FAN ARTICLES
Don?t Panic, Mister Moyes?
Comments (63) : If anyone was not concerned about how seriously threadbare our squad is just take a look at what is our probable starting line-up and bench for Saturday's game against Blackburn: Howard, Yobo, Jagielka, Lescott, Valente, Arteta, Osman, Neville, Baines, Gosling, Yakubu. Subs: Turner, Molyneux, Rodwell, Irving, Kissock, Baxter, Jutkiewicz
The average age of the outfield players on the bench is 18 and five of them have never appeared in a competitive game for the first team, and none have started. The starting line-up is made up of 2 left backs, a right back in centre midfield, 3 centre halves , 2 attacking midfielders, one forward and a young teenager who has played less than 20 games in the Championship.
Some will point to those players unavailable at the moment and while Hibbert, Pienaar, Cahill, Vaughan and Anichebe will make a massive difference. It is unreasonable to expect we will not have at least 2 or 3 players unavailable at any one time throughout the season. Probably our best team with the present squad is: Howard, Yobo, Jagielka, Lescott, Baines, Arteta, Osman, Neville, Pienaar, Cahill, Yakubu. Subs: Turner, Hibbert, Valente, Rodwell, Gosling, Vaughan, Anichebe.
The problem is not so much in the starting line-up, but the options available on the bench. We only have five midfielders at the club and we play a five-man midfield!!!! Rodwell is primarily a centre half and Gosling a right back, although has he even played enough first team games to know what his best position is!
Undoubtedly we have got by in the past. The best performances of last season; the second Fiorentina game, the 7-1 drubbing of Sunderland, and Tottenham away may surprise some fans ? all featured both Neville and Carsley together in midfield. Actually the Tottenham game we were without Cahill and Pienaar, AND Johnson and Anichebe played upfront. In fact the team which played arguably the best football all season against Fiorentina was: Howard, Hibbert, Yobo, Jagielka, Lescott, Carsley, Osman, Neville, Pienaar, Cahill, Yakubu. Subs: Wessels, Baines, Gosling, Arteta, Gravesen, Johnson, Anichebe.
Discounting all the young players and academy prospects, we are probably still short of a reserve keeper, four or five midfielders and a striker. We can probably get by in defense as long as we avoid major injuries here. Six or seven players is a minimum to compete for a place in the Uefa Cup and have a decent cup run, but that?s more than we?ve signed in the LAST 2 YEARS! ? even if we?ve managed to finish 5th and 6th, get to the semi finals of the Coca Cola and have a decent run in the UEFA.
This seems to be the problem during Moyes?s tenure. There?s no doubt he?s improved the quality, but we are woefully short of options, particularly in midfield, which is where DM?s weakness is if he has one. He has constantly improved the team since he came and last season even the style of play, but the squad is still threadbare. If we have more than a couple of injuries we will struggle to field a first team. How many times last season, did a game cry out for Moyes to make a change, and he was constrained by the options available to him. The weakness is in his lack of options in team selection, or ability to change a match through substitutions, because there isn?t enough of a squad to pick from.
We are, and have blatantly been short of, midfielder options for maybe three or four seasons. Is it lack of funds or something else? It was obvious Gravesen was only a stop gap, and the chances were we wouldn?t sign Fernandes on a long-term deal, but why did we let Carsley go so easily, even if he was to remain as cover. The logic behind not giving him a two-year deal at the end of the season, which would have surely secured his services, seems completely flawed. If we did subsequently sign enough players, which would mean signing two defensive midfielders to ensure cover he could then be moved on.
It would have cost us around £235k wage bill to keep him until the end of August, or around £540k to keep him until the January transfer window. If it was decided he was superfluous to requirements then, and he could surely command a small fee, as he was obviously in demand at other clubs. We now face going into the first match, and possibly the first half of the season, with nobody in the current squad who is comfortable in that position.
