ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Striker retirement home

I'm not a cynic but there does seem to be a pattern emerging at Goodison and it's something that will eventually put off any decent 'scorer' wanting to sign up.

Beattie, AJ, Yakubu... all proven goal scorers with excellent C.V.'s and then they come here and struggle. Let's be honest, there hasn't been a legendary striker at the club who could be relied on since well before the Moyes reign but the current up-fronters aren't being helped at all by our tactics and tinkering in the midfield. Vic and Vaughan will probably get away with it as that's all they know and have no comparison but imagine being top boy at another club and then coming to Goodison? Total confusion!

So, to the powers that be: if youre going to splash out on decent strikers at least provide the service required. Stop putting diesel in a petrol engine (sorry, everyone has their little analogy) or just field a team of utility players and not bother wasting it on strikers which I feel would be the preferred option were it not for fan pressure.

Jags would've been a fair straight swap ££ wise for Naysmith, I hope Tim comes back the same player, and should we really be waiting with bated breath for Gravs return? Not really, but he'll give us something... He's not Manny though.

Hopefully the win in Europe will give us a bit of much needed confidence and we'll play the attractive, positive game we're capable of at St James's onwards. This could be a great season, other clubs still don't relish the thought of playing us and we do have that 'team spirit' but it'll only take us so far.

And if I could take this opportunity to pay tribute to Joleon Lescott... with or without the goals.. best young professional in the country, brilliant attitude and work ethic. Please pass on your awareness in the box to the boys up front.

We're having a reasonably good start to the season & it can certainly get better.

The usual suspects vying to break through into the top tier, namely Bolton and Tottenham are having a shocker and I actually believe a lot of it is psychological and will hopefully stick... we on the other hand should be much more positive!Regardless of our gripes with the board, manager, toffee girls etc...

It could be us and City stepping into someones shoes up there this season? Ya never know?
Wayne McNee, Wirral Posted 06/10/2007 at 12:29:19

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Scott Robinson
1 Posted 06/10/2007 at 17:45:56

I have often thought of this issue too Wayne but I think a couple of issues need to be considered here:

- In Beattie’s second season here, he was banging them in. Who will ever forget his brace against Fulham with that sublime chip of the keeper? He was being touted for England honours after that. Beattie struggled the next season, lost his confidence and ultimately failed to take the chances given to him.

- Johnson started the same manner. Now’s he’s also struggling for the same reasons.

- Its too early to say with the Yak but he does seem like a fish out of water at times. At least Beattie did chase down lost balls. I wont forget that effort against West Ham at home where Osman was able to slot home from 40 yards after Beattie chased down a lost cause.

- On the other hand, Macfadden has picked up where the others have left and is making the most of it. His goal against the Metalist was pure skill. I cant see Johnson or the Yak doing the same thing on current form.

In all, while we are not a team of pure style and class, if the players apply themselves in the right frame of mind, the opportunities are there, its just that they have to work harder for them.

David Barks
2 Posted 06/10/2007 at 18:11:08

Anichebe’s scoring goals. McFadden is scoring goals. Yakubu has not been playing well but he still has two goals. Johnson should have two goals but missed two penalties, and has had numerous other shots cleared off the line, one against United. We’re scoring goals, Johnson is just struggling to hit the back of the net at the moment. Has Rooney been scoring tons of goals at United? Is this Ferguson’s fault. Yakubu has started six games for us and scored two goals and we’re already writing him off. Don’t you think that getting Gravesen and Cahill back to partner Pienaar and Arteta in the midfield will help the strikers get more scoring chances? I don’t know about you but if I was a defender I would probably pay Cahill more attention than I would Neville or Jagielka.

Steve Guy
3 Posted 06/10/2007 at 19:05:58

I hate the kind of sweeping generalisation and Pythonesque logic the original post puts forward. The whole ’argument’ is really based on James’ Beattie’s lack of goals last season. This was down to no one else but JB. He missed absolute sitters on a regular basis. The manager (playing him week after week when he should have been dropped) and his team mates (passing to him when better options were on) did everything but put the ball in for him.

AJ may not have been scoring recently but his assists and general hard work have paid dividends for those around him. He needs a goal and quite frankly he needs to be a bit more selfish too for this to happen.

