The Mail Bag
Has Moyes got Solutions?
Comments (16)
Two things have been bothering me all day, which I feel that if the manager does not address quickly we will have a long and troublesome season.
1. Arteta "wasted" perhaps as many as a dozen corners in last season?s home game v Fiorentina when we had them on the rack. He was not much better last night from the dead ball. Is there no one else capable of taking a corner?
2. So far this season our defence has been very poor, conceding 9 goals in 4 games against such luminaries as Stoke, Portsmouth, Blackburn and West Brom, averaging 2.25 goals per game. Last season we conceded 33 in 38 league games (Sky 4 accounted for 12), an average of .87 goals per game. My own view is that Carsley has been a huge loss, however he could not go on forever and Moyes will have to come up with a solution before we come up against the ?big boys?...
William Burke, Posted 19/09/2008 at 19:35:28
Comments
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
So far the problems have been with Yobo and Lescott, even Neville has done okay from what I?ve seen.
As to your comment about Arteta........I agree 100%. We need somebody who can put the shit up the opposition every time they give away a free-kick, aside from the odd set-piece goal here and there, we don?t have that person yet. We have players that can head the ball in from crosses etc., but not somebody who direct from a free-kick can score on a regular basis. Including penalty-kicks!
Carsley had an understanding with the defence. His job was to break up play and take the pace out of the game. He did this as good as anybody and made the defence look better than they actually were.
Castillo’s game is different and the defence will need to adapt to his style, and visa versa. It will take a few more games and a bit more training but it will come.
So I guess you?re saying "I dont care how many goals Arteta sets up, but as long as he screws one pass or one set piece, then I think he?s crap!"???
Coz it is so effective when he gets in right I understand why Moyes perseveres.... but still frustrates like mad!
I think you?re missing my point entirely...
First of all, the free-kick against Blackburn was woeful goalkeeping by none other than Paul Robinson. Arteta may have realised this in advance (I did too because I commented about this before the game so I?m sure Mikel knew exactly what he was doing).
I truly believe the Anichebe headed goal was more fluke than skill, it was dreadful defending on Stoke?s part.
The cross for Cahill?s goal was good (no question) but it was more Cahill?s ability to head the ball than any ability on Arteta?s part... and if you read my comment properly you would have seen I was talking about set-pieces, not so much the corners and crosses aspect... I did add that we have people to head those in (i.e. Cahill) if they are put in correctly. And often!
What we REALLY DON?T have is somebody who can reliably score from a free-kick. I?m thinking of somebody like Jimmy Bullard (or Ronaldo)... I would love us to be in the situation where given a free-kick somebody could step-up and more often than not score from it (without input from other players). This would include PK?s where I?m sorry to say Everton are lacking sorely in this department!
We all know Arteta was poor last season and hopefully he can get back to his best this season...however, apart from a few set-pieces, I?ve yet to be convinced.
’Hopefully he can get back to his best this season’ and ’I’ve yet to be convinced’
Five games in, 4 assists and a man of the match against Standard on thursday night where he ran them ragged everytime he got the ball. Not that bad a start to the season in my book. He looks fit and on form at last and is probably the most important player in the team despite some frustrating set pieces.
Ronaldo and Bullard do score good free kicks, however, I can garauntee you they both miss a shitload in between. I don't know how many times I watched Ronaldo put it into row Z before he finally got THAT free kick right (can?t remember who it was against).
It can be frustrating, I?m picking no less so for Mikel than for the rest of us but, unless we can afford the likes of Lampard and dare I say it Gerrard etc to take our corners, then Arteta will have to do.
The one plus was Jagielka’s re-emergence at the heart of the defence he was outstanding. Arteta did disappoint with his crosses but his ability to run at the opposition and cut inside posed them problems all night. The return of Fellaini will hopefully shore things up in the middle of the park.
I’m confident we will get the balance right but for me the goal keeping is a major issue and there is a pressing need to reconsider our defensive midfield approach. I do believe we will get stronger as the season progresses.
Cahill?s goal was from a corner and the last i?ve checked, that is a set-piece. Fair play if you want to argue that Anichebe?s goal was a fluke but the free kick to his head was not.
I do however agree that the level of consistency from set-piece is missing and Arteta does have this frustrating habit of failing to clear the first man.
But like someone pointed out, 4 assists at this stage is not too bad a record.
I think everyone is missing the point that it is our tactics from set plays that need addressing. So Arteta puts 2 in 3 set pieces to the first man at the front post... simple: put someone in front of this man to flick the ball on, Anichebe would be perfect for this if playing.
It's not just attacking corners where we need to look at our tactics though, we struggle to fully clear corners and long throws (!) due to there being no one left up field around the halfway line, which either forces the ball to come straight back or the defence to panic clearances.
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
1 Posted 19/09/2008 at 23:29:31
Report abuse
Castillo really impressed me - I think he is a sound replacement for Carsley. Yobo appeared to be in one of his ?loss of concentration? modes again.
It is odd how one of the best defences last year appears one of the leakiest this...