The Andy Johnson transfer makes sense at between £10.5million and £13 million and represents good business for a player, who in his last 25 games had scored 5 goals (2 against Brann at home) in 17 starts and 3 sub appearances at an average of 292 minutes per goal. Perhaps most surprisingly is he started so many matches and featured in 80% of those games. However what are we doing selling a player, when yet again we don?t have a replacement lined up? Clubs now know we have available funds, and will obviously inflate their asking prices accordingly.
Maybe I am missing something with Mouthino, but why ? if a player can command a fee of between £13 and £18 million ? does it appear as though no other club is competing for his signature?
Also Stephane M?Bia, if he was really one of our targets, why was this deal not tied up months ago? With Cameroon likely to progress after his goal against Honduras, the earliest he could be in England would be around Aug 19th and if they go most of the way it could be as late as the 24th, allowing 7 days to complete the deal. Unlikely?
Oh and what about a reserve keeper? If we felt the need for a backup to Tim Howard last season, what has changed? Have either Turner or Ruddy made sufficient progress to be his deputy this season?
For those in the real desperation stakes if Newcastle will sell him there is Alan Smith, a playmaker who can?t, or a forward who hasn?t scored in 50 games. What of our supposed previous targets such as Brian Howard, Scott Mcdonald, Lorik Cana, Michael Bradley, James Milner, Pablo Aimar and of course Fernandes! ... and a couple of wildcards Shunsuke Nakamura and Jimmy Bullard.
There was talk of a transfer budget of around £20M, which according to Kenwright was to be added to the Johnson money, if anybody really believes that! That would mean with a few loan signings we had £30M to sign 5 players, about £6M average per player. Why is it that we still haven?t managed to sign a single player in 3 months? What is the plan, logic or sense to our transfer dealings in the last three or four months? Whoever is responsible should not be involved in the club!
We?re DOOOOOMED!
Reader Comments (63)
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2 Posted 12/08/2008 at 06:39:40
If Moyes and the team and us get a win v Blackburn they should give the manager of the year to Davy right now, because there will not be a better job done in the silk purses from sows ears dept.
Permission to panic Capt. Kenrick??
3 Posted 12/08/2008 at 07:31:31
4 Posted 12/08/2008 at 07:08:26
So what use the ordinary Evertonian protesting? Very little since the propaganda war was instigated and a wall of silence decended over Everton at the beginning of the summer. Saving face is the order of the day at present now that statements are being issued like there?s no tomorrow. I don?t want to get political here but it all smacks of the politician who having been rejected is so wrapped up in the belief he?s right that he sees his task as getting his message across in a more understandable fashion to the masses. An arrogance that will result in Evertonians staying away in droves.
5 Posted 12/08/2008 at 08:05:12
6 Posted 12/08/2008 at 08:24:47
Football doesn’t stand still and it would be another sad and damning chapter in Everton’s checquered recent history of not making the most of an opportunity staring the club in the face. Many posters have said they wouldn’t blame DM for walking, myself included and that would be a true disaster as BK would then have no one to hide his incompetence behind. A gloomy start of the season beckons, I don’t see relegation but what a kick in the teeth for players who worked hard last season to achieve fifth to potentially fall back down the premiership through lack of depth and strength in the squad that hit last season’s end.
7 Posted 12/08/2008 at 08:19:26
8 Posted 12/08/2008 at 08:30:14
What?s perhaps more worrying is that there are no signs of an overall plan in terms of team-building.
Stadium debacle apart, I would have hoped that we had identified and bid for realistic targets in good time. Midfield has to be the priority - and none of the supposed targets appears to fit the bill.
Let?s not panic though - whatver team takes the field on Saturday deserves our 150% support - COYB!
9 Posted 12/08/2008 at 08:46:11
10 Posted 12/08/2008 at 09:06:29
12 Posted 12/08/2008 at 10:00:46
Three weeks back I was one of those saying "it?ll be fine!"
