From my seat: Fulham (H)

As per usual Ken, a great read. Thanks

Just shows what a poor league it is outside the top 4. We have been absoloutley awful this season yet we're lying in 7th position. I wouldn?t be too encouraged or optimistic about moving further up the table, we had a decent 30 mins against Man Utd and too very awful performances in the last two. A decent midfield will still over run ours any day. The summer fiasco still stand out in my mind and is just purely papering over the cracks!!

Good accurate report again, Ken. I’m wondering how we can have several of our senior players looking so out of form at once. Lescott, Arteta, and Yobo all looke really tentative, as if they have almost zero confidence. The Yak looks relatively disinterested and at about 70% pace and Tim Cahill looked yesterday like he was suffering from a hangover. Peinaar looked quite ordinary yesterday as well.

Another angst is ...... for some years now we’ve looked like we don’t know how to defend against crosses. Is this a technical training staff issue because we’ve tried enough players in defence?

OK, that’s all the "what’s going on" stuff. At least we got 7 from 9 for the week. If we can do that while we’re playing so badly, let’s look forward to when we start to play together as a team in form again.
COYB

My hope is that with a run of winning games and keeping clean sheets the confidence of the players will return and in doing so the performances will improve.

Not with you on the Yak, Bob ? I thought he worked hard today. And I think that, whilst he has a couple more to go, Fellaini has shifted up a gear of late. Two further points from me. First, Tim Cahill missed several that he would usually have put away with ease. Had he done so the game would have taken on an entirely different complexion. Secondly, Pienaar was, I thought, simply not of Premier League class. I?ve never seen what many see in him. For mine, he just flits about without producing useful outcomes (at least Jimmy Mac had the odd entertaining trick) and is outmuscled at every challenge.

If we can ship him in January, bite their hand off. For mine, the main cause of our malaise is being constantly drilled in midfield and that?s primarily because 3 of the 5 are lightweights (Arteta, Osman and Pienaar).

Yusuf, your right, confidence has been lacking and we have looked pretty fearful, moving up the table should change that.
Bob, I don?t think theYak is disinterested; he has a laid back demeanour but in my view is the best striker we?ve had in the Moyes era by miles. I think he?s a confidence player who needs an arm round the shoulder. Unfortunately, Davey Moyes has never struck me as an 'arm round the shoulder' sort of guy. Still, he?s stood by the Yak so far.

Steve Carter,

People rate Pienaar because he?s a good player. He?s positive, he gets on the ball and he makes things happen.

He was our most creative midfielder last season, 14 assists all from open play. He?s a good player and he works his socks. He covers the most ground in our team. FACT.

Liverpool were poor early in the season an getting results, today they played well and lost, it happens.

Pundits say it's what great sides do: grind out results even when playing badly. Every team plays badly at some stage why should we be any different.

Just give it a rest, I'm sure the performances will happen soon when Moyes brings the right balance to the side.

Good post Ken but no mention of Neville? As I saw it, he did little wrong today. I guess that earns him a respite from the usual voracious criticism of his input.

Well great article as always, especially the point made on celebrations being muted when Saha scored. I too didn’t celebrate as loudly as I used to. The ground was strangely quiet, where is the noise and cheers?

Pienaar was off with his passing, but he tried so let’s cut him some slack.

I thought when the game was crying out for something we should have brought on Baines for Lescott, they only had Davies on the right who wasn’t doing much and Baines is an excellent crosser of the ball, something which Lescott cannot offer and by then we had Saha and Cahill who are very strong in the air.

Fellaini taken off was strange as well, he looked our most threatening player in the box and Cahill was off the pace.

One thing I realised is that we were caught out too often, we had no Carsley inside and whenever Fulham cleared they could attack us 4 on 4, or something with Bullard in the centre. Carsley never went inside the penalty box but with Fellaini and Ossie we are having problems with counter attacks. Plus the fact the we don’t keep possession well, this puts even more pressure on ourselves. Moyes has to seriously look into getting Castillo in, if not buy Carsley back for a few million. Our defence has suffered without him.

Overall, we were crap, but we tried to play some football on the ground, and most importantly, 3 points.

I thought we were going to hammer them. We could have gone in at 4-0 and routed them in the 2nd half. Sadly all we had were half chances and a few headers wide of the target.

For me, Bullard was nothing special. Fellaini was the main man in the centre and only when he came off did we start to see Bullard play.

Osman must be replaced by Rodwell as the defensive midfielder. It?s ridiculous that he is there.

Still, 7 points from 3 games.

