ToffeeWeb - Season 2008-09

The Mail Bag

We can still qualify for Europe?!? WTF

Well, I was truly annoyed by the end of the transfer window after a summer of turmoil, and pointless end-of-season signings. I remember when we signed Tim Howard and Lescott pretty much straight after the final whistle a few seasons ago and Moyes was banging on about how this will be the Everton way from now on, ie giving players time to train with the team and get into the way we play and the team spirit.

I then went on the most amazing 4 weeks, travelling around Thailand, during which I forced myself to avoid the internet in the hope that all would come good. Then, on the day of the derby, I found a pub that was showing the Liverpool game. I decided to check the internet and could not believe the results that had gone on in my absence. But that could not prepare me for the mauling we had to put up with. Even miles away in Thailand, there are kopites ready to give it out, and fair play, they earnt the right that day.

I am now in Sydney and things have gone from bad to worse. Crashed out of the Uefa Cup and conceding another 2 goals to a terrible team to give away a 2-goal lead. Now here is what I can't understand. I have been reading through the mailbag and I keep finding people saying, "So what? We played well in the first half, we were on the same points nearly last season, so can still make Europe." WELL, WE WERE ALREADY IN EUROPE THIS TIME LAST WEEK UNTIL WE FUCKED IT UP!!

We are in real danger of relegation this season. Why?? Well because last season and for the previous Moyes seasons we were getting away with 1-0 wins. The best in the country. But we were never convincing. All it takes is for the defence to wobble slightly and all of a sudden the 1-0 scrapes become 2 goals to the opposition.

Premier League football is intense. Managers like Sam Allardyce and Avram Grant adopt new ways of getting an extra 0.5% out of players because the margins are that tight. However, the majority of Everton fans don't seem to realise this, and say "yeah but this is the majority of a squad that got us to 5th last season". Who gives a fuck? We didn't strenghten when we had the opportunity to kick on and now we are paying the price.
Peter Tomlinson, Sydney Posted 07/10/2008 at 16:25:54

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Michael Dawson
1 Posted 08/10/2008 at 02:35:23

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"We are in real danger of relegation this season."

No we are not.

Steve Pendleton
2 Posted 08/10/2008 at 04:27:38

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Our current league standing isn’t too flash Michael. With Arsenal and Man U to come, given our track record against these two, we will be scrapping to get out of the shit!

Pietro de Seta
3 Posted 08/10/2008 at 07:36:25

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We are not in real danger of relegation this season: we ARE relegating.....

Michael Brien
4 Posted 08/10/2008 at 07:44:02

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Have some of us become Spurs fans or something? Last season they had a bad start ? and Martin Jol who had taken them to two 5th place finishes finds himself under increasing pressure. He is eventually sacked ? the 5th place finishes seemingly forgotten. How are Spurs doing now? A lot worse ? and Martin Jol? His new team SV Hamburg are top of the Bundesliga!!

In 1984-85 we started the season with a 1-4 loss to Spurs then lost 0-2 at West Brom. The League Title and Cup Winners Cup glory seemed a long way off then!!

Don?t panic ? there is a long way to go yet and a lot of football to be played. I recall coming out of Goodison in Oct 1983 after a 0-1 defeat to Luton ? our team seemed to be totally lacking in confidence. If someone had told me then that within 6 months 10 of that team would appear at Wembley to win the FA Cup, I would have suggested that they were in need of some kind of therapy!! Be patient, all is not lost, there is a lot of football to be played before the end of the season.

Nick Entwistle
5 Posted 08/10/2008 at 08:06:51

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Two years ago we sign Howard and Lescott and boom, 4 weeks later we’ve drawn 2-2 with Newcastle?

Kevin Chung
6 Posted 08/10/2008 at 07:55:49

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I think a whole season of relegation battle would be good for Everton.

Here?s why.

All Toffees supporters and those for the ride would forget about us finishing in top 5... not even need to mention top 10... below 10 is gonna be met with angry Evertonians...

So the solution? We might as well be caught in the bottom 3 for 3/4 of the season and on the final day we win our game and end up 17th and we avoid the drop.

Then you will see all Evertonians celebrating as if we had won the Premier League.

And so, we will forget about how we got kicked out of the Cups.

Paul Moorhouse
7 Posted 08/10/2008 at 08:30:07

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Peter, your travelling has brought you wisdom. You’ve nailed it 100%

Michael Dawson,
When you manage to get your head out of the sand you are going to be a very unhappy bunny. We are now in the bottom six, and I haven’t seen 3 teams worse than us. We are in big big trouble.

Mark Stone
8 Posted 08/10/2008 at 09:07:42

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Can we give Standard Liege a bit more credit for beating us in Europe. They are champions of their domestic league, put up a great fight against Liverpool, and they have had a flying start to their season. In my opinion they shouldn?t even have had to play in the qualifying stages of the CL they should have been straight in.

Ciarán McGlone
9 Posted 08/10/2008 at 09:20:09

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Paul Moorhouse is spot on: I?ve watched every team so far this season at least once and I haven?t seen any team who have put in a worse performance than us ...and that includes Spurs, Newcastle, the three promoted teams, Fulham and Wigan!

Even the matches we won we were second best... Sunday was our best performance so far and for me that was honours even in terms of quality.

If some people think Moyes is immune from relegation scraps then they have another think coming. This is already a season to forget.

Bob Turner
10 Posted 08/10/2008 at 11:09:23

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So, the reason we are in real danger of relegation this season, because we are no longer getting away with 1-0 wins? Do you know how many times we won 1-0 in the league last season? A huge 4 times, that’s how many.

We didn’t keep our first clean sheet until 30th September, so this season’s marginally worse in that respect.

And to mention Sam Allardyce as an example of how to squeeze an extra 0.5% out of players is laughable...

Tom Bowers
11 Posted 08/10/2008 at 11:38:36

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Peter, you echo my thoughts exactly. Last season was an overacheivement by a very moderate team and only some exceptional performances by Arteta got a lot of results. Remember they never beat the top 4 at any time. This season with the same players it has come back to haunt them, Arteta is struggling to have any impact and Everton are struggling to win any game even at home and that is scary. With the big names as the immediate opposition coming up we may well be in the basement with Spurs. I sincerely believe DM has to be replaced sooner than later.

Paul Olsen
12 Posted 08/10/2008 at 12:26:51

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Tom, last season Arteta was shit all season and we still finished fifth.

Can?t even remember when the over-rated Spaniard last played two good games in a row for us.

Sure he?ll pop past a player every now and then only to play a poor cross or get tumbled over in the next instance.

Brian Lawlor
13 Posted 08/10/2008 at 13:31:03

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How could you go 4 weeks without checking how we were doing?

I find that bizarre for a so-called supporter.

Steve Ryan
14 Posted 08/10/2008 at 22:56:00

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Peter, if you are still in Sydney this Saturday get down to Cheers Pub on George St (near Town Hall) for 12 noon when the Everton Supporters Club take on Liverpool and other supporters clubs in an all day competition (pool, quiz, darts etc). Cheers, Steve.