The Mail Bag
Two teams better than One?
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So, like many of you, I waited in vain for the influx of world beaters on transfer deadline day; still refreshing the BBC website at 10 pm in the desperate hope that an under the radar move for Defour might materialise. It didn't.
However, in my eternal push for optimism I have decided that recent comings and goings do mean that, for the first time in a while, we have enough players to put out two seperate teams both potentially capable of challenging for the top 10. This would be my team to face Fulham:
Howard
Heitinga Yobo Distin Baines
Pienaar Rodwell Fellaini Bilyaletdinov
Saha Jo
I believe separating Baines and Pienaar is not ideal but productive as they are they can be overwhelmed physically and both Heitinga and Bilyaletdinov are 6 footers. As Pienaar can play on the right, that should add balance.
For me, Rodwell and Fellaini has to be the central pairing for the future. Two young athletic lads both able to pass and tackle well on their day (if both prone to mistakes... they're still developing). Jo and Saha for me provide the best combination of finishing and guile... and I think its high time we started playing two proper strikers together.
So that leaves (with those returning from injury):
Nash
Hibbert Jagielka Duffy Neville
Osman Arteta Cahill Gosling
Yakubu Vaughan
Duffy obviously a bit of a punt but still in my opinion a team that should more than hold its own with the majority of Premier League teams. And with promising youngsters such as Baxter, Wallace, Agard, Garbutt, Akpan and of course Anichebe able to step in too, I believe we have some decent depth barring a glut of injuries.
Perhaps the more pertinent question though is wether our strongest team is capable of challenging for the top 4? Even an optimist like me will struggle to give a definitve positive answer to that. If Bily and Heitinga bed in rapidly and prove to be the players Moyes hopes... If Arteta, Jags and Yak get back quickly to playing at their very best week-in and week-out... If we can avoid injury and fatigue to key players... If Rodwell carries on his exciting development to become the lynchpin of the team... Then maybe... just maybe...
Buts it's a lot of ifs.
Sam Hoare, Posted 03/09/2009 at 05:52:29
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Still, it looks like 11 v 11 in training could be interesting now!!!
Our first choice central 3 should be Fella, Arteta and Rodwell, but Rodwell shouldnt be playing every game. I would not be surprised to see him benched for 1 or 2 upcoming league games, its Moyes’s way.
Our very own AvDM is in there...good luck to anyone who gets landed with that shithouse, but two names stood out: Lucas Neill and Bolo Zenden.
Now before anyone goes mad, I’m not suggesting that these two are world beaters but they certainly are squad fillers. If we have ambitions of advancing through all the cups it will add a hefty amount of games to our fixture list. Two seasoned pros with no sigh on fee could surely do no harm could it??
The Heitinga signing makes Neill a little redundant, but if I were Moyes I would have asked Cahill’s opinion on Neill as a bloke by now. Maybe he has and the answer was negative. As for Zenden I’d definitely have a look, he’s played in such a variety of positions in his career that he’s got to be useful to have around, as well as for his European experience.
Again, it kind of depends what kind of guy he is, when you ask "could surely do no harm could it?" we do need to make sure we’re not signing tossers who’ll upset the squad, expect to play every game, throw tantrums and so on, but if we can establish that’s not the case, and they enter the deal with realistic expectations and accept the wages we offer, then sure, I’d take them on.
ps: Do you know anywhere online I can see the list?
Thanks for a well balanced response Mike; I was expecting shots to be fired such can be the nature of this website at times. Its all irrelevant anyway. We come onto these forums talking about players we like or dislike til we’re blue in the face but its all up to Davey boy in the end which is what you have implied in ways.
First a rider - the Yak is nearly fit, El Mikel might be fit sooner than we hoped but the Jag is still a way off. But ... there IS the makings of two decent teams there. Which hints at a bit of depth, the kind we aren’t used to. Moyes stunned the footballing world with a team led by Marcus Bent knocking on the doors of Europe. We had precious little in the locker if plan A failed then, and hardly have had since. The end of last season was remarkable as the last men standing - with Pienaar assuming the mantle - earned a very creditable 5th.
Injuries permitting, all of the senior players (Rodwell and Gosling included) are up for it. Wallace and Baxter can’t be too far off. No passengers, no ’possibly Van der Shandy could come good’ this season (but we’l never forget one crossof his).
We’re solid, solid as a rock.
Well I hope so anyway. And when Mikel, Steven and the the Big Fella get together to unleash a combination of Yak, Jo, Louis and Tiger Tim on the world, watch out world, we’re on our way.
How’s that for a bit of optimism Sam?
4-5-1 is more flexible and fits better the skill sets of the attacking midfielders who can also score in the box as well as tackle, pass and move. I beleive 4-5-1 is intrinsically superior to the 4-4-2 which is now a bit old fashioned.
More specifically 4-5-1 happens to suit the Everton personnel better. Fellaini is not a good tackler - and I am not sure that Rodwell has the positional sense yet to be an effective midfield anchor without a Neville or an Areteta alongside him. So a 4-4-2 with Rodwell and Fellaini in the middle would likely be overrun.
Our midfield needs one defensive holding player (Neville or Heitinger or Rodwell); one central creative player who can still tackle well Arteta or Osman or Rodwell; two flankers — Pienaar and Bily (or Osman if needs must); and one playing just behing the strikers Cahill or Fellaini or Osman.
This leaves one striker - which at the moment is Saha, but later on may be Yakubu. Jo lacks close control of the ball, but has the ability to cause trouble as a sub (as he did against Wigan) and is capable of holding the line for us as he did to good effect in his first loan spell with us.
So first XI would be
Howard
Heitinga Jags Distin Baines
Pienaar Neville Arteta Bily
Cahill
Saha
Second XI would be
Nash
Hibbert Yobo ? Collins
Gosling Rodwell Osman Baxter
Fellaini
Yakubu
Still not bad and several youngsters plus Vaughan, Jo and Anichebe still available. But I think the 2nd XI would struggle to stay up despite a sprinkling of quality in Yobo, Fellaini, Osman, Rodwell and Yakubu.
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1 Posted 03/09/2009 at 16:58:02
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He’ll be gone. He’ll probably finance next years incoming transfers.