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Captain On Deck: Battle Stations!
Comments (28) : It is apparent to even the most ardent supporter of the club that all is not well with the direction the club is taking under the stewardship of Bill Kenwright. That summer of discontent is laid bare on the pitch for all to see, Moyes looks like a man who is totally demoralised. The passion that once flared from the touchline has been replaced with resignation, a loss of faith in his ability to change things and what can only be assumed at his unhappiness with the way he has been treated.
Then there is the contract. Unsigned; On the table; If we believe Kenwright and the values stated it is an attractive offer. There are probably a dozen strings attached to any said value though but the mere fact that no agreement has been reached with a man who has given his all for the club beggers only one question. Why?
Moyes has led us back to Europe with a well-constructed team who had passion and confidence instilled in them by a manager with the same attributes. That was until this season. That passion, faith and confidence has gone from David and it shows in the team, the way they play, the way they revert to the hoofball shows a lack of responsibility on the pitch itself.
David Moyes needs to step up to the challenge of putting right this team. He needs to rethink how the team formation plays to the strength of the players he has. He needs to find inspiration not just for the team but for himself. He needs to be radical because whatever he has done so far hasn?t worked. Play two up front every game. Attack and plan to win, expect to win. Show faith in the players to play in their best position, not play tactical musical chairs. Build the team around several players and tell them so. Let them take responsibility on the pitch.
At the moment the leadership is suffering a crisis of faith and self belief. The players that took us to Europe last year are not suddenly bad players, just players with no confidence in their team, the way they are playing and a manager who is dithering over his future with the club. The club is rudderless, the team is about to hit the rocks and the manager is not sure if he should just jump into a lifeboat and leave them to it. Moyes has done a terrific job for us to date. If he wants a future with this club he needs to stand up now and do something about it.
- Sign the bloody contract. Does he think for one moment that IF a club comes in for him they will see a five year deal and say, oh don?t bother, he has a contract? Sign it Davey, the effect on the supporters and the team will be seen on the pitch.
- Seek advice on how to change the team, no one expects a manager to have all the answers but we should be asking the questions about how we can improve the way we play with what we have got.
- Take risk. Try to be different. It was Moyes who started to use the 4-5-1 formation that stumped so many teams, but they are wise to it now. Decide on a back four and stick with it. Decide on a basic formation and stick with it
- Tactical awareness. If teams tactically change so must we. Players or formations are only good as long as they are effective. If something isn?t working after tem minutes change it. It?s a game of chess and we are constantly being out thought never mind outplayed.
- Don?t expect the board to be honest with contracts or promises. They may be of good intent but the team has to deal with reality each week. Leave the smoke and mirrors to the boardroom and just focus on what your good at.
David Moyes needs to find the desire to drive the club forward again. Whatever the reasons behind the scenes that have led to the situation on the field, he really needs to just bloody well focus on getting it right because that?s what he can do. If he wants to, and that?s the point, if he still has the resolve, drive and passion and wants to get this right the fans will back him to the hilt. We just need to see that and see it soon.
Reader Comments
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Yobo has been a liability for a while if watch the goals again from yesterday he switches of twice and allows Torress the space to score. He does this on many occasions but never seems to be dropped, and with Howard they are the two of the worst communicators have seen on a football pitch. It is obvios Lescott doesnt want to play there, why would he, he as just broken into the England squad as a centre back!
Finally what has happened to the positive substituions DM used to make, he used to make teams think about us , not us thinking about the opponents, hence is post match interview yesterday, I wanted to make sure we were in the game at half time ! You only have to look at the bench with all the backroom staff they all look defeatists and lack confidence, even Steve Round doesnt fill you with confidence when he has spoken.
Over to you DM get back to what you were doing a few seasons ago and make positive team, tactics and substitutions and stop playing players out of position. Stop sullcking, we al know Kenwright led you up the garden path in the summer, but you have been to loyal to him and should have publicly told the fans the situation and we would have backed you more in these difficult times, and the only way out for you now is to be positive.
