ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

Dutch Schaffaer
1 Posted 20/01/2008 at 16:28:46

Why would Moyes move Neville to right back? Hibbert was doing a great job.

I felt Hibbert had another outstanding game and it was testiment to his performance that Wigan kept attacking the other side where the weaker Valente struggled with Valencia.

I also felt Osman had a really good game (especially since he was coming back from injury) and AJ did his best under difficult circumstances.

On the down side Howard’s kicking still looks dodgy, the partnership of Jagielka and Lescott still isn’t as tight as I’d like and Cahill just couldn’t involve himself.

Great win though and now we find ourselves in the Top 4, in the Semi final of the League Cup and still in Europe.

Remember when Tony Marsh confidently claimed Everton’s season would never get going because Moyes missed out of Nugent, Koumas and Smith. LOL.

George Sedlak
2 Posted 20/01/2008 at 16:37:46

Great result! I actually thought Ossie looked a bit off the pace today but suppose that is to be expected after a lengthy injury. We didn't pass the ball well today but Timmy looked knackered and the pitch was dire.

We battled hard though and got the result, which is the only thing that matters at this stage of the season. I cant wait for Chelsea now, COYB!!!!!

Jeremy Benson
3 Posted 20/01/2008 at 16:38:45

Great result, but I was clamouring for moyes to change it at half time. We needed the strength, hold-up play, and presence, of big vic up front. Ossie was hardly in the game that I saw, save for one decent through ball in the second half. The pitch and the play did not suit him, and I would have sacrificed him to bring vic on. I’m sure this would have made life easier for us.

Still, a win was a win, and ultimately that will show moyes was correct, but there are times when we need to be a physical presence and play hoofball up to a top 2, and today, on this pitch, against wigan, was it.

Gerard Madden
4 Posted 20/01/2008 at 16:47:14

I’m sitting here at me laptop beaming with pride at another very crucial three points. We had to battle hard for them because Wigan are fighting for their PL lives but we dug in and held on. Let the rollercoaster roll on to Wednesday - COYB!!!

Keith Glazzard
5 Posted 20/01/2008 at 16:42:54

Job done. Plan B, C or D?

Playing on a pudding pitch, long balls to AJ and then JV too - not hoof ball. Wait for a good surface and watch plan A get us into, possibly well into, the ’top 4’.

Thoroughly professional job.

Dan Mckie
6 Posted 20/01/2008 at 16:48:29

With the semi final on Wednesday coming up this was one of those ?get it out of the way games? and the team did just that, well done blues! It would have been extremely difficult for the players not to have one eye on Wednesday! COYB!!

Jay Wlson
7 Posted 20/01/2008 at 16:59:27

A really good 3 points. My only negative point would be that a pitch like that really showed me how small our team is. Lescott wass the only outfield player over 6 foot tall.

Paul Davis
8 Posted 20/01/2008 at 16:45:28

Another away win and another 3 points. We have 15 games left, you have got to fancy us for another 30 points. I think the semi, the players who Moyes select, will need to put the shift of their lives in, it is going to be hard, but we can pull it off, if we want it bad enough, I am starting to get butterflies now, and its only Sunday. Moyes has got some big decisions to make, does he bring Manny in, who does he drop, 4-4-2 or stick with 4-4-1-1. I am not 100% sure what line up will be best deployed against Chelsea.

Louis Huglin
9 Posted 20/01/2008 at 17:13:30

Great result considering the conditions. A poor performance overall though, despite the terrible pitch; i thought Cahill, Neville, Valente and even Arteta were not up for it at all today. Hibbert did well, and Lescott was solid; Johnson worked hard and took his goal well. For me a huge positive was Vaughan’s impact - he had a good touch and rattled the defence immediately. Looked better than AJ did all game to be honest.

Referee ruined the game in my opinion - a game where he needed to get things right because the pitch was so awful, but he kept getting things wrong. Booking Arteta for taking a free kick too early, when a whistle in the crowd was to blame? Ridiculous.

All in all it was a good three points to come away with but we were lucky today - if we are that sloppy and tired against Chelsea we will get mauled. Step it up for Wednesday night boys; I’m coming up to see us get into a cup final, not to see any of today’s nonsense. At least the pitch will be up to it! COYB

Kieran Kinsella
10 Posted 20/01/2008 at 17:30:24

I thought Valente was terrible today. We were getting torn apart by Wigan and only their lack of firepower kept us in the game. I couldn?t believe how inept our passing was and Howard cost us another goal with a stupid mistake. All of that being said we must be good because clearly we have learned how to win when we play poorly and that is what the good teams do.