Steve - I’m a big fan of Pienaar. I really think he makes a big difference to the side. He balances up the midfield, taking some of the pressure off Arteta. The ball sticks with him and he can play himself out of tight spots, keeping possession, where our other midfielders except Arteta would lose the ball. Not to mention the way he creates chances (a la Ossie’s goal at Arsenal).

When we have Pienaar on the opposite flank to Arteta, it gives the opposition something to think about on both sides of the pitch, instead of just crowding Arteta out and stifling our creativity. It may not be the sole reason, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we’ve started picking up points since Pienaar came back.

I still feel that Baines is one of our best footballers and really does cross very well. He should be used in games against Fulham when his lack of height is less of a disadvantage. He could well be a decent midfield player and should be brought in when Pienaar, Cahill, Osman or Arteta are not doing it!! A lot of the EFC boys need shaking up as they seem to be able to get a game whenever they are fit without competition. BUT I know that so long as we get any sort of result DM will not change the team... even though we are playing diabolical football. :(

On a positive note yesterday - Howard, Jags, Neville, Fellaini, Pienaar & Osman made & looked as if they wanted to play (55%). Just need to try and get the rest to look as if they?re interested. Arteta went missing, Yak & Yobo must have their minds on the Nigerian games coming up, Lescott is totally lacking in confidence (reminds me of a schoolboy), Cahill seems to run around like a headless chicken at the moment.

Some will probably disagree with my assessment but, to me, this is what I see on the pitch.

Good article Ken.

To me Ken you hit the nail on the head with your words "unbalanced squad" . I thought for some time now that Arteta, Pienaar, Osman and also to some extent Fellaini are all tidy and neat type of players, all want to get forward and either supply the crosses or, in Fellaini's and to some extent Osman's case, get on the end of them in the box.

What we are crying out for is someone with "PACE". Our counter attacking is so slow it's painful to watch, we invariably always look to finally get the ball out wide for a cross, we never use on the ground passing directly into the box, the quick precise little balls between defenders ? as all the good teams do.

Moyes did try to get the Nigerian lad Obinna in and couldn?t get a permit, but we still are desperate to get someone in with pace in January. If we aren't successful in January, Villa will edge us this year I believe due to the likes of Young and Agbongalor.

In saying that I?m never sure the January signings have too much effect as it takes 3 months to settle.

I think our current form is still suffering from a hang-over from pre-season - this seems to be affecting concentration during periods of the game. Half the squad were injured, and new signings drafted in in the last week of the window. All the signings have taken time to settle and Fellaini has started to make a mark although I believe the boy is still very raw (bags of potential though). His passing, tackling and technique has a long way to improve but he does show a lot of desire.

And what we all suspected was that the contact situation cannot have helped. Since signing the deal, the results have turned (with a bunch of second-half goals...)

In terms of other players, both Cahill and Pienaar have been thrown in as soon as they recovered from injuries and I don?t think we will see the best from them for some time.

Ossie is apparently nursing an injury and all things considered should be applauded for the effort he has shown. Jags has been our player of the season and I can finally see the Howard of old.

However, my worries persist. Arteta is not a player we can build the side around. Even the captain?s armband has not lifted his performances. I was at the Emirates and he was consistently outmuscled by Denilson. Fabregas, who had a poor game according to Arsenal fans, was head and shoulders above him.

As for the other below par performers, I think Yobo may still be getting over his traumatic summer, whilst the Yak seems to have lost his spark in front of goal, perhaps the work load on him is taking its toll? Neville and Lescott ? well enough has been said about these players... it is a mystery why their performances have been so poor.

Lastly, the balance of the squad this season has shifted to youth ? how many players under 25? ? which is obviously a long-term bonus. However, in the short-term, some inconsistency is inevitable.

Consequently, it is extremely difficult to know what to make of the side ? 7th position is creditable after a traumatic start ? but then again it looks to be a fairly even league outside the top 3 with everyone able to beat everyone else. Whether this means the league is poor or very competitive can only be judged by how the sides fare in Europe. Based purely on our Uefa Cup exploit this season, it probably suggests the former...

Personally I think Arteta is piss poor and should be dropped from the squad based on his performances over the last 18 months which have been shite.
Why he has to take EVERY set piece is beyond me and his corners especially are atrocious.

It pisses me off the way he talks about getting into the Spain squad and how not being in a top four side could be holding him back... BOLLOCKS!!! He is not in the Spain squad or a top four team simply because he is not good enough but he acts as though he is doing Everton a favour by staying here. The guy has been a passenger for too long.

