ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

We're not meant for Europe!

Well, what a night! I watched on the appalling Channel 5 (Colin 'Liverpool' Murray kept referring to Merseyside, blatantly refusing to describe us as a Liverpool club), and it was like a car crash from beginning to end.

The ticket debacle could only happen to us, and the overall performance was dreadful. FC Metalist were far better technically than our bunch of cloggers lumping it long to AJ and the Yak at every opportunity, and it is clear that we can only ever cut it as a half-decent side when Arteta plays.

Why did we spend £11.5M on the lump from Boro ? his first touch is terrible ? the lad traps it further than most players can kick it! Vic and Vaughan are already far better players.

AJ's not even getting chances that he can miss, apart from pens, and why did someone else not have the bottle to grab it off him for the second (third!) one?

Yes, the ref was useless, but we can't really complain at being awarded 2 spot-kicks and the opposition being reduced to 9 men.

I'm facing the harsh reality this morning - apart from one freak season 22 years ago, we're just not cut out to do it in Europe.
Richard Price, Gloucestershire Posted 21/09/2007 at 10:40:02

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Martin Wallace
1 Posted 21/09/2007 at 14:01:21

Last night was a surreal nightmare. In part, we brought it on ourselves by being over-eager - perhaps trying to make up for what happened a couple of years ago, maybe harbouring a secret hope of totally tonking them (ha!). We started as if the late KO meant the game would be 30 mins shorter and somehow managed to end with even less composure than we started.

Anyway, overlooking for the moment why Tony Hibbert was even on the pitch (instead of Jagielka), I want to know what Hibbert can offer Everton any more. I have never seen a player in the Premier League more uncomfortable in possession ? you can see it in his face ? he hates it. And the fact that 30 odd thousand people know it too, only makes things worse for him, because he hasn't got the balls to believe in himself (a surprisingly important quality in a footballer).

His best crosses (and there aren't many in this list) are the ones when he is forced to attack the ball without thinking about it. His distribution is both ill-judged and poorly exectuted. Even his throw ins always leave the receiving player with more to do than they should. At 26 he's unlikely to get any better (and at 5'9" certainly no taller!).

Everton have got lots of problems, I know, but Hibbert just isn't good enough to start in the first team and worse still, he knows it.