Fans Comment
Stuart Reid

Champions League looks a million miles away
05/04/05

David Moyes: what he has done with the club this season defies belief

Whichever way you look at it, Everton’s recent form is worrying. The season that was fantastic up until Christmas, and faltering since, is in serious danger of petering out altogether as we enter the business end. A win against West Bromwich Albion was absolutely essential if we wanted to stay ahead of Liverpool, and looking at our run-in compared to that of the Reds, I fear that we may have thrown away a fantastic opportunity to play at the highest level of European football. Do not be fooled by the eternal optimists; this is a chance that will not come again.

We might as well face it; the fact that we are still fourth is a damning indictment on Liverpool. Their inconsistency, and only their inconsistency is what has kept us ahead. We have not put in a good performance since Boxing Day bar the Aston Villa game, and even that victory was down to laughable defending by them. Apart from that game, all we have to show for 2005 so far is a last-gasp win against Portsmouth and a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Norwich that could easily have been a defeat. Fortunately for us Liverpool have spurned countless opportunities presented to them, especially when they dropped points with away defeats at St. Mary’s and St. Andrew’s. However, we cannot rely on their results going our way. We need to find some form, and quickly.

The form guide makes depressing reading. Four defeats in the last six games, just one win, 11 points from a possible 36 since the turn of the year. Nobody needs me to tell them that that is at best mid-table, and at worst relegation form. People are quite right to point out that we have had a fantastic season, but in a way that makes it all the more frustrating. Our players have shown sceptical fans like me that they can play well and get results, and it is puzzling as to what has changed in recent months. I think the answer is perfectly simple.

Our squad is not good enough to be in the top half of the table, never mind top four. What David Moyes has done with the club this season defies belief. He found a system that first and foremost stopped the usually superior opposition from playing, and then worked on the basis that we would get a chance at some point. Throw in a healthy dose of hard work and team spirit, and there you have the formula for our success. Amazingly, for the majority of the season it worked. The trouble is, other teams have now adopted five-man midfields, and often their five men are better and more creative than ours.

Looking short term I would propose three things. Firstly the 4-5-1 has to go. It is painful to watch and is no longer working. Lee Carsley was breaking up the play superbly and protecting the back four but he is no longer doing this and offensively he offers nothing. It would be to our advantage to let Cahill and Arteta cover central midfield. The 4-5-1 formation generates few chances and relies on these chances being taken, not something likely to happen with Marcus Bent up top. Bent would benefit hugely from having a strike partner and the second thing I would propose (if he regains fitness) is James McFadden, not James Beattie. McFadden is at least prepared to take people on and could have more of an impact up front as he would be receiving the ball in more dangerous positions. And finally, Yobo must play IN DEFENCE.

To be honest, I would take nearly any other Premiership squad over ours. Yes, we are solid and this gives us the edge over teams like Norwich and Crystal Palace, and when everyone is on form we can look pretty good. But I would go as far as to say that offensively we are one of the poorest teams in the league. I mean, look at the bottom of the Premiership. Norwich have a decent goalscorer in Dean Ashton and an attacking player with genuine pace in Darren Huckerby. Crystal Palace have Andy Johnson together with promising youngsters like Wayne Routledge while WBA have in Rob Earnshaw and Zoltan Gera proven scorers at international level. Southampton are struggling but our defence could not cope with their strike force of Crouch and Henri Camara.

Let’s take our team position by position. In goal we have Nigel Martyn, an excellent goalkeeper although there have been signs that his age may be catching up with him. But still, this season he has been exceptional once again and has probably added at least ten points to our total. His absence in January was noticeable and showed how much he gives to the team. It also showed the eminent fallibility of Richard Wright, and demonstrated the wisdom of Arsene Wenger in selling him to us. In the goalkeeping stakes I would say we are as well stocked as any other club bar Chelsea, although we will need to find a new keeper before long.

In defence we have a pretty solid if unspectacular right-back in Tony Hibbert, although his distribution can at times be dire. His crossing is reasonable but you just don’t know what you’re going to get from him. On the other side we have one Alessandro Pistone. The biggest complaint against him has been how injury-prone he is, but on Sunday I actually cheered when he got injured. He has been better this season but he is still totally useless. Comfortable on the ball he may be but he gives away too many stupid fouls and he surrenders possession like a baby with candy. Allied to the zero communication he has with Kevin Kilbane down the left side, he is very infuriating. In the centre it is surely the end of the line for Alan Stubbs, and maybe David Weir as well. It should definitely be the end of their partnership. They are so susceptible to pace that they have to stay central, and so attacking players can get down the side of them. They also drop so deep to prevent strikers with pace getting in behind them that they blunt our attack. Because the defensive line is so deep, the midfielders also drop back and so up front our lone striker is isolated. Joseph Yobo, for all his failings, is the future of our defence and hopefully with experience will cut out the lapses in concentration that blight him. You need only look at Rio Ferdinand to see how good a strong, quick player can become when he cuts out the mistakes.