Five or six class players coming in, plus a few nippers coming through.
?Kicking on? and ?moving to the next level? - great stuff!
At my age I REALLY should have known better
Now, I?d take 8 experienced ?bodies?
(ie: Carsley types, frees or 900 grand types).
We WILL get injuries and we CAN?T rely on kids.
As depressing as this is, we need bodies - ANY BLEEDIN? BODIES - NOW!
13 Posted 12/08/2008 at 10:26:09
14 Posted 12/08/2008 at 10:21:30
15 Posted 12/08/2008 at 11:09:01
16 Posted 12/08/2008 at 11:55:15
I think Moyes will stay to the end of the season purely out of decency but hes taking a big gamble with ruining his reputation...then again who is going to take him?
Hopefully in 5 years time all the foriegn investors will have pulled out of SKY footy and they will all be as poor as ourselves!
17 Posted 12/08/2008 at 11:58:06
tuned into Sky Sports Ahh Ahh
No news for nice thoughts Ahh Ahh
Any player will do
And way down south
Spurs are a spending Ahh ahh
No signing pending Ahh ahh
Any player will do..
An Alan Smith, an M?Bia
A Moutinho, or even Manny back on loan...
Moyes must be pissed
as BK dithers Ahh Ahh
and our squad withers Ahh Ahh
Any player will do
Our great great club
is run by a more on ahh ahh
its all a big con ahh ahh
Any player will do
Any player, Any player will do
Any player, Any player will do...
18 Posted 12/08/2008 at 12:39:38
I have said previously that we are a few injuries short of a relegation scrap and now we just about have one with one of our few midfielders going down.
Finally, at the start of a new season, which clubs are going to release their best players so they can come to Everton? We’ll be filling the squad with bit players and loan signings rather than the quality we’ve been led to believe.
Mismanagement and incompetence of the highest order.
19 Posted 12/08/2008 at 12:30:38
If he stays and we sink, everyone will say "poor Davey, had to work with nothing at all"
if, on the other hand, we have a good season it?ll be "what a miracle worker Davey boy is"
Would any of you seriously walk away from a £3m a year no loose situation?
He?s going nowhere.
20 Posted 12/08/2008 at 12:45:35
21 Posted 12/08/2008 at 12:33:28
He says the club is not in crisis!!!
Take a look and see what ya?s think.
New Everton CEO has come out fighting against accusations that Everton are a club in crisis. Robbie says: "I absolutely don?t see a club in crisis. It is the best squad this Club has had, probably in a generation. Sixth and fifth place finishes in the toughest league in the world says an awful lot. This morning I was down at the training ground. We are just going into our second year there and it?s a fantastic facility."Season ticket numbers are ahead of where they were last year, and it?s the first year of our new, record Chang deal - which is worth about 50 per cent more than the previous deal. I?m new into this job but I am coming into it with a very, very strong management team. It?s a team I am very confident in. There are plenty of good things going on at the Club."
What a load of bull, How can he say its the best squad we have had for years when we have let a number of players that helped us to them 6th an 5th finishes go! We only have 16 experienced pro?s at the club, this is including VDM, Cahill an Piennar who are some way off fitness. So 1 experienced Gk, 4 full backs backs, 3 centre halfs, 5 mid an 3 forwards is good enough for what the CEO calls a top 5 or 6 side. For me we are at least 4 quality players an 2 squad players short, We need numbers an fast.
Back Moyes Kenwright or were going loose the best young Manager in the world!
22 Posted 12/08/2008 at 12:50:44
As for just get anybody in, no! Stick the kids in rather than buy some shite. What?s the point in wasting money on players who are shite? Players who would get absolutely slaughtered on here. Is Brett Angel still playing? Maybe see if Tony Grant is up for it??
