ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Da Silva

I'm not surprised that Barnsley want to sign our Brazilian permanently. I was at the Charlton game when he came on with a few minutes to go and made an impression on me despite the fleeting appearance.

What stood out and sticks in my mind even though it was almost six months ago was his coolness and confidence on the ball. I've just got a hunch it would be a mistake if David Moyes allowed him to leave before giving him the chance to show if he could be the central playmaker we desperately need.
Steve Alderson, Jersey Posted 15/10/2007 at 20:44:10

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Bri
1 Posted 15/10/2007 at 21:46:46

Are you serious?

It’s impossible to form an opinion on him from only a few minutes on the pitch.

He is obviously nowhere near ready for the premiership yet if he’s not even had a start.

He can’t even be that good because he had 3years in Spain for small clubs and no else wanted to sign him. He only played 50 games in 3 years.

He’s not as if he’s a young prospect either. He’s 27!!!

I wouldn’t be surprised if we never see him play for the first team again.

A really strange signing it would seem.

Graham Nolan
2 Posted 15/10/2007 at 22:00:31

I thought he was younger, 24 it says on Barnsley’s website anyways.
From what I have seen on him (admittedly not much) I can’t see him being much worse than Phil Neville in midfield? Or Jagielka?

Barry Lightfoot
3 Posted 15/10/2007 at 22:08:35

When he came on for his only appearance in blue I thought he looked reasonably assured on the ball and certainly better than Neville in the middle so why he’s been shipped out without being given a chance I’ve no idea.

Gavin Ramejkis
4 Posted 15/10/2007 at 22:18:36

Terry Maddock recently asked the same question and it seemed fifty fifty split over should he come back or go, only thing is our midfield replacements are always like for like, the only midfielder we have of a similar build to Da Silva is Vidarsson and he too doesn’t get a look in. Not being a manager or scout I can’t truthfully say who is premier quality but we still have a small squad and surely there must be some games we could do with playing some height in midfield. Our regular midifield is missing brawn and height.

Clive Rutter
5 Posted 15/10/2007 at 22:41:21

Very strange signing indeed!Moyes got very touchey when quizzed about it at the AGM.Probably a means of moving some cash about between clubs and agents,I’ve always thought.Not that I’m making any allegations,of course.

Anthony
6 Posted 15/10/2007 at 22:59:49

When i was at Preston away in pre season this lad was the best player on the pitch he coped well with prestons physical style of play he was our stand out player and now that he is shining at barnsley is this signs of him becoming the player moyes thought he was or has he found his level of football in the championship will we ever find out?

Ste Birkett
7 Posted 15/10/2007 at 23:27:15

Brawn, height......and the ability to pass effectively to a blue shirt should also be added to the list of qualities our (central) midfield lacks.

In the past week we’ve heard Da Silva described as anything from a destructive holding midfielder to a crafty playmaker, so I have no idea what he’s actually supposed to be. All I know is that we bust a gut to sign him and have a shitload of games coming up, so he’d be as well back with us until next summer at least.

David Barks
8 Posted 15/10/2007 at 23:56:39

I can’t for the life of me understand why we went to all that trouble of signing him with the passport issues and all that crap, and we don’t even give him a shot. The Barnsley manager speaks very highly of him, the Barnsley supporters speak highly of him, so why don’t we see what he can do. He looked descent in the pre-season, has looked good with Barnsley, we waited a couple of years to get him here, but we don’t give him a game. It makes no sense, but sadly this is often the case with Everton.

Rob
9 Posted 16/10/2007 at 04:47:07

I have followed him since his days at Malaga when he came in as an unknown and developed into one of their most important players and that was when Malaga were in the Primera.

I would however say that he was not the most consistent of players, but if we do decide to sell him, then I am convinced that he will work his way up to the Prem at some stage in the next year or so.

I would confidently say that he is second only to Mikel in terms of technique in our squad, but whether he can adapt going straight into a Premiership side, I am not so sure.

