The Official Options Thread

[steevie]

Bit patronising some of these posts lads.

I hope you're all right. I was hoping for a midfielder who could pick a pass.

God help us if Pienaar gets injured.

I agree 100%. I was really wanting us to bring in a creative midfielder, preferably a central one. The right flank is'nt bothering me so much now despite the fact i was hoping Moyes would bring in an out and out winger. In my opinion, Moyes now has the option to rotate Billy and Pienaar to either flank during a match for tactical reasons, but without Arteta at this present time, we lack the guile to find a killer pass.

 

[steele]

Duffy?

Duffy is CB and in the squad....don't no much about him though

 

[McBain]

Now the dust has settled im really happy and admittedly excited by the squad, this could be a really big year for us.

I honestly feel during the window we take our existing players for granted.

(1) Yak is capable of scoring of scoring 20 goals a season - not many teams can boast that.

(2) Cahill is our fox in the box capable of getting anything between 8 -12 goals- not only that he is our unoffical captain - a driving force in our team - in many ways he dictates the pace our team plays with.

(3) Fellaini - Again capable of chipping in with 8-10 goals, his impact on the team is superb and gives a physical presence through the centre, making it more difficult for teams to break us down, Pele famously said that "football is a simple game" Mo fro does the simple things well while in pocession - a strong possibility his game can develop even more this year.

(4) Neville our very own Mr Taken for grantesd his expierence and drive is immense and in so many ways sets the tone or Evertons squad, hes been fantastic the past couple of seasons for me and so willing and versatile his place in the team is vitlal and rightly gauernteed.

(5) Pienaar playing his best football for Everton in the past six months, has developed consistencey in his play and a great balance between defence and creative play. A superb attacking outlet.

(6) Arteta what can you say about Miky, Evertons catylist in so many ways our x factor, play maker and a match winner - he doesnt only play immensely indivdualy, he makes it so easy for those he plays with to - beyond that he carries the burden of creativity on his shoulder like a true great. Hopefully this season we may have additional outlets in Billy and Pienaar, maybe even Jo.

(7) Jags - The lads game has come on leaps and bounds since he came to us, seems just to get better and better - he has the ability and the will to be as good as say John Terry if he keeps improving at his rate of prgression.


Then we have the maybes the ones who have the ability as any of the above to be standout performers for us and who possibly could be this season:

1) Rodwell limitless talent really, this lad was simply put together with one goal in mind and that was simply to play football. Vision, range of passing, athethism, has a goal in him - he reminds me of a young Gerrard but better, i have no doubht he will hit that standard - hopefully at Everton. He needs to show for the ball more, make a greater impact on games and work on his game when not in pocession - but that will come with expierence. Could be an ace in the hole this season.

2) Jo undouthed ability - for me not an out and out striker - i think he could play an important role in home games behind a frontman and working with Billy, Arteta and Pieannr in front of defence as he did in his better games for us last season. He has a good footballing brain, movement and can pick out a pass i see him more as a traditional number 10 sitting behind a striker. Could chip in with 8-10 goals.

3) Saha, probably the most gifted striker in our team. The question remains does he do enough in terms of his overall link up play and holding up the ball to be Evertons Alpha striker over the Yak? Moyes also seems to have an obsession to want to protect him - which may mean we see the Yak more then we see Saha, he has started the season suberbly the question is with the Yak fit will he get oppurtunities.

4) Billy the winger we have craved for for such a long time and the hope is he can give us another creative outlet apart from Arteta and Pienaar. Nothing is certain when it comes to new signings and adjustment but lets see if he can give us all what we hope for. With Arteta, Pienaar and Billy we may have a three pronged method of penetration left, right and centre - modern day Kendall, Ball and Harvey.

The Worry.

Prsonally im a little worried about the defence, regardless of how we feel about him now Lescott is a major loss. We need Joey to show all his expierence now and mould a cohesive defence with Distin and Heitinger untill Jags is back, hopefully it wont take us to long to adjust.

Midfeild as has been stated already we dont have magician cover for Arteta and untill his return we will be forced to use tenacity and working hard to shore up the midfeild and use Pienaar and Billy effectively wheather this will be enough to hang on to the top places untill Artetas return - lets see.

