Match Preview
We visit Upton Park unbeaten in the last 4 games � problem
is, I can't quite remember when we last won a Premiership
game...
The 5-0 hammering of West Ham
early this season is beginning to take on a very surreal look,
with the slightest concept of scoring four goals in 45 minutes
looking increasingly dreamlike.
In last year's game at Upton Park we witnessed the
emergence of Tony Hibbert who's extremely promising debut saw
him get chopped in half by Stuart Pearce and earn the penalty
that sent us on the way to a 2-0 win. I think the loss
of him and Steve Watson has been a genuine blow to us
recently.
Whilst Clarke has done a sterling defensive job, he has
carried little attacking threat. Perhaps, in a few of
the games where we have dominated possession, a more
progressive fullback may have given us a better cutting edge
and would certainly have stretched the opposition more.
On that basis, the news that we could have Naysmith and
Pistone available for this game, and that Watson has resumed
training, is promising. I have heard very little about
Hibbert's injury.
West Ham are not on the greatest run themselves. Like
us, they have been in the midst of some dreadful away form
that puts pressure on their home performances. Injuries
are also biting on them with Carrick having been out for a
while and The Don now likely to miss the next ten months!
However, they have won their last three at home and are
unbeaten in their last seven home Premiership games.
Upfront, they have the talkative, media-crazy Di Canio �
with whom we have been linked in the particularly
rumour-mongering press. Di Canio has amazing ability but
he has shown little this season � let's hope he doesn't
choose this game to remind us of what he can do...
Kanout� missed Saturday's game against Villa �
personally, I hope he misses this one as his pace gives them a
great outlet. And young DeFoe � would Smith be letting
him play as much? � is finding goals slightly harder to come
by recently.
Joe Cole is quality but, too often, the end result of his
play is disappointing.
And what about us?
Well the back line is functioning excellently. The
key to our survival is how fit Stubbs and Weir stay.
With those two at the back, I genuinely feel we will not lose
that many.
Midfield? Again, perm four from about eight! I
really want to see Carsley and Gravesen play together in the
middle but Smith seems intent on sticking with Gemmill.
In which case, I would play Gravesen on the right and leave
him to deal with Sinclair � probably West Ham's biggest
attacking threat.
Upfront: Radz and Kev to go again. Radz looks
better all the time. Kev quite simply doesn't and the
return of Dunc (even given how poorly he has played this
year), or the promised signing, is eagerly awaited.
I think this could be a good game. West Ham are not
blessed with pace at the back and, if their midfield forget
the defensive duties, as they can do, I think Radz could get
at them � if he can develop some strength to hold the
defender off, then he could become a little gem.
The Blues to sneak it one � nil and, I must be crazy, Kev
to hit that winner!
BlueForEver
Diabolical
by Robin
Tonight, we were diabolical. I can't think of a stronger word without
swearing. The general concensus in the away end was that this was by far
the worst EVER Everton performance that any of us � and the 'us' spanned
several generations � have seen. Think Crewe at home and divide the
minutes of fluid attacking play by 10. It was really, really
bad.
We managed one effort on goal all game. That trickled 5 yards wide and
James could've thrown several caps on it if he hadn't been so busy pissing
himself at how shite we were. Campbell had half a header at goal, but I'm
loathed to call it an effort as it barely made the distance from 12 yards to
James' hands. That was it.
West Ham were shite � that's the problem. They were panicky and all
over the shop, but the same problems that have bugged us all season were only
too evident. Lack of width, numbers & height in the box, pace,
invention � you name it, we lacked it.
We all know where the blame lies � the Board are responsible ultimately for
the 15 years or so of neglect granted � but Walter Smith has signed, coached
and picked this team and it's tactics and it's ALL wrong. If you were
there tonight, you wouldn't kid yourselves that he's been hampered by the board
/ injuries / bad luck, you'd have seen before your very eyes a clueless, dire
football team.
