COLUMNIST JIM HOURIGAN
Today Sums It Up
Comments (33) : 1. Moyes has no idea how to win a game, his whole tactical nous is based on defending and looking to nick a goal from a set piece or similar.
2. He continually bottles all the big matches because he can't see any other way to play. Always cautious, always defensive, never takes risks or gambles.
3. When he is asked questions tactically by any of the Sky four he loses out. It can be no coincidence that we have not beaten any of these teams away for 10 years, 8 of which are under his tenure. I'm pretty sure there isn't another team in the Premier League with such a poor record.
4. Loyalty is taken to extremes to such an extent that nobody is ever surprised at his selections. He never shows initiative or imagination and sticks to the same system and players whenever they are available.
5. Once we go behind, we are so predictable: more long balls to Cahill and whoever else he throws on up front.
Today was the day to show his tactical ability. They withdrew Gerrard and left one up front, yet we stuck with 4 at the back... could you imagine Ferguson or Wenger doing that? He is so locked in to one style of play and one set of tactics that he can't see anything different and it's clear from the way the players performed today, they do not have a clue themselves what to do when we are asked questions.
Everybody on the TV, particularly Sky, sings his praises because he doesn't rock the boat for the so-called big 4. Nobody sees him as a future manager of any of these clubs so they can talk positively about him because it's actually totally irrelevant. Until such time as he picks teams and plays in a way that threatens them, he is just 'doing a great job at Everton' — well that's not good enough for me.
Today hurts so much, not just because of the result but more because of the way we played. We deserved absolutely nothing and got nothing against one of the poorest Red Shite sides in years. Did anyone actually think we would score? Did anyone see anything decent?
I'm sick and tired of watching absolute garbage; we played great against City but how bad was Birmingham, Sunderland and Wigan? Football and Moyes should not be used in the same sentence!!!
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So many bad performances today I don’t see how Moyes could have made any difference, even the playes coming on didn’t perform except for Yaks one shot tipped over. Bad decisions on the park (WHY WHY WHY didn’t Vic shoot !!!) cannot be made better from the bench.
Just seems this lot blow either hot or cold and usually against the RS its cold, even with a man short.
Totally agree on the tactics point. Personally, I would've started with Anichebe depsite his injury as at least he would test Carragher. When we went to 4-4-2, we looked dangerous.
Cahill yet again did nothing. Liverpool only looked dangerous from set-pieces; other than that, they didn’t look dangerous. We’re not going to get a better chance to beat Liverpool. A team without any decent striker and down to 10 men.
Having said that, there were some poor performances — I would like to point out Neville, Osman (whom the game seemed to complete pass, once Fella was off) & Pienaar.
A special mention to the referee — he should be ashamed of his performance in the 2nd half. Never gave a foul against L’pool, but blew the whistle every time the wind blew the RS players down. Disgraceful behaviour from the Liverpool players, and after the Pienaar sending off, I have never hated a player as much as I hate Gerrard right now.
Have to say if the manager can’t influence the mindset that has the players blowing hot and cold, what’s he doing? This is the Moyes conundrum — he can spot a player, he just doesn’t seem to know what to do with them, particularly going forward.
Jim, well said.
The ref is an easy target, but we got away with a fair few decisions today.
We were actually scared of them and ended up playing their game instead of going at their massed defence in a creative way.
But the biggest let down for me was their goal which was pathetic by Howard.
So we’ve then got an additional man in midfield and three extra at the back. Our main outlet was down the left with the Pienaar/Baines axis. But with Mascherano switching to a fully defensive right back with the defensive winger Kuyt in front, they were frustrated most of the time unless either Arteta or Cahill moved out of position to help.
Now, this left Donovan on the right. Some may say he had a bad game. I don’t. He was just doubled marked for most of the game. He showed on a couple of runs to the byline what his pace could do. But because of either Rodriguez tracking back and doubling up or Agger doubling up on Insua, he too was played out of the game.
This wouldn’t have happened if we’d had a right back as attacking as Baines on the right. If we’d had a Coleman to bomb down the wing, Donovan could’ve really got into the game. Neville can’t be blamed... Dani Alves he ain’t. His diagonal balls up to Cahill were all he really had on.
But because our play was so unbalanced towards the left, our extra man was negated. He was wary of going over the byline because of the attacks of a winger who everyone forgot was even in the game. Once they had the goal there was nothing that was gonna change this.
Could be said Moyes didn’t want to try a relatively green wingback in that cauldron. But the lads 6 foot +. He’s a battler, as we saw in the Spurs game, and he would’ve been up against a player in Rodriguez who, as any follower of La Liga wil testify, is laughable shite and also relatively untried.
To me, that’s the decision that could’ve changed the game, and the kind of decision, as much as I hate to say it, that Moyes can’t make.
We had absolutely no service down the right which was unfortunate as Donovan looked on fire but just about anyone could see that apart from Neville. The 10 men had no trouble closing us down, they simply concentrated their efforts on defending against Piennar and Baines. When Donovan did get an opportunity, he really did open them up, if only Neville had got forward it would have been a different game.
Tactically, Moyes had no idea, moving Donavan inside when he was having a blinding game out wide? It should have been Coleman on for Neville and that really would have made a difference.
