Blues hit the boos as Moyes gets it wrong again
Well, if last weeks inept showing at Ewood Park was written off by many as ‘first day nerves’, ‘a blip’, or perhaps put down solely to Tim Howard’s unfortunate handling error, then today’s display against Wolves at Goodison Park brought a sobering dose of reality.
The team news brought mixed reactions from the terraces, with Phil Neville’s absence due to injury and Louis Saha’s demotion to the bench providing some potentially positive improvements to the starting lineup. On the downside, Seamus Coleman was confirmed as 3rd choice right-back as Tony Hibbert was preferred in the XI, and whilst Diniyar Bilyaletdinov’s inclusion wasn’t really surprising, the managers decision to pin him to the left flank – breaking up the ultra successful Baines/Pienaar partnership – did seem a very strange one.
Up front Jermaine Beckford was given a home debut from the off, and as his name was announced pre-kick off, the player couldn’t have helped but feel a boost as he was given a rousing Goodison welcome.
As the action got under way, the opening exchanges were very scrappy, and neither team settled in to any kind of rhythm until at least 15 minutes in.
With referee Lee Mason setting the tone early on for an afternoon i’m sure he’d rather forget on reflection, Wolves were allowed to ruin the game as a spectacle, getting away with a series of niggling tactical fouls aimed at killing the Blues momentum.
Finally though, on 19 minutes, as Everton started to get more of a stranglehold on possession, the follicularly-challenged official finally found his whistle!
After Steven Pienaar was bundled over by a typically clumsy and aggressive challenge from Wolves midfield ‘enforcer’ Karl Henry, there was an air of anticipation as Arteta and Baines stood menacingly over the ball in a central position some 22 yards from goal.
Whilst the angle looked to slightly favour the Spaniard, the Blues instead went for the element of surprise as Baines struck left footed, but his effort dipped too late as Hahnemann waved it harmlessly over his crossbar.
As the half wore on Everton continued to huff and puff, whilst creating very little.
Tony Hibbert, seemingly rising to the challenge of securing a place in a position more keenly contested than maybe any other at the club just now, was having some joy as he made numerous forays down the right hand side. Sadly, as is all too often the case with Hibbert, the end product was notable by it’s absence. But still, during a half in which Everton were on the verge of being ‘bullied’ somewhat at times, Hibbert was a key component in bringing the whole side up to the challenge, as he snapped into several challenges and sent a message back loud and clear; If you want to play it rough-house…we are game!!
Bilyaletdinov, whilst generally looking off the pace, in a world of his own, and ultimately ineffective, still managed to find himself in several presentable goalscoring situations, as the Russian seems to have a real knack for. Unfortunately, on this day, his shooting was wayward as 3 half-decent attempts whistled well wide.
Hahnemann made his only real save of the half from a Heitinga howitzer, as the dutchman unleashed from range under pressure at the midway point. Whilst the power and trajectory were good, the ball was always going too central and the big American tipped it over the bar without to much fuss.
As half-time drew close there were little more than a couple of hopeful snapshots, one apiece from Cahill and Pienaar, to get the pulses racing and in reality a half that had 0-0 written all over it from the first 5 minutes, seemed set to end that way.
On 42 minutes though, Everton made the breakthrough.
Another clumsy foul on the edge of the box – which replays later showed was actually inside the box – gave the Blues another free-kick opportunity from a promising position.
This time the angle dictated that it had to be Arteta, and after the silk-haired Spaniard saw his shot hit the wall, lady luck smiled on us for a change as the loose ball found it’s way to Tim Cahill who, after a tussle with Christophe Berra, smashed the ball left-footed, high into the Park End goal.
Half Time 1-0 Everton.
The start of the second half saw the same personnel re-take the pitch, however from the first exchanges, it was clear that Wolves had come out with a fresh approach.
Whilst the same rugged approach that had quelled Everton for much of the first half was still evident, there seemed far more positivity and direction in their play, as they both pushed their defensive line far higher up the park and got about the boys in blue much quicker than they had in the opening 45.
