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Georgina Turner>INSIDE SOCCER
Despite rising stars like Seamus Coleman (pictured) and Jack Rodwell, Everton has struggled to find its footing this season.
Wayne Rooney may finally have ended his drought, but his boyhood club can't buy a goal at the moment. Three games into the Premier League season, Everton has scored a single goal and notched a single point. That return amounts to the club's worst start since 1999, but the biggest worry for Everton is that it has so far been unable to convert possessions, often in dangerous areas, into goals.
Despite starting its campaign with two games out of three on the road, Everton has enjoyed most of the ball -- 66 percent on average -- and looked for all the world to be playing on home soil at Villa Park on Sunday. Everton fashioned 12 shooting chances to Aston Villa's nine, but another stat tells you more about how badly the home team was overrun in the final third: Everton earned a whopping 18 corners. So why aren't David Moyes' men getting the rewards?
It hasn't helped that Everton has twice given away early goals -- both Blackburn Rovers and Villa scored in the opening 15 minutes of their 1-0 victories. Villa defended admirably, as Brad Friedel pulled off two saves from Louis Saha -- the second in the dying moments as the ball looked destined to hit the bottom corner of the net as an equalizer. Even the woodwork chipped in, keeping out a Steven Pienaar purler after 18 minutes.
But when you're on the front foot for so much of the match, you should be able to scare the keeper more than three times. "For some reason, it's just not happening," Tim Howard said. "I don't know why, it's so hard to put your finger on." His manager was less shy about pointing the finger at his strikers: "Jermaine Beckford is still untried," Moyes said, "and Louis Saha has gone a while since scoring in the league. So we are looking around for goals right now."
The problem is hardly terminal at this stage -- if it were later in the season, when the table is less fidgety, we might not notice. In 2005-06, Everton lost three games in March and April, scoring only once, but still finished in the Champions League spots, and 1999's similarly barren spell ended with two consecutive four-goal sprees. But it's reasonable to ask if Moyes has the right resources, or if he is making the most of the resources he has.
Everton has a clutch of established, first-rate midfielders to call upon, plus rising stars Jack Rodwell (Sir Alex Ferguson is rumored to value him at $15.5m plus Michael Carrick) and Seamus Coleman (a fullback by trade but a handful on the wing while he cuts his defensive teeth). They're all comfortable on the ball and can generally be relied upon to find the right man when they release it; no wonder Moyes has looked to accommodate five of them at the expense of an additional striker.
Beckford and Saha (the only two of Everton's nine forwards to have taken the pitch in the league so far) linked up nicely in pre-season, combining to destroy Preston North End, which thumped Blackburn in 45 minutes. But neither operates as well in the lone striker role as the out of favor Ayegbeni Yakubu can. For all the grace and skill of Everton's wide play, it rarely breaks with genuine speed, which makes working the ball to an isolated target all the more difficult.
You could argue that Tim Cahill acts as an auxiliary striker in any case, but he's been quiet by his own high standards and never really threatened Friedel's goal. On a day when Everton so clearly has the beating of its opponent, it would surely be worth throwing on two genuine strikers. James Vaughan, Yakubu and the injured Victor Anichebe may not be in the manager's plans but Moyes has adaptable French forward Magaye Gueye at his disposal, and he is capable of scaring centre halves.
At the very least, introducing fellow midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov -- mercurial, yes, but rarely shy of shooting -- in Cahill's place might've forced the issue. Instead Johnny Heitinga got eight minutes on the pitch, in which he had nothing to do.
Despite rising stars like Seamus Coleman (pictured) and Jack Rodwell, Everton has struggled to find its footing this season.
Wayne Rooney may finally have ended his drought, but his boyhood club can't buy a goal at the moment. Three games into the Premier League season, Everton has scored a single goal and notched a single point. That return amounts to the club's worst start since 1999, but the biggest worry for Everton is that it has so far been unable to convert possessions, often in dangerous areas, into goals.
Despite starting its campaign with two games out of three on the road, Everton has enjoyed most of the ball -- 66 percent on average -- and looked for all the world to be playing on home soil at Villa Park on Sunday. Everton fashioned 12 shooting chances to Aston Villa's nine, but another stat tells you more about how badly the home team was overrun in the final third: Everton earned a whopping 18 corners. So why aren't David Moyes' men getting the rewards?
It hasn't helped that Everton has twice given away early goals -- both Blackburn Rovers and Villa scored in the opening 15 minutes of their 1-0 victories. Villa defended admirably, as Brad Friedel pulled off two saves from Louis Saha -- the second in the dying moments as the ball looked destined to hit the bottom corner of the net as an equalizer. Even the woodwork chipped in, keeping out a Steven Pienaar purler after 18 minutes.
But when you're on the front foot for so much of the match, you should be able to scare the keeper more than three times. "For some reason, it's just not happening," Tim Howard said. "I don't know why, it's so hard to put your finger on." His manager was less shy about pointing the finger at his strikers: "Jermaine Beckford is still untried," Moyes said, "and Louis Saha has gone a while since scoring in the league. So we are looking around for goals right now."
The problem is hardly terminal at this stage -- if it were later in the season, when the table is less fidgety, we might not notice. In 2005-06, Everton lost three games in March and April, scoring only once, but still finished in the Champions League spots, and 1999's similarly barren spell ended with two consecutive four-goal sprees. But it's reasonable to ask if Moyes has the right resources, or if he is making the most of the resources he has.
Everton has a clutch of established, first-rate midfielders to call upon, plus rising stars Jack Rodwell (Sir Alex Ferguson is rumored to value him at $15.5m plus Michael Carrick) and Seamus Coleman (a fullback by trade but a handful on the wing while he cuts his defensive teeth). They're all comfortable on the ball and can generally be relied upon to find the right man when they release it; no wonder Moyes has looked to accommodate five of them at the expense of an additional striker.
Beckford and Saha (the only two of Everton's nine forwards to have taken the pitch in the league so far) linked up nicely in pre-season, combining to destroy Preston North End, which thumped Blackburn in 45 minutes. But neither operates as well in the lone striker role as the out of favor Ayegbeni Yakubu can. For all the grace and skill of Everton's wide play, it rarely breaks with genuine speed, which makes working the ball to an isolated target all the more difficult.
You could argue that Tim Cahill acts as an auxiliary striker in any case, but he's been quiet by his own high standards and never really threatened Friedel's goal. On a day when Everton so clearly has the beating of its opponent, it would surely be worth throwing on two genuine strikers. James Vaughan, Yakubu and the injured Victor Anichebe may not be in the manager's plans but Moyes has adaptable French forward Magaye Gueye at his disposal, and he is capable of scaring centre halves.
At the very least, introducing fellow midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov -- mercurial, yes, but rarely shy of shooting -- in Cahill's place might've forced the issue. Instead Johnny Heitinga got eight minutes on the pitch, in which he had nothing to do.
