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Will Magaye Last?

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Well, Magaye certainly impressed me when he came on against Villa. He runs the channels well, he floats in good crosses, his free-kicks and corners are accurate, he backtracks to help out the defence, and he has creativity and invention.

But I noticed more than once during the game that Moyes was grimmacing and grumbling the few times Magaye lost the ball, or gave away a free-kick in our half. It would also not have pleased Moyes to see Magaye float all round the park ? sometimes on the right, then on the left, then in the middle, or upfront, and then back in defence.

Knowing Moyes as we all do, I'm sure he would have wanted Magaye to be disciplined, stick to his job on the right (much the way Coleman does), and to just follow instructions. I therefore don't really see Magaye having much of a future at Everton. I think one of two things will happen:

One, Moyes will coach all the invention, creativity and flexibility out of Magaye in an effort to make him more disciplined. Doing so may make Magaye lose his confidence and effectiveness.

Or two, in the attempt to do so, Magaye will just get frustrated, have it out with Moyes, and then be placed on the transfer list.

Sorry, I know it's only one game, and I may be making a mountain out of a mole-hill, but I just somehow sense that Magaye and Moyes are not good fits.

Timothy Sebastian, Singapore     Posted 03/04/2011 at 08:10:30

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David Hallwood
1   Posted 03/04/2011 at 14:18:15

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Timothy, he reminded me of Fenandes, in that he was a floater and was guilty of over elaboration what little bit we saw of him, and, as you rightly point out, Moyes will not be too pleased with that. I think he looked OK but far too early to make a judgement.
Tony J Williams
2   Posted 03/04/2011 at 14:30:14

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What player has Moyes coached all the invention, creativity and flexibility out of already?

More to the point, how many players in the last 10 years have actually had those three to get coached out of?
Andrew James
3   Posted 03/04/2011 at 15:00:18

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Although Moyes won't like his lack of positional sense, he will forgive him if he chases down and tackles which I saw him doing a lot.
Dan McKie
4   Posted 03/04/2011 at 16:10:36

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Bit too early to be saying things like that. One good thing about yesterday's game and lack of players is that Moyes was forced to do something different, which he shouldn't have to be, but we all know what he is like. If Cahill had've been close to fitness, he would have been on, even as a passenger, and probably on the right wing or something.

As for coaching things out of players, he would likely start with Gueye's pace, what was the lad thinking by running so fast?? And as for swinging decent corners in? Quit it boy, quit it!!

Dave Wilson
5   Posted 03/04/2011 at 16:19:58

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So Moyes would get him to run slower? And work on making his delivery poorer?
Michael Kenrick
6   Posted 03/04/2011 at 16:33:26

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Ooo, Dave, Dave ? I've got one for ya:

How many defenders did Moyes play yesterday?

Just asking...
John Chambers
7   Posted 03/04/2011 at 16:28:49

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Dan, I agree it is too early to make judgement on him but I saw enough from him that I would expect to see him in the team ahead of Bily in the future.
John Chambers
8   Posted 03/04/2011 at 16:34:52

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Michael how many other midfielders or forwards did he have a choice of?
James Stewart
9   Posted 03/04/2011 at 16:38:49

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He looked good. The only player who actually could take on his man and beat him. Good pace and skill look forward to seeing more of him.
Karl Meighan
10   Posted 03/04/2011 at 16:44:47

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What was a big suprise is that Gueye only has a left foot, that was obvious yet Moyes chose to play him down the right hand side? He done ok and his ball to get Beckford in for the goal that wasn't given was very good.

I have to agree with John@7 as I don't think he could be any worse than Bily who just hasn't taken these chances given to him and looks a passenger that has no positional sense whatsoever.

We hopefully have enough points so playing Bily, who I don't see having a future at Goodison, ahead of the French kid, who also looks to have a bit of pace, doesn''t make much sense to me.