Under more pressure, and still looking to lack any real gameplan or confidence, Everton’s performance quickly started falling to pieces.
As Wolves forced a couple of corners, and Hibbert became far more concerned with containing the lively and impressive Jarvis than crossing the halfway line, a scenario witnessed all too often in the past was looking increasingly likely.
With nothing more than half chances presenting on the break, the familiar murmur form the stands of “change it, Moyes” was becoming increasingly loud.
The real surprise was that when the manager finally decided things weren’t working, on 71 minutes, it wasn’t the clearly struggling Bilyaltedinov who made way, but instead the impressive debutant Jermaine Beckford.
Whilst the striker never really had the whites of the sticks clearly in his sights, a display of real quality in terms of both his hold up play and his movement off the ball were rewarded by a rapturous send off as he was replaced by Louis Saha.
Just 3 minutes had elapsed when a typically lazy touch in midfield saw the Frenchman surrender possession cheaply and the ball was in the Everton net just seconds later.
With numbers committed upfield, Saha’s mistake looked costly from the moment he was robbed of the ball, and after Heitinga lost out a subsequent challenge and the ball was switched out right to the Main Stand side, trouble looked on the cards.
With men over, a decent cross was all that was needed, and after the ball evaded all-comers at the near post it finally landed nicely at the feet of Sylvain Ebanks-Blake around the penalty spot and the Wolves hitman made no mistake in slamming low past Tim Howard to send the travelling masses wild.
As much as Everton had controlled the first half without really creating much, this was an equaliser that it was hard to argue that Wolves didn’t deserve.
Since the start of the half they showed more ambition than their Everton counterparts, they had shown more commitment and, worryingly, they had shown more quality and cohesion in possession.
With the clock now running against the Blues, and Saha again showing exactly why he hasn’t scored in his last 14 Premiership matches, things were looking increasingly desperate as we resorted more and more to hopeless hoisted balls from deep.
The final throw of the dice from Moyes came on 82 minutes as Fellaini and Osman entered the fray, replacing Heitinga and Bilyaletinov respectively.
It had no positive impact…if any team were going to win this now, it was going to be Wolves.
As the hopeless punts continued, and Saha looked as though he couldn’t beat an egg as he was consistently dominated by Berra, it was left to Tim Cahill to carry the fight single-handedly.
Whilst the Aussie comes in for regular criticism on this site due to his limited ability and the way in which he is deployed by the manager, today he showed a real heart and commitment throughout that was missing from far too many of his colleagues out there in Blue.
Towards the end Cahill had resorted to chasing his own flick-on’s, running the width of the pitch on his own to close people down – as Saha stood on parade – and if anyone looked likely to steal a winner from somewhere, it was going to be Tim.
Sadly, it wasn’t to be. As the 4th official signalled 4 minutes of added time, the strangled nature of the “come oooon” roar pretty much spelt out how people were feeling; This just wasn’t going to be our day…again.
The added time was played out without incident and the final whistle was greeted with a chorus of boos, presumably for the manager, the players and, of course, the referee.
Two games in to a season that promised so much and a return of 1 point from 6 against 2 sides who will surely be occupying slots in the bottom half come May, it doesn’t spell good times for Evertonians.
Yet another abject display which, form the off, seemed to lack direction, lack any cohesion, and for too many Evertonians stank badly of the negativity we have seen at home against mediocre opposition all too often during David Moyes’ reign as manager.
With the team huffing and puffing and clearly lacking ideas in attack, the prodigious young talents of messrs Rodwell and Coleman were once again left on the sidelines. Add to that the impressive pre-season enjoyed by recent addition Magaye “Marvin” Gueye, and you have to ask “what’s goin on”? (you see what I did there?)
As inexplicable as it was to break up the most consistently successful attacking weapon in Everton’s armoury – the tried and trusted Baines/Pienaar link – the managers substitutions as the game drifted away from us were equally baffling.
