ToffeeWeb - Season 2009-10

The Mail Bag

Random Observations From Last Night

1) Jack Rodwell was awesome, he just gets better and better with every game. While it may be tempting for Moyes to protect him, he already looks light-years ahead of most Premier League midfielders. He reminds me of Roger Federer in the way he moves so effortlessly and appears to be wonderfully balanced. He'd be the first name on my teamsheet. 2) It was great to see Fellaini back in a deeper role. Hopefully he and Jack will get plenty of opportunity to develop what is potentially a technically adept, youthful and physically imposing midfield pairing. 3) As expected, Joey Yobo took over the captain's armband. However, there seemed to be some confusion at kick off when Leighton Baines was announced as captain over the tannoy. Channel Five also stated that Baines would be skipper. I wonder how that happened? 4) Pienaar is class on the right as well as on the left although it's a real shame that Bily got injured as it looked as though Pienaar was being given a run in Cahill's position just off Jo. I'd like Moyesie to try him in that position in the Carling Cup game at Hull. I think it's safe to say he won't try that experiment in a Premier League game. 5) Finally I'll probably get some flak for this but our new retro style home strip is really starting to grow on me, I'm gonna order a shirt as soon as I get paid, although I don't think I could afford to get Bilyaletdinov on the back!
David Nicholls, Lancaster Posted 18/09/2009 at 09:39:22

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Dan McKie
1 Posted 18/09/2009 at 14:51:20

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The club charges £12 for a squad member on the back of shirts, regardless of whether it's Bilyaletdinov or Jo, so ya might as well get your money's worth. Rodwell and Gosling both played well last night, but I still think we are yet to see either of them do it against top quality opposition when we are under constant pressure. I agree it should be Rodwell and Fellaini in the middle though, Felli seems to have sorted his tackling out, and he is class on the ball.

Andrew Ellams
2 Posted 18/09/2009 at 15:19:29

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The only thing that slightly disappointed me last night was Osman coming on for Cahill and not Baxter. This guys looks perfect for playing off the main striker and last night was a great opportunity for some experience. Apart from that great stuff and we need to nail down Rodwell now. What odds on him creeping into the World Cup squad?

Matthew Lovekin
3 Posted 18/09/2009 at 15:29:22

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Andrew. Completely agree with what you say about Baxter. He has shown enough promise to warrant an extended go in the first team, with Wallace as well. Cahill is already battling with Fellaini for the support striker position, but I reckon Baxter should be given a go.

Keith Glazzard
4 Posted 18/09/2009 at 16:22:19

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The big worry is that we are now better against a continental team like AEK than a ’dogs of war’ team like Blackburn are going to be on Sunday. Pip Neville wasn’t missed at all last night but could be sorely missed in a couple of days time.

And a vote from me for Dan the young Goose - another step up to being an important member of the squad.

Baxter and Wallace must get their time too, and maybe some was available in this game. Osman will no doubt be expected to work his sox off from the start on Sunday, so no need for a full half last night in my book either.

Ray Kelly
5 Posted 18/09/2009 at 17:03:50

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Just a quick one — I’m for saying fuck the Carling Cup this year, rest our fragile players and leave it to the squad/fringe players> We’re going to be stretched enough playing in this Europa League so use it to blood younger players and anyone returning to fitness, anyone for it?

Ray Robinson
6 Posted 18/09/2009 at 19:06:46

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To add me random thoughts to the match:

We looked a bigger side
The ball got played forward through midfield more - and faster
Bily got his crosses in early which meant the Cahill and Jo were actually facing the right way when the cross came in
Gosling was prepared to move forward when receiving the ball instead of struggling to control the ball and then passing it sideways a la Hibbert
The side had goals in it from various parts of the pitch
Pienaar is a superb player irrespective of which side of the pitch he plays on
Distin is the organiser not gentle Joe
Rodwell is the real deal in midfield with two fantastic feet How can he ever be considered a centre back?
Fellaini looked better in a more withdrawn role.
The AEK fans were magnificent throughout

Having said all that, you have to judge the performance against the quality of the opposition which quite frankly was astonishingly poor.

Anthony Newell
7 Posted 18/09/2009 at 21:37:04

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On the randomness observations side, Is it true that the Goodison announcer last night introduced Lucas Neil as the player ’who once turned down Liverpool’? Isn’t that a bit cheesy / cringeworthy / people's clubby? The same pillock announced that Baines was captain at the start of game and carried out announcing players names even after the match had been going a few minutes.

Keith Glazzard
8 Posted 18/09/2009 at 21:52:25

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Ray - I like that observation about the possibility of goals coming potentially from various parts of the pitch. When the Yak scored 20 we had a few more who chipped in with 10 or so.

I like 4-6-0 myself (Evertonian Total Football) but I’ll welcome the Yak back if he can do five or six times in any game what he did to set up Jo’s goal. Mind you, I want Jo playing too, but I think this all might be a few months down the line.

Iain Love
9 Posted 18/09/2009 at 21:57:18

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Ray spot on. The only thing I would add is how would you have looked at our result against Arsenal? As we were astonishingly poor or where Arsenal really good? I bet the Greeks won't turn out to be the whipping boys of our group, and that will put that performance into perspective.

Jamie Hynes
10 Posted 19/09/2009 at 10:14:28

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Again I would reiterate how fantastic the the AEK fans were, I don’t think I would be that happy at 3-0 and 4-0 down. They helped contribute to the funniest match I have been to. All their bizarrely choreographed routines kept us laughing in the main stand.

Other funny moments:
AEK left winger’s air shot in the first half
Injured left back receiving treatment behind the goal line receiving a direct hit from Pienaar’s courtesy throw back to the opposition
Liverpool supporter Colin Murray clapping bouncing and singing along to ’Grand Old Team’ in the studio before the match, singing along even to the ’we don’t care what the red (side) say’

Mike Allison
11 Posted 19/09/2009 at 10:53:33

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Ray Kelly, I kind of agree but I don’t think that means ’fuck the Carling Cup’. I want to win it actually, but would use it the way an England manager uses friendlies, certainly at first.

Someone mentioned ’experimenting’ with Pienaar down the middle against Hull and so on. I’d maybe give Baxter and Wallace a go, I certainly would’ve picked Vaughan if we hadn’t loaned him out, but I’d be picking strong, attacking teams and expecting them to win, after all, the more we win, the more of these ’experiments’ we get to make and we could benefit from these in other games.

One person I would leave out against Hull is Rodwell. He’s already our best player and we’re beginning to rely on him, Neville’s injury could be great for his development as it happens, as hopefully Fellaini will play alongside him regularly now. The obvious danger with an 18-year-old is overplaying, and the Carling Cup is the something that I would give at the moment. Assuming everyone’s fit I’d also rest Pienaar and give Bily the chance to be the main man, see what he can do. I don’t think centre backs need rest so I’d keep the Howard-Yobo-Distin axis in order to continue its development and understanding.

Assuming fitness and depending who plays against Blackburn I’d pick; Howard, Gosling (right back could be his position), Yobo, Distin, Baines (no alternative), Baxter, Wallace/Heitinga, Fellaini/Cahill, Bilyaletdinov, Jo, Yakubu/Saha.

That gives some players rest, others an opportunity, but I’d still fancy us to beat Hull.

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