We?ve got some decent players, some good kids, other players who will be back from injury soon and hopefully a few signings will be in soon. Not the best situation (worrying!!), but I?m sure we?ll get through it. This talk of relagation, ridciulous! We must get some of your crying fuckers into the dressing room to do the team talk, then we will get relegated. Just get behind your team. COYB.
23 Posted 12/08/2008 at 12:32:05
My suspicion, like so many others, is that we have little or no funding left, other than perhaps some of the Johnson cash. We don’t appear to generate significant positive cash flows from our basic operating activities (due, in part, to the paucity of our Commercial initiatives - and here the Board must take full responsibility). Consequently, I suspect we are dependent on a series of bridge loans (probably repaid by player sales) to finance Transfers. With the Credit Crunch on, I think we can no longer rely on the banks or other "Benefactors" to readily extend lines of credit. Indeed, some may be looking for a reduction and hence, other than the Johnson cash, there may be nothing left for Moyes to use. With so many positions to fill, Moyes’ job is next to impossible.
Ultimately, we may make some signings, but that suggests to me that Kenwright has succeed in getting one of his buddies to put back some dosh, or yet again the loan system may come to our rescue. In the meantime, I will be at Goodison on Saturday (travelling from London).
There seems little point in cutting off our noses to spite our faces. Giving the team our full support can only improve their chances of beating, lets face it, a mediocre Blackburn side. A tough season lies ahead, but its a Grand Old Team to support!
24 Posted 12/08/2008 at 13:11:59
Moyes can not allow the squad being disassembled!!
25 Posted 12/08/2008 at 12:58:14
Our club is run by BK. He admits he hasn’t a clue, he’s just a fan like us. He doesn’t have any money to take the club forward either on or off the field. Bill, please can you answer me ONE question.
What the hell do you think you are doing to Everton?
26 Posted 12/08/2008 at 13:02:05
What should’ve been a summer of Content and optimism has turned into a summer of farce of Biblical Proportions.
27 Posted 12/08/2008 at 13:02:39
I?ve always felt he would run down his contract & ONLY leave this year if someone comes in for him. So I think there is a chance of him being at Newcastle if they start off poorly & make him an offer.
Otherwise he?ll be open to offers next summer.
Have you all seen the latest on the transfer front (NO DON?T BE STUPID WE?RE NOT BUYING ) Baines is apparently off to Sunderland.
I wonder at what point reality will dawn on all the ?calm downers? that their optimism & blind faith this summer is mis-placed ?
28 Posted 12/08/2008 at 13:15:15
I'm not the type to just hit the panic button, but this has gotten me very worried, we will be lucky to break into the top 12 the way we are...
29 Posted 12/08/2008 at 13:08:07
There may not be many obvious sides for Moyes to move on too, but you can bet that when the first big job comes up they’ll be coming knocking, that is if he hasn’t walked already.
You say why would he walk out on 3m a year? Well believe me mate, if we get to Saturday and haven’t signed anyone of consequence I would walk out, and I have supported the club for twenty-five years [and haven’t got 5-10m stashed in the bank like Moyes]. Would a long holiday not seem like a good idea to you, because Moyes can certainly afford to take one.
This is an absolute joke.
30 Posted 12/08/2008 at 13:21:41
31 Posted 12/08/2008 at 13:56:27
The water is looking rather thick and brown from where I’m seated.
Now... where did I put those paddles?
32 Posted 12/08/2008 at 13:39:18
33 Posted 12/08/2008 at 13:39:18
34 Posted 12/08/2008 at 14:02:26
35 Posted 12/08/2008 at 13:59:57
Even Smith, the most likely and easiest acquisition you would have thought, albeit one which very few of us would have got too excited about prior to August, seems to have moved backwards. Above writers have suggested we are a joke in the eyes of others. I can confirm that is the case in my experience, living in the South and talking to Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal supporters. They are as astonished as I am that a club which had a great opportunity to move forward after a really good season appears to have just held up a white flag (well actually we did’nt cos we probably can’t afford one).
