ToffeeWeb - Season 2007-08

The Mail Bag

Deja Vu?

The much maligned Beattie, Johnson and now Yakubu are ploughing the same lone furrow. When opponents cottoned on to our simplistic inflexible style, goals dried up for JB and AJ and the same will inevitably happen to Yakubu.

To be successful, the loner up front desperately needs assistance from a box to box goal poacher like Tim Cahill. He draws defenders and that gives Yakubu the inch of room he needs to do the business. Until Cahill is fit Moyes should go for broke and play two or even three up front. Action should also be taken with a few sacred cows that are wasting space in our midfield.
Dick Fearon, West Australia Posted 01/04/2008 at 00:07:54

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Neil Scott
1 Posted 01/04/2008 at 03:40:26

Dick - please explain how Moyes is supposed to play 2 or 3 up front when all our strikers are injured!
Until then the only option is the Yak by himself but with more support from Mikel and Osman.

Neil Scott
2 Posted 01/04/2008 at 03:43:31

If you read the following link, Moyes explains why and where it went wrong and what he tried to do to support the Yak.

http://www.teamtalk.com/football/story/0,16368,2483_3370158,00.html

In Moyes we Trust!

Jason Lam
3 Posted 01/04/2008 at 05:44:34

I agree with the article in that even if we had AJ and co available Moyes would have played 4-5-1 anyway. We have to be 2 goals down in a second leg to really go for. Didn’t we have Vaughan and Anichebe available for the Carling semi 2nd leg? Oh that was just 1 goal down.

It went as far back as Marcus Bent.

Tony Williams
4 Posted 01/04/2008 at 08:53:52

What a load of twaddle, is this the same Johnson who has only played about 50% of games and almost got to double figures, is ths the Yak who scored less than two games ago.

As said above, how can we play 2 or even 3 (Give me strength) up front when we only have one forward fit?

John Welsby
5 Posted 01/04/2008 at 08:50:30

In times of great pressure Moyes generally tends to revert to 4-5-1 despite who’s available. I think this is his major failing despite me being pro-Moyes

It’s a shame

Tony Williams
6 Posted 01/04/2008 at 09:05:55

Reverts?

The 4-5-1 is his initial formation, he reverts to 4-4-2 when it is not working, which has only been a handful of games this season.

Davey Militwitch
7 Posted 01/04/2008 at 09:07:44

Problem lies with midfield, its as simple as that. If you create chances for Yakubu on his own, he will score 9 times out of ten. If you cannot keep hold of the the ball, let alone pass it you will lose 9 times out of ten.
We should have learned enough lessons by now to understand that Neville should not be drafted in as extra cover in midfield.
My formation would have gambled with Fernandes instead from the start, Hibbert dropped and Neville slotting in.
Although even then the result would not have been guaranteed, at least we would have given some sign of endeavour.

Joe McMahon
8 Posted 01/04/2008 at 10:15:04

I would love to see Gianfranco Zola as Moyes No 2. Some one with an attacking flair idea’s that could balance Moyes - Defend at ALL costs, bring on ALL substitutions when it’s too fucking late with 10 minutes to go attitude.

Mark Griffiths
9 Posted 01/04/2008 at 11:45:19

The way we are playing I cannot see us getting 11 points, I think it is more like 8 and I have looked at Portsmouth?s fixtures and to be honest with Defoe banging them in, I can see them getting 12 points at least which would put us level on points and it would only take pompey to thrash someone to get them near us on GD, so to be honest I think we need to concentrate on getting 5th.

With regards to our recent performances, it is clear that injuries are really playing their part now and as many of us (including myself a number of times) pointed out at the start of the season, our squad is not big enough and does not contain enough quality to get 4th and it could well be the difference in us getting a Uefa Cup spot.

I really hope Moyes has his eyes on some big players in the summer and more than that, BK will back him.

I have hummed and harred about certain players this season but enough is enough now, HIbbert, Neville, Carsley Must go!!!! They are not good enough for anymore, not if we want to keep up with the likes of Tott, Portsmouth, Villa and maybe even Newcastle and Man City next season.

As for one up front, yeah it seems to me that it only works with Cahill and I am getting worried about this 5th spot now.

Mark Griffiths
10 Posted 01/04/2008 at 11:47:15

Sorry my above post may be slightly off topic as I pasted it to this thread by mistake. But the bulk of it applies.

Tony Stonem
11 Posted 01/04/2008 at 12:24:26

Arshavin is exactly the type of player we need, he?s quality too.

Dick Fearon
12 Posted 01/04/2008 at 12:59:09

Three up front from available players, certainly.
backline: Neville, Yobo, Jags, Lescoth.
Midfield: Carsley, Osman, Baines.
Strikers: Pienarr, Yakubu, Arteta.
If fit, Victor to replace Pienarr.
I guess it comes down to whether you are happy with the current wretched line up.
Or perhaps with a bit of radical thinking we could still aim for 4th spot.
IMO any combination could hardly do worse than what has recently been on show..

Tony Williams
13 Posted 01/04/2008 at 13:26:23

"crack"ing name aswell ;-)

Dave Lynch
14 Posted 01/04/2008 at 14:12:48

Dick.
We know you won’t be happy untill your precious Timmy is back.
But he is out for the rest of the season. Get over it.
Give it a rest, we have what we have so let’s concentrate on that for now.

James Marshall
15 Posted 01/04/2008 at 14:22:04

Apart from the obvious miss of Cahill, we miss AJ massively - his movement creates so much space for the rest of our attacking players yet goes unnoticed by many Evertonians. Does anyone know when he’s likely to be back playing or is that him done for the season?

Nick Toye
16 Posted 01/04/2008 at 15:37:57

Err... shall I say it?

Pienaar isn’t a striker he’s a midfielder. Arteta isn’t a striker he’s a midfielder. They are both light weight. Moyes has thrown the big men up to add some height and weight to the front line. Not ideal, but given the luck with injuries and the lack of balls to bring through a youth player - we have no choice.

Mark Pendleton
17 Posted 01/04/2008 at 16:56:23

Look, if Cahill is fit then Moyes tends to play 4-5-1 as that’s the best use of our players. Or he’ll play AJ up with the Yak dependent on the opposition. Our hand was forced, we couldn’t play two up front on Sunday and there’s no-one as effective as Cahill for playing the link role. There’s no big need to panic, we know we need another Cahill type of player and we’re rarely ever going to be without as many strikers again.

Jeff Magee
18 Posted 01/04/2008 at 17:41:35

?Liverpool were lucky to be playing a team so short of staff at such a critical juncture. But without Champions League football, Moyes will never have the resources to compete with his neighbours. Right now in the European city of culture, there is no question that fourth place is what counts.?

www.telegraph.co.uk/jwhite

To all the doom mongerers I feel that the above pretty much sums up why we lost on Sunday - we can argue all day and night about Moyes tactics etc etc - how good would RS be without Torres and Gerard and with Big Bird Crouch (who I think has improved since he went to the RS) and all other strikers (Kuyt not included) injuered?

Anthony Newell
19 Posted 01/04/2008 at 20:44:37

No shit sherlock but look back to the second leg of the CC second leg at home (a must win game) amongst many others and you will realise that 4-4-2 is definitely not on the agenda. I believe in horses for courses but it’s plainly obvious to me that Johnson or Yakubu need support. 4-4-2 is no use when it’s employed on 70 minutes when your already a goal down. Like I have already said, Villa and Spurs can go to Anfield and be confident enough to play 4-4-2 yet we can’t - why is that? - because our manager prefers safety first