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Continuing the Good Form
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It appears as though Everton have finally gotten over the now expected early season bad form.
The next game is a midweek League Cup away fixture to Hull. In theory, it should be quite winnable as Hull are in bad form themselves. In fact, Everton could hammer in the final nail on Phil Brown's managerial career.
The problem is: does Moyes risk his full-strength team? The next Premier League game is away to Portsmouth... again it's definitely a winnable fixture but you wouldn't want to go there without Saha, Pienaar or Howard.
The League Cup is always a difficult competition. Basically it's pointless unless you get to the final. Does Moyes risk his best players or does he turn to the likes of Wallace, Baxter & Nash? Trouble is, if he fields a weakened side then it increases the chances of losing.
Personally, I'd rather he field a full-strength side (maybe give Nash his debut) and beat Hull, keeping the momentum up and the confidence high.
Dick Anderson, Posted 21/09/2009 at 11:52:47
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Hibbert Neill Distin Baines
Gosling Heitinga Wallace Osman Baxter
Yakubu
Nash deserves a game. Wallace and Baxter have warmed the bench for a while now and need a chance from the start to show what they can do as opposed to 10 minutes when a game is dead. Hull won’t be interested in this when they’re struggling in the league and we could and should win.
Maybe in this thread - perhaps on another - we should all reveal the starting 11, plus bench, not hat we would want, but what we think Davey will name on Wednesday night.
I’ll get to work on mine and talk to you later.
So i think our team should be..
Howard
Heitinga Yobo Distin Baines
Gosling Osman Fellaini Billy
Yakubu Jo
That should be enough to knock what will probably be an under strength hull city team.
Hibbert, Yobo, Distin, Baines
Osman, Heitinga, Fellaini,Pienaar
Cahill, Jo
Bench: Nash, Neill, Rodwell, Gosling, Yakubu, Saha, Baxter
Hibbert...Yobo...Distin...Bains
Osman...Heitinga...Cahill....wallace
......Saha
.................................Jo
unfortunately I dont think any youngsters will start..
But Davey doesn’t like to change things too much, so can’t see many of the youngsters getting a run neither.
Neill, Heitinga, Yobo, Distin
Gosling, Osman, Fellaini, Billy
Jo, Yakubu
Subs: Turner, Hibbert, Baines, Baxter, Wallace, Cahill
Important to win this, without taking undue risks. This team should be able to achieve it against Hull, and good rest for Saha, Cahill, Howard, Pienaar, Baines, Rodwell., before the serious stuff resumes.
While i would play a weakened side i expect something along the lines of
Howard
Hibbert,Yobo, Distin, Baines
Osman Heitinga Fellaini Cahill Pienaar
Jo
Subs
Nash, Yak, Gosling, Baxter, Saha
Will let you know ’my chosen’ tomorrow!
We just can’t afford any more injuries to key players... out for me go: Baines, Rodwell, Cahill, Saha, Pienaar, Howard. maybe even Fella...
We have Baxter, Gosling, Wallace, Billy (if fit), Jo, Hibbert to come in.... great chance for the lads.
That way you’ll have players, who might not get much of a chance otherwise, playing their hearts out knowing that if they win they’re guaranteed at least another full game.
Should they get knocked out... no real loss in my opinion!
What it should be:
Nash
Coleman Heitinga Distin Baines
Osman Fellaini Rodwell Wallace
Jo Agard
Subs: Howard, Yobo, Hibbert, Pienaar, Yakubu, Baxter, Cahill
But of course it will probably be the same team as Sunday, which will be utterly ridiculous.
Neill is some way off match fitness as I understand. And no way we should risk Bily’s groin here.
The League Cup as I have always referred to it, has been a non-event as far as most teams are concerned. Wether we win or lose is of little consequence but better to do it with the "reserves" than with the 1st team. We certainly don’t want any more injuries for no good reason.
Sorry to be negative but it’s better to go out early rather than complicate the fixtures later on when there will be bigger and more important games to focus on.
Firstly David Moyes won’t change formation (4-5-1 to 4-4-2) and change personnel at the same time — it's just not in his nature; as much as myself and other fans would like to see him do it in cups and Europe, he won’t. He may do one of the two but not both.
He may rest a couple of first teamers, which I would totally understand. But for David Moyes he wants silverware after his name, we're away from home and on paper its two Premier League teams going against each other that’s why he won’t go mad with this on Wednesday.
