Can’t say anything about the reserve game, but this guy better start showing me something. I had SUCH hope for him; I was over the moon when he signed, in the same failed crop as Per Kroldrup and Simon Davies. He was aweseom at Ajax, and although he ddn’t really get much play at Inter, I thought he’d do well for us. What a massive let done he’s been. I figure if he doesn’t start impressing immediately, ship him out in January. He claims to be dedicated to the cause, but I am just not convinced about him. No doubt on his talent, but he’s going to have show up and be the man.

Phil

I believe he ’s had a few problems mate, with his little one in and out of hospital for a long period, dont know the full story but if this is true, I think we can forgive him

Dave,

It’s terrible what he’s facing with his little girl, and all my sympathy goes to the girl and her parents.

BUT... even before his little girl was born, AVDM was shite. He’s just been terrible ever since he joined us (since he joined Inter to be precise). I just don’t believe he will produce the goods for us. AVDM needs to change environment before he will be back to his best game. I expect him to go back to Holland coming summer, maybe he’ll find his confidence again there. It just won’t happen for him here and that’s a mental question. Even during his succesful spell at Ajax the coaching staff doubted if AVDM has wat it takes mentally to be a pro-footballer.

Don’t get me wrong: I hope the guy shrugs off his problems and shows the game he is capable to play for us. I will be the first admitting was wrong.

There’s no doubting that AVDM is/was a good player but unfortunately his off-field drinking and problems have ruined his game.

Everton will never see the best of this player and I guess he’s blown his last chance with Moyes.

I think he could be a cracking player for us. I know he has had his problems but many of those, i believe, are caused by his lack of opportunity. He doesnt deal well with being left out of the team. Yes he should be proffessional and wait for his chances, but i think we are wasting a good player, he can deliver a wicked cross and on his day he can be awesome.

Put him in the team, give him a good run of games and we will see the best of him. Dont know if it will happen, he seems to have burnt most of his bridges, if not all of them.

VDM has never had a good game for Everton. Why do we need him!
He has not done anything during his time here to merit any praise whatsoever.
So what if he has a good game against some 17yo reserve fullback. He is getting 30-40 grand a week for doing Naff all.
Hopefully some mug in Holland will take him in January and he can go and scoff Heineken at someone elses expense.

Andrew Oxton: On his day he can be awesome. Can you give me a for instance of this because I have seen him play everytime he has been selected by Moyes and I cannot remember an awesome game. The word awesome should be reserved for players like Best, Pele, Eusebio, the Everton team of the mid 80’s not for a player like VDM.

Michael,
I never said he has been Awesome for the blues, he hasnt had a decent run in the team to show his best. That was kind of my point. If you had seen him before he came to Everton, you might agree that he was, in my opinion, awesome.

Micheal Newton,

I think the Everton 80’s team is the GREATEST THING ever happened to football.

They’re better than pele, Eusobio, Best put together.

They were nothing and they became something.

Without the team Big Nev would’ve remained a litter-man, trevor steven would remain a nobody.

We managed to turn the team around from nobodies to somebodies.

That greatness, if u ask me.

Someones on the wind-up trail!

Van Der Meyde......Van Der-Iver would be more apt these days. Its a shame cos he was a class act once upon a time. If he gets fit and plays well for the reserves, he’ll get another chance - EFC pay his wages and Moyes wouldn’t be doing his job properly if he didn’t play him if he thought he was playing well enough - regardless of whats gone before.

Van der Meyde was excellent for very short periods last night ? he showed what a good winger he could be, his last ten minuites was a good lesson for someone like Kissock to watch and see what he needs to dd to his game.

But at other times he looked lazy and uninterested. The other midfielders and strikers kept having to cover the wing once Van der Meyde cut inside, as he would take about ten minutes to get back to position.