But the problem I have is that as of today my expectations are nil. I’m no longer surprised at the lack of activity, urgency or consideration for the supporters. In fact I just feel very sad.
36 Posted 12/08/2008 at 14:20:56
37 Posted 12/08/2008 at 14:33:47
38 Posted 12/08/2008 at 14:54:26
My original post was writen with an effort not to sound overly negative in case the ?In Moyesie we trust? and ?Kirkby or bust? brigade took offence... obviously I went too far (bit like Blair with the Labour party!).
My honest assesment of all this is that we are totally farked and have been for about 10 years. The only way we are getting out of this mess is through some nutter who is willing to ignore all financial advice in an economically unstable world to buy a club with £60 million worth of rising debt in an economically deprived area neighboring the two most successful clubs in England, a VERY small squad full of tryers but little skill and of no appeal to TV advertisers (potential sponsors), competing in a league where only 2 clubs are gauranteed silverware at the end of the season.
What's there to worry about!
39 Posted 12/08/2008 at 14:55:54
40 Posted 12/08/2008 at 15:02:27
41 Posted 12/08/2008 at 15:25:27
I am normally fairly positive but I think we have genuine reason for concern. It is not just all the posters on Toffeeweb who think we need 5 or 6 players, it is DM & his own players who’ve actually said that.
42 Posted 12/08/2008 at 15:31:16
I know of just such a man. Fortunately/Unfortunately he bought Man. City last summer.
There can’t be two of them out there surely.
43 Posted 12/08/2008 at 16:43:01
Sorry for the confusion..
44 Posted 12/08/2008 at 16:52:42
Have to pull you up on the point you make about Neville and Carsley playing together for our best performances last season, namely the Fiorentina game. Osman played in the middle with Carsley, with Arteta and Pienaar on the wings.
Neville should NEVER EVER play in our midfield again unless absolutely necessary. Unfortunately I reckon he?ll play there as often this season as he did last...sigh
45 Posted 12/08/2008 at 17:00:07
46 Posted 12/08/2008 at 17:57:25
Maybe we all won’t be left looking at each other sheepishly when Moyes goes because of the club limitations.
All I got is maybes. I don’t believe that a club with any ambition would not get enough of the squad together to get them gelled before the season begins. 6 players? I’d settle for 3 now and 3 in January at the momement. And I doubt we will have that speed of activity from the current efforts.
I’m not totally depressed, but then again I ain’t hopeful either.
COYB. Sigh.
47 Posted 12/08/2008 at 19:04:45
48 Posted 12/08/2008 at 19:30:24
49 Posted 12/08/2008 at 19:32:20
50 Posted 12/08/2008 at 20:20:13
And no, I don’t want this to happen. I’ll be offering my full support to the lads on the park.
51 Posted 12/08/2008 at 20:48:22
52 Posted 12/08/2008 at 21:22:51
53 Posted 12/08/2008 at 21:45:20
What the fuck is going on at our club, believe you an dme if Moyes could get some players in for the strat of the season he would, but his hands are tied and we as fans are a bunch of mushrooms giving chance after chance to the powers that be whilst being lied to time after time!
I will be the first to apologise to BK and the club if in 3 days i am proved wrong but (oh fuck i am doing it again-letting the slightest shred of optimism rule my thoughts), we are a joke and a laughing stock the way we have condcuted business this summer.
I would have more respect if we had been told 2 months ago, look sorry but we just don?t have the money to improve the squad this year and may need to sell to balance the books and maybe get a few players on the cheap or on loan!
55 Posted 12/08/2008 at 20:19:03
We get told about Moutinho, Love and Smith but in reality he hasn't made a bid for any of them. This is a return to the Dithering Dave we thought was long gone. And we and the board have given him the perfect smokescreen to hide behind, the STUPID stadium debate. It has been easy for him to stay out of the spotlight and avoid the transfer market he so hates.