Personally I wouldn’t allow Saha, Rodwell and Baines anywhere near the squad on Wednesday night, Saha because he only really has a game a week in him and it gives Jo/Yak the chance for minutes; Baines as he is the only specialised LB at the club. I also think Rodwell should rest after two games in four days.
People like Pienaar, Fellaini and Cahill would be on the bench for me as an option if the proverbial shit hits the fan — David Moyes won't do this though.
People clammering for Carlo Nash - wtf? Tim Howard can’t be tired, he’s a goalie, he doesn’t do anything strenuous — that's why the fat kid always goes in goal in school.
For what its worth my selection would be:
Howard
Hibbert Neill Yobo Distin
Heitinga
Gosling Wallace Osman Baxter Yakubu
Subs: Nash Pienaar Cahill Fellaini Jo Bily Agard
Howard - Nash
Howard rested just to give Nash his debut. At some stage this season Howard may get injured and we don’t want Nash making a debut in an important Prem game.
Heitinga - Hibbert
Bring back Hibbert for this game. Not because Heitinga needs a rest but because of the next change.
Rodwell - Heitinga
Jack could use a rest to keep him fresh and Heitinga is most probably next in line for the defensive midfield role. It would give Heitinga 90 mins in a role he may have to play at some stage.
Pienaar - Gosling
Just to ensure nothing happens to our best player Pienaar. Be silly for him to get injured in this sort of game. Plus Gosling deserves a game in midfield.
Saha - Yakubu
Protecting Saha from a silly injury while giving the Yak more match fitness. I wouldn’t play Yak the whole game though, maybe an hour before bringing on Jo.
I understand why everyone is saying we need to rest players, it’s an unimportant comp, blood youngsters etc etc. Yet in other atrticles some people are slagging Moyes for ’being the longest serving Everton manager not to win a trophy’. Bottom line is that realistically this competition is the best chance we will have of silverware this season. Add to that our chances of qualifying for Europe through the league appear to be slim due the high standard of the teams we’re competing against (City, Villa, Spurs, Arsenal) and the amount of ground we have lost already, so winning this is probably our best chance of European football again next season.
I would also like to add that team confidence is soo important in football, regardless of the players that play. We need to keep building up the wave so we can ride the crest of it, improve on the understanding of the new players and cement their patnerships (e.g. Yobo & Distin), keep improving our sharpness and fitness. What a confidence boost it would be to wallop a fellow Premier League side.
A classic example of my point is Villa’s fiasco in the Uefa Cup last season. Weakened team lost, confidence dented, as a result lost a couple more games in the league and everything fell apart (all of which I was delighted about!), but seriously, if you’re on a roll (which we are starting to be) we need to continue it.
I would love to see the same team as Sunday except for Bily in for Ossie. Play some sexy football and get everyone on a high for Portsmouth on Saturday.
For me, Moyes will want to win the game and will put out a tried and tested defence. He will want to protect vital players from injury (not the same as resting). The next big thing for me is that he now can’t imagine a team without Rodwell, but all the same, I’ll go for -
Howard
Hibbert Yobo Distin Baines
Gosling Osman Heitinga Cahill Wallace
Jo
subs: Yak, Baxter, Rodwell, Fellaini, Coleman, Mustafi, Nash.
This means I think he will cotton-wool Pienaar, Saha and Billy - and I think he would be a fool if he didn’t.
I would bet that Arsenal (desperate for a trophy), Man City (strong even if they field reserves) and even Liverpool (desperate to win anything) will all be gunning for the League Cup this season.
I think that our best chance of winning something is the Europa League.
In an ideal season Everton will finish Top 7 and win the Europa League. That should be in Moyes thoughts.
Everything you have said is undoubtedly correct. What the faithful here worry about varies, quite possibly depending on the phases of the moon. At the moment the priorities probably go PL points, PL points playing with a style to be proud of, Europa wins, no injuries, Carling Cup. Except that no injuries could be much higher up the list.
The only thing you can be totally sure of is that none of us wants to lose on Wednesday.
Let’s just hope for the luxury — a different line-up (always based on a solid foundation) which can play a passing game and bang in a few goals. It’s happened in two competitions this week. Do things happen in threes?
ps. Also totally delirious at the thought of an on form Pienaar and Arteta in the same midfield. It has been a while since we could call on TWO outstanding ball playing midfielders.
Either that or start at near full strength and withdraw players should we get comfortable. We DO want to win, after all.
