ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

This is football!

So we've lost a few games and played like shite. And sure the Uefa Cup game was extremely disappointing. But the witch-hunt calling for the heads of Moyes, Hibbert, Neville, Johnson etc is nothing short of ridiculous!

This is football! You win some games you should have lost, and you lose some games you should have won. You celebrate the wins, and mourn the losses. But for some reason the mourning has turned into soul-searching and into stinging criticism of certain individuals.

And it's funny how all this critism of Moyes etc can hang on one piece of luck. Johnson's first penalty is allowed... we win... we all go home happy with a deserved win. As a case in point, I personally think we played pretty shite against Bolton for most of the game. And yet everyone was talking us up afterwards, simply because Lescott scored a late one.

My other point related to the Bolton game is that I reckon Tommy Gravesen turned the game, turning hoofball into joined-up football. And he did it by always providing an option to pass to. I think that's what we're lacking at the moment, and it forces players like Tony Hibbert into lobbing it long. So I think with a bit more attacking grunt in the middle of the park, it might make all of our players play better.
Tim Veitch, Australia Posted 25/09/2007 at 05:54:19

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Seamus Murphy
1 Posted 25/09/2007 at 14:39:17

I think we all agree the slating of AJ is out of order. The slating of Moyes however is well justified - Crazy selections and tripe football. Put that on top of a resistance on his part to move Neville from midfield and relegate Hibbo to a squad player and you arrive at where we are now.

Steve Pugh
2 Posted 26/09/2007 at 13:19:58

AJ will score goals. He has proved this in the past, and he proved it last season. A certain spud keeps having droughts but you don’t hear manure fans wanting to get rid of him.

As for Tony Hibbert it isn’t that long ago that Everton fans were moaning that he wasn’t playing for England because he was that good. Now he is the worst player to ever pull on an Everton shirt. The only problem with Tony is that he is being asked to play in a way not suited to his ability. Tony Hibbert is a great defender, but he isn’t a great passer of the ball. So when Tommy is back fit he can provide a nice simple outlet for the defence and everyone will start saying how good Hibbert is.

Everyone is criticising the way we are playing right now, and yes it is poor. But if any team lost three of its best midfielders they would struggle. Has anyone thought that we would play more if they were all fit and in the team. Just like the end of last season when we were superb most of the time.