Good Football - It's not easy is it?

Comments (5)

Over the past 6½ years, we have seen a dramatic improvement at Everton. When you break that change down, it is all about having built a far better squad and making sure the eleven on the pitch are very organised, hard to break down etc. Well, Mr Moyes, mission accomplished.... at least, until this season started.

Many fans I have seen, put the sudden decline down to Lee Carsley leaving. Much as I saw him as a key player in keeping us solid, it is foolish to believe that is the only (or even main) reason for our decline. Perhaps the lack of a Steven Pienaar on the left has been a part of our problem too. But the truth may be that our biggest problem is that our squad is evolving, being filled more with players who are crying out to play the good passing game.

In this category I would put: Arteta, Pienaar, Yakubu, Saha, Osman, Fellaini, and even Rodwell, Baxter (although still not quite ready) and Castillo. These players can put their foot on the ball, pick a pass, and most importantly, instantly move to find space to receive the ball back if necessary. Now, the problem. There may actually be a few:

1) Our defenders (Lescott, Jags and Neville particularly) receive the ball an awful lot, either from Howard or as a result of taking possession from the opposition. I would argue that they (most of the time) either pass it to each other once or twice and then "play a long ball", or they skip step one and just "play a long ball". This means our ball playing players don't even get to see the ball much.

2) On those occasions when are ball-playing players do get the ball, you can see there is rarely more than one passing option available, usually back to the defence somewhere. This means our players who are desparate to play good football are not allowed to, so they pass back or "play a long ball".

I am beginning to think I am alone in thinking that the problem must lie in the kind of training we do. Because we can't say now that we are full of battlers who grind out wins, because we are not. Surely with the right training, these mostly talented men could pass and move as well as any of the top six teams. As a good ball-playing player, you want to look up and pick the right pass out of at least 3 or 4 options.

How can it be that with few exceptions, our team of eleven players can't learn the key lessons of decent, controlled football:
- Move and create space off the ball (not just one of you, but all of you in range);
- The long ball should be the last option, not the first (unless your striker is built like that boxer Valuev).

It isn't actually rocket science. I accept I couldn't do it, but I am not the one on a fortune to manage one of the greatest teams in English footballing history, am I. The truth is I even see the Boltons, Wigans, Fulhams, West Broms, Middlesboroughs managing this with poorer players. With our squad we could be so much better if only, we could make the transition from good commitment to good football. We can still be organised whilst playing good football. It surely must all be in the training.

What a waste of a good year this season has been so far. Nevermind the contract signing issue, because we don't really know what is going on there. Sort out our footballing philosophy. Fair enough it has worked well up to now, but our squad has changed and they have different qualities, so let's make the most of them!!
Gareth  Mercer, London     Posted 29/09/2008 at 08:24:52

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