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View from the Blue
2003 all over again? 31 March 2005
If Everton fail to finish in the top four, if they end up fifth or sixth or — God forbid — out of even the Uefa Cup reckoning (unlikely given the likelihood of Arsenal or Manchester United winning the FA Cup this year and thereby creating another European place), would you be happy? I mean genuinely happy with a season's work well done? Yes, a team tipped for relegation on the back of a summer that might have floored many clubs, will have finished in the top half of the table... but look deep down into your heart of hearts and ask yourself if you won't feel even a tinge of regret at what might have been. Personally, I'll be heart-sick if we throw away our Champions League dreams in the final eight games. In fact, that sinking feeling in my chest started after the home defeat to Blackburn, intensified after the derby debacle and if we don't win at The Hawthorns on Sunday I'll be more or less resigned to the fact that Liverpool, Bolton or both will overtake us before season's end. That will no doubt get those readers of this site who feel we are overly negative rushing to the feedback page to condemn me for more negativity, but my feelings are borne precisely from the contrary. I am forward-looking and ambitious. I believe that we should be striving for the absolute maximum, not settling for mere pedestrian progress purely because it's better than battling relegation. Life is all about grabbing opportunities and Everton may get no better opportunity to sail into the Champions League qualifying rounds than the one presented them now by the work they did in the first half of the campaign. (Who is to say that next season, the likes of Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle and even Aston Villa — all clubs with superior resources to ourselves — won't get their acts together and prevent us from getting even close to the top four next season?) For me, the 2004-05 season started at the half-way mark after the Boxing Day win over Manchester City. The manager and players had, frankly, worked a miracle in getting the club into the top three and putting some real distance between themselves and other pretenders to Champions League qualification. That was the time to really invest some money and resources in identifying and acquiring some key players to sustain that challenge for a top-four berth through the second half of the campaign. Instead, we failed to address our two biggest problems, namely a lack of a consistent midfield play-maker to supplement Thomas Gravesen, and a reliable goalscorer. Indeed, we exacerbated one problem by selling our most important player (Gravesen) and blew almost all of our transfer budget on James Beattie when what we really needed was an unmistakably prolific goalscorer at half the price — and, yes, they do exist. To add insult to injury, we lost our record signing for three games through suspension, leaving us right back where we started. I should point out that is not to suggest that I am on the ridiculous anti-Beattie bandwagon that got rolling after the derby when some fans lambasted him for not making a difference when he came on as a second-half substitute. It might have escaped their notice that to score goals — hell, to even get a shot on goal — you need service, and he got next to none that day. I personally think Beattie is a good player with a good goalscoring record; whether he is right for Everton remains to be seen and I think next season will be more conclusive in that regard. Whether it was lack of resources, lack of ambition or complacency, Everton Football Club missed an opportunity during the transfer window to sufficiently strengthen the team for the remaining games. (And, yes, I've read all the assertions that the manager didn't want to pay over the odds for players he didn't necessarily want but I argued at the time for some well-chosen loan acquisitions to accomplish a short-term goal). Maybe they felt that a top-half finish or Uefa Cup qualification was all the fans should hope for. Maybe they felt that the same players and the same system would carry them all the way to the Champions League if they left well enough alone. The scramble to sign Mikel Arteta and the apparent last-ditch attempts to sign Simon Davies from Tottenham on transfer deadline day would seem to suggest otherwise but, just like the lack of investment in the club at all levels in recent years, the club's attitude during the January transfer window was merely illustrative of the "make do" attitude that is prevalent at Goodison Park these days. Two years ago, the club was in a similar position, albeit not enjoying the same points cushion between fourth and the next few places below, but their challenge for European qualification fell away badly as the team ran out of steam. Last season, once they seemed safe from relegation, the players appeared to just give up and rather than push for mid-table respectability — not to mention an extra £4M in "prize" money — they slumped to 17th and the lowest points haul in the club's history. This season looks to be following the script of 2002-03, that is to say the players' momentum seems to have slowed, first perhaps by fatigue and now by the disruption to their fixture calendar by international breaks and FA Cup weekends. The team as a whole looks to be out of ideas and bereft of inspiration once they get out onto the pitch. The free-flowing, attacking football coupled with determined defensive work that characterised the first half of the campaign seems to have evaporated. It appears as though the gameplan of the opposition now dictates how Everton will fare these days. Blackburn made every attempt to stifle the midfield and David Moyes's team were almost completely shut down. Liverpool came out determined to attack and rocked them so far back on their heels that the Blues never recovered. But when they did seize the initiative late on, their pressure bore fruit with a Tim Cahill goal, making you wonder what they thought they were doing for the previous 78 minutes. It is this hesitancy or inability to attack that threatens to undo all the great work Moyes and his players put in until the