Again, so many things team and tactically were wrong. Gemmill tries and
had a good second half to last season, but he's not good enough - certainly not
as good as Gravesen and shouldn't start ahead of him. It was crystal clear
in November that we needed another forward to supplement KC, Radz & Dunc,
but instead we've spent �3M on Carsley & Ginola, who are no better than
what we have in positions where we're fairly well off. That money should
have been punted on someone � we're now going into the last 10 games with Radz
and nobody up front.
I was totally against getting rid of Smith before the end of the season, I
felt that it would be too unsettling for the club. Truth is, it can't get
any worse than it is. A new manager *just* might get that bit extra out of
some of the players. He *just* might recognise the desperate need to sign
a forward tomorrow (something we've said on here since before Christmas).
He *just* might save us from the drop. *Just*.
The situation is this. We WON'T get anything at Arsenal, Newcastle or Chelsea
- please don't kid yourselves on this one, we won't. Which means we need to win
at least 3, probably 4 of our last 5 games. Anyone fancy a wager on that? I
don't care that we do play Bolton, Leicester and Blackburn at home - we couldn't
beat Crewe at home remember? We've also only got one striker left.
What I saw tonight left me angry, heartbroken and totally resigned to one
unswerving fact.
We are shit and we are not good enough to stay up. The only question
that possibly remains is:
Are we bad enough to go down?
Cheers,
Robin
We were lucky to get Nil
by Julian Cashen
Everton travelled to West Ham last night for a crucial mustn't lose match.
They lost. This latest shameful embarrassment, at a ground where we
traditionally do well, takes our record away from Goodison this season to a
miserable one win, that on the first day of the season, with six draws and a
humiliating seven defeats
Don't read on if easily offended!!
Women, children, those of a nervous disposition, Walter Smith apologists and
those who believe the team should never be criticised, should stop reading here.
It gives me absolutely no pleasure to say that in my time as an occasional
contributor of match reports this will be by some way the most scathing.
Because, make no mistake about it, we were spineless, passionless, clueless.
We
wouldn't have scored a goal if we'd played all night and I can't imagine David
James needed to bother with a shower after the game, so untroubled was he for
the 90 minutes. Nor, to be fair, were West Ham much better, their total fluke of
a goal being a fitting way to settle a sterile match between two desperately
poor teams. This is what passes for entertainment in the nether reaches of 'the
best league in the world' and my only consolation was that working in the City I
had managed to get myself 'invited' to the game.
For the fans who travelled
down, and paid full price for their ticket (mine was �38) this performance was
nothing less than an insult with virtually no incidents worthy of a cheer
between kick off and the final whistle. Supporters of both sides were reduced to
applauding their defenders for adroit back passes, and at the end we had the
unedifying spectacle of West Ham's two best players, Di Canio and Cole, wasting
time by playing keep ball in the corner. An absolute shocker of a match.
The Setting - The Boleyn Ground
West Ham are constructing a great little ground, without moving to a new
site. I was in a fine seat right on the half way line in the new main stand,
with an excellent view of the pitch. Unfortunately these new stands still
totally fail to have adequate toilet facilities - why??? - and the change to the
ground is totally at the expense of atmosphere, which could best be described as
funereal. No doubt most supporters have been priced out of going to the game,
although the temporary situation of having the pitch some 20 or 30 yards from
the stand hardly helps.
The Line Up
The Official Club website had spent Tuesday talking up Naysmith's chances of
playing - needless to say he was missing. Why do they continue to treat
supporters as idiots? Anyway as ever my heart sank as Unsie was announced as
left back - we're far better with Pistone left and Clarke right in my opinion.
To be fair the selection of Alexandersson right and Blomqvist left could be
regarded as a positive move, albeit one that failed to come off. However, to my
immense annoyance, our best midfielder, Tommy Gravesen, was left warming the bench
while Gemmill and Carsley lined up in the middle. Up front, Not So Super and
Radzinski.
