COLUMNIST KEN BUCKLEY
From My Seat: Liverpool (H)
Comments (40) : Third loss in a row at home and to our dark side cousins made it all the harder to bear.
In a first half that saw what was really a stalemate saw Hibbert thrown in at indecent short notice to release Neville to operate in midfield. Yet I thought his introduction steadied our back line and our one time reluctant target Riera was nullified.
Although Liverpool dominated for most of the half Cahill was guillty of the miss of the match after less than fifteen minutes from an Arteta corner.
The half continued with the Red half looking the most likely but in truth neither keeper was unduly troubled.
Ref. Riley did his best to keep the atmosphere high with constant whistleing but the half time whistle signalled a damp squib and the half time chat was that we needed to score first to have a chance.
The second half started in the same fashion but you had the sense it was Liverpool who had come out the sharper and five minutes in Torres had a weak shot at Howard and within seconds Gerrard had a shot just wide that had beaten Howard.Danger signs posted.
Ten minutes in and you could see Hibbert,after a very good shift in the circumstances, was spent and I thought the manager would change it.
He didn't and on the hour mark we paid for it when Hibbert found Arteta with nowhere to go and he lost the ball and the resultant build up saw the totally anonimous Keane cross for the criminally unmarked Torres to sweep home.
Still the manager didn't change it and three minutes later Kuyt was put through only for a great tackle from Jags to halt him but the loose ball squirmed to Torres again unmarked and close to goal and he netted with ease.
Add to this a Torres strike within minutes ruled out by Ref. Riley which seemed harsh.
In the whole of the second half we barlely threatened but in the last fifteen minutes we saw it all. Both Yak and Fellaini failed to connect with a Lescott cross when it seemed easier to connect than miss.
Cahill sent off what from my seat seemed recklessness and disreguard for the ref.plus a corker of a shot from Saha just wide.
Reina wont get a quieter afternoon and considering the fire power at our disposal speaks volumnes.
What can you say about our afternoon? We were beaten by a better team especially in the mental toughness sense and it left me wondering what the hell has gone wrong.
Without going over old and well trodden ground I hope Mr Moyes, Mr Kenwright and the whole board have a good look at themselves and reflect on why they could not build from last May on what we had got until the panic of August end.
DK acknowledged, surely on field activities take some priority!
I believe Mr Kenwright to be a true Blue but if he is unable to give the fans just a little clue as to why we are in this position of weakness from a position of strength then I fear perception will run riot and everything from Chairman to teamaker will be blamed and maybe some of them unjustly.
After today's performance I don't envy the managers job in somehow getting a balanced outfit to compete in our upcoming fixtures considering the unbalance in the very heart of the team but as he has said before 'We go with what we have got'
I think we have to accept we are weeks behind where we would like to be and the consequence of this.
So it's scrap and hope on Thursday and then look forward to what should be a corker the following Sunday when two clubs in turmoil battle it out. It is a little early in the season to have opposing fans singing 'Going down going down' but I hope the ditty wasn't lost on the club management.
Just maybe we will have a strong second half to the season when and if the squad gain some understanding but the feeling of catch up and the reasons for it will stick in many a throat.
So SL Thursday and yes, of course, we can win it.... Can't we?
UP THE BLUES
Reader 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
Most of us recognise that this has been a difficult start of the season but know enough about our manager to be confident that ere long the ship will be in less stormy waters. Given all the difficulties with new signings, long-term injuries and international players on extended summer leave it was always going to be difficult to hit the ground running. Davey has bred a team of stayers and we shall again be comfortably top ten come May.
The debacle that was our transfer action over the summer has caused this. We had no new players in for the season kick off and ended up with another last minute panic buy session! The reason the window opens in July is to allow players to bed in.
As for comfortably finishing in the top 10, we finished 5th last year. A drop of 4 to 5 places is not acceptable!
I must say that I am terribly nervous now! Even teams like Hull & Stoke (with due respect) are putting in performances against teams like Arsenal & Liverpool.
Where are we going to get the points from?
We didn?t test their defence until we were two down and Saha came on.
