ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Keeping everyone happy

With the risk of being shot down in flames I will give you an uninformed point of view to the reason Saturday was the disaster it was.... apart from the disaster that is Gravesen who is clearly finished and needs to get back to Scotland as soon as possible.

I am a great admirer of David Moyes and he, like anyone wanting to succeed at any level, is clearly developing as a great manager. Through that process, he will make many mistakes, as we all do, but, if progress is seen each season, then good luck to him.

My point at last: Saturday was not about squad rotation ? it was about keeping everyone happy. Those that no doubt feel they should be in the team were given the opportunity and failed.

You cannot give everyone who is not getting a game a position all at the same time, which is what I think David tried to do, and in hindsight he will know he should not have. We should have stayed with the tried and tested and successfull formation and played a team around that, not one that ? even with our best eleven ? we can't play at the moment.

Advice, if I was so bold enough to give it to him, and advice he will learn from with time, is that he needs to be a bit more ruthless because, bottom line, you cannot keep everyone happy and you never will.

One saving grace for him will be that those who think they should play and don't will be pretty quiet for the next few weeks, allowing David the space to start picking the team he believes in. Albeit one or two of them will get another chance due to the departure of Pienaar, Yobo and Yakuba, .

Please, Everton, buy that central midfielder we so desperately need.
Paul Niklas, Orrell Posted 07/01/2008 at 09:50:21

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Dick Jones
1 Posted 07/01/2008 at 10:43:31

There is only 1 good thing that has come out of Sats game and that is Moyes will know for sure that Grav can not play until the Nations cup is over, so therefore he may push through this Manny deal which is hanging in the balance

Allan Hobbs
2 Posted 07/01/2008 at 11:00:49

Steven Pienaar is not the messiah....he’s a very naughty boy.

James Wong
3 Posted 07/01/2008 at 12:07:29

Spot on mate.

We shouldn?t have lost to Oldham, but this was as good a time as any to play some players who haven?t had the chance to play a lot of football recently, Stubbs, Jagielka (even though he?s been featuring lately, he?s been unsteady), McFadden, Gravesen, Anichebe, Vaughan, Andy Johnson, Hibbert. You can?t just throw these players into tough games like a Carling Cup semi-final or a Premier League match where every point counts.

Any team depleted of Cahill, Lescott, Yobo, Arteta, Osman, Howard is going to suffer. The team on paper was probably good enough to beat Oldham comfortably especially at home, but the lack of match practice hurt them.

While the loss is a huge disappointment, I?m still upbeat about the fact we?re in the Semi-final of the Carling Cup and the Uefa Cup and in contention for Europe again in the league. That?s more than enough to keep us busy and while it seems like an excuse I?m sure David Moyes is doing some long term planning by giving some other players a run. Let?s not be greedy and expect us to win EVERYTHING when we have won nothing under David Moyes. Just one piece of silverware or a champions league place would satisfy me.

Lee Spargo
4 Posted 07/01/2008 at 12:30:28

Nobody would even be mentioning this squad rotation business if we had won. All the top teams have to rotate their squad and we are no different. We should have beaten Oldham with the team on the pitch. They are all top-players - most of them are internationals.

Saturday’s defeat was just one of those things. It’s what the FA cup is all about. We just have to accept it and move on and not let it be the beginning of the end of our season. If we get a result tomorrow off the back of a top performance from the fresh players who were absent on Saturday, then Moyes will be hailed as a genius.

Allan Hobbs
5 Posted 07/01/2008 at 12:44:52

So where exactly IS Pienaar at the moment??!

I agree with the above by the way - we’re out, nevermind could be a blessing in disguise what with the relative success we’re having on other fronts. I’m strangely glad we’re out.

Paul Niklas
6 Posted 07/01/2008 at 12:49:28

I think we all agree, I am not complaining by the way my point is that tactically by way of formation and player choice was the reason we lost however we are still active in three competitions.

No need to get to upset about it you cant win them all.

Piennar missing well that does not matter also, he is off to the African nations with the others we have to cope its as simple as that.

One way as I suggested is to get the central midfielder the team needs as soon as possible, Fernandes fantastic if we can, if not someone else.

Then we might be able to play 442 more often and rotate the midfield more rather than rotating PN who undoubtedly has to play at right back.

Rotating 5 strikers is also not that easy and whilst it will be hard to stomach we will have to lose one of the 5 in my opinion to pay for the midfielder we need and create competition in the team with the right players fighting for the right places not for example Mcfadden fighting Yakuba, Johson, Victor and vaughn for an up front position , at the moment this is a no contest.

Paul

Allan Hobbs
7 Posted 07/01/2008 at 13:01:56

No I mean Pienaar is ACTUALLY missing - he never arrived for the ACN. He?s under investigation by FIFA as the South African FA have reported him and another player for not turning up. So where the fuck is he!?

