Embarassed

By Steve Guy :  21/09/2007 :  Comments (8) :

A ticketing fiasco would now appear to be a annual event at Goodison. TV commentators nodded sagely about the disruption to their schedules being of no consequence when set against ?health and safety? issues of crowd safety. However, they were putting a brave face on matters; especially given the lamentable performance from Ian Ross in front of the cameras explaining to millions how Everton had ?lost? 1500 tickets in the post.

Quite frankly heads need to roll on this issue now; because it happens too frequently and no one seems to be learning from the mistakes of the past. It doesn?t happen at other grounds to my knowledge and certainly not with the frequency it happens at ours. Wyness needs a severe rollocking over this from Kenwright and Moyes; who?s match preparation was thrown to the winds by the half-hour delay. I know it was the same for both teams but I only care about ours. I am not making excuses for what subsequently happened either, just stating that it doesn?t help the cause does it?

To matters on the pitch. I was actually stunned by Moyes's use of the 4-3-3 formation last night. My reaction was thus because this usually reserved manager was actually going for it with an attacking line-up as though this was a one off match, instead of a two-legged affair. The 4-5-1 which (like it or not) has stood us in such good stead in the past has been ceremoniously dumped in recent weeks as Moyes reacts to the criticism that his team is not progressive enough. Last night cried out for a return to a more cautious approach and should have been taken from the start; but especially when it became clear that we were being out-muscled and out-thought in the midfield.

I don?t usually like to have a go at individuals, especially as a better gameplan would have played to those players? collective strengths; as it was, it played to the weaknesses of a number of players with the chief culprits being Neville and Carsley.

Some commentary on players is needed to support the last point. Firstly, unless there are no other options, Neville should never play in midfield for Everton again; I am a big supporter of his as captain of the side, but I think I have been equally consistent in saying he is much better as a full back. Neville is certainly better than Tony Hibbert, who has failed to fulfil the promise that saw him signing new terms alongside Rooney not too many years ago. Jagielka was surely a better bet as a midfield partner for Carsley.

Elsewhere I was again disappointed by the contribution from James McFadden; if he ever learns to combine his undoubted ability with the knack of releasing the ball early, he will be much more likely to hold down a regular spot in the side.

Finally, Yakubu is depressing me rather than impressing me the more I see of him. I really hope I am wrong because the Club have spent an awful lot of money on him, but he seems to be a yard off the pace for the majority of the time and his link-up play with AJ is non-existent (barring his debut goal at City).

I am not going to go on about the penalty drama. Shit happens. My point is that, a better gameplan, more consistent with the strengths of the available players and a formation they are accustomed to, would have seen a need for penalties rendered academic.

The tie is not yet beyond us, but the Ukranians are clearly no pushovers and will look to press home their advantage in front of their own supporters. Personally I think we should go 4-5-1 over there to limit their passing and movement, but still be capable of playing for the goal which will get us through to the group stages. Either way I will be watching from behind the settee whilst hoping the Club has managed to get all the supporters there and back safely with no more cock-ups.

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