Tim Senter
11 Posted 20/01/2008 at 17:29:56

Yes, we?re pretty good at beating up teams in the bottom half of the Prem but always seem to come off second best when playing the ?BIg Boys?.
The Chelsea game will provide a great opportunity to discover whether Moyes has really moved up a gear when faced with ?one offs?. Even at Preston he had a reputation for giving too much respect to the real top notchers. Can he demonstrate he?s really the dog?s bollocks so many consider him to be or yet another one dimensional manager a la Big Sam?

Dutch Schaffaer
12 Posted 20/01/2008 at 17:38:41

The reason we come off second best when playing ?the big 4? is not that Moyes is one dimensional, rather it's the hundreds of millions that they spend on quality players.

How do you expect Moyes to compete against teams which have cost hundreds of millions to assemble?

I love Lee Carsley but he?s not a £20 million player and finds it difficult to compete against them.

It's almost impossible to compete against ?the big 4? nowdays. The gap is so big that the only way to make it fair again is for the FA to limit the amount a team can spend per season.

If every team could only spend £20 million per season it would create a level playing field and I would bet on Moyes to finish higher then the likes of Benitez and Avram Grant.

Its truely amazing that despite the money gap Moyes has once again coached his side and broken the ?big 4? monopoly.

Lue Glover
13 Posted 20/01/2008 at 17:56:03

Did we lose today? No. Did we play as well as we could? No. Did we get 3 points? Yes.
The back four, once again, played well enough to contain Wigan’s attacks. The midfield was very below par but why knock Hibbo and Valente when they both blocked and tackled like their lives depended on it? Wigan are not the walkovers they were at the start of the season and we did well to win when we played very much below our best.
Carsley had an off day but the guy must be knackered. He’s played and played and very rarely not been there or thereabouts, man of the match. Let’s give the lads a break! We should be celebrating the win not niggling about who played badly! Let’s give them credit for holding it together when Wigan were coming at us like trains!
Come on you Blues.

Ben Toseland
14 Posted 20/01/2008 at 18:03:15

A bit harsh that, Tim! I think we are good enough to finish ?a poor fourth? ? just as we did a few seasons ago. Dutch is right, we have no right to compete with the Big Boys but Moyesie has shown he can do it.

Steve Taylor
15 Posted 20/01/2008 at 18:03:26

Great result on a cow field of a pitch, a referee that was away with the mixer & a decent Wigan side, high on confidence & physically much larger than us.

On the pitch - why the fuck, do the PL accept a side can serve up a surface like that? There’s no excuse for it & therefore must have been at least partially intentional by the Pie eaters.

I thought we were thoroughly professional - only moan was that Moyes should have withdrawn Osman afer 75 minutes, as he was goosed & blooded Fernandes.

Great 3 points & up to 4th - happy days!

Mick Simo
16 Posted 20/01/2008 at 18:04:40

If you havent notice we are in the top 4, we dont do badly against that shower across the park. The thing is teams Like Man U and Chelsea is they play CL football every season thefore they attract champion league players it is simple as that. But comments like the one made by TIm are just stupid and shows his lack of understanding in modern day football, we are sitting fourth and spent a fraction of all these so called 4, for David Moyes to break this elite club of 4 is a fantastic achievement if he can pull it off again, that is why if he does, he will be voted Manager of the year for the third time, so Tim digest facts before spewing out shite.

Kenny Jones
17 Posted 20/01/2008 at 18:12:30

Well done lads and well done to all the fans who went the game today.

Darren Gough
18 Posted 20/01/2008 at 18:33:05

Difference for me at the moment is a couple of seasons ago we’d have drawn/lost that game.

Even the big guns of Arsenal and Man U have to win ugly at times and it’s games like todays that have huge bearings on the season. We look like a side who isnt going to get beat, something i havent been able to say for a long time.

Pitch was shocking, referee looked like he was on another planet, 3 points won - think that about sums it up so file it and forget it.

Darren Gough
19 Posted 20/01/2008 at 18:42:33

...and in regards to Tim’s comments above, by my reckoning the only reason we didn’t beat Man U and Arsenal was because of our own errors? Certainly not by giving "too much respect" to them.

Oh and didnt we get a 1-1 at Chelsea? and victims of some truly shocking refereeing against Liverpool?

i give up...

