ToffeeWeb - Season 2009-10

The Mail Bag

Reality Check

I can't believe some of the negativity that seems to come from Evertonians these days. One minute, it is the Board's fault, next its Moyes's. It seems my 22 years of following the Blues carries more support than people twice as old as me. I wanted to see what people thought of my view on the current situation with Everton as I see our beloved club a little more joyfully than others so it seems.

Benfica were better than us, period. Never mind Screech, or Rodwell, or Moyes, we were not the better team. Benfica have a better team, and that's why we lost. It's not hard to comprehend that there are better football teams out there at the minute.
On the topic of Benfica, we lost 5-0 because of our defence. We had a right back at centre-half, a teenage midfielder at right-back, and a right-back at left-back making his debut for the club and at European level. We had this because there was no-one else, meaning Jags, Yobo, Baines were out. A top european team, who were top seeds in the group took advantage of this. I for one will not condemn our manager for this, even Hull would have had a good go at us on the day.
Our style of football has not changed over 7 years. Why is it suddenly an issue? It was not an issue when we finished 4th, 5th and 6th. Before we increased our expectations, it was not an issue. Now we again are struggling to put a squad out for a game and it's "Get rid of Moyes"...
I get frustrated myself watching us, but I consider who we have out there fit and who is missing before condemning the team. I mean had we battered Stoke and Wolves, look at the table to see where those 4 points would have put us. It would have been a rosier picture right now.
Finally, a question to all Evertonians who criticise players. When we finished 4th, and 5th, who was our first choice right back? For all the years we had a solid defence, and was gaining success, who was our right full back week in week out? This is the same player who seems to be our worst player in some toffees minds.

It would be nice to hear peoples views in regards to my own to see if maybe I'm just deluded or if my optimism for my beloved club actually has some ground!
Christopher Ashton, liverpool Posted 07/11/2009 at 10:27:14

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James Stewart
1 Posted 07/11/2009 at 23:46:45

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For some people, the dire football on offer was still very much an issue regardless of where we finished actually.

Moyes's biggest achievement to date (finishing 4th) was hardly convincing. We hobbled over the finish due to other teams losing. As I remember, we were pretty terrible to watch, even then after Tommy left.

Pat Finegan
2 Posted 08/11/2009 at 03:57:06

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Agreed!!! Everything except the right back point. Hibbo has always been a weak point on our defense. I love the guy, he has the biggest heart on the team and he is as loyal as anyone. But he just doesn’t have the skill to be a Premier League starter. He’s a solid player off the bench but not in the starting line-up. Also, notice the 0 in 5-0. Our midfield and strikers lost that game too.

Overall, I agree with you though. We’re missing our creativity in Pienaar, defense in Jags, leadership in Neville, and shear quality in Arteta. I’m not happy with the way things are going but at the same time I’m not ready to condemn anyone. It’s good to see that someone agrees with me.

Gavin Ramejkis
3 Posted 08/11/2009 at 09:58:22

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Christopher, what pisses most supporters off are those rare flourishes of football when the team actually pass the ball on the floor and keep possession for more than five passes which is all too often replaced by percentage football which is boring as hell to watch. You even know now when it’s coming; playing ultra defensive at home against Wolves being a prime example.

A few posters have mentioned in other threads about the way Martinez has set out Wigan or Hodsgon has set out Fulham with both sides playing football which is very pleasing to the eye. Yes Wigan got beaten by Pompey but can anyone that wants to reply to that tell me the last time Everton played Chelski off the park? Can anyone tell me why the last time we did a Fulham against the RS, we still had Andy Johnson playing for us?

I don’t expect to go through a season unbeaten as we are nowhere near that good but at least having the team give the supporters the pride and memories of some great games like those two.

I also mentioned in one of the Benfica threads that whilst not a Hibbert fan I think the lad deserves the credit from the Benfica home game of showing his other three defensive colleagues up when he ran the width of the pitch to make two great tackles near the end of the game despite the match already being lost... maybe with a decent winger in front of him would help?

Ciarán McGlone
4 Posted 08/11/2009 at 10:36:41

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Christopher, one word - ’Development’....

Trevor Thompson
5 Posted 08/11/2009 at 11:02:36

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In regard to point 3. We’ve been happy to finish in the top 5, but most people weren’t happy with the way we played. Our style of football is very much still an issue with most fans

Point 4. We didn’t batter Stoke or Wolves. They were there for the taking, even with a depleted squad. That’s like saying, if we had beaten every team we played in the league so far, look how great our position would be in the league.

Point 5. Hibbert started his career well but going forward he has been woeful, in fact I don’t even think he’s as solid as he used to be. Just because he might've been useful before doesn’t mean he’s useful now.

Ray Robinson
6 Posted 08/11/2009 at 11:14:46

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Ciaran has put it as succinctly as you can. You have to strive to get better in the PL becuase if you don’t you go backwards. Moyes’s teams’ style of play has always been an issue. We CAN play decent stuff sometimes but do we consistently?

Hibbert was a decent enough fullback when he came on the scene when we were consistently struggling but he is woefully inadequate now that we’re perceived to have improved.

Stewart Littler
7 Posted 08/11/2009 at 11:30:33

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Yeah Gavin, we played them off the park at Goodison last season, even before Terry’s sending off, and only didn’t win because of the brilliance of Cech, and we were also the better team down at Stamford Bridge.

Dean Adams
8 Posted 08/11/2009 at 13:43:02

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Christopher Ashton, I agree on points 1-4 totally. It was looking good, but really I cannot see why people see our right back of the last few years as a good example of how to defend. Time and time again he fails to track back and mark his man. This has not changed over the years and has cost us many goals. It is a basic for any fulback and is sadly not in his repertoire.

Ian Tunstead
9 Posted 08/11/2009 at 14:39:03

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I agree with every word Christopher. I just cant understand why people cant see the obvious. We are in the strongest league in the world and we are playing a reserve team most weeks or trying people out in different positions to fill gaps.

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