ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Gravesen and team spirit

One of the things I am chuffed with (and there is so much to be chuffed about the way we are playing) is the team spirit. It's often mentioned by my non-blue mates as a real plus for us. So what was the to-do between Gravesen and Carsley just before the second half kicked off against AZ?

I watched it on Channel 5 and Grav appeared to be slapping Carsley around the chest in what looked like an attempt at keeping him warm. Carlsey however seemed well pissed off by this and mouthed as much at Grav and then pushed him away. I thought I saw a look of real disdain from Cars.

Firstly and quite simply did I see it right? Secondly, if I did does anyone think Grav may be a disruptive influence around a team that genuinely seems to enjoy being together?
Mike Dishome, Bristol Posted 22/12/2007 at 00:53:09

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Dave Wilson
1 Posted 22/12/2007 at 05:36:33

Carsley was his usual focused self, he smiles a lot off the pitch but thankfully, is a miserable git on it, his positioning is very intelligent that is only achieved by having 100% concentration
Your reading too much into it Mike

dan m
2 Posted 22/12/2007 at 06:03:34

my word you are very troubled, I saw the same thing and it made me chuckle, nothing more than banter and a joke, it looked like good team spirit to me....

Mark Creevy
3 Posted 22/12/2007 at 07:04:52

They were just getting themselves psyched up for the second half, surely? Like Right Said Fred before a big gig or something.

Nick Xenos
4 Posted 22/12/2007 at 08:54:36

I didn’t notice this particular incident but Gravesen seems like the type that just never knows when to stop pissfarting around, like the class clown back at high school. Grav a disruptive influence??..I don’t think so. Cars probably had a laugh about it after the game.

Matt Geraghty
5 Posted 22/12/2007 at 09:17:45

I saw it too, but I just thought Gravesen was telling Carsley, ’You da man’ type of thing.

Tom Edwards
6 Posted 22/12/2007 at 09:26:37

I saw this and read nothing into it except a bit of good-natured banter amongst team mates who were up for it.

Good for them, I say.

Mark Pendleton
7 Posted 22/12/2007 at 10:02:59

I saw it too and agree with the guys about team spirit. I didn’t think Cars looked upset about it at all, far from it. There were a few moments both during and after the game where little interactions between players highlighted what a special bond they all seem to have.

Matt Kassell
8 Posted 22/12/2007 at 10:02:53

With them two plus AJ are Everton the team with the most baldies?

Graham Nolan
9 Posted 22/12/2007 at 12:06:42

I saw the incident also and I think it was a case of bad timing on Gravesen’s par.
He was slapping Carsley in a jocular manner and Carsley told him to stop dicking about. he is right. It was the wrong time to be dicking about as the lads still had a job to do. Plenty of time for messing after the final whistle.

Connor Rohrer
10 Posted 22/12/2007 at 12:07:16

Gravesen is and has always been a mad man. Him and Carsley are mates. Carsley did tell him to do one but straight after than Carsley was clapping his hands more or less encouraging Grav to get into them and win the game. Thats team spirit for you.

Gravesen in my opinion is great for this squad of players as he is a character. I’ve seen the likes Jagielka and Baines saying they love him already and they feel like they’ve known him for years. He is a winner and that helps. I personally think we lack these sort of players. The likes of Cahill, Gravesen, Stubbs and Carsley are valuable assets to the squad as they all have these sort of mentalities.

What did everyone think of Gravesen performance on Thursday? where you impressed or is he a wast of time? I personally think he was excellent on the ball but poor off it. Some of his passing was superb and he hardly gave it away but his legs and lack of tracking back let him down. Hopefully with a bit more match fitness and reserve games he will be useful for us. I think he’s be great in Europe if he we can get him to a reasonable level physically.

