The Mail Bag
No first team
Comments (42)
Looking at the official club page squad, the problem we have is alarming now. If ? and that's an if ? injuries do not recover for the Villa game next week, then we do not have enough players to field a team. As it stands right now the team next week will be:
Howard Hibbert Distin Jagielka Baines Heitinga Osman Bilyaletdinov Anichebe Beckford
That is still missing one player. Chances are either Neville or Cahill will be back by then but, if not, what are we going to do? Even if one of them does return, do you have any faith of a result in that team? With potentially 2 defenders as our midfield, we will not only lack creativity but pretty much be forced to long ball it to Beckford for 90 mins!
Chris Ashton, Posted 25/03/2011 at 18:09:57
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
Gueye will hopefully get his chance.
Looks like we will HAVE to see some of these new lads. I like Gueye, from what I saw in Australia. Good luck to them, but it doesn't look particularly good for us!
Hibbert Distin Jagielka Baines
Osman Heitinga Neville Bily/Gueye
Cahill/Bily
Beckford
Trying to find a silver lining, it'll give us an inkling of how the team might preform if we were forced to sell our asset players to pay off a big hunk of debt. Would we still be left with a team capable of staying in the Prem? With about £60M+ of bankable talent unavailable, we're about to find out.
1. Break your heart;
2. (This season:) Blow home bankers.
I would like to retain a positive outlook, and hope some of these young guys can step up to the plate, but it would be stupid to bet on it!
Gueye on the left and Billy in the middle for me. Neville hold and Ossie on the right. Also, does anyone know how bad Coleman's injury is?
This is driving me nuts, I feel like there`s a whole army of blues out there that I dont know about. When you say "them" who do you mean?
I can see Kenwright breathing a sigh of relief for obvious reasons, but who are these other people who are "happy with just being safe from the drop"? Do they come on here? Are they in the alehouses? Where are they?
Everywhere I go, I meet bemused Evertonians asking each other wtf is going on.
Richard Dodd is a bit of a one-off, he either has the ability to take a positive out of just about every situation in life, or he is a wind-up merchant of rare talent.
If its the latter, half the people on this site are biting, biting to the extent of believing there's an army of people who will celebrate mediocrity... but come on Guys, does that sound like any Evertonian you know?
Our Prem positions up to the arrival of David Moyes were pathetic with relegation always seeming inevitable. Like any other supporter of my age, I`ve never known us have real success and have thus grown not to expect it. But, forever the optimist, I take what I can from seeing us nearer top than bottom and try to encourage others to see the blue glass half full rather than half empty.
Call me stupid as you do,Michael, but I support the cause for good or ill!
Like you're finding, most Blues I meet in the pub, in work etc are really dissatisfied and, to be honest, angry (especially the over-35s), with the state we're in and the continuing mediocrity at Board level. "Outspent by Blackpool and Canvey Isalnd", "don't believe we're a less attractive proposition than Blackburn" etc. But at the match... no "Kenwright Out" banners, no "Where's The Money Gone" chants, no surrounding the Directors' box... Walking out quietly after 1-6 and 1-4 thrashings... You'd think we'd just watched a boring film
Could it be that as the older match-goers (those who've seen great Everton teams) fall away, the post-Sky fans who have never known success, are just glad, like this Board, to stay in the Prem?
"At least we're not fighting relegation every year" ? scuse me, how often is that in over 125 years?
"That's Howard got the record for clean sheets in a season" ? scuse me, what about Gordon West's record?
"Mr" John must be turning in his grave...
Doddy plays his "young supporter" card (35!?!) in the mistaken recollection that, before Moyes, things were pathetic with relegation always seeming inevitable. Well it never happened, Richard, so it was far from inevitable.
But that is really not the point: forget history, the point is looking at what we actually had now, this season, even after supposedly three seasons of non-investment ? we still had what most recognoized to be a good team on paper. You seem to have forgotten that Moyes utterly failed to get them playing properly until the injuries really started to bite and ? surprise, surprise ? at that stage, he apparently started reeling in clubs managed by people who are not so familiar to Premier League waters, he knows he merely has to stick to "The Plan"... ? what a load of unadulterated garbage.
Moyes has let us down seriously these past two seasons. But the poor state of mid-table Premier League football, combined with a backs-to-the-wall kick up the arse for this next-to-useless manager, has enabled your beloved local journeymen to put together something approaching a run when the squad is on its arse... and you're both happy as pigs in shit.
I rest my case.
Mr Dodd: you not only accept mediocrity, you embrace it, rejoice in it...
I'm ashamed of, and for, you.
We don't have a predator. Simple as that. Moyes has nothing to do with that. Does anyone here think Moyes would have Rooney and Ruud forward and tell them to "Track back constantly lads"?
He plays the hand dealt and plays it well. We don't have finishers. They cost money or you trip and fall over them when they're young. Like Ferguson with Ronaldo. DIdn't cost that much, did it, to sign Ronaldo.
I'm a young Evertonian (22) and have never known success in the way of trophies.
But I love my team, I know my history, and I know that the current board is failing or has already failed in just about every aspect of club related business.