Michael Newton
10 Posted 16/10/2007 at 08:56:00

Whilst on loan at Derby Leon Osman was a revelation, he saved them from relegation with his performances from the Championship to Div 1.
James Beattie is the leading scorer in the Championship.
Ian Turner was a star at Sheff Wed comes back here and costs us the game v Man Utd.
All I am saying is dont get carried away with his performances for Barnsley.
However having said that with our midfield missing two players ie Gravesen and Cahill with long term injuries, players like Da Silva and Vidarsson who gets good reviews in the reserves do not get a chance. Do we know if Da Silva is cuptied because if he returns he should play v Luton.

dave t
11 Posted 16/10/2007 at 10:51:20

moyes has his favourites
always has had, always will have
Im mates with scott brown who used to play in the reserves and he said moyes used to let naysmith and hibbert start no matter how they were in training
so clearly da silva isn’t one of moyes’s boys

Tony Marsh
12 Posted 16/10/2007 at 11:29:33

This Da Silva nonesense is typical Moyes dithering and making irrational decisions.WTF was all the fuss about signing the lad if we dont use him.I dont care how much premier league experience the lad has its impossible for him to be any wotse than Osman or Piennar.On size alone Da Silva should get a game.We are far to light wieght in the middle and from what little I have seen and read about him he could do a decent job.
Maybe this is another Koldrup Maybe
.Moyes doesnt like the way Da silva plays the ball to feet and finds his own team mates with passes.

peter sosnowy
13 Posted 16/10/2007 at 12:03:33

Well I saw him against Bournemouth, okay it was a friendly, but he looked good on & off the ball, passed neatly & even had a shot on goal!
I say keep him, loan him to gain match fitness & adjust to the English game.
Better than that "clown" we brought from Middlesbrough. Now that’s a serious problem.......

David Pilling
14 Posted 16/10/2007 at 12:10:18

I personally think we missed the boat, when we couldn’t put a serious offer in for Scott Brown. This guy is a terrific midfielder with a great engine and not afraid to get stuck in. Very few players like him at the moment. Anybody think of any others ( affordable of course!!!)

Shaka
15 Posted 16/10/2007 at 12:19:21

I watched De Silva in the pre season friendly against Werder Bremen. although he gave the ball away once or twice. He was better then Nev and Jags. He was comfortable on the ball and can spray long range passes and always looks to keep the ball on the ground. Tony Marsh is prob right. Moyes doesn’t use ’cause plays the ball to feet. Players like Shandy De Silva we’re never not going to see the best of them under Moyes . He doesn’t like footballers.

Phil Jones
16 Posted 16/10/2007 at 12:36:27

Discipline is De Silva?s weakness. Played 8 and 4 yellow cards.

peter sosnowy
17 Posted 16/10/2007 at 12:46:39

Yeah, and Duncan Ferguson never had any? Be real, it’s where the war is won in midfield. How can you not get booked or sent off, Arteta included.....

Tony Williams
18 Posted 16/10/2007 at 13:28:42

On size alone he should play!!

Great idea, lets see if Brett Angel is still playing, I mean he was tall right.

Moyes doesn’t like footballers? Lost me there.

I watched Da Silva a few times and he started off well and then started to pass the ball to the other side. He does not look that comfortable on the ball and I must have missed the games where he was spraying long passes all over the park.

I did see the Werder Bremen game and the Palace game where he looked decidedly dodgy in parts.

As someone said before it is pointless comparing people performances in the Fizzy Drink League as the gulf between the two is huge as shown by the like of pretty much all the teams in the last few years that have come up and went straight back down.

Brian Waring
19 Posted 16/10/2007 at 13:45:33

Tony,he couldn’t be any worse than Jags and Neville in the middle,could he?It doesn’t make sense to wait for a player for so long (like Moyes did with Da Silva)and then opt to play 2 defenders in the middle,instead of a natural midfielder.What I also can’t understand is why Moyes gave him another years contract?Moyes must have seen plenty of him in training before he gave him another year.So if he doesn’t think he is good enough for the prem,why give him the contract?Another one of his baffling decisions.

Rob Fox
20 Posted 16/10/2007 at 20:30:49

Are people jumping the gun yet again? He has shown good attributes but a lot of rawness and needs time to adapt to English football. Putting him out on loan makes perfect sense, it is only October and we have a lot of football to play this season.

Unless I’ve missed something, a couple of paper rumours that Barnsely will try to sign him permanently and he’s ’the one that got away’.

OTT?