Nelly Blythe
11 Posted 22/12/2007 at 12:52:43

What we saw from Gravesen on Thurs is what we saw for four seasons prior to 2004/05..not bad going forward but very lazy and DOES NOT track back or help the team when he/we lose the ball. Wouldn’t agree that his passing was SUPERB...what about the sliced outside - of -the -foot effort that nearly took Joleon’s head off and nearly put us in the shit ??...That’s just Gravesen trying to show off.
As you may tell I’m not Gravesen’s greatest fan (never had been) and I was disappointed when we re-signed him...however I am glad hat he hardly ever plays now...far too much of a loose canon for me.
I do believe that the team spirit appears to be first class and the lads are playing exactly as that...A TEAM !!
For me there is a time for dicking around ( the training ground) and a time to be serious (matches) so leave it at Finch Farm Tommy !!...However I do think that incident in Alkmaar was a very innocuious one.

Micky Norman
12 Posted 22/12/2007 at 13:48:14

Oh how great it is to be blue right now when all we’ve got to worry about is this. But its a good shout cos i was with my deaf mate who read the lips and this is what it came out like;
Grav- hey Lee you got some man boobys der now.
Cars- f off yer frigin bacon farmer!
Grav- go on den yer slaphead gizza feel
Cars- Gerrof will ya you know i’ve got sensitive nipples.
Well it was something like that anyway.

James Elworthy
13 Posted 22/12/2007 at 14:46:13

I thought Gravesen was the poorest Everton player on the pitch Thursday, he doesnt track back and is a lazy player. His legs have gone and he tried to be fancy far too often. He certainly is nothing near to the player he was when he left to go to Real Madrid.
He is off his head and should be shipped back to Celtic his wages should be given to a much better player.
The only good thing about him is he takes a decent corner far better than Arteta.

dave trudgeon
14 Posted 22/12/2007 at 15:54:18

it looked like carsley was freezing and graveson came over and started slapping him.
i’ve done it to my mates and they’ve done it to me you always get a serious "fuck off you knob head". it was just banter between mates, thats all
the ref came over to them and looked like he commented on the short sleeved shirt and i saw cars say "im freezing my fuckin nuts off"

Connor Rohrer
15 Posted 22/12/2007 at 16:31:03

James he wasn’t that bad. Defensively he was poor but he’s never been good at that and he never actually had legs. On the ball he was one of our better players. He kept the ball well and hardly gave it away. Yes he was a little over ambitious with one of his passes but thats Tommy. He tries things and he’s a bit unpredictable. I’d rather him do that than just pass and ball 5 yards or hoof it.

Its just like saying Neville is better than Gravesen because he continually tracks back and works his socks off but thats not the case at all. Give the ball to Gravesen and he makes things happen. That through ball to Vaughan where he just volleyed it into his patch was shear class and there where other things that impressed me also. If we can get him fitter then he will be useful especially in Europe where the aim of the game is to keep the ball.

He’s by no means the answer but people writing him off straight away need to get a grip as they done the exact same thing with Yakubu, Jagielka and Pienaar.

Keith Glazzard
16 Posted 22/12/2007 at 17:33:48

I’ve just read the Steve Peinaar article in the Telegraph. Team spirit, pleasure to play for, good feeling in the dressing room - isn’t it good to just hear someone saying what we all suspect must be going on.

And he turns out to be a young man who doesn’t want to forget where he came from (while asking for time off from the national team to play for us) and keeps up his Christian charity. I havn’t noticed him doing to much of that on the pitch, so good for him all round.

ps - one great thing about having the baldy triplets on the field at the same time is that it confuses the opposition (including the media).

Andy Ellams
17 Posted 22/12/2007 at 21:57:01

It looks as though Tommy G is finished at the level. It’s a shame and we should all get behind a man who gave everyting to wear a blue shirt and even though he may not be playing as much as we expected I’m sure he’s an inspiration to the younger players on the training ground.

Doug Nestor
18 Posted 22/12/2007 at 23:56:33

Look I?m sure what you say is what you feel but this man is earning money off EFC ? if he isn't up to it then bye bye... there is no question....

Joachim Alm
19 Posted 23/12/2007 at 00:16:30

Gravesen is not a starting player but as a back-up he is still pretty good. He can come on from the bench and change the game so he is a good player for this season, next season we should buy someone else but get of the lads back!