Moving into midfield and it is obvious that we have a dearth of creativity. Kilbane can cross and is fairly good on the ball, but his qualities are mostly defensive in that he tracks back and picks people up. Cahill has been fantastic but is primarily a finisher of moves rather than an instigator of them, and a bloody good finisher he is too. He needs some better team-mates though. He reminds me of Freddie Ljungberg and has the same problems. Playing for Arsenal Ljungberg looks brilliant, getting in the box and scoring goals. But when he plays for Sweden and has to create, he can appear ordinary. Leon Osman is something of an enigma. Technically he is the best player we have, but physically his problems are two-fold. He is small and not very strong and can get pushed off the ball too easily. For a player such as Man City’s Shaun Wright-Phillips, this is not so much of a problem because he has the pace to get away from bigger men, but Osman is also not particularly quick. These problems are well-known to all Everton fans, but it has to be said that he needs to bulk up or he will continue to disappear from games. Since Gravesen left we have needed a creative player and Mikel Arteta does fit the bill. There are question marks over his fitness but he looks a proper footballer and has the ability to surpass Mad Dog. I think if he can stay on the pitch he may prove to be more consistent than the Dane who everyone now forgets was crap for four years. But his dodgy fitness may make him too much of a risk for Moyes to take permanently. I will admit that Carsley has proved me wrong this season. He is an accomplished defensive performer and alongside a top-class attacking midfielder could be effective, but for the remainder of this season I believe we need the creativity of Cahill, Arteta and TWO forwards so Carsley must be sacrificed for all but the Man U and Arsenal games.

In the forward department Marcus Bent has done a good job and has been great value, but battling for Champions League places is a level above him. He is pacy and skilful, but at the top end of the table when you need wins you must take your chances. Bent’s missed chances are beginning to cost us; had he finished better we could have beaten Blackburn and West Brom and would be six points better off. I can honestly say that there is nobody on our team that I would rather a one-on-one chance fall to less than him, which is worrying when he is our lone frontman. The jury is out on Beattie and he has not really had a chance to prove himself so I will skirt over him. Duncan Ferguson is a one-trick pony (and always has been) and despite some good performances should not be offered a new deal. He may be an aerial threat but his inability to jump without fouling people nullifies his usefulness. And then we have James McFadden. He has frustrated Evertonians no end since his arrival, but he has played almost exclusively out of position. In a forward role like he plays for Scotland (and I’m Scottish) he offers significantly more threat. The comparison Berti Vogts made between McFadden and Rooney was laughable but he remains a promising talent as yet unfulfilled. He has pace which has been sorely lacking from our side and has a good eye for goal. We must use it.

The point I’m trying to make is that the players are not displaying a lack of heart. They’re just not up to the task of holding off Liverpool. Our team is just not good enough. Against West Brom we even came across better players. Gera, Greening, Richardson – all superior attacking players to who we had. I was really dreading Earnshaw coming on – how we could do with a player like that. In this respect I am delighted that not only are we staying up, but we are fighting for Europe. The players have excelled themselves and defied their limited talent. David Moyes has pulled an entire family of rabbits from a very small hat. But the Champions League is there. I covet the Champions League for purely financial reasons, so that we can find some cash, perhaps attract investment. The main attraction is that we can use this money to buy better players, players that get the crowd of their feet and remind us why we love football. We could cut several years off Moyes’, and particularly Keith Wyness’ master plan. Because to be honest, I don’t mind dull, horrible football in the short-term if it’s effective, but if it’s not then it gets to me. I’m frankly getting a little tired of watching games when there is absolutely nothing to cheer.

But come on, blind optimism time. Right lads, you’re not very good, you’re knackered, fans like me are getting on your backs and there’s a large red shadow looming large behind you. But for seven more games, please defy the rules that say the best team wins and go for it. Get that fourth place, make us proud, get some cash for Moyes the magician. Then we can replace you. Ah well, c’est la vie.

Stuart  Reid

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