quater season league revue

uknightbreed · October 21, 2007

is the glass half empty or half full ?

pos..............10
played..........10
won..............4
drew.............1
lost...............5
for................13
against..........13
goal diff..........0
points...........13

well we have just passed the quarter mark and id like to here other blues opinions on how you think we are doing.

personally i think its been slightly frustrating and very stop start , but know that we shouldnt panic too much as we do have a lot left in the tank to vastly improove.especially in the midfeild area with cahill and gravesen coming back.

i also think that our goalscoring is good enough but is let down by lack of clean sheets. surprising as i still beleive our defence is one of the strongest in the prem and our best area in the squad.

looking at the league this morning we now seem to have lost pace with the top 9 slightly and have been sucked into a second tier group consisting of aston villa (1 game in hand)reading ,west ham (2 games in hand)and newcastle (2 games in hand).we are in a bit of a no mans land , just out of touch with teams above and below.

our desire to be tough to beat is spot on , but id just like to see a bit of improvement in our style of forward play , a few more clean sheets and a couple more wins in our next few games...birmingham (a) , chelsea (a) sunderland (h) , portsmouth (a).(not asking for much am i ? lol)

looking at the table , losses to birmingham and sunderland could suck us down with the likes of fulham , birmingham and sunderland .
losses against chelsea and portsmouth will mean we lose touch with the european place even more.
wins against the 4 would put distance between us and the teams below and make up ground on team above.

the season is on a knife edge !

so looking at our next 4 games will our league position go up , go down or stay pretty much the same in your opinion ?

what are you happy with and can you see anything you would like to improve ?

Bruce Wayne · October 21, 2007

*groan* Do we really have to? Right now?

uknightbreed · October 21, 2007

Bruce Wayne said:
*groan* Do we really have to? Right now?

yes.if you want to.
no if you dont.

Bruce Wayne · October 21, 2007

It's been done to death. We havn't started the season well due in part no doubt to the number of new signings plus the number of key players out injured. It seems that some people want to do little but pick holes this weekend and considering your own such posts in the immediate aftermath of the match it's just become more than a little tiresome.

daz4matty · October 21, 2007

I feel we are going in the right direction and under moyes are we getting used to ending up in the top 6 are our expectations getting too high.
With the money the likes of city,villa and other teams spending it will be a lot harder finishing in the top 6 or 7,we can,t have it all if we had a billionaire backer i,d expect a top 6 finish every time but we haven,t got one.
We have a manager who has done a brilliant job so far and given us back our pride,can he take us to the next level i think he certainly would given the cash the likes of eriksson has had to spend and in our current enviroment with not the same money available i also would say yes i think he will but we need to focus heavily on the attacking side.
Being honest this season and being realistic i would take a top 10 finish and a great cup run.

uknightbreed · October 21, 2007

Bruce Wayne said:
It's been done to death. We havn't started the season well due in part no doubt to the number of new signings plus the number of key players out injured. It seems that some people want to do little but pick holes this weekend and considering your own such posts in the immediate aftermath of the match it's just become more than a little tiresome.

i dont want an argument bruce but i have to say i feel your being slightly unfair with me this weekend .
im certainly not the type of person who looks to rub people up the wrong way or likes arguments.
i try to give a balanced view on 'all' things good and bad.
this is a forum for debate and opinions after all and becouse of my location i dont have a lot of outlets to discuss and debate everton fc.(surrounded by reds though and work with 6 of em)
its just seems you are highlighting any negative aspects of my posts and overlooking the positives.and have formed an impression of me being a 100 % downer , which i am not.

if you look at this post for example im pretty much only asking for where do you think we will do in our next 4 games and opinions on whats good and where willl will improve.i cant see how thats negative or a bad thing.

im honestly not bitchy or arrogant and always comment with a smile on my face.i just hope that you give me a bit of a break mate please.

Bruce Wayne · October 21, 2007

Sure, I probably shouldn't have replied to the post. I still feel bummed about the derby and can't really be arsed to do a post-mortem that generally only unearths what we already know about Hibbert, Neville et al.

Sorry if I have appeared narky, I probably am to an extent as this weekend has instilled a sort of us against the world mentality in me, so even if Hibbert is bloody awful, he's a blue so I'm not going to give him any stick right now.

GhostOfDixie · October 21, 2007

I think its healthy to look at our pits and troughs, who is playing well and who isn't. I couldn't give a flying [Poor language removed] about Liverpool and the game because I know that no matter how well we play, we are always always up against it. The media hype, the ref's, the arrogant [Poor language removed] who support that club. Etc,etc,etc...

If I think Hibbert has been [Poor language removed] this season I'll [Poor language removed] say so. If I think Neville has been [Poor language removed] this season I will also [Poor language removed] say so. I'm not going to tip toe through the mine field just because of what happened yesterday. Its done and dusted and in the great scheme of things it means [Poor language removed] all.

