ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Moyes/UEFA/Reality

I just wanted to raise a few points that have been on my mind during the last few days. Firstly, do the anti-Moyes brigade realise that Aston Villa have a)spent more money than us and b)have a coach who took Wycombe from the Conference to Division 2? He took Leicester from Division one to the Uefa Cup and took Scottish football from being a laughing stock to the Uefa Cup final, so perhaps Villa may be better placed than us to do well.

Aside from Villa we did beat Spurs who spent a tonne more money and are packed with internationals. Realistically there are about 6 or 7 teams equally well positioned as us to challenge and it is not the fault of Moyes but rather is due to the fact that they have more money and better players. Newcastle for example have Owen, Viduka and Martins any of whom could walk into our starting line-up. Obviously we want to do well but being realistic there is nothing on paper to suggest that we should be better than even Portsmouth for example.

Secondly we were pretty unlucky in the Uefa Cup ? I mean what are the odds that we'd miss two penalties? Had they gone in we would have been 3-1 up just as we were under Joe Royle against KR Reykjavik after the home leg. We would have been happy but due to Johnson's mental issues we only drew 1-1. Moyes did a miserable job during our last European excursion but we have had virtually no European experience for the last decade so we are on a learning curve.

I remember that, after the Heysel ban, Man Utd with a team of Euro-veterans like Robson and Hughes won the CWC at the first attempt but what followed? All the English teams were crap for years until first Arsenal and later Utd, Chelsea and finally Liverpool cracked the Euro code again. Do you lot not remember Utd getting their arses whipped by Jesper Blomqvist and Gothenburg? Do you remember Utd going out to Galatasary when Turkish teams were no better than Maltese teams are today? How many times did we see teams like Rotor Volgograd, Vladikavkaz, Brondby, and other crappy teams take care of England's finest in the first or second round of the European competitions?

Liverpool took ten years to get to a final after their ban ended and teams like Newcastle never made much progress at all despite frequent appearances in European competiton. It sucks to probably being going out in the first round again but we'll get there in the end it just requires an awful lot of patience.
Kieran Kinsella, Gainesville, Fl Posted 24/09/2007 at 23:40:00

back Return to the Mail Bag

Comments

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

Michael Kenrick

That's all good to know, Kieran. So we should just say "Now don't take this too seriously, folks. Yes, it's Europe, but we all know it could take years to get it right so work with us please."

Funny how no-one was saying that before the game...! Then it was all about understanding the need to play the game differently in Europe. Learning to pace yourselves for the two-leg affair, not giving up easy goals on the break... blah, blah, blah.

You casn rationalise it away all you want, it was still piss-poor football. End of.

A.Codd
1 Posted 25/09/2007 at 08:22:10

Maybe the crap being offered by Moyes over the last Five years is good enough for some fans, but my expectations are far higher.
Sure we ARE going to lose games but to lose in the manner we do is unnacceptable for me.
The quality of the football is dross to say the least and lets face facts Van Nistelroy and Henry would struggle to score in a team with Neville and Carsley in its engine room. Im sick of hearing how great Moyes has done, ok on paper better players and no more relegation battles.
So maybe he has reached his bench mark because this is HIS team now and quite frankly it depresses me and I wont be purchasing another season ticket to watch utter shite

Brian Waring
2 Posted 25/09/2007 at 09:24:07

Don’t you just hate it,when someone rolls out the ’they’ve got more money than us’exscuse?

Steve Mc
3 Posted 25/09/2007 at 09:31:48

I think someone had better tell the big spending Blackburn, Bolton and Tottenham etc. that they should have been knocked out in the first rounds previously as it takes a few years to get a decent run in Europe.
All these other EPL clubs must be really jammy as we’re the only team that fits your ’argument’ of why we have played three ties, well two and a half, so far and been a tactical joke in all of them.

Experience or not, (how many times have Metalist qualified for Europe?), the EPL is supposed to be one of the strongest league’s in the world and the majority of teams you will face in the UEFA Cup are comparative minnows to our teams so a respectable run should be achievable, as proven by the above named ’inexperienced’ teams.
It may take a few years to win it but staying in it for more than 180 minutes .....?