The Match
In an absolutely awful game, we had two half chances in the first half, both
of which Blomqvist created for himself, cutting in from the left. The first, he
got over excited and blazed well over. The second, he dribbled a pitiful effort
past the post. Other than that there is virtually nothing to say about the game
other than it was settled by a scrappy fluke of a deflection about which
Sinclair knew absolutely nothing but celebrated like he'd just scored the goal
of the season.
Performances: Keeper and back four.
Simonsen had no chance with the goal and did what little he had to do with
confidence and authority. In front of him the back four were rock solid and
easily neutralised the threat of Di Canio and Kanout�. The full backs, however,
failed to get forward to support the wide men, and Unsworth - well, sorry, but I
can't see how he gets in the side. Like Paul Gerrard he has proved by numerous
costly lapses over the years that he is not up to playing at this standard, but,
again like Gerrard, it seems he will need to perform GBH on one of our own
players to be finally dropped once and for all.
Midfield
This is where things are all wrong. At last we have options as to whom to
select but Smith's blind faith in some players - Gemmill - and his treatment of
others, is baffling. The Carsley situation is typical. Bought presumably to
replace Gravesen, who Smith hoped to force out - perhaps hoping that the
players' similar appearance would cause fans not to notice - Smith is in the
embarrassing position of sticking with the new signing while leaving our best
midfielder on the bench - a shameful case of putting personal feelings before
the interests of the Club.
Meanwhile Linderoth already has the hallmarks of an
Idan Tal type signing - starts in his first few games, now reduced to sub
appearances playing out of position on the right. Having bought him, Smith has
apparently decided he doesn't fancy him. On the right Alexandersson did
absolutely nothing of any note prior to his substitution while Blomqvist had at
least one or two bright moments.
As a unit however the midfield totally failed to function. Carsley revealed
himself as a Division 1 journeyman, neither tackling, nor working hard for the
team, or making a decent pass all night. Gemmill at least ran around a lot but
never does anything creative. Alexandersson proves game after game that he is
not good enough, carrying absolutely no threat at all. If Gravesen isn't in the
team for the rest of the season barring injuries, it will be an absolute
disgrace. Who to choose alongside him is difficult but I'd go for Linderoth. But
for sure the midfield we had last night will just never produce enough chances
for the strikers to enable us to win matches. We need people who will get the
tackle, win the ball, play a decent pass. Last night nobody did any of these
things.
Strikers
Devoid of service, our first choice striking combination was totally
ineffective. I like Radzinski, but he needs good passes into the space behind
the defenders to exploit his pace. He didn't get one decent pass last night. He
ran about a bit but he might as well have saved his energy for all the good it
did him. As for Not So Super, to be fair, he never had a sniff of goal but
linked play reasonably; however the injury looked a serious one and frankly if
he misses the rest of the season this will just save a lot of embarrassment.
The
Captain's legs just seem to have gone and he is not half the player who burst
onto the scene three years ago.
As to Ginola, when he came on, he seemed to be
on a mission to prove that it is after all possible to find a more ineffective
front man than Campbell. He was hopeless, and showed exactly why a shrewd
manager like Gregory felt he was not up to the Premiership any longer.
Overall
A display lacking in spirit, endeavour, skill and imagination. As even Smith
has admitted, we got exactly what we deserved from a dog of a game which should
have been eminently winnable. All these players were brought to the Club by
Smith, we had a near first choice line up, and produced this desperate offering.
Smith can no longer abdicate responsibility and nor can Kenwright.
After four
years without the faintest hint of progress, the vast majority spent in the
lower reaches of the league, Smith now has to go at the end of the season
whether or not we stay up (I believe we will) with Davy Jones favourite to take
over. Supporters can only take so much and this performance was dross of the
first order and a disgrace to the name and traditions of the Club we all support
with such fervour.
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