Get rid of Moyes...
As to Moyes, the Great Sulk will continue until he feels he has punished Bill for whatever crimes he committed during the summer, the nature of which we can only guess at. Of course, get two good results against Liege and Newcastle and all in the garden will be rosy, won?t it? No, it won?t.... But it?ll hide the cracks for a week or two.
I am currently undecided about that which should really happen although I have posted on another thread that I think it may be time for him to go. Whatever happens it is now time for him to decide whether he wants to stay or not. If not I wish him well.
To repeat that which I posted elsewhere I put some of the blame on Round for the troubles we are now experiencing. Last season, in general, we were solid at the back. This season we are leaking goals from all quarters. The back four look devoid of any confidence whatsoever. And Lescott should be playing in his position which is centre back !
I fear the horse has already bolted.
I believe DM has lost the support of the majority of the fans.
I know he has his loyal supporters, but a lot of people are now taking exception to his reluctance to sign the contract; this has gone on far too long.
Kenwright should have given him a deadline, if only to save face for the club. This club has become obsessed with the future, that DK nonesense. They have totaly neglected the here and now
Has anyone else noticed we didn't even fill GP yesterday?
Evertonians are already voting with their feet...
Would like to see Lescott and Jags paired together.
Where has Yakubu gone? If you have a player prone to laziness in a 4-5-1 you have nothing.
Moyes is now proving consistently that he does not know how to go win a game. His tactics, selections and one dimensional approach are now alarming.
We have some quality players at the club, so I can?t understand why Moyes sends them out with negative tactics (could that be why the players looked pissed off )? like playing for a draw. We have to go for it on Thursday, but you just sense it will be the same 4-5-1 set up (minus Fellaini of course ) with Neville staying in midfield, and Saha on the bench, I hope I?m wrong, but I just can?t see it any other way.
To me, DM was a breath of fresh air when he arrived. Full of passion and drive. He restored our pride and for that I will always be grateful. However, even if Mr Dodd?s friend Bill did lie about finances in the pre-season, that does not excuse the total lack of interest that DM seems to be showing. Rattles and prams spring to mind David!
Christine is right when she says that the players are being affected and team morale has plummeted. DM, time to realise that if your demeanour is over a matter of principle then it is Everton and her fans that you are hurting the most and NOT BK.
He was head and shoulders our best player yesterday, breaking up attacks and pushing the team forward as much as he could on his own. Any offensive play came through him. I would also suggest that he put more effort in than the other 10 wasters put together.
When are the fans going to have a pop at Arteta. Disappeared up his own ring piece again against a big club. Best little Spaniard? I?d hate to see the worst. His dead balls are a disgrace.
Only four wins since we went out of the EUFA cup against Fiorentina (all against mid-level opponents) and our form so far this season tells it all.
I have never seen a team with ambitions of succeeding in Europe and imposing themselves on the Premiership play such poor, disjointed and aimless football in my life as that served up last weekend by EFC against Liverpool. And regardless of whether David Moyes has improved our position over the past 6 years or whether he sat in the dugout or stomped his way up and down the touchline during the game against Liverpool, the fact remains that the match tactics he employs against all sides are his, and against Liverpool they were, as usual, wholly predictable and they were countered by a manager in Benitez who, whether we like him or not, capitalised on Mr Moyes? ?tactical? predictability and punished him (and us). Some might say Benitez was smart by deploying 3 strikers against us ? I would say it was the obvious thing to do and that any manager worth his salt would do the same. It is Mr Moyes ? predictability and his reliance on mono-dimensional hoofball ? as distinct from smooth flowing football designed to break opposition sides down - that is his undoing.
