The Mail Bag
Spineless!
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I have often almost been moved to contribute to this site before, but somehow never done so until now. After sitting through 90 minutes of woefully uninspiring rubbish on Channel 5, I can contain myself no longer.
One thing Everton teams under David Moyes have always been is resilient. Even in tough times, the players have always shown spirit and heart by the bucketload. Tonight that was not the case. Jagielka's goal should have been the catalyst for an all-out assault, but the team barely seemed to stir. Admittedly Liege were awarded an undeserved penalty, and they must also be given credit for their ball retention and counter-attacking towards the end, but we barely had another shot in those final 25 minutes. In the whole game we can't have had more than 5 or 6 attempts on goal, most of them speculative or feeble. Where was the desire, the backs-to-the-wall spirit that has led us to so many late wins and draws since Moyes took charge?
Some comments on the players and style of play: we did, for the most part, attempt to play football, but my God how ponderous and slow it was! It's not news to any of us, but when at least 3 of your 10 outfield players struggle with basic ball control, you will be severely up against it. We all know who I mean. Liege had such an easy time defending against our sideways and backwards passing. When we did try to go forward, the balls into Yak and Saha were so slow and predictable that they were each totally nullified. No pace, no width, no imagination, nothing.
As for individuals, it will be clear from the above how highly (or not) I rate Neville and Hibbert. I have never seen Osman have a worse game - how many times did he hopelessly misplace passes? Arteta was awful as well. We've come to expect poor set pieces from him, but his passing was pathetic and he failed to influence the game as a player of his class should. Cahill contributed precisely nothing. Yak looked disinterested. Saha at least tried, and succeeded much of the time, in holding the ball up, but then would lose it due to the lack of options.
Are there any honourable mentions? Lescott, Jagielka and Baines did ok, although I hoped to see more of the latter going forward. Pienaar was a shining light for the 20 minutes he was on - we instantly looked more creative.
Overall, it was a desperately disappointing, if half expected, performance. The flowing, exuberant UEFA cup football of last year is but a distant memory. I'm really not sure where we go from here. Moyes will not resign yet because he has nowhere to go. As has been pointed out countless times on this site, we are in limbo until the stadium / contract situations are resolved. We probably will beat Newcastle on Sunday, but that will be little consolation as our season is effectively over already.
Some will again blame the Moyes contract situation for the apparent lack of motivation amongst the players. I for one struggle to see it that way. They are supposed to be professionals with professional pride. Tonight was an occasion tailor-made for them to show Evertonians that they possess some backbone, and they have let the fans and the club down in an unforgivable manner.
Mark Boulle, Posted 02/10/2008 at 20:54:00
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Its back to the drawing board for the midfield I reackon!!
Its back to the drawing board for the midfield I reackon!!
The fact we bought one of their better players, and this player has taken to the premier league like a duck to concrete is ample proof of this.
Until we get a direct and quick player or 2 who likes to take players on, we will always be limited. It was a painful watch last night - yes we kept the ball for the first 20 minutes last night, but that was because they let us have the ball. We did precisely nothing with it, apart from pass sideways and backwards. We have got what we have deserved this season so far- absolutely nothing.
That?s debatable, defo think we bought the wrong player, Defour and Dalmat were the ones we should have sniffed at.
He won’t quit, he has nowhere to go, but I’m not sure he has earned his new contract. After the African Nations we had a shocking run which has continued into this season.
No matter how hard some of our more skillful players try to inject some life into our football, the likes of Baines, Neville and Hibbert are simply out of their depth.
How many fans can honestly hold their hands up and say : "Oh great Hibbert’s back in the team. We’ve really missed him."
Did anyone think ’great, he’s put Phil Neville in midfield tonight instead of Castillio, who kept us in the first tie. He’ll carve open the defence with his deft movement and passing’.
Not many, I bet.
At first I thought the same as many fans. Moyes is great, we’re on the up, European football etc..
But really, how long do we have to put up with his crap tactics, lack of creative strategy and love of sub-standard players? Moyes and Kenwright will never take us beyond where we are now. I don’t want to be too down about the whole affair and if you’re a Moyes-lover then I’m not going to convince you about his shortcomings. No amount of anti-Moyes ranting on here changed my opinion, what I see being played has though.
The midfield lacks pace, guile and bite. The defence is filled with hoofers, prone to frequent lapses of concentration. he one ingredient which transformed this motley crew into a winning outfit was, as I say, Moyes’s coaching / inspiration.
He looks like a beaten man, without desire. Why, then, offer him any sort of new contract?
Come on expand your horizons and look at the other 10 layers on the pitch
Make some noise. A great atmophere may inspire them more than Moyse can at the moment. The ground was jumping in Belgium and we need the same on Sunday.