John Audsley
4 Posted 25/09/2007 at 10:11:52

Is it me or have we been very patient for a very long time

I dont hate Moyes but i really believe his tactics are getting found out big style

I feel a return to 4-5-1 anytime soon, its the only formation that works for him

and when you’ve spend 20+ Million on a strike force its a pretty rotten thought

arrgh well, lets hope for a win tomora

Tony Marsh
5 Posted 25/09/2007 at 10:26:26

What a load of crap Kieran.I think you will find most of our supporters have a realistic out look to what they consider achievable as far as Everton are concerned.We know we will probably never win the league title again and a cup final appearance is our only hope of any success.We understand we will suffer defeats against bigger and richer clubs most of the time when we play them.What we wont stand for is the shit house way in which our manager sends the team out to play.Defensive negative alehouse football gets you nowhere but still Moyes has the side play it that way.OK we are going to lose some games but lets go down fighting and trying to play the game in the correct manner.Rolling over and playing dead especially to Mickey Mouse European teams is no way for this club to carry on.All the pathetic excuses in the world can not hide the fact that David Moyes is a useless coach and no amount of money for him to spend can change that.In fact it would be a waste letting him loose with it.

Mark Crotty
6 Posted 25/09/2007 at 10:44:35

it concerns me so much that fans like you kieran come up with such woeful excuses like this, and just accept whatever is thrown at you.
2 years ago we got into europe, we had a big ticketing fiasco and were not ready for europe and got knocked out. 2 years on, we have a big ticketing fiasco, and again not ready for europe, so i ask you where is the progress on and off the pitch? how long do we be patient for? at the end of this year moyes would have been in charge 6 years, thats a long time for a manager these days, and if we have done crap in the cups as usual, and finish 8th or 9th is that good enough for you?? and for the record we spent more than villa who look a much more organised and compact team

Kieran Kinsella
7 Posted 25/09/2007 at 11:32:56

OK so you all would have us follow the example of Spurs or Newcastle and fire our managers who actually do fairly well. Works for them right ? NOT ! "Piss poor" football is not the issue as it brought 2 championships to Chelsea and 7 to George Graham at Arsenal whereas it go Swindon Town where exactly ?

It is not an excuse to say that other teams have more money and more experienced managers (e.g. O’Neill) Tony Marsh sounds like Saddam Hussein "I don’t gave if America has more money and and a better army that was a piss poor effort at war"

A.CODD
8 Posted 25/09/2007 at 11:43:49

The point KIERAN is that there seems to be a band of supporters who are prepared to accept the crap that we have to watch at the minute.
Moyes is seriously found wanting when it comes to team selection and tactics.
HE is the guy who gives the orders and goes through things on the training pitch.
His ideal type of player is a versatile workhorse which when you have 7 or 8 off them brings utter ale house shit to the park.

A.Codd
9 Posted 25/09/2007 at 11:51:58

One of these said players P.Neville who in my opinion has been dreadfull this season cant keep his big yapper out of the paper with his " we need to do this and that "promises.
Sorry phil but you are garbage and Im sick of listening to the crap he spouts week in week out.
Do your talking on the pitch you fool.

Russell Buckley
10 Posted 25/09/2007 at 12:55:48

Couldn’t agree any more with A.Codd. I’m an Aussie Everton fan, so I can’t wathch every game on tv. As a result I follow team news on the web. I’m getting sick of players (P.Neville, Yobo, AJ,Lescott) making promises and saying we can do better and then playing like shit on match day.

I realise they are trying to gather support for the team, but for fucks sake, enough is enough. How about you put more effort into preparing for the match and show us what you mean when it counts

Ernie Boyce
11 Posted 25/09/2007 at 13:11:31

I agree with bits of what Kieran has to say, for isnstance ’Realistically there are about 6 or 7 teams equally well positioned as us to challenge for 5th’ I think is spot on. So I expect a top ten finish with a chance of a Uefa qaulification this year...and although the last three performances have been poor we are in a reasonable league position at the moment to achieve this.
However I don’t agree that we need to be patient to have a half decent run in the UEFA cup. If Bolton were good enough last year, then we’re good enough this year to at least reach the group stage and compete well.

A Codd is strong with his view but I do agree that Moyes has been tactically naive at points this season. Why play Neville in Midfield, why 4-3-3 in the 2nd half last Thurday, why Hibbert at right back rather than Neville or Jags? Why wasn’t he shouting at Neville for someone else other than AJ to take the 3rd Pen?........however we’ve got to remember that our best midfielders and keeper are injured...lets judge this season and Moyes when we have a few of Arteta, Cahill, Grav, Howard and Vaughan back and he has a few more options to play with!