As for the player expenditure differential between LFC and EFC, in my humble opinion, it wouldn?t matter if Mr Moyes was given a transfer budget of 100 million, I don?t believe he has the capacity to achieve the type of football we once saw regularly at Goodison Park. Instead, I believe that, based in his insistence on playing defensive hoofball and his treatment of some of the creative players we already have at GP, he would blunt the talents of any creative players he brought in by insisting that they fit into his defensive ?system of play?. As I said in a previous post, the widely held view of an effective coach (an approach that is promoted strongly in the FA Coaching courses) is one who can develop a system around the players they have at their disposal, that they are tactically aware and can make effective decisions quickly in response to changing needs on the park during a match.
Unfortunately, David Moyes has consistently demonstrated that he has none of these characteristics. The bottom line is that Mr Moyes? coaching and management capabilities can be summed up as follows:
a. His teams appear incapable of playing sustainable quality football and breaking opposing teams down by strategic positioning and stringing passes together on the ground;
b. He is predictably defensive in his thinking and planning thereby making it easier for opposing coaches to match up against his teams and counter them with relative ease;
c. His preferred formation (4-5-1) makes it easier for other coaches to apply pressure in the Everton defensive area and break down the defence (which is what has been happening all this season);
d. He continually plays players out position or simply refuses to play them (Lescott and Baines);
e. He generally resorts to the same old players and refuses to consider options (Baines again) or to give younger players opportunities when the same old faces keep failing him on the park (Baxter, Kissock et al)
f. His style of football relies on what was called in my day ?a programmed approach? that denies players the capacity to express themselves creatively on the park ( the sort of creativity that made players like Leighton Baines and Mikel Arteta invaluable at their previous clubs and pushed Baines into the England squad); and,
g. His ?programmed approach? and denial of creativity arguably makes us a less attractive proposition for creative players as a club they would want to join (might explain why a number of targets rejected us).
He has been magnificent in bringing back some stability to this club with his grit, his discipline and his singular determination and for that we should be thanking him. But that is not what we need now ? we need someone with flair and a feel for quality football that will attract both players and supporters, sound man-management skills, flexibility where it is needed and a capacity for making quick decisions and taking risk to take us forward. This is not David Moyes.
From all appearances, he has lost the dressing room as the players, whilst they publicly support him with their words, are not supporting him with their efforts on the park. This will only be exacerbating his appearance of a man struggling with the turmoil of his own emotions and, regardless of our opinions, the fact remains that someone in this position is hardly going to have a positive motivational impact on others, especially the players under their control.
And, whether we like David Moyes or not, no-one deserves to have to experience the sort of depression he appears to be in at the moment. And I, for one, hope that David doesn?t sign his new contract and that he moves on - and soon. The issue of who replaces him is moot. Let?s solve the current team performance problems first.
That would appear to be par for the course from a board who cannot act with speed when the ship is listing.
It does not however (and should not) excuse the fact that the performance of Moyes and the team has been lack lustre at best, disgraceful at worst.
Whilst Kenwright & Co have a responsibility to ensure that decisions running the club do not adversely affect the team, Moyes has to ensure his expertise is focused on delivering the best he can with what he has.
Neither Kenwright nor Moyes have done their job. Moyes may well feel aggreived at how he has been treated but he has let his focus slip and that has tipped the balance in the dressing room. The drive and passion needed to inspire a team to punch above its weight consistantly has gone. That's down to Moyes, rightky or wrongly, with just cause or not.
It would appear therefore that the instigators of our present plight and Moyes discontent with life comes back down to how he has been treated in summer and the unexplained delay in response from the board.
Moyes has not helped his cause to have the contract signed with his own performance tactically.
I am not sure there is a way back at this point for either the manager or the chairman. But Moyes could only improve his stature and dignity with the fans if he abandons the tried team formations that have been successful but now aren?t.
For all the times we the fans have been asked to make a leap of faith, now its Moyes turn.
Take the leap David, Attack like there is no tomorrow because in your case there may not be.
I would though add another consideration.