So a lot to look forward to from established players and those who could kick on, personally i think this our strongest squad in a long long time in terms of depth and quality.

If we can keep the likes of City, Liverpool, Villa and Spurs in sight untill the end of November i expect us to be competitive for the top four. Generally as a team it takes us 4-5 games to build up a head of steam hopefully we are there now - let the fun commence.

The first post ive ever read that I had to take a bathroom break halfway through. Bravo for the effort that went in here.

 

[chicoazul]

Now the dust has settled im really happy and admittedly excited by the squad, this could be a really big year for us.

I honestly feel during the window we take our existing players for granted.

(1) Yak is capable of scoring of scoring 20 goals a season - not many teams can boast that.

(2) Cahill is our fox in the box capable of getting anything between 8 -12 goals- not only that he is our unoffical captain - a driving force in our team - in many ways he dictates the pace our team plays with.

(3) Fellaini - Again capable of chipping in with 8-10 goals, his impact on the team is superb and gives a physical presence through the centre, making it more difficult for teams to break us down, Pele famously said that "football is a simple game" Mo fro does the simple things well while in pocession - a strong possibility his game can develop even more this year.

(4) Neville our very own Mr Taken for grantesd his expierence and drive is immense and in so many ways sets the tone or Evertons squad, hes been fantastic the past couple of seasons for me and so willing and versatile his place in the team is vitlal and rightly gauernteed.

(5) Pienaar playing his best football for Everton in the past six months, has developed consistencey in his play and a great balance between defence and creative play. A superb attacking outlet.

(6) Arteta what can you say about Miky, Evertons catylist in so many ways our x factor, play maker and a match winner - he doesnt only play immensely indivdualy, he makes it so easy for those he plays with to - beyond that he carries the burden of creativity on his shoulder like a true great. Hopefully this season we may have additional outlets in Billy and Pienaar, maybe even Jo.

(7) Jags - The lads game has come on leaps and bounds since he came to us, seems just to get better and better - he has the ability and the will to be as good as say John Terry if he keeps improving at his rate of prgression.


Then we have the maybes the ones who have the ability as any of the above to be standout performers for us and who possibly could be this season:

1) Rodwell limitless talent really, this lad was simply put together with one goal in mind and that was simply to play football. Vision, range of passing, athethism, has a goal in him - he reminds me of a young Gerrard but better, i have no doubht he will hit that standard - hopefully at Everton. He needs to show for the ball more, make a greater impact on games and work on his game when not in pocession - but that will come with expierence. Could be an ace in the hole this season.

2) Jo undouthed ability - for me not an out and out striker - i think he could play an important role in home games behind a frontman and working with Billy, Arteta and Pieannr in front of defence as he did in his better games for us last season. He has a good footballing brain, movement and can pick out a pass i see him more as a traditional number 10 sitting behind a striker. Could chip in with 8-10 goals.

3) Saha, probably the most gifted striker in our team. The question remains does he do enough in terms of his overall link up play and holding up the ball to be Evertons Alpha striker over the Yak? Moyes also seems to have an obsession to want to protect him - which may mean we see the Yak more then we see Saha, he has started the season suberbly the question is with the Yak fit will he get oppurtunities.

4) Billy the winger we have craved for for such a long time and the hope is he can give us another creative outlet apart from Arteta and Pienaar. Nothing is certain when it comes to new signings and adjustment but lets see if he can give us all what we hope for. With Arteta, Pienaar and Billy we may have a three pronged method of penetration left, right and centre - modern day Kendall, Ball and Harvey.

The Worry.

Prsonally im a little worried about the defence, regardless of how we feel about him now Lescott is a major loss. We need Joey to show all his expierence now and mould a cohesive defence with Distin and Heitinger untill Jags is back, hopefully it wont take us to long to adjust.

Midfeild as has been stated already we dont have magician cover for Arteta and untill his return we will be forced to use tenacity and working hard to shore up the midfeild and use Pienaar and Billy effectively wheather this will be enough to hang on to the top places untill Artetas return - lets see.

So a lot to look forward to from established players and those who could kick on, personally i think this our strongest squad in a long long time in terms of depth and quality.