Andrew, I totally agree with you. Arteta has been awful for a long time and needs a spell on the bench. Cahill as well as he offers us nothing in a 4-4-2 formation. We need to play to Yak’s strengths which mean Saha or Vaughan alongside Yak, which means if Cahill is in the team, it has to be right Mid as he is not good enough in centre Mid.

Arteta getting into the Spain squad, what a joke! the way he is playing, he couldn’t even get into the Estonia squad!!!

"Steven Pienaar not of Premier League Class"! Get real Steve Carter. Pienaar brings great balance to the team and link-up play but cannot do it all on his own. The link-up play with Baines against Newcastle in the 1st half was fantastic, and despite some wayward passes yesterday he was still trying to create. Anyone else trying to do this?? Not to my knowledge.

What I would like to know is what happens at Finch Farm during the week? Do the defenders get told to lump the ball up-field? People have had a go at Fellaini since he arrived (and that whole article deserves another post at another time about how fickle fans are). Let?s break this down, he arrives from Standard Liege whom we have all seen first hand and who were a good footballing team who passed and moved. Yet he comes here and basically is by-passed in the midfield by our defenders lumping the ball forward. Are they told to do this by the coaching staff? If not then why are they continuing to do so?

Did anyone witness any movement yesterday when defenders / midfielders had the ball? I didn?t. There was one occasion in the 1st half when Yobo had the ball and Neville was 10 yards away in space and was asking for the ball and he just lumped it 50 yards up field and we lost possession, Neville berated him for it and rightly so. If a telling pass is not on, keep it simple. Don't we all get told this when we start playing, find your man with the same colour shirt as you have.

Football is about possession of the ball until the right moment comes along. Did anyone notice Man Utd lump it last week? Because they didn't, they played it from the back, even from goal kicks. These are the current English and European Champions, so surely they must be doing someting right. Yes, they have better players. But we also have good ball players, Arteta, Osman, Fellaini, Pienaar, yet time and again we go for the long ball option.

No wonder the Yak looks depressed, no goals in 8 or 9 is it now, did anyone notice a clear cut opportunity for him yesterday? A fine ball for him to run onto? Not saying it?s not his fault either cos obviously he needs to be making the space for the midfielders to hit as well.

So my question is what are they doing on the training pitch? Does Moyes and the coaching staff look at Arsenal? Man Utd? Even (dare I say it) Liverpool? I for one was not happy with the entertainment on display yesterday and yes I know points are all-important, but don?t we deserve better?

Can we honestly say we can see a David Moyes pattern of play emerging thru the club after 6 years? We have cried out for some entertaining football for years. (Yes I know last year we did it in fits and starts, but that is not good enough for me, before the invention of the Sky Premier League we were still the 2nd most successful club domestically in the English League... and now?)

School of Science? What would happen if OFSTED were to inspect our school today. Their findings may go a bit like this:

1. Leadership? ok but could improve from the very top downward. Clear leadership should be given to all, and the staff and pupils should know that the head teacher is committed fully (which, for four months or so, he was not.)

2. Teaching methods? Certainly need improving to get the best out of the pupils. Innovative new ideas should be tried (eg, passing it on the floor!!!)
3. Attitude of pupils? Not all seem to too happy with current environment. They should be encouraged to do more for the good of the school (not just make sound bites in the press about what we will do, - recent article from Arteta anyone?)

Otherwise, the School of Science which is rapidly losing its status in the football world, will disappear for ever.

Another dismal performance - I?ll take the 3 poiints but our luck is going to run out soon!!

I think Moyes has some difficult decisions to make. The team are better in a 4-1-4-1 formation with a true defensive midfielder and the rest of the midfield being allowed to break forward to support a lone striker. Fellaini, Ossie and Cahill cannot play the defensive midfielder role. This formation relies on the one still being a goal threat, good in the air and generally to chase and harry the defenders high up the field.

If Moyes wants to play this formation and let?s be honest, it has been the most successful for us over the past 5 years, he has to put Jack Rodwell in the defensive midfield role. He is the only midifelder we have to can handle this role. The problem is he is 17. That then means that one of Ossie, Tim or Fellaini cannot play in the centre. All are pretty untouchable in Moyes?s eyes and playing Tim as a striker in 4-4-2 is a waste as the centre half can pick him up and he is not dangerous at all. Fellaini and Tim are dangerous coming late and Ossie can create and score but again is a liability defensively. One of the 3 has to be left out.

