The Mail Bag
Cahill or Fellaini (or both)
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It got me thinking at the end of the Sunderland game that when we actually get round to playing a ?proper? centre forward we will probably have to drop either of Marouane Fellaini or Tim Cahill. As none of these two plays wide happily/effectively I think David Moyes will stick with the Phil Neville/Mikel Arteta axis in the middle of the park when everyone is fit and that will leave only one slot left in centre midfield. And I have been pretty impressed with Fellaini ever since the first few games when he was finding his feet in the Premier League.
It is a good dilemma for Moyes to have although he is going to struggle to leave either out as one has a £15m price tag over his head and the other seems to be our talisman on the pitch. Looking at the stats for a minute, in the last three seasons Cahill has played 49 Premier League games for us and in those we have Won 26, Drawn 15 and Lost 8. That equates to 93 points and an average of 1.90 points per game. Averaged out over 38 games that is 72 points ? and don?t forget Cahill has scored the small matter of 16 league goals in that period. Those figures would suggest that we would guarantee Champions League football every season if Tiny Tim stayed fit throughout a campaign.
But Fellaini seems to be becoming ever more influential for us and is proving a real handful at present; I just can't see Moyes letting a £15m signing twiddle his thumbs on the bench for a prolonged period. But then I suppose these are the decisions for which Everton pay Moyes?s wages. Although it could mean that 4-6-0 is here to stay?.
Ritchie Bann, Posted 30/12/2008 at 12:25:49
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There were glimpses in the match and hints in the interview that Mikel understands the other half of the term "defensive midfielder". He can cover and he can tackle. He challenges for headers (not sure how many he wins). He might not win as many tackles as Carsley but by God I’d accept that for getting him to dictate play and run midfield.
Hibbert seems to get the nod when Moyes thinks our opponents are strong down the left (Chelsea) as Hibbert may be the better basic defender.
I do not think Moyes will naturally revert to Pip as holding midfielder (as exemplified by the fact that he?s barely played there this season). I think Castillo is seriously unlucky and would like to see more of the guy. I think he has what that role needs.
I think Fellaini?s done fine, but also that we will not see the real boy till next season. Once he?s settled in, bought a house, improved his English, hung out with the boys & got really fit then I think he?ll be a main man.
As for him & Tim Cahill, I guess I?ll leave that those being paid millions to decide it. I can see TC playing in 4-5-1 or 4-6-0 or 4-3-3, but 4-4-2 when applied rigidly doesn?t play to his strengths.
I think the most important thing to emerge since we lost all 4 forwards is the apparent ease with which the team has adapted itself, helped no end by the number of players we have who can not only play in any number of positions, but are more than happy to do so. That is such an impressive thing (to me) when I look at the whinging tarts at other clubs.
The final point is that we also have 3 fine young attackers who, IMHO, are all capable of doing a good job for us in many of our games outside of big 4. I refer of course to Messrs Jutkiewicz, Baxter & Agard are all good enough IMHO.
I am almost annoyed that I feel this optimistic right now, so much did Moyes piss me off from end of last season to first 3 months of this one. So I will stick my neck out now and say that if we finish 4th by playing good football for the rest of the season I will withdraw my request for his dismissal.
Happy New Year to all bluenoses.
Happy New Year to all - especially all Blues.
Why MUST we play a recognised striker? We were doing pretty average when we did!!! Maybe these injuries have been a blessing in disguise and we?ve finally FOUND the balance we have not seen for most of the season.
Also, it's NOT who should we DROP, but it's a matter of WHO is actually going to GET BACK IN the team and be BETTER or contribute more than the boys playing at the moment!
Basically, the formation and personnel that we used against Spurs and Villa. Yes, we got beat by Villa using it but it was quite clear we bossed and controlled the midfield, it worked very well against Spurs as well.
Fellaini and Cahill can play in the same team, I have no doubts about that. Fellaini was bought as a central midfield and I?d much rather see him develop there than as a second striker/attacking midfielder.
Arteta plays very deep anyway, he?s at his best when he pick up the ball in front of the back four and knits everything together with his quick and intelligent passing. He can play the holding role, he?s offered as much defensively as the likes of Castillo and Neville anyway.
The great managers need to be brave and try something different and ?think outside the box?. If I was in Moyes?s position, I would start asking myself:
a) Why can?t Cahill now be a striker? He?s playing brilliantly there, scoring goals and working harder than Yak, Vic and Saha. Just because he has always been a midfielder, why can?t that change now?
b) Why shouldn?t Fellaini be a support striker? Just because he reckoned he was a defensive midfielder or we bought him as a central midfielder. His attributes, similar to Cahill, mean he is better in a more advanced position.
c) Firstly it isn?t a 4-6-0 formation, it?s still a 4-5-1, but even if it was, what?s wrong with that?
The best teams don?t necessarily play set formations. Arsenal?s midfielders over the last few years all interchange. Man Utd?s three forwards last year all interchanged. Barcelona and Chelsea (and us!) a few years ago started the 4-5-1 but always argued it was an attacking 4-3-3 (not us!). Even the Ajax total football teams played all over the place and made it difficult to mark them. We even had a 3-month period last year where we played amazing football in a 4-5-1.
Why can?t we be the new total football team? I know some of you may be laughing now, but why not? Because we are Everton? Screw you. We are Everton, we are the School of Science. We can be the new Arsenal. Moyes needs to be brave and positive and you never know which promised land it could lead us to.
Because he isn?t a striker, he can do a job up there but the likes of Saha and Yakubu are superior in most departments. He doesn?t have the movement of a striker, the amount of times I saw Arteta get his head up and look for a pass, the movement wasn?t good at all.
His goals are also coming from set pieces, he doesn?t have the intelligent movement, pace or power to score 20 goals a season from open play.
We are basically using Cahill as a target man, nothing more, nothing less. He?s not giving us a pacy outlet, he?s not anything special when it comes to linking with the midfield and he wouldn?t score enough goals.
As good as Tim is, Yakubu and Saha are superior strikers and when they are fit they should play above him in my opinion. Cahill can drop a little deeper and play off the front man.
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1 Posted 30/12/2008 at 20:44:59
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Would it not seem the right thing to do though, that when a striker comes available that Screech would take Pip?s role, and Pip would revert to oust Hibbert?
With a striker, we could have finished off Chelsea so I wouldn't imagine Moyes sticking with 4-6-0.