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Our Main Problem
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Now I know there seems to be many reasons people use to why we are in this position at the minute but I have had a thought that I have not seen mentioned on here.
Maybe what we are lacking is not creativity, or tactics, or players. Maybe it is a captain.
I mean look at Liverpool: no matter, what Gerrard picks them up when they are playing badly. Gerrard gets injured and hey presto, they are going through a bad spell in the league. I think that the problem started when we lost our captain.
It was all well and good banging them in every week but, when the times have got tough, we need our heart of the team to push us on. If Neville was on the pitch then maybe we could have pushed on against Bolton, Wolves and Stoke and won them games — just because we would have had that little extra heart we are lacking right now.
And 7 extra points right now would put us where in the league exactly?
Samantha Vinten, Posted 07/11/2009 at 10:48:28
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In fact, your observation is spot on.
The one thing that would compensate for the injury crisis we are experiencing right now would be someone to galvanise a fluctuating first 11 on the pitch. A leader.
There’s no collective fight in the team - which has been our trademark for the past few seasons - and without it, we make for easy opposition.
No-one rolled their sleeves up and took responsibility the other evening against Benfica. Some channelled aggression, inspiration and leadership were desperately missed.
Will be interesting to see if, with Neill and Heitinga hopefully restored to the team tomorrow, we look like a stronger, more combative unit? They seem to me like the sort of players we desperately missed on Thursday.
I really hoped Tim would prove to be this player for us but since getting the armband has been anonymous. To be honest I don’t blame him for this as the position he’s currently playing makes no sense & he’s a shadow of the player he was for us & indeed still is for Australia.
I think we should maybe try him as captain, playing in his favoured position to see if he can be ’Talisman Tim’. If not, Moyes & Round need to identify the bolder personalities & get them being more vocal.
Without more leadership on the pitch, the slide will continue, as at the minute players are hiding from taking responsibility & letting their heads drop far too easily.
That is not to say we are not desperately lacking in creativity, but to be frank that's not an unusual situation for us, the lack of fight is something none of us have seen for a long time.
The captains so far used by Moyes - Neville, Yobo, Osman, Hibbert and Cahill all fall short of this criteria.
However Everton do possess a couple of candidates in both Jagielka and Piennar who is my opinion would do justice to the position and the responsibility that goes with the job
For my own amusement, and I will be the first to jump up and roar if they prove me wrong and to counteract a dismal month of non footie and worse I played a little game yesterday and came up with none too flattering nickmames for the lads, anyway here goes thought someone might get a giggle,
Howler Howard,
Yahoo Yobo
Hbbopotomus
Bolshivik Bilye
jack and you thought I was the new Rooney Rodwell
Goosey Gosling
Don’t feed the Yack he’ll slack
Dazed Distin
Not tonight Jo Josephine
Carry On Cahill
Folly or Fop? Fellaini
Bane of Baines
And so on,
Forgive me all. Prove me wrong please guys prove me wrong!
Alan R.
The situation with Neville reminds me of the Carsley one, a limited player who doesn’t look fancy but galvanises the back four and does the ugly job of stopping the attacks and passing short to the ones who can play pretty footy.
He is nowhere near a "great’ footballer but is a competent and effective player and we do miss him.
The original post hits the nail on the head — not only are we missing creative players, but we have lost a bit of passion — and this would not have happened with Mr Neville in the side. Perhaps Brian can explain to me how Jagielka has the ability to change the face of the game any more than Neville, as I see Neville ticking every other box in your ’captain’s checklist’.
I’ve seen Neville on the touchline screaming (the only thing he adds) during a least two of our losing matches... go figure eh!
Next, it’ll be — we need Osman back...
Now, clearly the team of today has lost most of its real spine.... apart from the goalie, we have lost Jags, Arteta/Pienaar and Yakubu... we need to really get this spine back, players with class, commitment and consistency.
Not that I am a fan of him although part of that is I think Moyes has not helped him by playing him wide, it’s just he would offer more than the absolute shite we are witnessing, he is better than Cahill and the two flimsy tarts Jo and Gosling out wide.
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1 Posted 07/11/2009 at 17:05:50
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