RFUS
Anustart
It seems that everyone is of the opinion -- Moyes included -- that we desperately need a new front man. The implication here is that we lack goals, and so by getting a goalscorer we'll get goals.
However to me that seems like an oversimplification.
Quite a few players have been scoring for fun across the league this season. Painfully two of those players could have been playing for us this season. Of course I'm referring to Yakubu and Demba Ba, who between them have bagged 20 league goals in only 22 games. I'm going to quickly mention that I was screaming for the former to stay and for us to sign the latter for ages, because hey, I don't often call these things right so when I do I have to bask in it for a while!
Seriously though, looking past the pain you soon realise these players just would not have done this for Everton. As clinical as these two players have been, they have not magicked goals out of thin air. They've utilised service. And that is to take nothing away from them, as even the best need service. A more obvious reminder of this than Robin Van Persie there is not, as he bagged his 4000th goal of the season or something today with a sumptuous volley. But before that volley there was a brilliant lobbed pass from Alex Song.
There are a million ways to score, and although some are prettier than others, they all count the same. However we don't seem to be proficient with any kind of service at all. At this rate I honestly believe we could have the aforementioned Van Persie leading the line and still fire blanks each week.
So how can we solve this problem? Well it's a catch 22 financially, as if we do have some funds for January, you can only imagine we'll have enough for either a striker or a creative player, when we really do need both. Moyes has clearly been looking to score from more direct means of late, and this can be effective, if unfashionable. It has not been effective though, as I'm sure I don't need to remind you, but this could be attributed to a few things. We don't seem to actually win that many set pieces, and when we do we never seem to get too many people in the box. In open play the speed in which players get into the box is atrocious. This really needs to be sorted, and it's amazing that it persists. It can't be the players because anyone who does something Moyes doesn't want will suffer his wrath. It's the same "is it the player or the manager?" question that circulates when Jagielka hoofs it up the pitch. But notice that he doesn't do that for England.
Anyway, I digress, we need to find the kind of football we're going to play and commit to it. At the moment we're playing like Stoke but getting no one into the box to make anything of the crosses (or hoofs) we 'deliver'. The alternative is to try and play it on the deck, and utilise a bit of movement. I think we have arguably the least off the ball movement in the league, and there's no excuse for that as each player out there in the royal blue has 2 legs (or 3 in Distin's case) and so they can use them to bloody move.
A bit like an episode of Lost, I certainly have more questions than answers, but at the moment I'm of the opinion that a bit of discussion is better than the deafening silence that exudes from the club.
However to me that seems like an oversimplification.
Quite a few players have been scoring for fun across the league this season. Painfully two of those players could have been playing for us this season. Of course I'm referring to Yakubu and Demba Ba, who between them have bagged 20 league goals in only 22 games. I'm going to quickly mention that I was screaming for the former to stay and for us to sign the latter for ages, because hey, I don't often call these things right so when I do I have to bask in it for a while!
Seriously though, looking past the pain you soon realise these players just would not have done this for Everton. As clinical as these two players have been, they have not magicked goals out of thin air. They've utilised service. And that is to take nothing away from them, as even the best need service. A more obvious reminder of this than Robin Van Persie there is not, as he bagged his 4000th goal of the season or something today with a sumptuous volley. But before that volley there was a brilliant lobbed pass from Alex Song.
There are a million ways to score, and although some are prettier than others, they all count the same. However we don't seem to be proficient with any kind of service at all. At this rate I honestly believe we could have the aforementioned Van Persie leading the line and still fire blanks each week.
So how can we solve this problem? Well it's a catch 22 financially, as if we do have some funds for January, you can only imagine we'll have enough for either a striker or a creative player, when we really do need both. Moyes has clearly been looking to score from more direct means of late, and this can be effective, if unfashionable. It has not been effective though, as I'm sure I don't need to remind you, but this could be attributed to a few things. We don't seem to actually win that many set pieces, and when we do we never seem to get too many people in the box. In open play the speed in which players get into the box is atrocious. This really needs to be sorted, and it's amazing that it persists. It can't be the players because anyone who does something Moyes doesn't want will suffer his wrath. It's the same "is it the player or the manager?" question that circulates when Jagielka hoofs it up the pitch. But notice that he doesn't do that for England.
Anyway, I digress, we need to find the kind of football we're going to play and commit to it. At the moment we're playing like Stoke but getting no one into the box to make anything of the crosses (or hoofs) we 'deliver'. The alternative is to try and play it on the deck, and utilise a bit of movement. I think we have arguably the least off the ball movement in the league, and there's no excuse for that as each player out there in the royal blue has 2 legs (or 3 in Distin's case) and so they can use them to bloody move.
A bit like an episode of Lost, I certainly have more questions than answers, but at the moment I'm of the opinion that a bit of discussion is better than the deafening silence that exudes from the club.
