ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Trophy or CL

Looking at our current situation I am wondering what most people regard as our priority: Champions League football or a trophy? I ask because Spurs despite a terrible season are a game away from a tangible victory that would be recorded in the history books as a piece of silverware. We despite having won 21 games by mid season could well end up trophyless if we lose tomorrow.

Based upon the team we sent out at Oldham and Moyes's renewed interest in 4th spot, I am of the opinion that his priority is the league rather than the trophy cabinet. In the short term that might seem smart but no one looks back now and says "Hey remember when Newcastle kept finishing in the top 4". They just look back and say "Newcastle haven't won anything in nearly 40 years ... losers !" Where do fans on here think our priorities should really lie?
Kieran Kinsella, Gainesville, FL, USA Posted 22/01/2008 at 23:37:29

back Return to the Mail Bag

Comments

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer

Michael Kenrick

I think you might be somewhat confused, Kieran. If you believe in such things, then Moyes 'threw' the Oldham game (by making seven changes to a wining team and therefore fielding a seriously weakened side in the FA Cup) not to preseve his options in the league (and ultimately a CL place) but in order to "save" his best players for a vital Carling Cup semi-final just three days later. The searing logic being that Everton had more chance of winning a trophy from a semi-final they were already in, than wasting effort battling all the way from the Third Round.

The decision he made was "Trophy AND CL," the route to the trophy being Carling Cup, not FA Cup. In any event, it is I think a ridicuious question, especially on the eve of our biggest game in decades. Why can't it be both anyway? As Spurs demonstrated (as I have been advocating for ages), if you go for the jugular, you can win handsomely. What I fear is that such an approach is anathema to Darling Dave. But tonight really is, I feel, a case where any faltering will cost us the game. As it says below: We really need to play like Spurs!

Kieran Fitzgerald
1 Posted 23/01/2008 at 01:04:37

I think Kieran that for us, winning 21 games by this stage has been a victory and something of a tropy in itself. It has been a revelation for me to see the way this squad has blossomed this season. The thing is, Moyes seems to think that going all out will turn him into a Kevin Keegan disciple where it?s kamikaze football or nothing at all. It doesn?t have to be that way. Spurs proved that tonight.

Eric Myles
2 Posted 23/01/2008 at 01:22:35

Kieran I think it needs to be a case of go out and win tonight and THEN we’ll have the choice of trophy or CL later when crunch time comes later in the season.

Peter Pridgeon
3 Posted 23/01/2008 at 01:36:19

My guess is the order of priority this season is Champions League, League cup, Uefa Cup and finally the FA Cup. Moyes wants to walk his team out at Wembley as much as we all want him to and I would think that all the players feel the same as him and for him.
We have this chance, lets see if we can do it. If the players play like we know they can and the supporters create the atmosphere then its our game, if like John Terry has said the key is to shut the crowd up early on and they do this, then its will be their day.
COYB
I just wish I was there but New Zealand is a long way.

John Charles
4 Posted 23/01/2008 at 01:54:38

I agree we need to play like Spurs did, but if people think Chelsea tomorrow will be as easier a task as Arsenal B tonight then you are seriously deluded.

Therefore if we lose tomorrow I ask you do not bleat about "how we should have played like Spurs".

Jason Broome
5 Posted 23/01/2008 at 06:20:17

BOTH!!!

Michael Brien
6 Posted 23/01/2008 at 07:41:18

I think the priority is to win the next match and then the league position and the trophy cabinet will take care of itself. That may sound like stating the obvious - but as stated although Newcastle Utd qualified on several occasions recently for the Champions League, people really remember the fact that their last major trophy was in 1969.
I take with a pinch of salt the " Mickey Mouse Trophy taunts " of the Kopites and Prawn Sandwich Munchers - they didn?t say that when they were winning the League Cup 9 as it was called pre sponsorship !!
It might sound daft - but I would love us to win this trophy, as it would complete a " set" of domestic trophies for the Blues.
I was at all 3 matches against Villa in 1977 and as this is the first semi final we have been in since my Dad passed away in Feb 2002 I have to say I feel a bit emotional about it.
As I live in Branston near Lincoln I wont be able to be at Goodison tonight - I?ll be at a mates watching on Sky - another " exile" - there are a few of us here in the Lincoln area. I don?t know about anyone else but I am nervous already thinking about tonight !!!
It would be great if we could do it, personally I want to see our great club back in our rightful place being mentioned in the same breath as the likes of Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea etc. To do that we need to be challenging for trophies as well as a place in the Champions League.
After the many (it seems like it) seasons of looking at the bottom half of the table isn?t it great to see us so highly placed in the league where we belong!! I was at Goodison for the Wimbledon game in ?94 and Coventry in ?98 when we were in danger of going down. It?s great to see us in vital matches were a place in a final is at stake rather than a place in the actual division.
Win or lose tonight - and I fervently hope we win - I think we are on the way back as I think it was M People said we?re " Moving On Up" . COYB !!!

Erik Dols
7 Posted 23/01/2008 at 07:54:02

Obviously both. If I had a gun put to my head and I had to choose, I would choose the cup since it’s real silverware and we never won the Carling cup/League cup before. Even though I know the CL will earn us loads of cash and it would mean the RS miss out of that.