I feel sorry for the lads who payed to go over and watch that woeful display. Where is the flair, the solid defence and the attacking ambition of last year. Surely Carsley going can’t have that much of an effect on the team????
I don’t think I’ve seen him get it past the first defender in three games now.
Yes the word fits. But for me it fits all those short sighted little fans that cannot control their emotions.
Sure nobody will argue that we really have not got started this season and that all that is left is the FA cup and our league finish.
Most of the rest of the league look on at us with envy and admiration. They envy us the fact that we have achieved top four and they admire the fact that we have proved we can make the big 4 sweat a bit. It has given others the belief that they (the big 4) are not so far ahead that everything is futile.
I have read with complete disgust some of the crap that some spineless fans have posted. You dont "LOVE" your club or your team, you just seek glory. That is the sad state of so many people who cant achieve for themeselves.
Personally i will keep faith with BK and DM because against all the odds they have raised the bar, more than once. First signs of us feeling the pressure and bang, out go the teddies and the splaying of venom and bullshit occurs.
We cant compete constantly on all fronts it just aint possible. None of us asked for this poor start but we need to dig deep and prove why Toffee fans are the best.
Dont loose sight of the facts. Outside of the sky 4 and the billionaire clubs there is only one club that can hold its head up high, Everton.
Last night was dissapointing in result but for the first time this season we passed to our own players, were not afraid of the ball and managed to look capable.
Like it or not, Liege are a good side who are very confident. That comes from their success and was visible for all to see last night. We should look at them with envy and try to emulate them, just as, many in the prem league have done with us.
I am no fan of Dodds, but at least he "LOVES" his Everton. Shame on the rest of you who continually slag us off.
Mike, to me I think you contradict yourself a little bit there mate "the flowing, exuberant UEFA Cup football of last year" and "I?m really not sure where we go from here"... well it's pretty obvious where we go from here then is?nt it?
We dig deep and get back to that form and start playing that kind of football again! They're the same set of players minus Cars that produced that flowing, exuberant football, so we know they're capable of doing it, it's just a matter of finding that form and regaining are confidence to kick on and get are season going in the right direction!!
In my view unquestioning loyalty is not what makes a true supporter.
Also I don?t believe that we are the envy of anyone. Breaking into the top four was a possibility which was destroyed by the mis-management of the summer.
I think you re burying your head in the sand here with Moyes. The bar has been raised once, but that’s as high as it will seemingly go. It’s not a case of teddy throwing, we’ve been bad since February, a slow descent into hoofball again. With the current crop we’re as good as we are now. The league position, derby defeat and exit from two cups proves this.
Other teams are playing better football than us. They’ve caught us up already and are passing us. How exactly will Moyes raise the bar then? With what money will we buy new players? With what attractive style will we play and why aren’t we playing that way?
We all love our team, that’s why we all devote so much time to writing on here. It’s just you re content with the status quo, others believe that changes in management, funding and ownership are needed to make us top-four contenders. Right now we certainly are not.
Seriously it is my opinion that we had the hardest team to play in this round - fate plays a large part as well as footballing skill. One could argue that if Yobo hadn?t have given them an og in the first stage we might be pleased as punch this morning, or that if Spurs had not been gifted an og in their game last night they would be out this morning!! Let?s have a bit of faith in our lads and support them.
Liege ARE NOT THAT GOOD! We made them look good we bought their best player and he has took to the prem like a duck to concrete so that tells you their standard is not very good. We will bounce back but we have all got to stop looking through our blue tinted glasses and realise some of our players, manager, coaching staff, chairman are not good enough to carry us forward.
Pienarr will create more and I think Castillo should be given a go, he looked promising before being dropped for Neville which should never have happened.
Sunday could look like this
Howard
Neville
Jags
Lescott
Baines
Arteta
Fellaini
Castillo
Osman
Pienarr
Yak/Saha -
Maybe Yak needs to be dropped to give him the kick up the arse like last season.
Villa are surpassing us, Man City will almost certainly surpass us and Blackburn are making a good run for themselves, for God’s sake even Hull are doing better than we are.
We are the club who had a chance to take it further and then bottled it. We failed to buy players of any note that could bring some quality to our squad and to cap it off we sold some of our most experienced. Our manager is creating unrest by consistently failing to sign a new contract and our new assistant manager and our coaches have obviously got the whole defensive thing wrong this season.
Ridiculous if you ask me. I love my Everton as much as you do but I will not sit back and let it go down again without having a say in it. If you choose to bury your head lad then do so.
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1 Posted 03/10/2008 at 07:33:53
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Whisper secrets to the wind...
......IT’S OVER"
(with apologies to RoyO)