Last year we took 4 points off them, were we better? Not really, just caught them on an off day. This year we were better organised until a certain player was way out of position. Regardless of what Gerrard did, what the ref did and what Kuyt did. We still were left exposed by a weak link in our team and I as a fan feel that I have every right to vent my fury at a certain player who I feel isn't pulling his weight.

I have said in the past that I am going to give Yakubu a season's grace and I feel yesterday he put in a shift, as mush as Anichebe did, both of them caused problems and if Yak had connected with that turn and volley or his wonder strike was 10cm to the left he would have attained legendary status.

Hibbert on the other hand has been a regular for nearly 4 years and i'm sorry but he is poor and not the sort of fullback we require. Is he the mirror of Baines? No he isn't. He's not even as good as Lescott in that position and he's playing out of position at the moment.

I also think Neville needs to be brought out of the side and perhaps shove Jags back in defence.

We are going to have new options now with Vaughan, Gravesen and Cahill coming back. Piennar I think is also a good option. But if I was to say what 2 types of players I would like in the tranfer window it would be a bloody good right back and a good defensive anchor man.

GhostOfDixie · October 21, 2007

Bruce Wayne said:
Sure, I probably shouldn't have replied to the post. I still feel bummed about the derby and can't really be arsed to do a post-mortem that generally only unearths what we already know about Hibbert, Neville et al.

Sorry if I have appeared narky, I probably am to an extent as this weekend has instilled a sort of us against the world mentality in me, so even if Hibbert is bloody awful, he's a blue so I'm not going to give him any stick right now.

Saying something about a players general form is what we need to do, good or bad it needs to be said. As blues we seem to wrap everyone in cotton wool regardless of how they perform. I don't want Hibbert in the side blue or not. I'd love to see Rooney back, regardless of what he has done. Because at the end of the day, its about winning matches scoring goals and keeping the ball out of our own net. Its not about stroking the hair of the less gifted players.

We need to be more ruthless in our assessments and not be blind to inability, because at the end of the day I don't want to feel like [Poor language removed] all the time, I want to be smiling, and certain players don't have the ability to do that, and that is a harsh reality of football. No room for sentiment.

loosecranks · October 21, 2007

Five defeats makes my glass half empty, but It's far from doom and gloom, especially when you consider how unlucky we were to lose against United and Liverpool (the Newcastle defeat could have been a different story, too).

Let's get everyone back and then, as always, we'll see where we are come Xmas. A few wins between now and then, hopefully courtesy of a few confidence boosting clean sheets, and things will look much brighter. I'd be most happy if Santa could bring us a really dominant midfielder, though, as I think we're lacking in the middle (Jagielka looked better yesterday, but still needs to do more, and I can only assume Carsley's legs must be gone, given Moyes' refusal to play him anymore).

uknightbreed · October 21, 2007

GhostOfDixie said:
I think its healthy to look at our pits and troughs, who is playing well and who isn't. I couldn't give a flying [Poor language removed] about Liverpool and the game because I know that no matter how well we play, we are always always up against it. The media hype, the ref's, the arrogant [Poor language removed] who support that club. Etc,etc,etc...

If I think Hibbert has been [Poor language removed] this season I'll [Poor language removed] say so. If I think Neville has been [Poor language removed] this season I will also [Poor language removed] say so. I'm not going to tip toe through the mine field just because of what happened yesterday. Its done and dusted and in the great scheme of things it means [Poor language removed] all.

Last year we took 4 points off them, were we better? Not really, just caught them on an off day. This year we were better organised until a certain player was way out of position. Regardless of what Gerrard did, what the ref did and what Kuyt did. We still were left exposed by a weak link in our team and I as a fan feel that I have every right to vent my fury at a certain player who I feel isn't pulling his weight.

I have said in the past that I am going to give Yakubu a season's grace and I feel yesterday he put in a shift, as mush as Anichebe did, both of them caused problems and if Yak had connected with that turn and volley or his wonder strike was 10cm to the left he would have attained legendary status.

Hibbert on the other hand has been a regular for nearly 4 years and i'm sorry but he is poor and not the sort of fullback we require. Is he the mirror of Baines? No he isn't. He's not even as good as Lescott in that position and he's playing out of position at the moment.

I also think Neville needs to be brought out of the side and perhaps shove Jags back in defence.

We are going to have new options now with Vaughan, Gravesen and Cahill coming back. Piennar I think is also a good option. But if I was to say what 2 types of players I would like in the tranfer window it would be a bloody good right back and a good defensive anchor man.

im not sure if anyone agrees but hibbert hasnt hit true form since he had that desease that give him the shits last season.

uknightbreed · October 21, 2007

Bruce Wayne said:
Sure, I probably shouldn't have replied to the post. I still feel bummed about the derby and can't really be arsed to do a post-mortem that generally only unearths what we already know about Hibbert, Neville et al.

Sorry if I have appeared narky, I probably am to an extent as this weekend has instilled a sort of us against the world mentality in me, so even if Hibbert is bloody awful, he's a blue so I'm not going to give him any stick right now.

no worries and thank you buddy , i understand totally.