The Mail Bag
Neill, and The Madness of Moyes
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Lucas Neill and Johnny Heitinga are one of the main reasons why Everton have made a mini revival of late and to sell Neill now when we are still close to the relegation zone (points wise) is another piece of reckless management.
The pairing of Neill and Heitinga has been so effective in recent weeks (during very difficult times) I wouldn't have broken it up just now even if Jags was fit. But Moyes doesn't even realise what he has.
We have also played more football from the back in recent weeks than we have seen for a very long time and Neil is one of the main reasons for this. Why break up such an effective partnership now when we should be thanking our lucky stars that it has worked so well, especially when we don't have much cover?
It's another piece of Moyes madness and I only hope we don't regret this by the end of this season.
Ged Dwyer, Posted 14/01/2010 at 16:21:08
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Putting aside your appraisal of Neill for now (I think you overstate the case), he is renowned as a mercenary bastard. He cancelled joining Liverpool at the last minute to go and take silly money at West Ham. He’s not in this game for glory other than his own.
I think we’ve done him a favour, getting him fit and even in the public eye. Clearly Harry Sicknote Kewell has had a few words on Neill’s behalf and, between him & his agent, they’ve engineered the deal.
I would expect that Moyes has seen the form of Heitinga, impending return of Distin & Jagielka, promise of Duffy, and thought he can well get by. So if someone wants to chuck a quick million into our pot then that’ll be fine.
Your criticism of Moyes is, I suggest, miles wide of the mark.
By selling Neill it frees up about £40k in wages pw (allegedly) which could be used to cover the wages for 2 new signings (either Loans or actual purchases). Why not wait till the end of the transfer window when we all know what is what before you start criticising.
If no-one is signed then I may be inclined to agree with you when we know all the facts. But until then lets not bother speculating.
He is never going to sign a contract with another club unless he wants to, for reasons best known to himself.
I suspect that an awful lot of money comes into it.
If you want an informed comment on this, wait for anything - and I suspect it will be nothing - that Tim Cahill says about the transfer.
If you watch the Arsenal game, you will see that Donovan regularly tries to link up with Neville who then launches it awkwardly into the box or passes back. If our right-sided centre-back hoofs the ball out, this will only contribute this unbalance.
Also, I’m concerned about timing. Everyone is firing off names of defenders, but who is going to step in RIGHT NOW (or just after the Man City game) to play center back? Hibbert?
And for the rest of the season? We can’t rely on Jags being match fit anytime soon. So are we going to go with Distin and Heitenga? I’d be really interested in hearing people thoughts on these questions.
I wasn’t thrilled with the Neill signing in the first place... I’ve always considered him a reckless right back and predicted that sooner or later he would give away a penalty that would cost us a game.
Of course, when Distin went down the signing looked like genius, and Neill has provided vital cover and played decently. But he’s not a CB -- as Declan pointed out, he loses his mark -- and they certainly don’t need him at RB.
So we’ve made a bit of a profit, gotten some good games from him, and dodged the bullet because he didn’t cost us anything with mistakes. Granted we’ll be a little thin in the middle without him, but I think it’s a fine move.
A reported £800,000 for a player with 5 months left on his contract, who came on a free.
Let us judge him when the window ends. I’m certain however, we willl get improvement in the long run, by using the £800,000 on another great signing with a rumored £40k a week wages to play with.
Trust in Moyes.
No great loss.
Alan Kirwin - It was Moyes who agreed to let him go first!
Andrew Bentley - How do I know it was Moyes who agreed to let him go? He’s the manager!
Gary Tudor - Having Neill available for the City game is genius isn’t it. Lescott genius!
Alan Clarke - Oh of course 6-1 and 5-0 defeats are much better aren’t they? Neill came in at a very difficult time or don’t you follow Everton?
Is this guy saying he’d play Neill ahead of Jags ???????????? I can only conclude that this is a post from DownUnder, great to see the Aussies getting involved, but PLEASE get a grip.
I’m not sure that its a great idea to play Neill against City this weekend as his heart probably wont be in it, so would prefer to see the youngster Duffy given the nod rather than Hibbert on the weekend with Neill on the bench.
Hopefully the £800k from the sale (not bad for 4 months) will help to secure the expected extra income that will be demanded by Saha’s agent owing to his form.
The most impressive part of Everton's play recently has been the link up play and breakdown of the oppositions play in the midfield. Full marks to Moyes for putting Fellaini back in the holding midfield role and bringing Donovan in to give us 2 genuine attacking options down the wings. It’s also given Cahill a chance to start to look like the dangerous player that we all know he can be.
It's great to see Pip back in the team, even though his skills are questionable, his ability to lead and to push every player on the park is a fantastic asset to the team.
I have to add that my wife is most unimpressed that Everton have sold Lucas Neill. She reckons he’s the only decent looking bloke in a team of ugly looking buggers.
That's great news for me as I can now watch the games in piece again.
Neill and Heitinga is a good partnership and they have formed a good understanding over recent weeks (seeing us through a very tricky time after being thrown together when the team were already leaking goals) and you are happy to see that broken up and gamble on Duffy. Do me a favour!
Just as we run into a little form, someone is sold. Regardless of position he has been 1/11th of a team which has finally shown some form.
It will be for purely financial reasons which makes it all the more pathetic. Penny pinching over £800k. It’s hardly like we are getting anything out of it. Neill has been playing better at CB than Distin/Yobo/Duffy so I’m sorry I can’t see the benefit at all for EFC in this.
I dearly hope we do not sign the Swiss Titus Bramble, Senderos, to futher rub salt into the wounds.
I think your wife under-appreciates the aesthetic virtues of some of our players. The two Tims, Howard and Cahill, are rather pleasing on the eye (from a female perspective). Not to mention the sexy Spaniard when he eventually gets back.