His assist for the goal was excellent, as was a one-two with Jutkiewicz shortly beforehand, and a rampaging run into the box. But he was also anonymous at times, never entering into a challenge with his marker. He had a few very good moments and, overall, was probably our best player. But then, Kissock had an off-day, Vidarsson and Anderson looked solid and unspectacular, Downes struggled to get involved, Boyle gave away a penalty, Irving panicked every time he got the ball, and hoofed it clear in the Unsworth tradition, so there weren?t many contenders for man of the match. Ruddy made some good saves, Rodwell looks very calm and assured at centre-back, and Jutkiewicz is developing into a decent striker, but Van der Meyde?s fleeting return to former glories was probably the highlight of the match.

But he was doing it against Amrk Bertram and Alex Patterson. Don?t get too excited.

Andrew Oxton, you say AVDM was awesome before he came to Everton. I’ll take it as a no-brainer that you mean his period at Ajax, because his spell at Inter Milan wasn’t very succesful.

Now I happen to live in the Netherlands. I still remember that I was quite surprised that AVDM moved to Inter. He was known as mentally unstable and furthermore, he was NOT the finished product clubs like Inter normally buy. The general opinion just after the transfer was he should gave stayed at Ajax at least one more season to become a real class act. This is not talking in hindsight, most people really felt that AVDM was throwing away his career away by moving to Inter. Histroy proved us right, but I don’t care too much about that.

What I want to say: at what period do you think AVDM was "awesome"? He was good at Ajax, scoring 11 goals in his last season. But awesome? I really don’t think even the most fanatic Ajax-fan would call him that. He was on his way to maybe become awesome. Of course you’re entitled to have your opinion, but in the Netherlands, no one thought he was awesome. He could have been, we Everton-fans would love him to be, but I honestly think he never was and never will be.

Something more on those 11 goals he scored in his last season for Ajax: But do not forget that the system Ajax played ment he was practically played as a striker, all this rubbish with "he scores for fun from midfield" is, well, rubbish.

For Ajax and Holland, he never played in a midfield position, most of the time he played as a right winger in a three-man-attack. And at Ajax, half of the time he even played as a striker in a two-striker system (with Van der Vaart coming from midfield to support the strikers so AVDM often played more on the right effectively).

At Everton, like at Inter, he never got the chance and never will get the chance to play in attack. To get the best out of AVDM, he needs to play in one of the two roles I just described, so always in attack. In all his good games, he had a defensive midfield player watching his back. I really think he will never play a good game at Everton because he simply isn’t able to play a midfield role.

BTW, I just took the trouble to look up who were the guys behind him in midfield in his last games for Ajax. Seems the combination of Pienaar and Galasek played behind him most of the time... Now Pienaar we know, and Galasek is the captain of Nürnberg who we play tomorrow. Funny coïncedence. Galasek was the anchor who filled all the gaps for AVDM at that time.

Back to work now...

Van der meyde is as much a good as an everton player as Dick Van Dyke was as a cockney in mary poppins.

Perhaps fans at goodison could try chim chim cheree next time he make an appearance.

He has only managed one goal in twenty appearances for the Netherlands as a player and the same amount in more appearances for Inter. His arrival on merseyside has been eventful with little news snippets concerning various activities arousing attention.

I would like to see him back in the first team but he has got to work harder. Much harder.

Does anyone know if Alan Stubbs managed the Reserves last night as he didnt turn up at a sports award and the excuse was he was managing the reserves in Andy Holdens absence as he was ill.

oK, this word Awesome is obviously causing a bit of a problem. lets change it to very good shall we.
I thought AVDM was very good prior to coming to Everton. phew. I still think he should get a run in the side. Give the guy a chance to show how awesome he can be. shit did it again.

Erik - I work with people who use the word ’awesome’ all the time. They’re all in their twenties so I get the impression its a commonly tagged phrase for the young folk of today.

I’m turning into my Dad.

When I go to Florida for my annual holiday I cringe at the number of times the yanks say awesome. From describing a peanut butter sandwich to a ride at Disney, one even thought it was awesome I actually flew there and didnt drive and could speak English.

How about "bomb dot com" instead of "awesome"?