Colin McPhail
8 Posted 07/01/2008 at 13:04:55

Pienaar is probably doing exactly what I am this morning - getting over the hangover that Saturdays result brought on.

He is a very naughty boy indeed... Sign him up Moyesey !!!

Paul Niklas
9 Posted 07/01/2008 at 13:05:36

He will be waiting in the tunnel at stamford bridge tomorrow night, he is desperate to play. Probably took his kit with him also.

Seriously ,let's hope he is ok and worst case he has decided club comes first v country which I personally subscribe too.

Brian Baker
10 Posted 07/01/2008 at 13:11:02

Alann Hobbs. Steven Peinaar is still in Liverpool. According to an article on the OS, Moyes says that he intends to play him against Chelsea. South Africa don’t play their first game until 23rd Jan, so Everton don’t have to release him till 9th, according to the 14 day rule.

Allan Hobbs
11 Posted 07/01/2008 at 13:15:16

FIFA have already said he’s not allowed to play for us as part of the investigation.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/sports.aspx?ID=BD4A673898

Paul Niklas
12 Posted 07/01/2008 at 13:12:41

He is staying just confirmed on official site that Everton have invoked the 14 day rule and they will have him on a plane Wednesday.

Well done Everton and David Moyes and Steven Piennar for standing up to it.

Might affect your chances of playing when you get there but that would be silly of them to not play their best player.

Here's hoping you get you get what you deserve, a win and a final place.

Sign him, David, ? we need players like him; great footballer and character.

Allan Hobbs
13 Posted 07/01/2008 at 13:16:31

According to this article, the FIFA ruling states that he has to be there 14 days before the start on the comp, not 14 days before the first game for the country concerned.

http://breakingnews.iol.ie/sport/story.asp?j=242371918&p=z4z37z6z4&t=soccer

Damian Wilde
14 Posted 07/01/2008 at 13:19:02

Pienaar has gone, so according to the Daily Post, we’ll have 75 % of our midfield missing for Tuesday, worried!

Patty Beesley
15 Posted 07/01/2008 at 14:34:25

Rather sickening that if we had beaten Oldham, we would have had Huddersfield at home - makes you want to spit, doesn?t it?

James Elworthy
16 Posted 07/01/2008 at 16:01:33

Howard
Hibbert Yobo Jagielka Lescott

Neville Cahill Carsley McFadden

Johnson Yakubu

Subs Worzel Gummidge
Mad Dog
Vaughan
Big Vic
Baines

Terry Maddock
17 Posted 07/01/2008 at 15:54:41

Here it is:

Deputy Sports Editor

THE South African Football Association (Safa) has asked world football governing body Fifa to impose sanctions on Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar and Israel-based Tsepho Masilela after the two failed to join the national soccer team?s African Nations Cup training camp yesterday .

National team manager Sipho Nkumane said Safa was forced to take the drastic action after the two players failed to arrive at OR Tambo International Airport at 11am as expected.

?We have not heard anything from either of them and the matter is now with Fifa,? Nkumane said yesterday.

?We have not heard from their clubs either and that is why we have taken the matter to Fifa. Even if they arrive (today), it is neither here nor there because they were expected (yesterday).?

Nkumane said they were more puzzled by the fact that Bafana Bafana striker Thembinkosi Fanteni ? who is Masilela?s team-mate at Israeli club Maccabi Haifa ? managed to join the national team camp on time yesterday.

?It is the strangest thing, isn?t it? Masilela was supposed to travel with Fanteni from Israel and yet he did not show up, while his club team-mate is here. How is it that Fanteni is here while Masilela is nowhere to be found? This is all very strange.?

Pienaar?s failure to join his compatriots at their training camp in Durban will certainly not help Everton either, as the hapless player will play no part in the English premiership side?s League Cup semifinal showdown against Chelsea tomorrow.

The midfielder had hoped to be given special permission to delay his departure to Durban as he was desperate to play against The Blues.

?I am like any other player and I want to be involved in the big games,? a hopeful Pienaar said on the Everton website.

?The semifinal with Chelsea is so important and I want to be a part of the team that goes to Stamford Bridge.

?You always want to play for your country, but you also always want to play for your club.?

But national soccer team coach Carlos Alberto Parreira and Safa were not prepared to entertain the request and though Pienaar did not join the Bafana camp yesterday, Fifa will not allow Everton to field the player tomorrow

James Elworthy
18 Posted 07/01/2008 at 16:03:56

Over the years since the days of Dai the Drop Davies and David Lawson we have seen some bad keepers at Goodison.
In recent years Richard Wright and Paul Gerrard, but in Stefan Safehands Wessels we now have someone right up there with the worst of them.
Every time Oldham crossed or shot you got that feeling you had when Wright was in goal, that its either going in or going to get spilled and create an almighty goalmouth scramble.
What happened to Ruddy surely he can be as bad as Wessels is. From Cologne reserves to the Premier League I just cant understand why we signed him.