I do not think our current situation is acceptable. I am not a glory seeker, I do not expect silverware every season. I DO expect a board and a Manager that will drive us forward, however, and not fail us at every opportunity.
I will love this club forever, through relegation if it happens, and because of this love I will always attack those whose ineptitude is driving us down.
Kenwright is a dickhead, and Richard Dodd is a lunatic for supporting him.
If you know of any happy Evertonians, I can only assume you move in very different circles to me.
Sure, I`m pleased to see local boys do well, it makes me proud... what's wrong with that?
I guess it comes down to whether you believe Moyes to be one of the the reasons of our current situation or merely the guy trying to manage it.
I`m really not sure where you are coming from, being "ashamed" of, or for anybody. The guy is a passionate blue, do you want him silenced beause his opinion differs from your?
Why not educate him, Phil? Don't tell him what's unacceptable, show him. Instead of continually calling for action why not instigate it?
Before you attack fellow blues for accepting mediocrity, it may be prudent to ask yourself if you are not one of them.
Coming on TW to attack fellow blues will not get the job done.
"No of COURSE I'm not happy being in the Championship, but blaming Moyes isn't going to get anywh....."
Shudders.
"I found the root of ALL our problems" its all "their" fault..."They" err voted for this.
"50,000 of us Evertonians have to stand by as Richard Dodd single handedly destroys the club with his cheery post.
"It's his fault we are ashamed of ourselves for doing nothing."
Sinks to new depths of despair.
The fact is, unlike Michael & me, Richard started supporting Everton at a time when it would?ve been easier and probably more fun supporting Man U or the RS or the Russian shite. FFS give the man some credit.
All an individual can do as legal protest, now AGMs are banned, is stop going; the club know this and also know the vast majority of us are inured and daft enough to keep turning up. This constant attendance is, I presume, seen by the Board as tacit support.
Tell you what, David, let's meet up at the Villa game, march onto the pitch, stand in front of the Directors' Box and rip up our "early-bird" renewal forms ? that'd be a decent protest but I doubt we'd get as far as the touchline... Anything else legal you'd care to put forward?
As for Doddy, he doesn't need your defending him from attacks; this is the person who called Christine Foster a "conspiracy freak". He can spout all the "god bless yer guv'nor" crap he likes ? I don't want him stopped; simply his Everton is not my Everton and whether or not he is passionate counts for nowt with me.
By his own admission he knows about and cares only for the present. He isn't alone; I've actually heard (and argued against) "we were worse under Walter", "at least it was Arsenal", "Bill's broke ? can't blame him" exiting Goodison. It's this mind-set amongst some that is a cause of our current problems.
Rest assured (as Doddy says), my annual begging letters to Macca and Lord Grantchester are in the post.
GK Howard
RB Hibbert
CD Jagielka
CD Distin
LB Baines
RM Anichebe
CM Neville
CM Heitinga
LM Osman
A Cahill
CF Beckford
Subs: Mucha Bily Mustafi Gueye Vellios and a couple of other reserve team players. What a strong bench, eh????
I didn't try to dictate anything, read the post fella.
"Why not..." I said; it was an invitation, a suggestion. A response to your post (#19) where you were clearly frustrated wIth the lack of action.
You are perfectly at liberty to do as you please.
Am i the only one who thought he must be about 60?
No offence intended btw.
Yes, it's usually the old blokes who don't seem to get this idea about putting a space in after each fullstop... (I didn't realise it was such a new convention) but, apart from that, his offhand dismissal of Everton History and all its inspiring trappings surely marks him out as the perfect child of the Sky Premier League? I would have said 22 at the most.
Very gracious
I thought the same. He certainly doesn't talk like any 35-year-olds I know. What next? Tony Marsh comes on and reveals he's just left school?
I would have gone for the incomparable Eugene but he posted something recently that suggested he had more stamps in his passport than Phileas Fogg!
I agree with Dave Wilson he may be "a wind-up merchant of rare talent" . If so, the continual "rise" he gets out of so many will merely fuel his desire to continue. He may even drive MK to banning him on the basis that he offers nothing to the debate.
However, something bothers me here.
I first saw Evertyon play on Martin Dobson's debut (1974 ?). I was told all about Everton's fantastic history by my Dad but had to endure mediocre players and mediocre teams for the next 10 years.
Despite all the unmerciful piss taking and abuse from Shropshire school mates and then work colleagues I continued supporting them.
I told people that no matter how bad they were I WOULD CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THEM. So I told them to continue with their abuse, do their worse because I couldn't give a shit.
Which brings me back to Richard Dodd.
What if he isn't a piss taker or wind-up merchant ? What if as he says he's just trying to make the best of his Everton experience on the basis that he's never known the club to be successful ?
If TW is the broad church we would all like it to be then there is just as much a place for the Richard Dodds as there is for the Tony Marshs.
There might be much which divides the TW "congregation" but the fact that we all share a love for the Club should ensure that we are capable of showing one another some basic respect.
We are now scraping some results together but losing players all over the place. The villa game will be tough as they are falling down the table so don't be surprised if we do not win with the team we have to put out.
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment to the MailBag, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
1 Posted 26/03/2011 at 06:39:39
Report abuse