With Wolves pushing further and further up the field, the space they were leaving in behind looked to be meat and drink to the pace and prowess of Beckford. In fact, just moments before being replaced by Saha, the man who simply lives for goals had enjoyed a 60 yard lung busting run at the Wolves defence that caused real panic.
Add to that the introductions of Fellaini in the centre, and Osman on the right – I mean seriously, is the manager having a laugh here – and you have to wonder how different the game looks from down on the bench?
A contributor to our forum tells us, having watched the game on American channel “Fox Sports” that Moyes was clearly audible, from the early moments of the game, instructing his defenders to “hit Cahill”.
Having witnessed what I have over the last 2 weeks, both here today and last week at Ewood Park, that fits in pretty much exactly with what I have been seeing.
A team that looks bereft of any real gameplan, completely without a “Plan B” – should the hit and hope not result in anything dropping for us – and with a manager that has an 8 year proven inability to change a game with his bench.
Nobody will be pressing the ‘panic’ button, and I have little doubt that this team will eventually put things together again – quite simply, the players are too good not to.
Unfortunately though, as we have seen oh so many times in the past, the difference between actually achieving something real, and coming short with yet another hard luck story can often come down to games like the last 2.
Sadly, on today’s evidence, it looks like more of the same. Plenty of huff and puff, some moments of real quality, but ultimately….we have neither the footballing foundations, the attacking intent, or the tactical nous to win games against stubborn, yet ultimately poor, opposition.
Villa away next….Ashley Young against Tony Hibbert….that should be fun!!
Everton Ratings:
Howard 6 – Not busy, did his work with minimum of fuss, blameless for the goal
Hibbert 7 – Poor end product but I couldn’t knock his overall display, solid
Jagielka 6 – Poor distribution and never looked comfortable with Doyle breathing down his neck
Distin 6 – A better display from big ‘Silly’, still missed too many headers and had me on edge too often tough
Baines 6 – Did nothing wrong but looked a shadow of his attacking self without Pienaar ahead of him
Pienaar 6 – worked really hard and showed a few nice touched but ultimately created little and should have played Beckford in on goal second half but delayed
Heitinga 6 – A good solid return form ‘Tings, though he noticeable tired late on
Arteta 6 – A decent display form Mikel, never really managed to ‘boss’ things though
Bilyaletdinov 4 – Really poor. Weak, off the pace, as if he is in a world of his own at times.
Cahill 7 – One of his best displays in a long time. When Tim remembers he has to work like a trojan to be a worthwhile selection then he becomes just that. Keep up the graft Tim and you will keep your place, simple as that.
Beckford 6 – Not helped by abysmal service but showed some lovely touches and razor sharp movement.
Subs:Saha 1, osman 2, Fellaini 4
Everton MOM: Tim Cahill Actual MOM: Karl Henry
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27 Comments
Fair assessment. Football fans want to be entertained. They want to feel good. Moyes seems to have forgotten that. What sums it up for me, is especially at Goodison you can hear Moyes shouting instructions to the players in real-time. It’s ridiculous though. Hearing a premiership manager, telling his players what to do in that way while they’re playing. Today I heard him say ‘try one-twos!’ when Hibbert and Pienaar got a bit congested on the right. He doesn’t prepare and trust the players to express themselves with skill and their own decisions. I do not hear Mourinho, Wenger or anyone else shout these sort of instructions. We have players like Rodwell, Pieenar and Arteta who do not need to be told who to pass to or to ‘run harder’ every single time the ball is near them. It’s embarrassing. The players should be trained to move the ball and to create and score goals before the match. We have some intelligent players but he is too scared to drop players. He waits for injuries or when it’s too late.
If it’s abotu entertainment, I would like to see Mucha take the jersey. I would like to see Fellaini and Rodwell in centre-midfield together. I would like Arteta or Cahill or Saha dropped if it’s not working out. It’s all just too random. We should have a strongest eleven now. We don’t. He should start with Coleman, Rodwell, Beckford. Predictably he will now drop Beckford for the next game.