Liverpool won that without trying.
Thought Jags did well with Torres mostly and in fact setup Torres for number 2 with a great tackle but it fell kindly to the once again unmarked Torres.
Not a chance in Liege because we have to keep a clean sheet. Moyes will go 4-5-1 again and hope for a goal from a set-piece.
When we attacked, Yak was often 10-15 yards ahead of his team mates with three RS defenders around him. No support and very little chance of doing anything positive before losing possession again. There was a lack of mobility in the team too, so that Yak remained alone throughout with no support: we attacked slowly, never sought to hit them on the break, passed sideways because nobody in the middle made quick forward runs...
So amidst a whelter of problems and deficiencies, I suppose I would concentrate on passing technique. Then again, at this level surely that should already be present?
Now then, what was it that AJ said in his interview last week about the passing culture at Fulham compared to Everton?
The same team of stayers that run out of gas at Easter last season?
The whole stadium ? with the exception of our manager ? knew a RS goal was imminent yesterday, we were on the rack and were desperate for changes.
I still can't believe he allowed things to continue until we were two down and out of it.
Moyes's tactic of just one spearhead in a home game against the other mob was an embarrassment and deserving of a white feather.
Why leave Saha sitting on the bench, surely we should have started the game with 2 strikers and maybe something positive could have eventuated? At worst we concede a couple of goals and go down which happened anyway, and in my opinion was always the most likely outcome given the tactics Moyes employed.
Surely there is more benefit for all involved if a game is lost having made a visible attempt to try and WIN the game. Why compound the obvious lack of confidence in the team by sitting back and defending grimly at home in the derby and playing for a goaless draw? That's hardly the way to kick-start a season, and puts us in an even worse mindset for Standard Liege.
If we are to have any chance against Liege we’ve got to bring in Baines for Osman. With the addition of two new central midfielders I thought I’d never see Neville play there again he was simply awful. What on earth does Moyes see in this approach if he continues with this he will fast lose any credibility that he still has.
For all the problems off the pitch, the buck stops with Moyes for that display. 6½ years on and we are back to where we started under Smith.
If he has the balls for the job he should sort out the left-back position first. Teams are stopping Lescott from going forward. Give Baines a proper chance and decide on the 2 centre backs, then play 4-4-2. Did we actually have a extra midfielder yesterday? Really? What a joke!
Was it just me or does anyone else agree Fellaini wouldn?t challenge for a header or a 50/50 and at 6?4" he has to be winning everything.
For £15M we need to see a lot more from him. We are told he is a box-to-box player - Let's hope he just needs time to settle in.
If we lose on thurs night, our season is basically over and we?re only just into October! Very depressing.
I thought defensively we were better this week and as Ken says, you could attribute some of it to Hibbert returning (or maybe Neville playing the holding roll?), but what next? We need to play 2 up top, Saha and Yak. Please, please... before season is over!
Losing a derby match is never nice but it was the way we lost it, no fight, no shots on target, nothing to get excited about. Liverpool are not a great side but they do have Carragher, Gerrard and Torres, three players that can win a game for the team in a matter of minutes, and it seems that they no longer consider Everton as a threat, even in one-off matches.
Why can?t Everton attract major investment and major players? Manchester City are now no longer in the shadows of United because of major backers and although money cannot guarentee success, it would help the manager at least make an attempt at bringing in the kind of players that could lift the club up another level.
We are not kidding ourselves on here, we know that Everton are never going to win the Premier League in the next 5 or 10 years but a Cup Final appearance now and again would be nice and more European football would be great, the manager has given us that and we were unfortunate against Villarreal ? a so-called top referee made sure of that!
Everton are due some luck in Europe and although everything points in the favour of a Standard win, just maybe the players owe the fans a big performance, just make sure the eleven that wear the shirt on Thursday night do so with pride and give the fans and the manager a performance to be proud of! It could make or break our season.
I blame Kenwright for the nonesense in the summer; however, he doesn't coach the players.