They had 10 men for an hour and we still created nothing..The chance that Cahill missed in the first half was caused by Mascherano heading the ball directly to him...OUR players created nothing !! Fellaini was having a decent game until his injury but really our passing was ’TURGID’ with no cutting edge at all...Liverpool looked more dangerous on the break and passed the ball quicker than we did...Ngog won foul after foul and we fell for it everytime..it took the pressure off them time and again..I really thought that we had a great chance of beating Liverpool today especially after they went down to ten men and Im so baffled by the absence of passion in the second half. Brian waring is correct in his comments regarding decisions and the fans who cannot see his point should take off their ’BLUE’glasses..We just were not good enough !!
Heitiga would make a much better captain and lead by example something that seems beyond Neville now.
At least Ferguson had the balls to tell him his star was on the wane.
We also need more competition for Howard who has no bottle in the big games.
Russ; Moyes has a lot to learn, Well you learn by your mistakes, Moyes keeps making the mistakes but never seems to learn from them.
Jim, whoever said it up the thread had the right of it ... HARSH BUT FAIR.
Not so much out fought as out thought.
In the first 30 secs Carras body check on Pienaar, classic unsettling play. It was a win win for the rs 1) take out Pienaar for good if you are lucky 2 hardly no risk of a red or even a yellow so early.
Neville; what ever so called intangibles he may or may not bring at least Hibbo trys to go down the outside now and again.
An insult to the words one dimensional.
For years I have said the same things only to be howled down by those who presume to know better. Probably the same ones who think Osman is fantastic.
I wondered what planet Moyes is on when he said we played OK and were unlucky to lose. He also said because we conceded 3 or 4 corners so early in the second half one was bound to go in. He offered no explanation or criticism as to how or why that was allowed to happen.
The RS for most of the time had only one player in our half of the field and he was relatively inexperienced.
This game was proof, if any was still needed that we are in desperate need of someone on our coaching staff who is not an ex centre back.
I was writhing in my seat as our back four passed the ball sideways then back then forward then sideways then back ad nauseum. This was while they were under no pressure whatever.
Why oh why does Moyes wait until we are on the ropes before trying to change the flow of the game. Too often those changes come too late and as in this game they are the wrong ones.
Dare I say that much maligned Rafa showed himself to be a far better tactician and an all round better coach.
Still an all, David is still learning eh?
You know without him we might actually not get relegated. We might play some football. We might not go to Old Trafford happy to get away without a hiding. There might be a squad where certain players are not undroppable and were "let's nick a goal and see what happens" is not the sum of our tactics.
It doesn’t have to be like this.
So they didn’t count then? The shite were gifted a goal today but I don’t hear them complaining.
The most disappointing thing today was the lack of any real spark or cutting edge, and just the overall sense of not taking a golden chance to do them at thier place. The plan just seemed to be give the ball to mikel and wait for him to do somthing great, or lump it long. While he is capable of that you need others to make runs and move to be able to create chances for them.
Howard had little to do but flapped for the goal, he shouldnt be letting someone get in a header inside his 6 yard box without even fucking having to jump!
Neville, shite marking for the goal and poor throughout!
Heitinga, one of the few to come out of the game with any credit.
Distin, shakey at best and lumps the ball up all the bloody time!
Baines, poor delivery and not up to much today.
Donovan, a few glimpses of a real threat but not enough.
Osman, was he even on the pitch?
Fellaini, I thought he was doing well before he had to go off. (Incidentally, I don't think his challenge was as bad as is made out, foot not high, only caught him cos of the shithouse's two-footed lunge.)
Pienaar, could have gone early on but the second booking was a joke (Gerrard, you cheating bastard). The early challenge had an element of self protection to it, can't blame him, he’s 4ft 10 and 6 stone dripping wet and had been clattered a few times.
Cahill, tried his best but limited service, should have scored but was a difficult chance.
Saha, again limited service, seemed a bit flat footed and not at his best.
Arteta, did little wrong for me but still a bit short of his old self yet.
Yak, did ok, good shot on the turn, should have put Reina under more pressure instead of walking up to him while he played for time.
Anichebe, should have shot first time late on, showed some fight at least with a quality shove on Agger.
As for tactics, it would be too much it seems to go 3 at the back (vs one striker!), move say Neville up or Heitinga, allowing Mikky to get further up the pitch, Ossie off and another striker on to really go at them.
Fucking gutted and now I'm at work and it’s 01:45am and I have until 8am to sulk and think about this shite!
1. Is it just me, but when a team is down to 10 men, isn’t it common sense for the opposition to retain possession and draw the depleted team out by utilising the wings. Can somebody explain therefore why we continually gave the ball away cheaply by pumping 40 yard balls from defence into a cluster of 8 red shirts for the whole of the second half ?
2. Well, Osman has been given a run in his favoured central role and he is still anonymous especially against the top 4 teams. What excuses do you have for him on this occassion?
3. Peinnar was quoted this week that he may welcome a new challenge in Germany or Russia. He is a good player but his end product is often poor. Based on his capitulation yesterday and bearing in mind that he is approaching 29, I would cash in after the World Cup. He is good but not as good as many believe.
4.Distan is a liability and not as good as Yobo. However, Heitinga and Jagielka have to be best pairing.
5. The team nit together much more effectively with Yakubu upront than Saha.
6. Not that we deserved anything yesterday, but if you look very closely Kuyt actually pulled Howard’s shirt a split second before scoring and therefore should have been penalised.
7. Moyes does not have the tactical accumen to win trophies.
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1 Posted 06/02/2010 at 17:07:46
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I disagree with your first point.. We got a deserved draw against Chelsea and scored 3 goals. We also took the game to Arsenal and should have won - bar 2 deflected goals!.
Gutted about today - they were little better than us and we blew it