Brian Waring
20 Posted 20/01/2008 at 18:42:23

A good 3pts against a side who haven?t done to bad of late. A big worry for me after the game today, is how Wigan out-muscled us in midfield. Also, If we play against Chelsea, like we did today, they will punish us big style.

Tim Senter
21 Posted 20/01/2008 at 18:58:51

Excuses, excuses... Evertonians have become the champions of accepting and blaming ill luck for our team?s failings! That?s why we?ll never be champions of football ever again ? you buggers are too easily satisfied!

Dave Reiner
22 Posted 20/01/2008 at 18:58:34

Last season:
4 pts. from the shite
4 pts. from Arsenal
1 pt. from Chelsea
None from United
Total of 9 pts, the Sky 4 took a combined 12 out of those games. So Moyes has forgotten, during the off-season, how to manage against these teams?? But has mastered the art of taking care of the lower ones?? What a load of rubbish!! Some people will always complain, Moyes is an imperfect yet excellent manager, Everton are having an imperfect yet excellent season, I’m happy to be a blue, now let’s knock out Cheatski & end this tedious line of discussion once & for all!!!

Mick Mc
23 Posted 20/01/2008 at 19:36:50

I am not convinced with Tim Senter and his comments, lets just leave it at that. All I will say is we are going for that 4th spot and if we get it let us see where the excuses come from then, I think it might be a team with a massive foreign following of Norwegians and Spaniards, not from the Peoples Club of Liverpool, thats right THE PEOPLES CLUB OF LIVERPOOL we are the people

Brian Waring
24 Posted 20/01/2008 at 20:40:09

Mick, please not the ’people’s’ club crap, it makes me want to puke. I cringe when those words are uttered.

Tony Williams
25 Posted 20/01/2008 at 20:44:22

I, too, Brian am fed up with the Peoples Club crap.

Tim, you suggest that we are easily satisfied......hmmm, aren’t we the fans that are scraming for a win against Chelsea for a cup final, planning for at least the quarters in the Wafer Cup and hoping/expecting 4th place in the league.

If that is aiming low then fook knows what we would want if we weren’t easily statisfied this season.

Tony Marks
26 Posted 20/01/2008 at 20:58:30

40 pts Phew! Safe in January!

Einar Meier
27 Posted 20/01/2008 at 20:48:33

Mick, It’s great that you are proud of Everton, we all are, but please let’s try not to turn this into another bout of xenophobic navel-gazing.

FYI Everton has a Norwegian fan club too (check out their web site at www.evertonfc.no), and a sizeable following across the North Sea. Myself I’ve been a fan since I was eight, and I don’t feel that I should need to ask your permission to remain a fan! Never mind the red shite, just let them implode on themselves. COYB!

Mick Mac
28 Posted 20/01/2008 at 22:14:48

Brian why does it make you puke? The Peoples Club, what?s so bad about it? Is it a political thing with you?

Peter Eastoe
29 Posted 20/01/2008 at 21:56:30

Well... 4th place won't last more than 24 hours. I see that the Reds' 12th man Mark Clattenburg is in charge at Anfield tomorrow!

What price a Villa sending off or two and some Kuyt flying in the box being duly rewarded?

Jim Lloyd
30 Posted 20/01/2008 at 22:51:36

Einar, well said and apologies from Liverpool Evertonians to all the Blues from outside the city. We are the People?s Club and I cannot see why that would make someone puke (unless they were a red jessie.) You are Evertonians and that is brilliant.

We?ve got the game on Wednesday and I really hope we can really make Chelsea wonder what they?ve got themselves into. Good three points today, let?s give Chelsea a "very warm welcome" on the night.

Roy Coyne
31 Posted 20/01/2008 at 23:25:50

Every time we are called The People's Club the RS go nuts, so long may it continue. And stop referring to the top four as last time I looked at the table we were fourth! If you want to include the RS it will have to be top six.

Paul Hardcastle
32 Posted 21/01/2008 at 02:37:59

I’m sorry... but this People’s Club malarkey.. it’s naff.. seriously NAFF!

It was great 6 years ago when Moyesey nailed it with that fabulous soundbite, but putting up the banners with it on? Mildly embarrassing...

And then having it rammed down our throats by the club for the last 6 years ? this is the club that has as its Life President one of the biggest aristocratic Tory snobs in one Sir Philip Carter.... I’m sorry but it is cringeworthy in the extreme.

It’s run its course... but I feel they have taken it to heart that they cannot now let it go. It will be here as long as Moyesey the Moyesiah (funny, you don’t hear that so much anymore...) holds the managerial reigns.