But if we play a good match tonight, with a roaring Goodison and eleven bravehearts on pitch, and it is just not good enough for whatever reason, and we end on 4th place in the league, I wouldn’t mind either. I just fail to see why we would have to choose, it’s only one extra game, a game at Wembley that could lift the spirits of our players and give them a morale boost in the league.

On game at a time. Tonight, we beat Chelsea. Tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, we’ll start thinking about the league again. COYB!

Carl Rimmer
8 Posted 23/01/2008 at 08:49:32

A mate of mine who is a United fan asked me this the other week. Trophy for defo. Too much is made of this Champions League, thats more about the money than glory.

Seamus Delaney
9 Posted 23/01/2008 at 09:22:20

Wish I had the confidence to think Everton could do to Chelsea Reserves what Spurs did to Arsenal’s second string last night. But Moyes and all our players have an inferiority complex when facing the big four and Moyes was at it again this morning singing Chelsea’s praises.Nobody will be happier than me if we do it but I’m not keeping the Final date free -just trying to imagine what misfortune will be responsible for yet another disappointment tonight.

Paul Lenehan
10 Posted 23/01/2008 at 09:39:07

Both!!

Sam Morrison
11 Posted 23/01/2008 at 09:53:15

I’ve got a crazy idea. Why don’t we judge this game on this game, not on the Oldham game, not on the North London derby, and not on the fact that you dislike David Moyes because (insert your own reason here) from the off and want the ground prepared for a good slagging later if we don’t win.

Meng Khuan
12 Posted 23/01/2008 at 10:06:16

And for a fan all the way from Malaysia, I can only hope and hopefully going to work tommorrow morning with a spring in my step. COYB

Ian Trickett
13 Posted 23/01/2008 at 10:36:04

Can anyone tell me what the problem is with Fernandes and Johnson. Fernandes especially as he hasn't kicked a ball for us yet. Has someone crocked him in training?

Mark Griffiths
14 Posted 23/01/2008 at 10:45:20

That cheeky bastard Grant!!

He reckons that we are a small club and understands what it is like to want to win a trophy when you are a small club as he did it with Hopi Tel-Aviv or whatever they are called.

Who the fuck does he think he is, suddenly he becomes Chelsea manager and he is in charge of one of the greatest big clubs around??? I think NOT.

Before the Russians they had won hardly anything for years and EFC were and are a much bigger club than them!! They just happened to have bought the title in very very rfecent years!!!

If this is not another article to pin-up on the dressing roomn wall i do not kn ow what is!!!!!

COYB, lets rip them apart tonight, come on blue fans, lets sing and sing and sing and roar create a frightening noise for entire match tonight, because we are Everton FC and whilst we might not have had success to match them in the last few years we are 10 times the club they are!!!!

Erik Dols
15 Posted 23/01/2008 at 08:17:02

Andrew Johnson, Leon Osman, Tony Hibbert and Manuel Fernandes are all faacing a 'fitness test' to determine if they are available for tonight's game. Now normally when I read that sort of sentence before a European game/cup game at whatever club I think 'so the manager wants to rest some of his hot shots for the league!'. It's the same kind of 'small injuries' that loads of players have at the time when international friendlies are scheduled. I never believe it.

Could it be that Moyes already accepted that we won't make it to Wembley or that he has chosen the league as his priority, with Liverpool seemingly dropping points due to off-pitch unrest and thereby the fourth place up for grabs?

Come on Dave! One game at a time, remember? Give us something to be proud of!

Oh, and for those quick to point out that Johnson and Osman are not really our hot shots, with Yakubu and Pienaar away, I think you can consider them as such. Fernandes needs to show his class of last season but without a doubt could be earmarked hot shot. That leaves Hibbert, well? Let's save that discussion for another day.

I really, really hope they all play some part in tonight's game, I really hope Johsnon and Osman are in the starting eleven (and I would love to see Fernandes as well and think Hibbert can do a decent job in these sort of matches as well), just to assure me that Dave is not sacrificing the cup? I can't believe he would do such a thing! Let's hope I'm totally wrong. If so: I apologize to you, Mr Moyes!

Alex Foxx
16 Posted 23/01/2008 at 12:03:03

Erik, This is arguably the most important game of Moyes? career. He has said - ?we are fixated by it and we know what is waiting if we can get a result.?

So I think it?s fair to say he won?t be sacrificing the cup.

We?re missing some players, but we?ve got Goodison behind us. Chelsea?s stars won?t know what hit them. COYB!

Gareth Cooper
17 Posted 23/01/2008 at 12:12:53

With all the ?squad draining? previous rounds of the Carling Cup gone, I don?t think that the possible two games left will detract from our CL push. We should be thinking of both, and I believe Moyes is.

I was disappointed with the FA Cup result, and again I think Moyes wanted to do well there too, but perhaps sacrificed a few too many players. It is a shame, but could come as a slight blessing in disguise.

Don?t forget we still have the Uefa Cup as a possible trophy source this season too. This may ultimately be more disruptive to the league progress, but would be a huge tornament too win, and would kick start our status as a big team in Europe.

We are still in 3 competitions and I for one want them all, not a pick of which one only. I think this season ?more than any other for 20 years ? that is our team and manager's outset too.