Where the problems lie!

[Cash]

From the evidence of the last few performances, I think we can all agree that the problems lie with the strikeforce and possibly the central defensive partnership. I have witnessed one of the strongest midfields I have seen for Everton in over a decade. We have some great quality in there and I feel as though it is this that we must build upon.

Distin and Jagielka just isn't a solid partnership for me. Distin loses his head at times and gets drawn out of position leaving the back four vulnerable. No matter how good of a defender Jagielka is his distribution is absolutely shocking at times. He gives the simplest of ball away on a regular basis and his long ball huffing is always likely to be seen. He needs to work on this before he can be mentioned with world class defenders.

Yakubu could't hit a barn door. He for me is finished. Proven yesterday when all of our chances fell to him and not once did he put one away. A quality striker would have bagged a couple there. It looks as if he may be turning but the lack of goals has been going on for 12 months now.

I think we need to give Beckford a real chance. The difficulty is his attributes rely on a different sort of approach. Personally I think Beckford likes to play of the shoulder of defenders and thrives of the through ball, like a Yakubu of old and a Michael Owen. The problem is we just don't play that kind of football. We use the wings alot and it has been very successful, but this season it just isn't working, Yakubu must start putting the chances away or we are going to continue to struggle!

 

[Dutch Toffee]

Although, I agree with a lot of your post, I still think confidence is the biggest factor in our inabillity to break down teams. Not a big fan of Distin myself, and think Heitinga should form that central defensive partnership with Jags. As soon as Yakubu scores his first, he'll start to deliver I feel. Don't think Moyers was that far off with his starting eleven (although I didn't like his subsitutions). Just get Heitinga on instead of Distin and grind out that first win. We'll be alright in the end.

 

[davek]

From the evidence of the last few performances, I think we can all agree that the problems lie with the strikeforce and possibly the central defensive partnership. I have witnessed one of the strongest midfields I have seen for Everton in over a decade. We have some great quality in there and I feel as though it is this that we must build upon.

Distin and Jagielka just isn't a solid partnership for me. Distin loses his head at times and gets drawn out of position leaving the back four vulnerable. No matter how good of a defender Jagielka is his distribution is absolutely shocking at times. He gives the simplest of ball away on a regular basis and his long ball huffing is always likely to be seen. He needs to work on this before he can be mentioned with world class defenders.

Yakubu could't hit a barn door. He for me is finished. Proven yesterday when all of our chances fell to him and not once did he put one away. A quality striker would have bagged a couple there. It looks as if he may be turning but the lack of goals has been going on for 12 months now.

I think we need to give Beckford a real chance. The difficulty is his attributes rely on a different sort of approach. Personally I think Beckford likes to play of the shoulder of defenders and thrives of the through ball, like a Yakubu of old and a Michael Owen. The problem is we just don't play that kind of football. We use the wings alot and it has been very successful, but this season it just isn't working, Yakubu must start putting the chances away or we are going to continue to struggle!

Distribution of the ball from the back is simple enough: get it under control and feed it to Fellaini. Playing Fellaini in his proper position helps in that respect.

 

[It's_Just_Not_Cricket]

A few years back we played Cahill up front and ground out some good results when all our strikers were out...Maybe next week when Cahill is fitter they could start him up front. Either that or persist with the Yak...Still early days but we need a moral boosting win asap!!

 

[tadpole]

I think our list of problems is a good deal longer :

- general lack of pace throughout the side
- two main strikers both struggling for sharpness and goalscoring form
- Moyes doesn't seem to know what his best team is
- no answer to the question of what to do about the right side of midfield
- lack of form from individual players : Heitinga dropped 3 months after appearing in a world cup final; Bily also supposed to be a top international can't make our starting XI; Arteta not influencing games like he used to
- doubts about Pienaar's commitment given that he's not signed a new contract

I don't think it's all negative, I see plenty of positive things in the team and the way that they're playing as well, and I don't think we'll be anywhere near the bottom 6 at t he end of the season. But I fear that until we find answers to these problems we won't be getting anywhere near the top 6 anytime soon either.