If we can keep the likes of City, Liverpool, Villa and Spurs in sight untill the end of November i expect us to be competitive for the top four. Generally as a team it takes us 4-5 games to build up a head of steam hopefully we are there now - let the fun commence.

Available in softback yet?

 

[Brownie]

Defensive Midfield (1 of 5)
Rodwell, Neville, Peterlin, Fellaini , Heitenga

Central/Attacking Midfield (1 of 8)
Rodwell, Fellaini, Osman, Cahill, Arteta, Pienaar, Bilyaletdinov, Baxter

What is this Central/Attacking Midfield combo? The point of a true centre mid is that they can do EVERYTHING. Fellaini, Osman, Cahill, Pienaar, Bilyaletdinov and Baxter are all attacking midfielders. Arteta is a central midfielder and it looks like Rodwell is going to be asked to do his job whilst he's injured. Other than that none of those players are centre mids. If you don't believe me, ask yourself how many of those you would pick to play in the middle if we played 4-4-2. Nearly all the combinations are terrible.

 

[chicoazul]

You missed Howard as second striker off your list there mate.

 

[GhostOfDixie]

What is this Central/Attacking Midfield combo? The point of a true centre mid is that they can do EVERYTHING. Fellaini, Osman, Cahill, Pienaar, Bilyaletdinov and Baxter are all attacking midfielders. Arteta is a central midfielder and it looks like Rodwell is going to be asked to do his job whilst he's injured. Other than that none of those players are centre mids. If you don't believe me, ask yourself how many of those you would pick to play in the middle if we played 4-4-2. Nearly all the combinations are terrible.

Well seen as we never play 442 I don't see it as an issue.

Fellaini is Centre Mid, and so is Osman. Cahill is more attacking than defensive, as is Osman. But Fellaini and Rodwell can play that box to box midfielder role, as they did so on Sunday.

 

[linglong]

I would assume that if we see more than say 1 or 2 of those kids in the side we'll be up crap creek without a paddle (barring carling games they should be used there).

We have options of course we do but if a couple more players go down at the same time then things could get a little hairy in my eyes becuase these "first team squad" players are utterly untried.

So for me its fingers crossed time and hope Mick can do without much company in the treatment room this season

 

[Lao]

Now the dust has settled im really happy and admittedly excited by the squad, this could be a really big year for us.

I honestly feel during the window we take our existing players for granted.

(1) Yak is capable of scoring of scoring 20 goals a season - not many teams can boast that.

(2) Cahill is our fox in the box capable of getting anything between 8 -12 goals- not only that he is our unoffical captain - a driving force in our team - in many ways he dictates the pace our team plays with.

(3) Fellaini - Again capable of chipping in with 8-10 goals, his impact on the team is superb and gives a physical presence through the centre, making it more difficult for teams to break us down, Pele famously said that "football is a simple game" Mo fro does the simple things well while in pocession - a strong possibility his game can develop even more this year.

(4) Neville our very own Mr Taken for grantesd his expierence and drive is immense and in so many ways sets the tone or Evertons squad, hes been fantastic the past couple of seasons for me and so willing and versatile his place in the team is vitlal and rightly gauernteed.

(5) Pienaar playing his best football for Everton in the past six months, has developed consistencey in his play and a great balance between defence and creative play. A superb attacking outlet.

(6) Arteta what can you say about Miky, Evertons catylist in so many ways our x factor, play maker and a match winner - he doesnt only play immensely indivdualy, he makes it so easy for those he plays with to - beyond that he carries the burden of creativity on his shoulder like a true great. Hopefully this season we may have additional outlets in Billy and Pienaar, maybe even Jo.

(7) Jags - The lads game has come on leaps and bounds since he came to us, seems just to get better and better - he has the ability and the will to be as good as say John Terry if he keeps improving at his rate of prgression.


Then we have the maybes the ones who have the ability as any of the above to be standout performers for us and who possibly could be this season:

1) Rodwell limitless talent really, this lad was simply put together with one goal in mind and that was simply to play football. Vision, range of passing, athethism, has a goal in him - he reminds me of a young Gerrard but better, i have no doubht he will hit that standard - hopefully at Everton. He needs to show for the ball more, make a greater impact on games and work on his game when not in pocession - but that will come with expierence. Could be an ace in the hole this season.