If Gueye ain't given games, we will never know if he is up to Premier League football. The lad's energy and youth should help him through his early games before he settles and we get a better idea of how good he is or isn't.
David Crowe
11   Posted 03/04/2011 at 18:33:11

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I'm impressed with what I've seen; give him a year or two to mature yet. The inexperience is clearly why he's been left out. Could you please explain how Moyes will coach the creativity out of him? I'm not sure I get that point.
Alex Kociuba
12   Posted 03/04/2011 at 18:52:25

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What strikers have flourished under Moyes, other than Yakubu (who scored a hat-trick yesterday) in his first season with us? The answer is: NO-ONE!!!

How many attacking coaches have we had at the club since under Moyes? The answer, I think I'm correct in saying, is ZERO!!!!

How many times have we seen Everton starting a match against poorer opposition, at home, with only one striker up front?

Jermaine Beckford: Uselsss!
Anichebe: Useless!

Yakubu & Vaughan: Out on loan!

Bily: Playing out of position.

Gueye: left footer playing on the right.

This long and short term defensive-mentality at Goodison has been strangling our club for long enough and now it's beyond a fucking joke.
Alex Kociuba
13   Posted 03/04/2011 at 18:58:31

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I honestly, would rather of had any combination of the following two starting against Villa:

Yakubu
Jô
McFadden
Beattie
McBride
Marcus Bent
Kevin Campbell
Radzinski
Jeffers

Any combination of those, mostly failed, strikers would have given us a better chance.
Tony J Williams
14   Posted 03/04/2011 at 19:05:47

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Alex, on the other hand, which decent striker has been at our club in the last 10 years?

Beattie: one good season and then we bought him... couldn't hack it. Still can't.

AJ: one decent season, relegated, then we bought him, couldn't hack it... still can't.

Yakubu: usual MO with him, great season then gets bored and plays shite.

McFadden: don't make he laugh.

Jô?? Now you are just getting silly.

We haven't had a Premier League class striker for ages, Yakubu was the closest until he got injured and then lost interest.

Colin Wainwright
15   Posted 03/04/2011 at 19:11:32

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Jô......

Are you having a giraffe?
Rob Murphy
16   Posted 03/04/2011 at 19:29:29

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You forgot Madar & Bakayoko Alex!!
Terry White
17   Posted 03/04/2011 at 19:36:41

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Gueye ? "Being left-footed and playing on the right" ? didn't seem to be too difficult for Downing, did it? And given that we had both Bily and Gueye on the field at the same time, just who would you have playing on the left and who on the right?
James Flynn
18   Posted 03/04/2011 at 20:03:04

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The only difference between our position and the Champions League is that we don't have the guy(s) up top every team fears.

Moyes hasn't (and never has) "coached" attacking instinct out of a player.
Ben Jones
19   Posted 03/04/2011 at 20:33:52

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Nice to see Gueye given a few mins. I missed all the footy so was surprised that Gueue had even got on the pitch (let alone half an hour!) and even Vellios got around 10 mins.

By the way, how did Vellios get on?
Jay Harris
20   Posted 03/04/2011 at 21:06:51

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If nothing else, Gueye can take all the corners and free kicks ? that would save Mikel's embarrassing attempts and keep Bainesy at Left Back where he should be instead of leaving Distin to cover two positions.

My only concern with Gueye (and Seamus to an extent) is that he needs to learn when to pass instead of taking one too many players on and losing the ball to the opposition.

I still think he's worth a run to see if he's up to it ? especially if we can get £6 million plus for Bily.
Dermot Ryan
21   Posted 03/04/2011 at 21:27:58

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Jay: Bily has generally been so disappointing, I doubt any Premier League side will be interested. Could he fetch £6 million back in Russia? Really wanted the lad to succeed and think he has some genuine class, but the pace of this league seems too much for him.
Dan McKie
22   Posted 03/04/2011 at 22:02:28

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Terry White, I would put Bily on the right, Gueye on the left as the latter has the pace to go on the outside of the fullback, which Bily doesn't. When you are cutting inside all of the time, you don't need as much pace, and the full back is usually tackling with the wrong foot, hence why Pienaar and even Osman could often be effective on the left, but useless on the side of their preferred foot.
Jeff Armstrong
23   Posted 03/04/2011 at 22:37:11

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Coleman should be given a half on the left, how many times does he cut in and does not have a left foot, cut in from the left and, hey presto, you are on your stronger foot... its worth a go ? especially if you're a negative coach with a lack of ideas!