-18 yo american

Van der Meyde was pretty bomb dot com once upon a time

AVDM - All I care about is what he does on the pitch - and to date he’s done sod all other than cream off a fortune in wages and bitch about how hard life is at Everton.

The quicker we get shut the better.

All this crap about how awesome is, is meaningless - past glories count for nothing. It’s about what he does now that counts and I’ve not seen anything that makes me think we’ve got a gem.

I’d love him to prove me wrong but somehow I don’t think that will ever happen.

Andrew:
Johann Cruyff awesome
Denis Bergkamp awesome
Ruud Gullit awesome
Marco Van Baster awesome
Vincent Van Gogh awesome
Andy Van Der Meyde not awesome

I can’t believe this. This ADVM topic has appeared on Toffeeweb countless times and there are still some people who are saying give him another chance. No, get rid of him to West Brom or some other crap team and let them give him another chance......he’s had enough for us.

the problem is not the question but the answer - Richard Porter is the only one who actually gives me something new!!!! And answer the question - was Van der Meyde any good yesterday? Thanks Porter for sharring your thoughts on yesterdays match, keep bringing info on reserve team matches!

You do get the feeling that a return to Dutch football could be the best thing for this guy, both personally and profesionally.

I wouldn’t want to go through what him and his wife are at home and maybe he needs to remove the other stresses in his life so he can concentrate more on what is important.

This guy is a pisshead and a leech on the finances of this football club. Would whoever has this fantasy that he is in fact a good player, please give it a rest, and stop sparking the same debate. Once his contract ends he is gone, he is history, rotting in the reserves at the moment, so forget him.

For those of you who dont know about VDM and his problem with his child. I paste a snippet from the ECHO 28th Sept.
His partner Lisa hails from the Wirral so it may not be easy for him to return to Holland as she may not want to leave the area

Six months ago, van der Meyde?s partner Lisa gave birth to their first child, a bouncing baby girl named Dolce, but, so far, the couple have been unable to bring her home for good. What?s more, they still don?t know when that time will come.

Dolce, you see, was born with a serious bowel problem which requires almost constant medical supervision ? she is unable to eat or digest food yet and is vulnerable to picking up infections. Not surprisingly, it has had an enormous impact on their lives.

Fans love bad boys. Maybe we are all pissheads and love a fellow pisshead. We identify ourselves as that type of person ourselves who likes a drink or three and never passes up an opportunity to pull a bird

George Best was loved no matter what he did. Stan Bowles, Frank Worthington, Paul Merson, Tony Adams etc all pissheads, gamblers, womanisers but loved by the fans.

George Best used to screw a blonde on a Saturday at 12 noon at the team hotel he picked up the night before having woke up with a serious hangover and then have a blinder at 3pm. He was unique, ok the toils of drinking and screwing caught up with him, but he was loved by most.
As for VDM if he would of played a few blinders for us, we wouldnt care about him being on the ale, he would of become a folk hero straight out of the bar onto the pitch, but unfortunately he hasn’t.

Christ this van der meyde argument is about as tedious as the riquelme one. Shandy Andy is quite honestly a loser. He was born with obvious talent but has completely and utterly abused his position and the respect and responsibility that comes with his role.

For the sake of all Evertonians across the world, if we could find a naive opposition manager who has had his head buried in the ground for the last five years (or since the last time that Andy actually strung even 4 quality performances together for anybody including ajax, inter or holland), who would be willing to take a punt on the "flying Dutchman", then I will help VdM pack his bags and get to the airport save and sound.

Talking about airports, I’m off to Nuremberg in the middle of the night so I better get back to the packing. See you there.

Strange how its usually the great players who have problems with drink, narcotics, gambling, women, health and fitness issues.

Best, Gascgoine, Maradona, Merson and Mickey Thomas.

These players forsaked their god given talents and with the money and fame of the game they went off the rails and never fulfilled their great potentials. Of course i would not say Van Meyde is world class, anything but, although i have seen glimpses of talent on ocassion.

