COLUMNIST KEVIN SPARKE
Solving the riddle in the middle
Comments (19) : Cahill, despite his goals, is not the player to make the team buzz or tick like a well-oiled clock; Arteta reminds me of a girl I used to go out with ? beautiful, creative, but moody and fragile; and Pienaar will only ever be effective wide? although how he shines in that role; Osman on his day is flair personified but he lacks strength and the eye for a killer pass; ?Harry Hill? is a disrupter and a grinder but not an attacking force. We lacked that playmaker; a contemporary Peter Reid or Colin Harvey. All good teams have players who excel in this role ? I grew convinced that, whilst we lacked this player, we?d never rise above ?top-half-of-the-table battler? status.
As the season progressed, I felt my fears were confirmed as all too often we seemed to by-pass midfield in favour of ?route one? football and in Europe we won despite teams negating or overrunning our efforts in midfield ? and then something really strange but very welcome happened. At about mid-October time, after the ?Goodison Derby points heist?, it didn?t seem to matter that we lacked a genuine engine room with class in the centre as other players stood up to be counted and through their efforts we became a team who could play the ball around a bit ? only in spells at this stage, but very welcome spells they were, but to me it was still a matter of urgency that we signed this missing link of class in the middle.
Well, ladies and gents ? I believe Moyes has found our midfield maestro in Manuel Fernandes. He is still very young, he is still very rough around the edges. Nevertheless, looking at the evidence of his performance yesterday and taking into account his rustiness, I believe that in the long run he will proove to be the difference in our race for fourth place and if we sign him on a permanent contract and can tie Lescott in a long term contract ? next season I see no reason why we can?t hope for greater things than Champions League qualification.
When the Nigerian contingent return and Moyes has a proven goalscorer back in the ranks and combining this with our newly balanced midfield, if Moyes has successfully solved the riddle in the middle with his acquisition of Fernandes, then I?d say "Watch out Premier League because Everton are going to be one hell of a team to face?."
We will finish fourth this season? at least we should do barring controversy.
Reader Comments
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He was poor yesterday. Made three or four bad passes, didn?t work hard enough to win the ball back, etc...I think there is evidence to suggest that Fernandes is not the most self-motivating of players. Which is why we have our great manager.
I think, erm, HOPE he comes good because that midfield killer is just about all we lack at the moment. That...and a top class keeper, heh,heh.
In terms of work rate I wouldn’t say he was a hard worker but that can easily be drilled into him if we get him on a permanent deal. Arteta was exactly the same when he first came. He didn’t work any where near as hard as he does now. Moyes got hold of him and he now works his socks off and puts a shift in for the team.
Fernandes is very laid back on the pitch but this doesn’t mean he doesn’t care or isn’t trying its just the way he conducts himself. Yakubu is exactly the same and so is Victor Anichebe.
"Like all successful teams, like our 80,s side, as Arsenal, Man. utd, everyone works their socks off for 90minutes."
I beg the differ. Thierry Henry wasn’t a hard worker and neither is Ronaldo of Man utd yet they still played in very successful sides. Ronaldinho is one of the laziest players I’ve ever seen and had a far worse Engine than Fernandes yet he was there best player the season they won the Spanish League aswell as the Champions League. Jan Molby of the successful Liverpool side was also a very lazy player with "no engine".
I personally would rather see genuine class than headless hard working chickens. I’d rather have Yakubu over Johnson as whilst he doesn’t run round like a mad man he does show his quality on the pitch and best of all he puts the ball in the back of the net.
One of the things I really like about this player is that he seems to put in a huge "first stride" and can cover a lot of ground quickly.
I think the biggest problem for DM is going to be who he leaves on the bench. My midfield - Fernandes, Arteta, Piennar and Osman.
I agree that Manny & Pienaar have been excellent additions to the squad this year. However, we remain painfully thin to cover for injuries & supsensions.
After Arteta, Pienaar, Manny, Osman, Carsley, who exactly do we have to play mid-field ? (I put Cahill up with Yak, AJ, Vaughny & Vic as one of our 2 goal poachers, so I don’t consider him as a "mid-fielder" - of course, many will disagree).
We have 5 players vying for 4 places. Just not enough competition in my opinion. We need at least 2 more quality mid-fielders in the coming summer transfer. A wide player and a "mid-field enforcer/general’ as a replacement to Cars.
neville yobo lescott baines
Arteta fernandes Carsley Pienaar
Cahill
Yakubu / johnson
One name not mentioned is Gardener, where will he fit into this jigsaw?
I doubt Cahill will even be involved against Reading. I dont think it is down to his tiredness why he hasn’t been playing well. He just doesn’t look as good alongside AJ. When Yakubu is back and around the team I expect him to hit to form again.
I expect is to go 4-4-2 against Reading and to be honest I wouldn’t mind that at all. Something a bit different and its not like we actually need 5 in midfield against reading. I think this is what we’ll go for:
Howard
Neville Jagielka Lescott Baines
Arteta Fernandes Carsley Osman
Yakubu Johnson
As for the team, who’d be the manager?
Every place seems to have good competition, and what a great problem to have. If they’re all fit:- I favour the 5-5-2 formation
Howard
Hibbert, Neville, Yobo, Lescott, Baines
Arteta, Cahill, Osman, Pienarr, Fernandes
Yak Attack, Johnson
Oh, hang on, still no Jags or Carsley!
Do you think the ref would notice if we slipped them on? Probably not if last weeks offside against Johnson is anything to go by.
Robbed!!
recently bought for 5 million by Harry Rednapp.
Diarras availabilty seems to have gone totally unoticed by David Moyes.
He was the man of the match in his first
game for Portsmouth
As for Saturday, I think the Jags-Lescott partnership is working too well to break up, and Joey could probably do with a bit of a rest. Agree that Cahill needs a break too - I’d go 4-4-2 :
Howard
Hibbert - Jags- Lescott - Baines
Arteta-Manny-Cars-Ossie
AJ-Yak
I can see the potential, yes, but will he be an Everton player come August? We all want him to be, that’s for sure.
Also as an evertonian I wouldnt like to hear the comments he made about ’pompey being stepping stone to one of europes elite playing champs league football’
Would you?
He also makes the occasional marauding run. What we really need is a winger. The rest should be replaced like for like cause our midfield when we play five has a really good balance.
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1 Posted 03/02/2008 at 21:47:28
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