Up front, Yak is misfiring badly as is Saha at the moment. Neither one hassles the defenders and closes down enough as well. Vaughan is the logical choice to have a run up front as the one. To make this change, Moyes will have to leave out Yak and Saha to the bench or worse and possibly upset his two most experienced strikers. This is another tough decision and would bring another youngster into the side in favour of a more established name.

Finally either Lescott or Yobo needs to sit on the bench for a while until they deserve to be back in!! Baines didn?t deserve to be dropped and he poses much more of an attacking threat than Lescott. Again difficult decision ? risk upsetting Joey or Lescott.

If Moyes makes the decisions that he should make, he will have a young team: Rodwell and Fellaini ? both under 21 ? in centre midfield, Vaughan aged 20 in attack. I think this is a real worry to Moyes as he likes experience but he has a big contract to make difficult decisions and he has to start to make them.

We must pick the formation that best suits us as a team and then select the team based on form in that formation. That is the best approach but Moyes will have a difficult man-management job to do with established players if he grasps the nettle!!

Although I'm happy with the 3 points and that we finally won a home game, I'm seeing more negatives than positives.

First off, we were playing Fulham, who (let's be honest) are a team that will struggle to finish 10th at best. The football again was like watching paint dry. Another game without a goal for Yakubu. 8 games without finding the back of the net as a centre forward is woeful and yet he's in the team every week. I wouldnt even mind if he offered anything else, but he is so lazy and bone idle.

Aside from the cross for Cahill?s sitter Arteta was totally ineffective. And speaking of Cahill, why change things just to accommodate him? Sitter aside, he offered nothing, and I'm starting to wonder if he's a nuisance to the side. Can't argue with his goal record but he can only play in a 5-man midfield and that's the problem. As silly as it sounds, I think he may have become a liability to the side if we want to progress in terms of attractive football. And with Fellaini now starting to score a few maybe we dont need to rely on Cahill.

Osman for man of the match... are you kidding me? I'm shocked he put in a good cross, because that aside, he was lost again. However, on the upside Jajielka had another fine game, and even Neville and Howard are starting to play well.

With 7 points from 3 games and a couple of clean sheets now hopefully we can push up the league. Although, given the inconsistency shown by most teams, I wouldn't be too optimistic but you never know. And best of all The shite got beat, so it was a good day. COYB FTRS

Fellaini hit the post in the first half, not on the hour mark Mr Buckley...

Pay attention...

Ken, Thanks for your great reports, saving me having to buy newspapers full of Red Shite bias. What I have have seen of the Blues so far this term is we are seriously missing Lee Carsley.

James, the Yak is in the team every week because he?s the only player at Everton who wouldn?t look out of place in any of the top four. He gets abysmal service and in a decent side he?d be the top scorer in the Premier. We?ve had plenty of willing workhorses but the Yak is a luxury that we must afford.

Agree with Andy about the Yak. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed Pip making more of an effort to play the ball out of defence when possible.

Andy, I have to disagree about Yakubu being a luxury we need. Everton are not good enough to have luxury players. Everyone must be working tirelessly and that is something Yakubu never offers. I believe James Vaughan deserves a run in the team as he puts in hard effort, and also is superior to Yakubu in the air and his goals per mins record is very good. You can blame poor service but the fact is Yakubu offers nothing to the team when he's not scoring and with 8 goaless games I'd say it's time he were dropped. He's lazy and bone idle and, as I said before, Everton aren't good enough to have luxury players.

Good point, Ken, about us only being 1 point off this time last year ? also, we?ve played 4 of the currently placed top 6 ? none of those above us can say that. So I for one am staying optimistic and if we keep beating those below us, and snatching an odd point from teams above us (and with a lot of luck) we can have another good season ending.

Kev

You?re right to some extent , but unfortunately we dropped 6 pts against Blackburn and Pompey at our place, which will be dificult to pick up.

Our rise further up will depend on us taking 4 or 6 pts off Villa, and (the way they are playing) taking 3 pts off Arsenal at Goodison.

Can any of those people who think Cahill can play in a 4-4-2 please explain what he did on Saturday? Osman was also rubbish, and Pienaar couldn?t pass the ball to one of his own.

All in all a pathetic performance not helped by the ridiculous tactical changes and starting line-up from Moyes. What exactly does Baines need to do to keep his place? Change his name to Neville? or Lescott? or Jags?

ps: Contrary to the above comments, I though Yobo was outstanding, especially in the first half.

Ciarán,

I agree with what you say about the midfield and regarding Yobo. He’s starting to show the form we are used to.