Just don't tell anyone you read it on the interweb...

Dennis Stevens
24   Posted 03/04/2011 at 22:42:06

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Hasn't Bily said he prefers the right side to the left, anyway?
Jeff Armstrong
25   Posted 03/04/2011 at 22:47:56

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I'm sure many posters on here where saying play Coleman right mid, about 6 weeks before Moyes tried it.....

Just keep reading ToffeWeb, Davey, we'll do your job for you, there's 100s of thousands of amateur coaches out here... commenting on a simple game,

Honestly... IT IS REALLY NOT ROCKET SCIENCE!, WORLD PEACE!, INTERNATIONAL FINANCE! It's fucking football!!!!!!

Eric Myles
26   Posted 04/04/2011 at 04:18:41

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But Dan #22, we have Baines doing a good job getting crosses in from down the left.
Dan McKie
27   Posted 04/04/2011 at 08:54:52

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We do, Eric, but he is our only source from the byline and often gets caught out of position if a cross is cut out. I don't think it would hinder his game too much if he had a left footer to work with as it would just present more chances to cross from a deeper position.

On the right we could use Bily/Coleman to try and emulate the Pienaar/Baines combo we had where the fullback was used to do the overlapping with the midfielder cutting inside. Bily needs a set position to work on and it isn't the left, because that does hinder Baines, as the two of them don't know how to work together when Bily looks lost out there.

James Hollister
28   Posted 04/04/2011 at 11:57:51

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James Flynn - Your statement is absolutely incorrect. Every striker we land with ends up a useless former shadow of themselves within 12/24 months. And it's down entirely to David Moyes telling them the way to play.

While Spurs are the graveyard for Defenders, we most definitely are for Strikers... all thanks to Mr Moyes and his "Defend now at all costs" policy.

If you're at the end of your career and are a striker but want to become a half proficient midfielder / defender, Moyesy is your man to do that.

Sorry but honestly the man hasn't got a clue how to allow strikers to be creative to play their style... the style he bought them for.
Karl Meighan
29   Posted 04/04/2011 at 13:24:49

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TerryWhite@17 ? Thats a fair point but remember that Downing is a seasoned England International who still struggles on his right foot and Gueye is a young French lad who has hardly played any football in the Premier League.

Playing such a young inexperienced foreign player surely we should try to make it as comfortable as possible?

Playing Gueye I presume out of position seems to be putting extra barriers in the lad's way when the Premier League is tough enough.
Tim O'Connell
30   Posted 04/04/2011 at 17:16:13

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Of course everyone is right about lack of quality of strikers and with one we may have considerably more points but just one note of interest ?- we have scored exactly the same number of goals as the red shite (Ladyboy, Suarez and Carrol included) and more than Spurs (Defoe, Crouch etc) but have conceded more!
James Martin
31   Posted 04/04/2011 at 17:21:06

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Yet more Beckford bashing. A tad harsh to come off worse in a comparison with Jô. He puts more effort than the Yak and Saha in, quite frankly when Saha is not on form he's useless and the Yak hasn't been good for ages.

Beckford has had one season predominately off the bench or upfront by himself and has still got a decent haul and had the chances for more yesterday. Yes, it was a bad miss in the one-on-one but you can't expect a 100% conversion rate. His finish for the disallowed goal was amazing although no, forgive me, that was a composureless lucky hack showing his lack of talent, nothing to do with any goalscoring instinct he has.

What a joke some of the criticism he gets is. He was free after all, Ferguson brought in pensioner Larsson for a season and after less goals than Beckford has everyone was proclaiming him a genius yet all Beckford gets is people consistently saying he's not good enough for the Premier League.

Andrew Gilbert
32   Posted 04/04/2011 at 20:49:05

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Ben (19)

Vellios had three or four touches all of them good, including a cracking effort that was going in but got deflected for a corner.

Looks good to me.

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