And when my Dad reads this, I’d just like to re-assure him that I am perfectly straight and have no male infatuations...
I think Neill has done ok since his time here, nothing spectacular, I admit but solid enough and worth his place in the squad However, if he engineered his departure then the club should come out and state this to be so... otherwise it is confusing to fans as to the timing.
There has also been a lot of criticism on here for both Yobo and Distin and I for one would have preferred to see Neill and Johnny continue their pairing during this revival of fortunes on the pitch. Even with all our players fit we still have a small squad...
Peter, i’m just glad the misses will now leave me alone to watch the games in piece so i can curse and swear at the players, the refs, the commentators without being distracted into some conversation about tom and joan and how there kids are doing.
He wouldn’t have got a game in February onwards and would have just be milking his wages.
Good business I think. It also means that we can concentrate on getting Saha to sign a deal.
We needed Neill (and thanks for the service) when Yobo, Distin, Jags where unfit. Now they are on the return and Yobo will be back for Feb, Moyes has risked a move now rather than seeing out his deal and costing the club and extra £1m.
I can’t see the issue here — it's a brilliant bit of business.
Got him for nothing; paying him good money — get £1m for him and get him off the books... and you call that madness? Please!
It’s a shocking show show of short-termism and a shocking piece of ’judgement’ by Moyes. I fully expected the responses you have got though, many of our simple fans just bleat like sheep and follow the leader now. They’d follow him into the fires of hell....
Whilst understandably there are divided opinions about Neill on a personal level due to his apparent lack of loyalty and money-hungry approach, his football ability is a different matter. At 33 he is obviously lacking a bit of pace and can get caught out as a result but his overall composure on the ball, his ability to pass to another Everton player rather than just kick the ball upfield, and his ability to use two feet, leave him in a class of his own when compared with Hibbert, Yobo and Distin.
I would not go as far as suggesting that he play rather than Jagielka but at the moment, when we are desperate for points and Jagielka is not available, Neil is far and away the best option.
As far as Senderos goes, Arsene Wenger is as good as it gets in recognizing football ability when he sees it and if he would sooner break his golden rule of not resigning players and sign an over the hill Campbell in lieu of playing a young Senderos, there is a message there for all to see.
Ged, whilst not in full agreement with you, you are on the right track as far as I am concerned.
Let's just hope we win against Man City moneybags this weekend, whatever team Moyes picks.
I thought he did quite well for us, and was quite surprised that he left. But now looking at it, as many people, his high wages and a fee of £800k seems like good business.
Though, Moyes did sell him, I think he must have a replacement in mind for cover. Senderos on loan then Kilgallon at the end of the season would do.
I think he’ll be a lot better at keeping Tevez at bay than Hibbert, and I think Hibbert needs to be RB to tackle Bellamy, keep them two quiet and the game is ours
"A mercenary on umpteen thousand a week off the books"
You could say that about almost any footballer. You then go on to suggest we should use the money to secure Saha. Another player you could quite easily be branded "A mercenary on umpteen thousand a week".
Neill was sold behind his back, for fuck's sake — it’s not like he demanded a move.
He doesn’t mark particularly well (Dawson’s header vs Tottenham a criminal example), he’s not great in the air and basically will be no great loss. Jagielka and Heitinga will hopefully develop a fine first choice partnership and Yobo and Distin (who is apparently in full training) will provide back-up. Use the £800k to sign some 17/18-year-old wonderkids.
The player chooses to talk to Galatasary and HE accepts the offer.. He feels he doesn’t owe Everton any loyalty and Everton/Moyes don’t rate him enough to offer him an extended contract. Deal done, everybody is happy... but....
If you look at Moyes's press conference and listen to what he said, it looks to me that he was hoping Neill would break the mercenary habit of a lifetime... Moyes is an honourable man (albeit a rich one) and he expects the same from others (who are as equally rich)...
Can somebody throw some light on this bizarre move? Even the player himself says he was surprised by the move.
Fucking wankers!
Why did we not say — come back nearer the end of the transfer window? Moyes would have had a clearer idea of who was going to be needed.
BTW is Heitinga cup tied for the Europa League? Or was he registered too late for the group stage?
Neill might play tonight — hopefully because he is an Aussie his ’we hate losing’ attitude will still hold true, unlike Lescott who just didn’t want to play for us ever again and had thrown his toys out the pram.
For the money offered, I just think it’s a risk to our mini revival.
1. He will be without an employer in a couple of months and at 33 he’s no spring chicken;
2. Everton only signed him after Pip was crocked (ie, direct replacement) and now Pip is back;
3. The Turkish lira is almost equal with the Aussie dollar (way easier to do the currency conversion thing);
4. He would acknowledge that Heitinga is playing better than he his, and with Jags, Yobo and Distin (almost) back in fray he might be benched before the World Cup;
5. He has a contract to take him through to end of next season.
He engineered this transfer, don’t be mistaken, but do we need to be upset about it? I say definitely not.
And Lucas Neil? He is just money hungry. You call this loyalty? Captain of West Ham and declining a pay cut at the hinge of his career? Yeah great respect.
When I found out Owen Coyle was moving to Bolton, I felt like the heart and soul of Burnley had been ripped out. He made Burnley into what they are today. My point, is their such thing as loyalty in the EPL?
Moyes has publicly said the move was not instigated by Neill. It was Moyes who decided to sell him. Moyes then foolishly plays Distin on Saturday when he is not fully fit and sure enough Distin has to go off after aggravating his injury. That’s twice Moyes has done the same thing with Distin.
Any more proof needed that Moyes just doesn’t have any sense.
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1 Posted 14/01/2010 at 20:56:45
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