Spot on again, Stav.
efc_victim, I agree with much of what you say. I’m not with you on Mucha though.
Tim Howard is a fantastic keeper and has been ultra-reliable during his time with us.
It’s easy to forget how delicate and crucial a position it is being goalkeeper, but I haven;t and I know that in Tim we have one of the best.
As for the rest, you are right. Nobody should be above being left out, and I want to see players out on the pitch playing with confidence and attacking intent.
Moyes is good at what Moyes does, and that is building teams that work hard and are hard to beat. Some of the points you highlight though are some of the reasons he is still miles behind the real elite managers.
To actually win things takes more than hard work, and i’m really not convinced that he has the other skills that are required.
It’s hard to say if anyone could do better, because one thing you cant argue with are DM’s signings.
Whether he is the man to get the best out of them though…i’m far from convinced.
Good report Staveros. Moyes was tactically clueless today, and he doesn’t know his best team. I also don’t think he has the first clue how to prepare a team for a good start to the season.
The only obvious candidate that I think could do better would be Harry Redknapp, but there’s no chance of that so I guess he’s no obvious candidate. Redknapp is hugely underrated and would be the perfect England manager. Without money to spend we wouldn’t be able to attract managers better than Moyes now anyway. Moyes is going nowhere but it’s frustrating at the moment. Last season when we went out of Europe, it was disgusting to see the ‘because we let in a goal late we’re screwed’ attitude when we had a lead going into the game. Things like that irk me big time. I do not think Howard is one of the best, there was admittedly a period a couple of seasons ago where he was rushing off his line and really keeping the defence on their toes, but I do not rate him that highly when it comes down to goalkeeping skills alone. He may not make obvious mistakes but a lot of goals that go in, I feel a better goalkeeper would have made a save on. From what I’ve seen of Mucha he is a good goalkeeper and a winner. By the time he gets in the team he will be so drained from being out of the team and on edge and one mistake he’ll be out. Howard may not ‘deserve’ to be dropped for obvious reasons but I don’t see the harm in seeing if Mucha start a few games soon, same as I don’t see the harm in trying Fellaini/Rodwell in a 4-4-2 and Coleman & Baines together more often in the side, which would give us more attacking options in reality and during the 90 minutes that are most important.
Yeah yeah. Last week is was all about how Neville, Osman, Saha and Fellaini all shouldn’t start and about how Pienaar was looking extremely poor. Fast forward 7 days. None of the above start and Pienaar is removed from the left and it’s still wrong. You say Bily should have come off on 70 minutes and not Beckford. 12 minutes later Bily comer off yet you still refer to it as baffeling.
And for the last time. YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW WHETHER COLEMAN CAN DEFEND!!
Beano, I think you need to have a lie down. You clearly don’t understand what has been said. I don’t doubt that you’ve read it, it’s just a bit over your head. You saw the name “Bily” and “baffling” in the same sentence….and made the rest up in your own head.
Not in my head at all and you know it. You describe the action as the game was “drifting away” from us and described the substitusions (one of which was taking Bily off) as “baffeling” having critised Moyes for not taking him off 12 minutes earlier. You have a grudge with Moyes. You could at least be consistent in implementing it. Not just with the Bily substitution but also with points made about team selection last weekend about Moyes having his favorites like Osman, Fellaini, Saha etc that he won’t drop from a starting lineup no matter what (according to you). He proved you wrong today but you’re not big enough to admit it.
Don’t get me wrong. There’s certain things Moyes does that I wouldn’t do. But that’s ok. There never has been a manager that’s done the same as I would do and there never will be. So I’m at peace with it. Peace!
So even though you have gone back over it Beano, and it makes no sense…you can’t see where you have gone wrong?? Taking Bily off wasn’t baffling at all, it was the players he brought on, given the other options available, that was baffling.
