Season 2011-12
The Mail Bag
Bring them all on!
A poor start to the season and in some quarters the daggers are out for Moyes. The fears of relegation play on people?s minds...
I love nostalgia, me. Each and every year this happens. Makes you feel all warm and cosy... don?t it?
Four defeats out of five in the league conjure a very false position. About as false as Newcastle sitting pretty in third.
Those four defeats came when the red half visited Goodison (10 v 12), and the others against the almost unbeatable City, United and Chelsea. Among the best in Europe, they occupy 2nd 3rd and 4th in the betting to win the Champions League.
These three teams are tough. Verses the rest of the Premier League, they?ve picked up 76 points from 87. Only Chelsea have lost when two men down to QPR.
Now I?m not excusing the losses. I didn?t like the results or performances... but, come the end of the season, many teams will shout "Snap!" Their only benefit is not to play them all in a row. And look what?s happened to us. A number of fans have come to realise they don?t own a pair. Grow some.
We have Newcastle to play this Saturday and I?m expecting us to go to St James's Park and win. Newcastle have not played one of these three. In fact, they?ve had the easiest set of fixtures a team could hope for. Royston to rip them apart. We win by three!
And here?s what will happen this season. We?ll surge up the league. Wolves, Bolton, Stoke, Arsenal, Norwich, Swansea, Sunderland, West Brom, Bolton, Villa, Blackburn ? all to be swept aside. February... a little trickier.
By then, the kids will have put their toys back in the pram, they have something else to play with. Singing the name of the Ginger One, the Moyesiah, the good times are sure to follow.
And you know what? We?ll do this all again next season. Only we?ll all be going on a European tour.
IN MOYES WE TRUST!
Nick Entwistle, Posted 02/11/2011 at 21:44:05
Comments
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Much as I hate to say it, we are a shite team, regardless of who we play. I would love to be proven wrong come the end of the season, but the signs (for me at least) are that we're on a downward trajectory continued from last season and that the best we can hope for is somewhere around 12th.
Europe? Forget it!
Love it. What are you on?
I can strongly recommend Specsavers Nick!
Arsenal showed how vulnerable the "almost unbeatable" Chelsea are at the back, despite twice falling behind, by attacking them with pace, purpose and no little skill. Not by chucking in the towel after conceding.
I would love to say I expect to see us win but I don't. Newcastle have belief, confidence and momentum in abundance. We are a long way from that right now.
We'll grind out some wins over the winter, won't be near being relegated but not near European places either. You only get so far with a shaky defence, lack of creativity and little goal threat.
I usually like your posts mate, they are nearly always well thought out and contain decent material.
But what the fuck have you been drinking mate ?
I'm gonna stick my head above the parapet here and state that if Moyes goes to St James with his favoured fucking 1 up front, we will get a tonking.
1. Drop Osman... NOW; impact sub. Try Maguaye with consistence and intersperse with Barkley.
2. Try Bily behind Saha... I know, I know all about what Bily can't do on the wing... GIVE HIM A TRY THERE, MOYES, FFS!!!
3. Cahill, of course, impact sub. I think his feet/legs are however slowly, past their best and are too easily injured / fatigued.
4. Play Heitinga more next to Distin.
5. Rotate to keep Jags fresher; even Baines is jading through sheer number of appearances, of course there's the obvious predicament there...
No-one is perfect, and I've read and read practically every e.mail from all of the Everton sites for a good while now, like I'm sure most other people on this present thread probably have too. Moyes has many, many attributes and strengths... and, like some others said, if we do well, we`ll all hail him, but his whole scenario in a nutshell to me is he maybe 99% all round good to at least well meaning manager AND MIRACLE WORKER... LEST WE FORGET !...BUT ..The 1% left overturns sooo much of what he achieves by his consistently one line`tactics... and frustrating pandering to favourites,etc etc
I just can't help thinking, and I mention this often in my posts, and I will persist with my opinion, that he managed the team far better with Alan Irvine next to him. Other people have started to notice too, that this Steve Round guy has the same dithering body language as Moyes! Anyone with me on this???
It's a fair point that we've had poor starts in the past and recovered well but something about this season feels different. We've lost several of our better players and the likes of Cahill and Saha are much less effective than previous seasons.
The problems off the pitch are permeating to the fans and I've not known as many Evertonians be so dispiried for quite some time.
If your looking for an article a little less, fanciful and a little more analytical
Get it up there, lets hear how you see things panning out
The very essence of the Moyes support, joyful at the "best of the rest" no matter how shite the fayre.
See the anger at recent postings on "Moyes/Pardew" this bullshit myth is hitting the buffers.
I have said it before and I will say it again ? if I didn't love Everton Football Club so much, I would love Moyes to leave then watch us get relegated so I could say to all the fans that keep calling for his head 'told you so'; you never appreciate what you have got until it is gone.
Until we get major investment what Moyes does for Everton every season is nothing short of remarkable. He does frustrate me sometimes, of course he does (against Man City this season especially)... but he more than makes up for it every season in someway.
After reading your piece and after almost 60 years following them I now know why I am an Evertonian.
Thanks!
I love a bit of optimisim in football but come on guys.
After nearly 53 years following Everton I ....er...forget what I was going to write..