2) Jo undouthed ability - for me not an out and out striker - i think he could play an important role in home games behind a frontman and working with Billy, Arteta and Pieannr in front of defence as he did in his better games for us last season. He has a good footballing brain, movement and can pick out a pass i see him more as a traditional number 10 sitting behind a striker. Could chip in with 8-10 goals.

3) Saha, probably the most gifted striker in our team. The question remains does he do enough in terms of his overall link up play and holding up the ball to be Evertons Alpha striker over the Yak? Moyes also seems to have an obsession to want to protect him - which may mean we see the Yak more then we see Saha, he has started the season suberbly the question is with the Yak fit will he get oppurtunities.

4) Billy the winger we have craved for for such a long time and the hope is he can give us another creative outlet apart from Arteta and Pienaar. Nothing is certain when it comes to new signings and adjustment but lets see if he can give us all what we hope for. With Arteta, Pienaar and Billy we may have a three pronged method of penetration left, right and centre - modern day Kendall, Ball and Harvey.

The Worry.

Prsonally im a little worried about the defence, regardless of how we feel about him now Lescott is a major loss. We need Joey to show all his expierence now and mould a cohesive defence with Distin and Heitinger untill Jags is back, hopefully it wont take us to long to adjust.

Midfeild as has been stated already we dont have magician cover for Arteta and untill his return we will be forced to use tenacity and working hard to shore up the midfeild and use Pienaar and Billy effectively wheather this will be enough to hang on to the top places untill Artetas return - lets see.

So a lot to look forward to from established players and those who could kick on, personally i think this our strongest squad in a long long time in terms of depth and quality.

If we can keep the likes of City, Liverpool, Villa and Spurs in sight untill the end of November i expect us to be competitive for the top four. Generally as a team it takes us 4-5 games to build up a head of steam hopefully we are there now - let the fun commence.

Post of the season so far! My scroll button's worn out.

 

[linglong]

That post will take most of the season to read

 

[Cahill's Metatarsal]

Brilliant list GOD, just a couple of tiny little things you've missed which considering the size of the list is understandable.

Missing Neville from LB, Coleman can play there too & Billy has played there once or twice before. Osman can play LM, Baxter can certainly do a job out wide & I think Wallace is more of a central midfielder (could be wrong though). I'd also swap Turner for Ruddy as Ruddy's out on loan while Turner is still here.

Have you ever seen any of Mustafi, Ruddy, Coleman, Bilyaletdinov, Agard, Baxter, or Arnoux play?

They're all entirely unproven. Do they really count?

I've seen them all play. I've seen enough of Baxter to think he's really close to the breakthrough, I was surprised we didn't see much of him last season but he'll be special that lad, I guarantee it.

I've seen Coleman & Agard a few times, they've looked handy enough but I'm not sure how close to the 1st team they are, I'd have no worries about either starting in a cup game against some lower league opposition though.

Ruddy I'm not too sure about, he's never really impressed me but he's fairly young for a keeper so he has time on his hands. Hopefully he'll do the business at Motherwell & prove himself to be good enough.

Only seen Mustafi, Arnoux very briefly & while they looked handy enough, they've only just signed so it'd be wrong to form an opinion of them. I've only seen Billy during the cameo at the weekend but the smart money is on him being a useful player because it's very rare Moyes throws that kind of money about on players who aren't good enough.

The main point of the thread is just to show the options we have available. If we were 4-0 up against someone crap or playing a lower league team in the cup we could bring 1 of the youngsters in to give the 1st teamers a rest. If we have a terrible run of injuries in 1 position we also have experienced pros who can come in to cover. In the past we've basically been stuck with our strongest 11 playing every minute of every game because we have no other options, now we do & I feel fairly confident the squad is capable of handling as many games that are required

 

[Axlswhk]

This is how we should play Billy, from the player himself.

"My position is left-sided but not as a winger, I come inside then go outside. Last year I played on the right - I prefer the left but it's not a problem, from the right I can cut in and shoot more than from the left."

Billy's Hectic Schedule – News Archive – News – evertonfc.com – The Official Website of Everton Football Club