It’s quite obvious mate, a decent clue is that nobody else has mentioned it. It’s because they obviously have a modicum of common sense…do try and keep up.
Ill hold my hands up and say thats quite a fair review of the game , I do think though that Lee Mason had more of an impact on the game than many realise , Bad refs ruin games. For the 2nd game in a row , we were the better team but come awau with less than we deserved and where Im disappointed with Moyes here is why oh why is Jack Rodwell not involved , I can understand him sheltering Coleman .. not Jack who has more ability in his big toe than most on the pitch today , the game was crying out for him in the 2nd half
i agree we dont no what are best team is but why go to germany to play the best pre season game last you lose like we did and i think we lose conferdence
Osman was the only player on the bench who plays in a wide position. Who else was Moyes gonna bring on to play wide right? No matter who it was, you’d be critising it and don’t say you wouldn’t.
Or maybe you think Fellaini shouldn’t have come on? But in the 10 minutes he played, he did very well. But you won’t mention that will you?
I notice you haven’t even made any attempt to address any other point I’ve made. Instead, you can continue to deflect attention by picking out one pedantic thing and rambling on about it.
How typical, a poor performance and the bitter opposition fan comes along and suggests that Wolves ‘bullied’ Everton. Boo friggin’ hoo, since when were we in the playground?
Pull your head out your arse and stop assuming you know what Wolves’ tactics are going to be just because a few fouls are thrown in. I’ll give you that you were lucky not to get a penalty in the lead up to the goal, but I bet you creamed your pants when you realised you had a valid reason to whinge at the ref.
By the way, did your blinkered vision also miss Cahill’s persistent diving, and his blatant foul on Craddock right before he scored?
Beano…Magaye Gueye doesn’t play wide does he not? I think you’ll find that he does.
Also, I don’t know if you remember Mikel Arteta’s goal at Man City last season, but if you did you might recall the man rampaging down the right hand side, showing power, pace, athleticism…and skill, as he Cruyff turned into the area….was Jack Rodwell.
We know beyond all doubt that Leon Osman is quite simply utter shite when played wide right…so why persist with it? It’s idiotic.
Sorry for my poor english, but since I’m living in Norway i don’t use english to often.
That said, I can’t help thinking your article have some kinda agenda against Moyes. For instince you mention the run from Beckford right before he was taken off. You use this action in a positive way for Beckford a player you obiovous hold in high regards. But you forgot that on this counter attack, he should have looked up and pass the ball to Heitnga who was clear on goal. Instead he went for the glory and lost the ball to the Wolves defender. A costly mistake in my point of view, and I cant help thinken that if it was Saha og Yakubu the outcome would have been different.
But I agree with you on one level. Rodwell should have occupied the right flank. But I’dont think that was reason we didn’t won the game.
Excellent report Stav, Beano why come on this website if all you want to do is look for arguments? Stav was only reflecting on what a lot of blues feel. Why not create your own website and write your tinted views on that? We have been poor against Blackburn and Wolves and it is all Moyes fault. He can no longer blame injuries when he only has Victor missing. Rodwell has to start soon because he can sit on the Utd or Chelsea bench for a lot more money. Gueye played very well in Oz, yet he hasn’t had a kick yet and Beckford has only ever played alongside another striker not on his own. Moyes is struggling to have a plan A at the moment never mind a plan B. Unless Villa have a new manager by next week that lifts the whole club, we can safely go there and give them a hiding with the right team following there hiding by the Skunks. Hopefully Moyes is a little more creative in midweek and we get a morale boosting win against Huddersfield.
To say howard is a fantastic keeper is fucking laughable!
ferguson does NOT get shut of fantastic players!!
Good point Tony….so why the fuck is pip the pointer our club captain and an absolute stick on inclusion when he’s fit??
