FAN ARTICLES

Calm down, calm down!

By Andrew James :  10/08/2008 :  Comments (19) :

The sale of AJ is a strange one but he was increasingly out of touch with the new style of Everton?s play with Pienaar and Yakubu being missing pieces of the jigsaw to play in an attack with Cahill, Osman and Arteta. AJ was perfect for when we were a defensive team but now the nature of our game (especially at home) is to get forward in numbers with short range and long range passing in the final third at a high tempo. Johnson didn?t fit into that aesthetic, wasn?t a reliable regular and became a nice alternative to bring on when you were defending a one goal lead. The guy was a journeyman striker before he came to the Blues so another move doesn?t amaze me. I liked his work rate but if he has chosen to go from the brink of Champions League Football to a team who nearly got relegated last term then I think that tells you he might?ve given up all hope of ever being in the England set up and wants regular first team football and a settled family life. You cannot criticize him for that and it gives Everton a few more quid to use.

So to this season. Well some of the fans appear to have forgotten how we went into previous campaigns. In 2002/03 we had a squad of inter changeable players lacking top class ability and DM could only top up the ageing squad with Yobo. They finished seventh and were higher than that for most of the season. It wasn?t just Rooney who made the difference (and some people have the mis-perception he scored a lot more than he actually did). It was DM?s ability to get the most from a mostly mediocre set of players who probably had their best ever season that year (Steve Watson, the Rad and Pembridge). The following year proved to be the only real back up to current trend of gloom when last minute dealing (which was hardly inspiring nor expensive) meant we had a squad which finished 17th. Then came the most disheartening summer I can recall for many years: 2004 where we sold Rooney at the eleventh hour in the transfer window and bolstered the squad with Marcus Bent and Tim Cahill. We were relegation favourites and finished fourth having sold another top player on the way in Tommy Gravesen. Nobody could have predicted that! The following summer was a simple case of Moyes not being supported by BK so that he went out mostly looking for bargains so our European dream became a nightmare and we finished a very limp eleventh.

For the last two seasons there has been panic (especially in the lead up to last season) but we nearly always seem to confound the critics and beat the rest. I?m sick of being told by Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle fans each Summer that we?ll not finish in the top 8. They seem to become very quiet by the Winter. I am sure they will again this Winter. Everyone keeps piping on about our rivals strengthening. I?m not sure they?ve strengthened, many have just bought whoever the flavour of the month is. Spurs have bought well but they have changed the team so much that I do not accept them being wildly superior to us. Keane has left as has Defoe (both of whom were regular contributors in the goal stakes in a side that struggles for a decent goal spread across the whole squad unlike us). Pompey look strong but their centre backs are creaking. Even the esteemed Villa?s signings are nothing to be scared of. City look well set but their lack of structural stability makes me dubious.

So that would, in my mind, leave me thinking if we strengthen by five players then we can end up in fifth or fourth and win the UEFA perhaps. I?ll get laughed at for this but let?s remember a few things. Cahill was missing for a lot of last season. He bagged ten when he was playing. If he?s fit for most of the season we?re looking at maybe fifteen goals and he tends to score key goals as well so maybe we?ll be able to nick some points off the bigger sides. Arteta was muted all season but still ran the show at points. I full expect him to be pulling the strings so we can turn Goodison into a fortress. Pienaar will have a full run without the ANC and I expect more goals from him. I would also expect Jagielka to really develop this time out. I think we?ll see less hoofball and some heroics in the defensive and final third. The nature of the game means one or two players will be hampered by injury throughout but surely Messrs Baines and Vaughan won?t be so unlucky and we might see the best from the pair (which might result in that long awaited glut of goals from the latter).

The signings I am about to mention I feel are likely to come in the next few days as the sources are reliable in the press and not just from ?NOW? or ?SSN?. If Mountinho joined them it would be great but I think that one is unlikely. So add to the squad M?Bia who hopefully will be a dynamic Carsley and mean all our midfield are mobile from box to box. Then there?s Wagner Love who seems a strange one as he?s an all round goalscorer who might find himself second fiddle to Yakubu. But what a second fiddle he might be. And this leads me to Alan Smith.

Smith fits DM?s profile as he?s a hard working player who is technically sound and can play in a variety of roles. Everyone bemoans DM?s penchant for utility players but why have three players all specialising in one position, one of whom never gets a game over a season? Surely it?s more frugal and better for a tight squad to have this flexibility. It will worry me if Smith gets played up front regularly when Cahill and Yakubu are fit but I expect him to be in the centre. He?s had experience at both ends of the Premiership and at the top in Europe. It worries me a little that he?s coming to Everton after turning us down twice. The first time was acceptable but last time was plain stupid. But at this knock down price I am intrigued and hopeful.

So maybe with a youth player making the senior team regularly (I suspect it might be Gosling) and Manny Fernandes coming on board for a third flight, we should simply accept that we will not start the season on fire but our defence should ensure we?re in a decent enough position come October to go on a run when the attackers get going. Maybe in November we?ll all be wondering what all the fuss was about. Just like in 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2007.

Baines?.Pienaar?.Osmannnnn??GOAL!!!!!

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