The Mail Bag
Is Moyes undermining the players confidence?
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Please bear with me for a while here as I might not be totally correct in what I am going to say. I don't play football as I am too old, and when I was young enough, I wasn't good enough... but I have been watching Everton most of my life (since about 1964). So, I have seen some very good players, and some very bad players, and I am not a bad judge, usually.
What I have seen over the last 40 years or so (and I am still seeing) is most footballers doing most of what they do by instinct.
An analogy: When I drive my car, most of my driving is instinctive. I don't say to myself “I will now press the clutch pedal and change into 1st gear”; “ I will now press the clutch pedal and change into 2nd gear”; “I will check my mirrors”; "I will hold the steering wheel." ... etc.
And I am pretty sure that, if someone was sitting next to me or behind me, and was shouting them instructions at me constantly, it would affect my driving and I may become a worse driver because, instead of using my instincts and just getting on with the simple stuff, like changing gear, I would possibly start thinking about every single action/decision I had to make... which would slow me down, and possibly cause me to make more mistakes. True or not True???
Watch David Moyes next time you watch Everton. He constantly shouts at players telling them what to do, even in the most basic situations. I have been watching this for a few seasons now and I am convinced that it is having an effect, particularly on players like Tony Hibbert, who sometimes looks to see where Moyes is before kicking the ball, thus taking a split second longer than he would if he hit it instinctively... which means he sometimes gets caught with the ball, or takes the wrong option.
Osman, Gosling, Fellaini, Bilyaletdinov, Yobo, Baines — all do the same when they are playing on the same side of the field as the dugout/bench. Could this be one of the reasons why the players sometimes look scared, and sometimes look like they are pissed off and/or can't be arsed?
I have also seen some players in the last couple of years screaming back at Moyes during a game (Pienaar, Arteta, Yakubu, Lescott) and, coincidentally, they have consistently been our better players. So maybe it doesn't bother them as much, or maybe they are just more confident in their own ability?
Like I said at the beginning of this article, “I might not be totally correct”, but Moyes does do this and sometimes I feel it is unnecessary.
I am keen to hear if anyone else has noticed this, or is it just me?
Steven Flavin, Posted 07/11/2009 at 18:19:21
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Moyes barks lots more orders than the rest but that could be the result of so many of our games being on a knife edge or maybe, just maybe, our players are a bit dense to the wider aspects. Then of course there is a possibility that in the manner of a local team, Everton could be tactically over coached.
For more than an hour before games, including practices, this local coach used a huge magnetic board with markers for all players of both teams plus the referee and both linesmens and their likely position at any given moment. From kick off to final whistle, he would enact the entire game. Confused players would be running around like billy goats while the only man who knew exactly where they should have been was going beserk on the side line.
It was not long ago when TW posters were berating Moyes for a perceived lack of concern from the dug out...
Andy Morden – I didn’t mean to imply Moyes had destroyed any player's confidence, I stated “I am convinced that it is having an effect, particularly on players like Tony Hibbert, who sometimes looks to see where Moyes is before kicking the ball, thus taking a split second longer than he would if he hit it instinctively. Which means he sometimes gets caught with the ball, or takes the wrong option.”
The point I was trying to make was: If you do certain things instinctively and without having to think about them first, then you do them faster and usually better than you would if you had to take the time to check that you are doing it correctly.
Or like you said, “Maybe the players are just actually shit“? Or maybe like Dick Fearon states in his response, “Everton could be tactically over coached”.
I don’t know the answer. Like I said at the beginning of the original article, “I might not be totally correct”, but Moyes does do this and sometimes I feel it is unnecessary.
What absolute twaddle, in my entire life I have never seen Hibbert, nor a professional footballer look to his manager in-game to see where he wants him to put it, absolute nonsense.
Some players (Jagielka, Neville) have an ability to be in the right place all of the time, and despite their limited ball skills, are good players because of their reading of the game. They will go on to be managers.
Others (Yobo, Hibbert) have to be constantly reminded, and when they aren’t being (from the sidelines and other players like the 2 mentioned above), they tend to be caught out of position.
I took that to either say, shout at him, (Moyes) or we are under orders, and that's it. Whichever it was, we certainly needed some support for the one frontman.
Dick, I do really like the delicious irony in the prospect that Everton’s players are tactically overcoached. A well rehearsed argument on this site (one I have put forward too) is that Moyes is tactically clueless. How fantastically tragic-comic would it be that Moyes is actually THE premier tactician in the world, capable of outflanking Mourhinio, Capello, Fellip Scolari, Hiddink and a whole host of other internationally revered coaches put together? Yet what he falls down on is a basic inability to communicate his genius in a pithy, easily digestible manner. I don’t know if I would laugh or cry...
When you put your chin out don’t be surprised if someone has a pop - especially when you write such utter tripe.
Thankfully - Moyesy was there this afternoon - as usual shouting the odds and helping us over the line for three valuable away points.
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1 Posted 07/11/2009 at 23:11:43
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I have also been watching this over a few seasons now and agree it is certainly having an effect. We are no longer regular relegation candidates, we are European regulars and have just finished fifth and got to the Cup Final having lost three of our best players in the run-up to the business end of last season.
Moyes wants the players to deliver — when they don’t he has his say and is perfectly entitled to do so — in fact that is his job. If those tired arses cannot follow instructions then he has to ensure that in no uncertain terms they understand.
Sack him — he’s a disgrace — how dare he shout at those players?