I would start:
Nash, Hibbert, Neill, Yobo, Distin,
Gosling, Osman, Heitinga, Bilyaletdinov, Jo,
Yakubu
Subs: Turner, Mustafi, Duffy, Wallace, Baxter, Agard, Cahill.
Why? Cos my starting line up on Saturday would be Howard, Heitinga, Yobo, Distin, Baines, Pienaar, Rodwell, Fellaini, Bilyaletdinov, Cahill, Saha, meaning only 4 players would play both games, with only 2 of those playing the previous 2 games (Yobo and Distin). And as mentioned in a previous post, DM now needs to start the art of rotation. If we get beat, so be it, but this team should be good enough to beat Hull’s youth team, never mind the excuse PB will send out on Wednesday.
Moysey has tried this before (Jags & Yobo) by playing dfenders out of thier natural position, usually in midfield. Heitinga played centre half for holland a few times and was never convincing. He’s a RB, we’re weak down the right so play him there.
Also think that the majority are right, we would like to see youngsters getting a go but we wont, I predict......
Howard
Neill Yobo Distin Baines
Osman Heitinga Fellaini Rodwell Pienaar
Cahill
Jo
I would like this....
Howard
Heitinga Yobo Distin Baines
Wallace Rodwell Cahill Bilyaedtinov
Baxter Jo.
Seriously, though. I think Moyes will want to put up a show in this competition — and winning gets to be a habit they say!
It all of course, depends on form and our fair share of luck, and with the injured back and the new boys bedded in, we could be in for a Happy New Year. Here’s hoping.
Brian. For what it’s worth, I think he will start with Fellaini and Rodwell in the starting line-up.
Hibbert Yobo Distin Neill
Gosling Osman Wallace Baxter
Cahill
Yakubu
I’d be impressed if Moyes started with this lineup, though I highly doubt it. We don’t really need to put a full strength XI either way.
(ii) Europa League - Top 2 qualify from our group of 4. Given our start, it is unlikely that we are going to have to play a full strength team in all our group games to progress. 12 points would be enough, and we already have 3 with 5 games to go (might turn out to need less than 12 points too).
FA Cup - Who knows what will happen? We have gone out early enough times.
So... no need to panic about exhausting players with too many games yet.
(iii) Confidence and success can be a virtuous circle. Keeping our run of wins going is worth something. However - Hull are not the hardest opposition in the world. From this game I want
- A win
- Heitinga learning more about playing with this team (and they need to be on the pitch for him to learn how to play with them)
- More game time for the Yak.
- Don’t risk anyone unless not playing them would compromise any of the above 3.
My team:
Howard
Heitinga Yobo Distin Baines
Osman Cahill Fellaini Gosling
Jo Yakubu
I think in our full strength team, we only need one of Cahill annd Fellaini, so if one of them gets injured, it is not as much of a disaster as, say, Pienaar. So - we can risk them both.
The only thing we can be sure about is that, no matter whatever the other factors are, Moyes won’t send out a team tomorrow night that he thinks will lose. And the squad is just beginning to look a bit beefier than it was. Who knows, another day, another competition, another result?
As it turned out, 8 of the 11were correct.
Moyes started Yak, risked Dimi Bili, and couldn’t live without Jack the Lad. And won.
Good for him, and us. And, I’m afraid, Brian’s bookie.
end of thread.
a bit blade runner that don’t you think
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1 Posted 21/09/2009 at 16:09:15
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Premier League and the Europa League can work in tandem with each other to keep us improving but we should be using Wednesday’s match to get the Yak into the starting line-up, to maybe get Bily back from injury and give our new signing Lucas Neill a run-out.
If Moyes fields a strong team and we lose then I’ll be disappointed but if he uses the game to re-habilitate injuries etc then I don’t mind what the result is. Certainly wouldn’t fancy it going all the way through to penalties though with an early kick-off on Saturday looming.
Heitanga needs more football to settle himself into the team and I’d play Hibbert only for the reason that I wouldn’t give him anymore league football so this is all he would be getting:
Nash
Hibbert Heitanga Distin Neill
Gosling Fellaini Osman Bily
Yakubu Jo
A team something to that effect rests a lot of important players and gives others football who are in need of it and given Hull’s form at the minute could probably be enough to come away with the win.
Howard, Yobo, Baines, Pienaar, Rodwell, Cahill and Saha come back revitalised on Saturday to push us further up the league.