How can anyone pass judgement yet on Yakubu ?! He’s only been here five minutes FFS. In which time he has hit the back of the net twice ! I accept that he has appeared out of sync with team mates, but he had about one week of pre-season. Personally I think it will be after Christmas before we see the best of him. It would also help if he got a ball to his feet once in a while.

The premise of the original post is completely erroneous. Then someone who writes in agreeing contradicts himself by saying that Faddie started off a pile of kack and has got better !

Stuart Mitchell
4 Posted 06/10/2007 at 21:20:45

We lack out and out wingers and also a cm player that can thread cutting through balls, no wonder strikers suffer at Everton.

We rely solely on the creativity Arteta brings to the side, we really needed Fernandes in the middle.

Lets hope Gravesen can come back soon and provide that creativity from the centre and then roll on January where we can spend that money set aside for Fernandes.

John Andrews
5 Posted 06/10/2007 at 23:37:43

Steve, I suspect the problem with Beattie was that he was not playing week after week. The last time I checked he had only started a few games but had been used as a sub quite a few times. Being used as a sub usually means we are in the s**t and Beattie was given a full five minutes, again as usual, to get us out of it.

Dominic Duerden
6 Posted 07/10/2007 at 08:18:23

You only have to watch the games to see that James Beattie and Yakubu can’t play the game. Moyes was so lucky that Bryan Robson played 4 million for Beattie , but what does he do ? he spends more money on an even worse player.

AJ can play , works his socks off , and so when he does not score does provide something. I think our best forward partnership will be Anichebe and Vaughan , which Moyes has literally been handed to him through luck , not judgement.

Graveson will make a huge difference to the team , and at 12 million pounds cheaper than Manny , we have been really lucky. Graveson , Piennar and Arteta in the team will provide all the creativity we need.

terry.hayes
7 Posted 07/10/2007 at 10:34:39

In my opinion i think AJ is quite happy to chase lost balls out wide,in fact the wider the better,cos at least then he doesn,t embarrass himself by missing 95% of goal scoring opportunities .[workhorse yes ,striker haha.]

Neil McKinney
8 Posted 07/10/2007 at 12:28:27

I don’t think 3 players (only one of which can actually have been said to have failed) warrants a "pattern".

Dominic - I think that is harsh to say that our best strike partnership is Anichebe and Vaughan and that Moyes has been "lucky" to be handed them. So Ferguson was "lucky" to have Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, Butt etc. come through their youth policy just at the right time? That’s why the club has a youth policy!! Moyes has been at EFC over 5 years and you are saying that he has had no part in developing these promising talents?

I have noticed quite a few people clutching at the Anichebe and Vaughan straws on this site. They are promising young players, but if you put too much pressure and responsibility on their shoulders then they may just fold. Hopefully they are the future of this club, but let’s not get carried away, they need support and competition for places to keep their development on track. Of course Vaughan could do with a bit of luck as well, no more injuries please.

COYB

Mark Pendleton
9 Posted 07/10/2007 at 14:09:43

Am getting sick of all this guff about wingers. Hardly any team plays with them now. At Man Utd, Giggs and Ronaldo (when Giggs isn’t being played in the middle) drift in, Chelsea got rid of Robben and Wright-Phillips doesn’t play that often, Arsenal play through the middle. We’ve got our share of crosses in the last few games. We just need someone else to play through balls and create a bit of time and space on the ball.

Steve Pendleton
10 Posted 07/10/2007 at 07:22:46

Enjoy reading the comments on this website but the high degree of critical comments towards the Yak has blown me away.

We are only 8 games into the season and some people are already writing him off as one of our worst buys ever. Granted we did fork out a fair bit of coin for the big fella, but in this current climate it wasn't an outlandish fee for a proven goalscorer in the league.

Obviously the fee and his track record has led to high expectations but he hasn't had a full pre-season with us and he came in after the season began. Given our style of play (I'll leave this alone for another time) and our manager's expectations, it is essential for a player to have a pre-season.

Cannot recall one clear through ball the big fella has been able to feed off to give us something to get excited about!! Like other people's call of 'Feed the Yak' and he will score. The poor prick is being fed last night's leftovers at the moment.

steve
11 Posted 08/10/2007 at 13:49:03

is this true about the south afraicain takeover?

Anto Doran
12 Posted 08/10/2007 at 16:58:23

i dont get the last bit of this column, the part about Toffee Girls? Im not from Everton but is there a lot of ugly girls living in Everton that is having a bad effect on our football??? ;)