turn of the year. The statistics of recent games, the Aston Villa game — rapidly becoming an anomaly — aside, bear it out. Against Liverpool, the Blues managed just two shots on target in 90 minutes; against Blackburn, three; against Chelsea (admittedly with 10 men), one; and against Manchester United in the cup, two. To put that in perspective, in the 2-2 draw at St Mary's, Southampton managed more efforts on target in one game than Everton did in all four of those games combined. The 4-5-1 formation has been the bedrock of our success so far this season but the signs now are that the team has either lost its way with it or opposition teams — Villa aside! — have figured out how to cancel out its effectiveness. The problem is, they haven't particularly figured out how to make things work playing 4-4-2, probably because Lee Carsley is far better in the holding role than he is as a conventional central midfielder. The availability of Mikel Arteta and Tim Cahill presents Moyes with an opportunity to try a four-man midfield again, but whether he does that at this late stage of the campaign will likely be determined by his faith in his favoured system. There is, obviously, a fine line between praising Moyes and the players — for it was they who ascended to the top four and have stayed there since September — and criticising them for their recent faltering form. Frankly, I don't have the answers; other than blaming mental fatigue or complacency, I don't really know why we are currently in a run of form more suited to mid-table mediocrity and exhibiting a worrying lack of attacking flair. But it is clear to me that, unless the team can recapture the passion, the drive and the determination that were the hallmarks of most of the first 19 games, we are going to slip out of Champions League contention and miss out on a golden opportunity to play with some of the best that Europe has to offer. There are those, the but-hey-we're fourth brigade, who say we should be happy with whatever happens this season simply because relegation hasn't been an issue and we're on course to finish in the top ten; they insist that we shouldn't dare criticise the players and manager now that things aren't going quite as well as they did in the first half of the campaign. And there are others who question whether Champions League qualification will really be such a good thing given the increased number of games and the fact that the real money doesn't kick in until the group stages. To those I would express caution at Uefa Cup qualification (a significant increase in fixtures for comparatively little financial gain) and respectfully reiterate Everton Football Club's much-undermined motto: Nil Satis Nisi Optimum. Nothing but the best is good enough; that means you strive for the highest goals and aim to be the best you can, not merely do enough to secure safety from relegation or a top-half berth and then take your foot off the accelerator. I would also ask whether the accomplishments of 2004-05 will start to lose their sheen once "but, hey, we're fourth," becomes "but, hey, we're fifth," or "but, hey, we're sixth." I know they will for me, but maybe I just expect too much. Again, nothing can take away what the team and manager have already done in terms of restoring pride to the Everton name and shoving the words of the critics back down their throats, but in a league where the difference between fourth from bottom and eighth from the top really isn't that great, would securing a top-ten finish but missing out on European qualification altogether really count as dramatic progress? I suspect not, and I hope I am not alone in thinking that having spent so long in fourth place and built up such a significant points gap that it will be criminal if we were to throw it away purely because the momentum was lost or because the club as a whole didn't have the ambition to strengthen squad numbers during the transfer window. I'm still hopeful that the boys in Blue will pull out all the stops between now and mid-May to make sure we keep hold of that precious fourth place — Lord knows, they've shown enough this season to confirm that they have what it takes — but bitter memories of last season and disappointment from 2002-03 still linger. Time to regroup, lads, and show some of that stomach for the fight that we all thought had returned on the evidence of the Villa Park triumph. Lyndon Lloyd Reader Responses: All statistics aside, if we win four and lose four of the last eight games
Liverpool will have to win at least five and draw one of their last eight games.
To me that is a frightening statistic for Liverpool to achieve, they will have
to do something they haven't done all season. Its a clich but "it is
still in our hands".
Again, many congrats on Mr Fox's recent contribution... thoughtful ,balanced
and so unlike a large proportion of Evertonians I bump into... Such as Mr Lloyd. I could try to exercise some discretion, Mike, but he is the Webmeister after all...! And I totally agree with what he wrote. We are a right pair, aren't we? Editor
I would be very disappointed if we don't hold on to 4th place this season and
agree that this chance may not come again; Everton must make every effort to win
sufficient games to keep us up there during the run-in.
The problem with most Everton Fans is that we have seen moments like this
season before. We saw it two years ago, we saw it when we rallied from a
seemingly impossible position to survive on the final game of the season.
It is for this reason that you find too many fans waiting for our bubble to
burst.
Without doubt this season has been our best in years. To be in fourth
at this time of year makes me think I am in a coma and it is all a dream.
We have not performed very well since Christmas with the exception of one or two
games notably the result at Villa. It has been a long season, we have the
smallest squad and some of the players are feeling the effect of too many games,
players to old)... the list of excuses goes on.
The players have worked hard, and that must continue. The fans have
been there (and some!) and that must continue. The other teams in the
Premiership will not stop. It is a league competition and not a cup
competition. ©2005 ToffeeWeb |