===========
I agree 100% about us being in a false position.
But for Blackburn missing two penalties and Bobby Zamora bing a donkey, we would be on the bottom right now.
Not to worry, though.
The "surge" srats on Saturday.
A pity we haven't got Genreral Petraeus in command.
I agree about the run of fixtures but like you kind of mentioned it was the lack of performance that bothered a lot of us.
I too have a sneaky feeling we will win on Saturday. So much so i am putting a bet on.
Newcastle have to lose eventually and wouldn't it just be typical of the Footballing Gods for that defeat to come against a side that are on such a poor run of results.
I think Coleman and Drenthe will have a big part to play on Saturday. And if Cahill is fit, well he just has to break his duck sooner or later. Probably coming off the bench to do it. COYB.
Could we stop with the if Zamora has scored... rubbish though please. If we had not had a sending off in the derby, if Baines free kick had hit the bar and bounced in.... every game will have if's and buts both ways!!
They are also scoring. Not many will go to Stoke and win comfortably. Anybody who see's this as anything but a real challenge is daft.
That's not to say we can't win. I'd take our first 11 over thiers all day. But I'd take thier manager over our's at this point because he's understood what thier fans want and expect of thier side and tried to deliver it.
Ours is interested only in keeping his media reputation intact until he can bail out.
I agree that we will climb the table as I see us having a bit more than nearly all the sides we will play over the next few months, I don't however think it will be pretty. I wouldn't be suprised to see us sitting in our natural position of 7th-8th come Feb, a run of luck could see us a bit higher.
I have been impressed with Newcastle this year. They have improved immensely; good defensively and they play a nice pass-and-move style... If only we could do the same!!
What has someone's hair colour got to do with anything?
I really do think our season starts on Saturday and can't believe how many Evertonians have us beat already. Shame.
I very much look forward to your "I told you so" article in January after we've taken 33 points from our next 11 fixtures.
Personally, I think you've lost the plot though fella and failed to acknowledge that as a team we have gone backwards, while many of those in our up-coming fixtures have improved sufficiently to avoid being "swept aside".
Our main problem is that we have very little idea of how to break through defences and score goals. Goals win games. Not many goals = not many wins.
I predict 16 points or less from a possible 33.
I really hope you're right and I'm wrong though.
I hope you meant 30 ADDITIONAL points thereafter - otherwise we really are in trouble
Have you been watching Fulham tonight lets hope Moyes is too.
I do not regard myself as being a "Moyes Basher" but I have to say I can't place such confidence in the guy as you seem to do Nick. I find Moyes is one of the most frustrating Everton managers that I have ever known.It's almost as bad as when Gordon Lee was around and was more prepared to play Jim Pearson or George Telfer than Duncan McKenzie !!!
Last night I watched Fulham win 4-1 against a very good Polish team ( really the score could have been closer) but Fulham played TWO strikers !!!! Do you remember that !! Now I am not a betting man - with the exception of the Grand National - but what are the odds on David Moyes playing 2 strikers ? I would say virtually nill against Newcastle and I would say the same for our next home match.
Don't get me wrong I certainly do not expect us to go to the likes of Stamford Bridge playing 3 strikers and going all out attack but for goodness sake 4-5-1 for virtually EVERY game !! And can you please explain how Vellios and Strac are supposed to show what they can do in the odd "cameo" from the bench ? The Argentinian lad has been with us 2 months now - has he had a start ??
Moyes talks about not having the money to bring in new players - well even when he does bring in new blokes they hardly get given a chance in the team do they ? I wish Moyes could show a bit more adventure in his tactics, a bit more variety. A really top manager would do that - if you trust Moyes to get us back to a Eurpean qualifying place I fear your optimism is misplaced. As they say it is " he who dares wins" - not he who is over cautious.
3-1 to the Blues tomorrow.
I can't see us matching last seasons finish.
A lot of teams around us have got stronger and we can only tread water for so long.
My prediction would be a boring 12th-10th.
Yes we beat Fulham 3-1 but for that win to count for ANYTHING Moyes need to build on it. Do you think that his tactics in the 2 matches following did that ? His tactics in both games showed a lack of ambition. Yes the games were v. Chelsea and Man Utd - but both those teams are beatable - if you attack them that is! His substitutions in both games show that Moyes is too often reacting to the match situation rather than trying to directly change the game.
Being cautious might make a team hard to beat - but if we are going to move up the table then we need to win games and Moyes needs to be a lot more adventurous in his tactics.
And one thing that perhaps needs clarification - was Cahill fit to play against Chelsea ? If he wasn't fully fit then why did Moyes risk him with the Man Utd game on the following Saturday ?
I've noticed that, after the game everyone vents their spleen and the serial Moyes boys hide with the odd one changing their name to defend the indefensible.
When everyone's pissed off they creep in hyaena like covering each others arse to pick over the remains.
Nearly as grim as the Moyes tactics mate
Some recognised the obvious, some seem to have been offended I even bothered, and now revel in defeat.
If anyone is still confused - I wasn't fortune telling!
Still, as the article says, we've been here before, and I expect another top half finish fighting for Europe.
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1 Posted 03/11/2011 at 04:34:19
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