Whilst I agree with the majority of what you say in the article, I have to strongly disagree with your perceived negativity at the end. I was present at both Wolves and Blackburn, with the former being the much more annoying result even though we gained one more point from it and yes they were poor performances but please remember we’re only 2 games in. You’re right on saying judging by the evidence but there isn’t any to suggest that’s there’s anything to worry about. You could stick the Shrewsbury team out there, tell them to make 2 banks of 4 and smother us and they’d restrict our nice footballing style as well,it’s so difficult to play against that. Arsenal struggle and their the best in the league at it. And the best thing is, when we try a ‘plan-B’ which you say we lack, the crowd moan that we’re playing it long!
Also, Ashley Young is the most predictable player in the league and secondly, Hibbert, defensively is one of the best which is why he continues to be selected. So you saying that should be fun is not an opinion at all, but just plain wrong.
Sorry Adam, can’t go along with any of that. You are not seriously trying to excuse such shit performances as the last two by blaming the opposition for playing ‘hard to beat’, are you? Who do you think you are, Arsene Wenger? Maybe if the manager was a little more creative in the transfer market, and actually realised what he hasn’t in 8 years – that we are desperately short of any pace or dribbling ability – then we would have more options for opening up these types of opposition??
As it is, we move the ball far too slowly and we are far too predictable in our approach.
When you then throw in that he doesn’t even have the bottle to play the exciting young players that we DO have…how can we expect anything else?
I’m sorry pal, but i’m tired of hearing such shite nonsensical excuses. The negativity we face is nothing compared to that the real top sides face, yet they still manage to get through it.
This is one of the reasons I have always found the ‘Moyes for United’ stories hilarious. He is so A,B,C it’s untrue.
i have been to both games yes i am disappointed by the performances
but i find it ridiculas to blame moyes tactics regardles of what he tells these players to do, too many players are out of form
if you look at the amount of possession we have had in these 2 games without being creative i think that indicates poor form more than a tactics issue there is no spark at the moment
i do agree the manager needs to grow some balls were certain players are concerned (Arteta/Neville/Cahill) personally i would of sold Arteta he is the most overated inconsistant players we have ever had i would bench the 3 of them as for the goalkeeper the lad has done nothing wrong to be dropped
i get the impression some of our supporters want moyes out well who do you replace him with ? who wants the job that offers 1.million and a few cobwebs for a transfer kitty ? i’ll tell you who !! Hasbeens (gary megson) and untried managers who will need 8 years to build just like Moyes has.. last season we beat chelsea man utd mancity under moyes tactics so to all the knee jerkers go the doctors you might have motor neurone disease
Stav, you will have ask our manager that one,because i cant fathom that one out either?
There are no easy teams anymore Staveros. I take your point and maybe it’s annoyance talking but I find it incredible how you blame Moyes for that performance yesterday. We were brilliant in the first half and did create chances that we should have put away. Is it Moyes’ fault that Bily blazed over and in the second half air-kicked it? no. The players just seemingly stopped playing in the second half. I’ll say it again, we’re TWO GAMES into the season. Newcastle win 6-0 today and play absolutely brilliantly, doesn’t change the fact that they’re relegation candidates, no matter what their deluded fans believe.
Did it ever occur to you that our so-called lack of creativity in the transfer market is because Moyes clearly diverted transfer funds towards new contracts, i.e Baines, Rodwell and Arteta all getting significant pay-rises and bonuses? So where is the money going to come from for this pace that we ‘need’? We’d have bought Donovan if we had the money, Moyes said that we can’t afford him, ala he wanted him but we couldn’t get him. I think we’ll loan him again in January. Even Everton have more than £1.4 million in transfer funds….
Of course they get through it, that’s why they come top and not 6th, 5th, 5th and 8th the past 4 seasons. We created yesterday against 2 banks of 4 but didn’t put our chances away. There’s no easy games in the premier league anymore. There were before but not now, everyone has international players playing for them and when we play two games where their sole tactic is to kick us off the park, that’s difficult to play against.