How on earth can a coach be worth £3.5m a year or whatever he?s getting when he can't coach international footballers to pass the ball 10 yards to a team mate? FFS I learnt that when I was 12!!! The players haven't got a clue what to do, the tactics are shite and I put all this down to the inept muppet standing in our dugout. If we lose on Thursday he has to go.
Its outrageously poor team selection, our best player for the last 2 or 3 games Castillo was overlooked for Neville in midfield; very, very poor David. What is wrong with you, can't you see what thousands of us can?
Disappointed and upset.
Hibbert is not good enough and never will be. Why keep making the same mistake? He cant head the ball, doesnt even compete in the air, cant pass and his positional sense is terrible.
Yakubu cant play upfront on his own, he is a lazy bastard! He?s quality, scores goals for fun, but doesn?t hold the ball up, run or win headers.
Arteta has to play centre midfield, he?s class and has to be the man to run the team... why do we keep playing him out wide, it's wasting him.
It was depressing watching the game, and it was also predictable. As soon as you saw the team, you knew what was going to happen....
We shoulda gone with a 4-4-2 and taken the offence to them. Thought we did pretty ok in the 1st half... except for that Cahill miss. Fellaini needs to look more active if he doesn't wants to keep starting games. Ossie was his usual flimsy self and Arteta couldnt clear the first man from the corners. Thought Hibbo did pretty well in the 1st half. We really shoulda had Castillo in there for Ossie... maybe Baines on the left side of midfield till Peanuts gets back.
I have been a staunch Moyes fan over the last 6+ years and I don't doubt that he has brought us a long way with limited resources but his tactics and attitude are now reaching extremely scary limits. Can we beat Liege away? Unlikely but not impossible... COYB
The worrying signs for me, are:
1) Moyes hasn?t signed a new contract and the signals it sends the players. Moyes is a proud and principled man (look at how he handles the Rooney libel case) he is not gonna say the problems that exist, but by not signing the contract he is, in effect telling us there are problems and a lack of investment is the main one.
2) the lack of passion yesterday from the players.
3) the lack of movement once a player passed the ball.
4) with the benefit of hindsight 4-5-1 was not a good move. Maybe with Cahill banned for 3 matches it will force Moyes?s hand to play 4-4-2 with Saha up front with the Yak.
5) I?m sorry to say, I no longer trust a word from BK! He will only sell when we move to Kirby, because he is guaranteed a massive pay-off. He should sell now for what he bought the club for and let a big investor find us a ground in Liverpool.
This game raised more questions than answers. Why did Castillo sit it out? Why was Yak left as the sole striker (and he did struggle) while Saha sat out most of the game. I have always been a big fan of Davey but what is he thinking about? (has he picked the right assistant?).
I can’t finish this without having a go at Riley. Before the game I said to my missus - "Why do we get such crap refs for the derby games. This one is ruined for us before it starts". True to the end.
Frustrated completely!!
COYB
I don?t know who we could get that would be better than D Moyes if he was to leave or get the sack, and I am grateful for what he has done for the club this last 6 yrs or so... BUT he is very negative in his team selection and, although BK has let him down in transfer funds, Moyes picks the players he wants to sign & the team on the pitch.
I agree with those who reckon that Fellenia was a panic buy,certainly not in the £15m bracket from what i?ve seen... You could tell on Saturday after 10 mins that we were not at the races. And when the manager cannot get the players up for a home derby, the signs are not good...
In January, Moyes said we were ?a few players short?. Now we are even more players short. His job is to find players and sell them the benefits of playing for this club. He hasn?t done it. Kenwright?s job is to put in money and/or sell this club to potential investors. He hasn?t done it.
You can make all the excuses you want. In any other business, this result would be regarded as failure, incompetence and dereliction of duty. Why do other clubs get investors and do deals with their local authorities while we don?t?
Why do other managers of clubs with poorer records than ours persuade good young English players to play for them and we don?t?
If we haven?t got ?money? , how come we found includes someone capable of actually sealing some of these deals we will continue to think and act like the small-minded relegation-avoiding outfit that Moyes and Kenwright had allegedly led us away from being.
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment to Column articles, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
1 Posted 28/09/2008 at 09:16:24
Report abuse