Moyes’s tactical changes and starting line up? I’ve got to say I agreed with what he put out. Cahill started from the bench. Take off Felliani as he is banned for the next game and we need to be able to give Cahill some minutes on the pitch. Then in the last 20mins - we are at Home. It’s Bolton so DM put on 3 fresh strikers.

If any other manager threw a sub on and he got the winner the papers would say that is good tactical awareness.

Blues fans are all too quick to get the knives out for DM as far as tactics go. Well we can’t shout "panic buy" anymore re: Felliani. We can’t shout Saha is a "has been" anymore. So what can we have a go at DM about.....

Barry,

Cahill didn?t start ?from the bench?...he started the game on the pitch..

But to be honest, we were playing a 4-5-1 so that didn't concerned me too much at that stage..what concerned me most was Lescott out of position ( in Baines position)... and Osman playing in what seemed to be a defensive midfield role...

Just when you think Moyes can?t make any new mistakes he does that.

To suggest the changes were ?good tactical awareness? is fanciful ? Cahill should never have been left on the pitch after switching to a 4-4-2 and certainly not after switching to a 4-3-3!

CORRECTION:
that was meant to say Cahill started from the bench against Bolton. But had to come into the team to give him minutes on the pitch.

Ciarán

Sorry - didn’t get my correction in in time!

In normal circumstances 4-5-1 is not good at home to Fulham. But after playing so poorly at Bolton a couple of changes were needed.

Cahill is important to our team. So is Arteta. Unfortunately our squad is so thin that we cannot replace either with anything of quality. However both are playing poorly at the moment.

Not bad though. Moyes makes all these "mistakes" but we still get 7pnts from 3 games.... I’ll bet most teams wish they had such a piss poor manager.....

You could say that Moyes has assembled a squad of players that just dont work as an effective attacking unit no matter what combination he puts out or you could say maybe he is the reason why a squad of reasonably talented players just arent being allow to play to their full attacking potential.

James Boden, you are right: we can't afford any luxury players at Everton. So why does Arteta not get dropped? After all, he is the man responsible for feeding the Yak but, for the last 18 months, he can't beat the first man at a corner.

Just like to nominate Steve Carter for the "most inept comments of the week" competition. There are few other candidates but Steve?s a clear winner for me.
Well done Steve.

You can not play a decent passing game without movement. Any attempt to play decent football with a statue up front will mean midfield players are forced to go sideways or play it back it becomes football without purpose - sound familiar ?

When a team low on confidence has no get out (or purpose), the man in possession starts to panic, the whole team starts to look uncomfortable in possesion of the ball, no one wants it. Before you know it, the team resorts to hoofball.

Ken, you do a great service to this forum with your reports. Thanks and well done again. I think you?ve called it pretty much as it is. Only (very minor) observation is that you cite "loss of form" as one of the risks to us remaining high in the table. What form would that be? :-)

Despite the myopic musings of Richard Dodd, we are unarguably treading water at best this season. After 14 games we have played one good half of footy (ManU). Out of 2 cups, playing dreadful football with no pattern, no confidence, so system, no style. It?s painful for us Evertonians but it?s even more painful for neutrals (turgid & tedious seem to be the bywords for Everton games).

Sadly there?s clearly one main culprit for this, namely our highly rewarded manager. With a face like a smacked arse since the end of last season, he has left a trail of misery, uncertainty, no confidence and no style within the squad. Surely it can only get better, but we have missed a massive opportunity this season and it isn?t all down to Kenwright not having the funds. Seems to me he was aiming to high for too long (Moutinho) and took him until deadline day to get real.

On the upside I am a big fan of Fellaini and had no doubt he would show after settling in. How ironic that he?s now carrying the team!! The Baines situation is just mad. Without him we lack width, pace and attacking potential. Most of us will have noted how potent the best teams are on counter attack & they score so many goals that way. No coincidence that we are crap in this regard and will remain so whilst Moyes leaves out the players that could give us an edge.

Reasons to be cheerful? I can think of only 3, Fellaini, Jagielka and Howard?s return to form.

Ciarán McGlone:

Hadn?t expected to agree with you, but you?re on the button with this one and Cahill was invisible. I just wonder (or despair) what on earth our boys are doing in training. We have been flat since end of last season. We?ll have to agree to disagree on Kenwright for sake of peace, but look forward to more agreeable exchanges in future ;-)

Alan,

Ditto mate. But unfortunately your post is spot on.

Here?s to cordial agreement. However hard the substance of it is to bear.

Ciaran, get your manhood out of Baines?s anal sphincter.

Ian,

Take the turd out of your mouth.