I was just as pissed off as you and 36,000 other Blues’ fans yesterday but I’ll choose to be optimistic and back Moyes, and not overly criticise and quite frankly, talk absolutely bahollocks.
Sorry Adam, I have no idea what game you watched or where you are coming from. If you think we were ‘brilliant’ in the first half, I would have to question your wider understanding of football, and also ask if you have a serious lack of perspective.
The keeper made one solitary save, from Heitinga’s long ranger. Aside from that we created jack shit. That isn’t ‘brilliant’ by any stretch of the imagination. We were undoubtedly the better team in the first half, but yet again we struggled to create anything. As I said in the report, Bily’s swingers were nothing more than half-chances, so to say he ‘blazed over’, as if he should have scored, is misleading at best.
As for the rest, we all know the financial situation. Currently though, I personally feel that we are overloaded in certain areas, whilst ridiculously thin on the ground in others. The manager needs to be more creative, and I think he has been VERY poor this summer.
If he is going to persist with Distin instead of Heitinga, that means we have Heitinga, Fellaini, Rodwell, Neville, Arteta, Osman and possibly even Cahill competing for 2 central midfield slots.
We don’t need all those players.
Whilst at the same time, we have fucking nobody who looks even remotely capable of being effective on the right hand side.
If Bily isn’t up to the job – bearing in mind he cost £10m – then who’s fault is that, if not the manager??
Or maybe you consider him to be our EIGHTH central midfield player???
We need a forward and we need a right sided player, with genuine pace, DESPERATELY.
If Jack Rodwell isn’t going to play, why on earth didn’t we take £20m for him – which there is zero doubt one of the big boys will pay – and use that money to strengthen other areas.
Either we are a big club with big ideas and we can afford to add to our squad without selling…or we aren’t.
I can guess what you will say from the way you have come off in your earlier posts, you will say “we need to show we aren’t a selling club, Rodwell is the future” yada yada, am I right??
Well, let me tell you…the future is all good and well, but what about the now??
If we don’t sort out the here and now, players like Rodwell will not wish to continue their careers with us in the future in any case, so what are we really achieving??
I am extremely disappointed in Moyes, he seems to have lost his way completely.
As fans we can all see the shortcomings of this team and to sit there and ignore them is frankly ridiculous.
If we need to sell to buy then that is exactly what we should do.
We aren’t in a position to carry the numbers I have just highlighted in one position and leave ourselves desperately short in others, it’s ridiculous.
In central midfield we are a champions league team, on the right hand side we are a championSHIP team.
You need to stop making excuses Adam and look at what we could achieve if the manager got his arse into gear, because we are not very far away at all.
Moyes will never drop Cahill and he picks a team and system to suit him. We should drop Cahill and play 4-4-2 at home and maybe play him away againest the top four! Tim’s past his best and most of the prem know his game now. He’s no striker and not good enough for midfield he’s a great squad player though and he’s 1005 effort!!! bring him off the bench if we need him.Moyes seems to close to his players now and is not ruthless enough. keeping faith in Saha…etc
Tim Cahill is one of the best players at EFC, and is a natural member of the starting eleven. To drop him out for Beckford is just silly talking. As Staveros wrote in his last frustrating note, we got to many players who works best as a central midfielder. Heitinga, Arteta, Cahill, Fallaini, Rodwell, Osman, Billy and even Neville fits in that category. Thus we need a player who can complete the team on the right flank. In todays squad I believe Vic would have played in that position if he was fit, but since he’s injuried Moyes has so far used Osman and Pienaar in that position with limited sucess. Personally I hope to se either Rodwell or Coleman in that position, and hopefully Moyes comes to the same conclusion when he picks his team for the Villa match.
So cheer up! If we take three points in the next match we are not that far away.
Tend to agree that we have ample middle men and not enough width. Its been apparent since before and after Donovan’s stay. But as we remain piss poor and have to sell to buy then who – Pienaar (can we really afford to hold on and let him go for free)?