy of that. We were taught to be 'plucky little Everton' by Moyes, tempering expectations to save his own neck, and that legacy continues.

It's precisely why I was disgusted by Moyes late into his tenure here, because it was clear as day what he was doing and the harm it was doing. When we went ahead against City and he immediately battened down the hatches to try and survive, because we'd stuck our heads above the parapets - just one example.

Threads like this are the legacy. It's basically saying "Everton should stop trying - we'll never win anything again so stop trying to be a top team."