I understand there was a burglary at his residence on merseyside at some point. The theives stole his dog.

We were unlucky. They could have taken Van Der Meyde and left the Dog.

Never fulfilled their great potential?

Best won the European Cup.

Gazza played for many top clubs, played in Italy and England - played in a World Cup semi final with only half decent team mates and lost on penalties.

Maradona won the World Cup and Serie A, not to mention he made it to become the best player of his generation, and in my opinion, one of the greatest ever.

Merson - Im sure he won a few things.

Mickey Thomas - depends which one you mean.

PS Wheres the compassion? AVDM clearly has psychological issues that go far beyond football, not to mention his family worries. I feel sorry for the guy and hope he gets a game, and his head right.

Stubbs wasn’t managing now- it was a bloke with white hair, not sure who he was. Maybe one of the academy coaches?

I would have been calling for his name a few months ago when we had that bad patch but now we have found a better player in Pienaar. Pienaar’s always been a better player and was more highly rated in Holland.

Yes Van Der Meyde’s a winger but its not like he’s going to give us lightening pace down the flank and his crossing throughout his career has been hit and miss.

Erik Dols gives some great views as he knows his Dutch football. Erik whats your views on Pienaar and his time in Ajax?

Anyway Van der Meyde may get his chance and I hope he takes it but I’m not going to get my hopes up for it. There are hungrier players in our team like Pienaar and Osman who want to play for the club with passion and pride.

Thanks Richard, that might be Jimmy Lumsden the first team coach.
My daughters school had Stubbs booked to present their awards last night, it was in the Southport paper and they got told yesterday lunchtime he wasnt coming as he was taking the reserves as Andy Holder was sick. They couldnt send a substitute as was too short notice.
The school head rang back and stated it was bad PR for te club and that the school allowed the Everton academy tou use thier astro turf pitches free. The bloke at Goodison said sorry he couldnt send anyone else as was too late. As usual another PR cockup.
I had my reservations about it and if you didnt see Stubbs on the bench last night it confirms them.

he may have been ont he bench- the only bloke Is aw was the one standing in the technical area, so he would presumably have had other people assisting him. I just didn’t see who they were.

don’t be so bleedin stupid

AVDM is a total waster

He plays a few minutes in the reserves and people get excited about him.

Some facts about this season:
1) he’s not appeared for the first team
2) he’s only been in the squad once
3) He’s only made 3 appearances for the reserves and he didnt even complete all of them

He will not play for the first team again. Moyes will see to that.

He doesn’t deserve anything and we should have got rid in the Summer.

AVDM will never play for the first team agen moyse will defo see to that , i would love it if he did get another chance because on his day he’s world class wud be up there with arteta as are most talented player.

wake up Scott. It ain?t going to happen. He doesn?t deserve anthr chance

If he was world class, Inter Milan wouldn?t have let him go for next to nothing.

He?s a fat waster who should not and will not pull on the blue shirt again. He?s a disgrace.

I just can?t fathom why some people persist about gettin excited about him. You need to forget him, Moyes has.

Mark my words, ADVM will never play for the blues first team again.

FAO: James Elworthy & Richard Porter.

Stubbs was on the bench. He has been helping out Andy Holden with the reserves coaching for a few weeks. Not sure if Holden was there or not.

Stubbs game the post match interview on EvertonTV. Saying coaching was something he would like to get in to. Just not sure when he will have time to do it more seriously. I presume he meant coaching courses etc.

Cheers Blake. As I said, the only coach I’d spoted was the one patrolling the technical area and doing the shouting. Stubbs was obviously sat down and, with the benches being at the front of the stand I was sat in, out of my view.

For the life of me, I don’t know why anyone would even think of suggesting VDM for a first team place.

He’s a waste of space and his appearance record for Inter was appalling wasn’t far off being as bad as his record with us. He is a serial waster. Full stop.

The scenario with his child’s illness is awful, but don’t pretend that it’s the root of all his problems since he’s been here. It just isn’t.