Now he's splashing around like a beached whale trying to find anybody who can walk to come and plug the gaps. I think it's time to bring in a general manager like a Joe Royle to handle the transfers and leave Moyes to get on with what he's good at the football side of things. With Stevie P's injury we'll struggle to put 11 players of 1st team quality out. As I've stated the board must take a large share of the blame,But so should Davey Moyes. In Moyes we trust ? at football, YES; at transfers... NO!!!
56 Posted 12/08/2008 at 22:00:59
I?m proud as fuck to be born a blue, and I love this club as much as I love my family. I bought my season ticket for me and my son again, will do next season as well but..
WE ARE BECOMING A JOKE
I hate the thought of those bastards across the park laughing at us but can you blame them??
I also agree that Kenwright has to be careful who he sells to but, as Mark Griffiths states, I would've preferred to be told the truth by my club, ie, we have no money, or we are waiting to see if we can borrow some money, rather than the pathetic b/s coming out in what are frankly embarrassing PR spins
Like everyone here, I hope we can pull another rabbit out of a hat but its looking dodgy at the moment.
COYB
57 Posted 12/08/2008 at 23:22:51
Wake me up before it turns to a nightmare!
58 Posted 12/08/2008 at 23:59:47
59 Posted 13/08/2008 at 00:28:42
I too often get frustrated with people complaining about the club & BK, expecting endless amounts of money to be spent and believing we have a god given right to be in the top 4. However, the current situation is different from that. We had a fairly small squad to start with. We always have an injury crisis. We are competing in UEFA and therefore have extra games. We have let players go and not replaced them. We have brought nobody in - forget top class players, we haven’t brought ANY players at all! This is just unbelievable. Ok, we MAY bring in a few on the last day but even if we do (big IF) then we will be starting well behind the 8 ball.
60 Posted 13/08/2008 at 00:26:24
The only shinning light I can see is that there is now the potential for Moyes to be forced to employ some youngsters into the team on a regular basis. This will not only enhance the development of the more junior players, but may bring some extra youthful commitment and enthusiasm to the team. In the past many people on this site have criticised Moyes and Everton for not blooding the youngsters. Perhaps now is the time for the greater development of our own talent. I know it?s a cliché, but that?s what Manchester United were forced to do when they were in a similar position towards the start of Ferguson?s reign. It?s also what Wenger seems to be able to do extremely effectively.
Now I?m not saying that we don?t need new signings as it?s clear that we do, but perhaps Everton needs to become a club more in the ilk of a development of junior players with some classy imported players thrown in the mix, a la Arsenal.... Rather than a buy all the talent team ala Chelsea and Liverpool. Perhaps now is the perfect opportunity for it to be tried as it?s now out of necessity.
61 Posted 13/08/2008 at 00:27:52
62 Posted 13/08/2008 at 01:06:50
la de da de da....
63 Posted 13/08/2008 at 03:14:50
I think we may go for a ’Gravesen’. Someone we can thrown on the pitch having already played with the lads. No pre-season required. He’ll be on loan (and probably crap, too-old, injured, or all the above). Carsley anyone?
64 Posted 13/08/2008 at 06:37:00
65 Posted 13/08/2008 at 10:20:42
Now I?m just worried that we?ll be out of everything by Mid Jan and have the kids fighting for our survival. If the 1st team stays fit and doesn?t get suspended we could finish top half, god willing a little higher, but pushing on.... no chance.
I am ambivalent re BK, but have the nagging feeling is he our David Moores, when he sells will we get the 30 silver piece brigade and will it make us happy. Probably not but I?d be less miserable if I thought we had a realistic chance of at least competing with the sky 4.
I think the reason we haven?t signed anyone is because we want Mouthino but we have only £25mill and can?t buy anyone else before we?ve got him, because if we overspend we will end up with the make weight and no one else.
I fear that that is the truth behind the smoke and mirrors.
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1 Posted 12/08/2008 at 06:33:19