The Mail Bag
Good luck to the Baggies
Comments (9)
Well, I've always hated West Brom for the cup final in '68 (even though I wasn't even born back then) but after reading this I hope Mowbray does well. If he does, it will show you what a lack of ambition Moyes has (you can play good football and stay in the league), and if he does badly (highly likely) then it confirms my feelings that football is utterly fucked.
Iain McWilliam, Posted 30/04/2008 at 19:24:58
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2 Posted 01/05/2008 at 09:14:43
To me, being a manager of Everton is a question of getting the balance right between playing attractive football and effective football. I think Moyes has yet to get this balance right and I don't think he instills enough confidence or belief into the players (in terms of skill, not work ethic) to allow them to express themselves.
But the impression I am getting now is that most Evertonians don't care how we play, it's just results that matter.
3 Posted 01/05/2008 at 11:04:12
4 Posted 01/05/2008 at 12:08:36
It is a case of getting the balance right; unfortunately I would argue with the players Moyes has bought so far to improve the squad: they are not, in the majority, technical ball players more a humdrum of hard-working lads who can play a bit. Hopefully we can continue to improve the squad bit by bit until we are able to attract or accomodate those ball players that we desire.
5 Posted 01/05/2008 at 12:30:46
Players such as Carsley and Johnson have become particular targets for ciriticism. Anyone see Carsley?s cross for our second goal last week ? Johnson?s pass for the third goal vs Portsmouth ? if it had been Joe Cole, Lampard or Ronaldo it would have been described by the media as a sublime pass ? but cos it was AJ it?s a "hopeful ball/punt".
Presumably had this bunch of " humdrum hard working lads" made it to the Uefa Cup Final you would have tried for a ticket, Mark? Funny considering we are so humdrum as you say then we didn?t do to badly in Europe did we? I wonder if the players and the coach of Fiorentina came under any criticism back home in Italy for only eliminating such a humdrum team by means of a penalty shoot out!!
It?s not the team that?s humdrum, Mark ? it?s supporters like you.
6 Posted 01/05/2008 at 12:45:32
While they might not have the budget of Real Madrid or Barcelona, they have been bankrolled by a local businessman to the tune of millions (he also re-built their ground for them).
Wondered how when we played them they had Juan Roman Riquelme and Juan Pablo Sorin playing for them? How about Belletti, Forlán, Nihat, Mathias Fernandez et al? All expensive (predominantly South American) acquisitions. If you haven’t heard of Fernandez yet, you will do.
In fact, World soccer recently quoted Robert Pires (sorry can’t find a link) as saying "they pay me extremely well". Now if we paid ’extremely well’, wouldn’t we have some more of those very talented players to choose Newcastle etc over us in the last few years?
Sorry to say it, but there’s simply no comparison. Money makes it all nowadays.
7 Posted 01/05/2008 at 13:19:03
It is a little all over the show, you can play well and stay in the league.....I certainly hope Moyes has more ambition than staying in the Premier League and as Chris states Mowbray has chosen the wrong team for his ideals.
8 Posted 01/05/2008 at 13:39:37
I think we all care about the quality of football we are watching. I just have a belief that David Moyes like Tony Mowbray also wishes for Everton to play quality football. Some of the stuff we played earlier this season was fabulous, though the performances have dropped of late due to the absence of key players.
If offered a choice of occasional shitty performances and a top 6 finish every season and knocking it round on the deck every week and fighting relegation, I would take the top 6 finish every time.
I don?t expect the WBA fans to enjoy their team's flowing football too much next year when they are getting trounced every week.
9 Posted 01/05/2008 at 15:08:58
Tony, like I said earlier, I don't deny Moyes has ambition to succeed but I don't believe he will ever produce a team that will play better football than they are now. It's obviously the basis of his success, he has bought hard-working players to play in a hard-working team. A very pragmatic/reaslistic approach to getting this club a bit of success... but after a while clubs learn how to keep you at bay (like Sheff Wed and Wimbledon in the 80/90s).
Let's hope Moyes finds a few creative players in the summer...
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1 Posted 01/05/2008 at 08:13:04
In actual fact I fail to see the difference between the comments made by Tony Mowbray and similar comments made by David Moyes throughout his tenure.
I too wish Tony Mowbray and WBA the best of luck but I don?t see why you are striving to use his comments as a stick with which to beat our fantastic manager.