It's obvious that you've put a lot of work into it. You're more or less right.
1) I don't think it's so much the formation that's at fault, but that we don't commit men forward until the final knockings of a game. The more successful teams get up and down the pitch much more quickly and more often than we do. We tend to leave players isolated up front.
2) I agree that Heitinga hasn't got to grips with the anchor role. He doesn't seem to sense danger early enough and, despite appearances, I don't think he's the most tenacious of tacklers. His lack of development could be down to the level of commitment that he seems willing to offer. With regards to Bily, I feel that he's a player who needs to be nurtured far more than he has been so far. If we can get the best out of him, he could be as influential as Kanchelskis used to be.
3) I disagree with your assertions about Coleman. In my opinion, his greatest strength is going forward. Doubling up to protect Neville is almost secondary. When he has dropped back to fullback he's been exposed and forced into making rash tackles.
I do agree that we're not as creative as we could be. You're comparing Heitinga and Fellaini to Van der Vaart and Modric though, when a fairer comparison would be Huddlestone and Palacios. I'm sure they'd still be well ahead of us, but the roles in the team would be more similar.
Personally, I'd prefer to see Arteta employed further forward, picking up the ball in the final third, using his quick feet to get into a shooting position or slipping team mates in. We only attack down one flank at any one time, so a single holding player should be able to offer cover.
4) There are two types of effective teams: those that go through a main goalscorer, such as Lineker, and those who spread the goals amongst the team. Admittedly, the strikers aren't doing the business, but neither are the rest of the team. Distin and Jags should be finding the net from set pieces. Arteta and Baines should be scoring more goals from free kicks. Pienaar and Fellaini should be getting on the end of things. These are things that should be developing on the training ground.
5) For me it's interesting that Rodwell's tackle success rate is much better than Heitinga's. The other thing that stood out is that Bily, so often derided for his poor workrate, has a 90% success rate, whereas the meandering Saha has a lowly 25%. I do find it surprising that we do put so few tackles in though. I can't imagine playing for 90 minutes at Goodison and only winning the ball three times.
6) I'm not sure if it was Moyes who made the comment that, as a fullback, Coleman has a free run on the overlap but, playing further forward, he has to beat the opposition fullback to get to the byeline. He hasn't been quite as dynamic as we would have hoped for after what we'd witnessed previously. We've seen in flashes what he's capable of though.
7) The problem down the left is a combination of things. Pienaar comes infield, which leaves a 2 against 1 at fullback. Distin could offer more cover for Baines, but I think he's more concerned about protecting the centre, where Jags still isn't at his commanding best. It shouldn't be too difficult to resolve, especially if we can settle upon a holding midfielder with the discipline and awareness to plug such holes.
8) We still appear to panic on the ball, particularly at the back, where we can be prone to 'hoofball' rather than feeding it into the middle or down the channels.
9) Beckford is capable of playing on the shoulder of the last defender and covering the ground quick sharp. Coleman isn't slow either. The problem is that we're too pedestrian and we don't switch play quickly enough or accurately enough to take advantage of space. By the time we've moved the ball, the opposition have reorganised and there's nowhere to run into.
10) We mastered 'sitting deep and nicking a goal'. A season or two ago, sides like Birmingham and Stoke caught up and were beating us at our own game. Shrewd managers like Holloway and DiMatteo have realised that keeping things tight and hoping for a draw won't keep you in this league. Ten wins are much more valuable than ten draws. If you've got nothing to lose, you might as well go for it. They've demonstrated the benefits of a positive approach. If we adopted the same attitude, with the talent we've got, we would put a lot of other teams to the sword.