Moyes to all intents and purposes looks like a man on the edge of a nervous breakdown and I believe it has a lot to do with the fact we are in far more serious debt than many imagined and maybe Moyes contract renewal is being held back by the board because they havent got the money and the bank will not extend any further credit in the absence of guarantees from friends Earl and Green which is about as likely as me winning the lottery especially seeing as I dont do it.
That would explain why Wyness suddenly resigned just before putting the final accounts together and why we didnt buy a single player until Johnson was sold.
A poster came on here a while ago claiming to have a friend in EFC?s accounts dept who told him McFadden was sold because they bank was threatening to not pay the players wages at the end of January unless some funds were forthcoming.
No I know its not groundbreaking news that we?re skint but I think Moyes was promised significant funds for players at the end of last season and made promises to the players that quality reinforcements are on the way.
Fast forward and we have a couple of loan signings , no Mouthino(if it was ever intentioned by BK) and a £15 million player who is struggling to come to terms with whta he has joined.
There is no question in my mind that there is something sinister going on at EFC and the lack of comment from Moyes and Kenwright says it all.
In the 50 years I have followed Everton there has never been such division and confusion amongst supporters and it will come as no surprise to many that I hold Kenwright totally and utterly responsible.
He has conducted the "old pal?s act" to maintain his stranglehold, gone through 4 CEOs and created record debts for our once proud club and I can't believe that it's Moyes taking all the flak while very little is being aimed in his direction.
That should read:
He has conducted the "old pal?s act" to maintain his stranglehold,gone through 4 CEO?s and created record debts for our once proud club and I cant believe that its Moyes taking all the flak while very little is being aimed in his direction.
I can’t understand it either, I have (like yourself) banged on about the management of the club, Kirkby and the direction we are heading for nearly a year now. To me its been as clear as daylight that there has been more than broken promises but outright mistruths regarding investment, transfers, contracts, relocation, Goodison Park condition etc etc.
When ever I write an article these days I am castigated for saying the same things, not strictly true but the lack of good management has brought this club and Moyes to its knees.
Kenwright should go. Irrespective of the value he gets for his shares. I don’t think he should be out of pocket for his effort but I don’t think he should make a killing either. For all that we debate with those who don’t see the world the same way, and many have good valid arguements, there are ten that no longer view the current Direction, Management and future of our club the same way.
Given the current state of financial markets I doubt if the stadium (or any new stadium in the UK) will go ahead for quite a while.
The blame for the mismanagement of the club goes back to the beginning of the EPL and has been compounded at every turn. BK may have "saved" the club but if you look at the debt increase all that really happened was BK increased lines of credit, outsourced marketing and had messers Green and Earl underwrite guarantees for increaed loans.
If KD had happened, If the club hadn;t closed the door on other sites and partners we may have had our investment, our stadium and a way out of the crisis we are in.
We don’t. Because a few thought they could make a killing financially in going to Kirkby. That decision alone has tore the heart out of the club, its supporters and now the team.
Its not been the fans that have brought the house of cards down. Far too many just didn’t understand or just didn’t care. Far too many just didn’t get it. But they are now.
Jay your right too that although Moyes is not doing his job, he looks as if his heart has been ripped out too.
I hope the penny drops and someone comes in to fund the club and give it direction because it will be a long walk back if it soesn’t happen soon.
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1 Posted 28/09/2008 at 07:25:19
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Make no mistake Moyes wants to stay but he is a man of principle and he has drawn a line in the sand. The board have until the end of the season to deliver the finance promised or he will be gone. How else is he going to put the pressure on them to keep their promises? Maybe everything is still tied in to the Kirkby proposals but there is definitely more going on behind the scenes than we know about.
As far as the footy goes I am still confident we will turn the corner soon. The main body of the side is the same as last season and they have shown they can perform. It is going to take a little while longer for the new players to settle/get fit but Moyes will get them at it again before long because that is what he does. It may be too late to achieve much this season although I still wouldn?t rule out a top six finish yet but in the grander scheme of club politics I think there are more important things at stake.