The Mail Bag
It's a team game
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Reading a lot of posts recently, it seems that fans are picking on their own scapegoat be it Moyes, Bullshit Bill, Fellaini or Rodwell. (It's a good job Osman or Hibbert aren't playing or it would all be thier fault). It is very easy to pick out one individual and say they're part of the problem but for me they are also part of the solution.
Football is and always has been a team game and therefore we need to look at the team collectively. In the great team of the eighties someone always got on the end of a pass even if it was a bad one and they very rarely lost the ball. I honestly believe that this squad could be as good but right now the heart and soul seems to have been ripped out of them and confidence is very low.
Now we can all apportion blame be it BK's bad chairmanship, Moyes's tendency to defend at all costs, Steve Round's questionable input... but what can be done about it?
First of all, we need a short term solution to put fire in the players' bellies again and then we need a longer term plan for a complete restructure top to bottom because it is now evident from boardroom down we will never be a top side again with this crowd of muppets in charge.
I really think we need a "Dogs of War" team for a few games especially in midfield. I thought I'd never say this but we need Neville, Hibbert and Osman back to put some enthusiasm back into the team. Once Jags is fit again he should slot straight into the back four.
Once we have a few clean sheets and some points on the board, we should have Pienaar and Arteta fit again and we can then start to look at players who are comfortable on the ball and build the team around them.
Moyes supposedly took the lads on a break last week... I firmly believe he needs to take himself on a break so he can rediscover his own enthusiasm and appetite for the club.
Jay Harris, Posted 23/11/2009 at 11:09:23
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I think 70 grand a week would be more than enough to stir my enthusiasm and appetite.
The thing is for me that after last season we had a chance to build. Get a few quality signings in early and get off to a good start. Instead we sold one of our best players (albeit for good money), only used that to strengthen the squad and with nearly a third of the season, we’re stuck in mid table and playing some of our worst football for ages.
I just hope that Moyes plays 4-4-2 against the Shite and tells them to play with a bit of pride for the shirt. But I just know it will be 4-5-1 and set up to nick a goal without conceding.
Everyone is expecting a win against Hull and then we will "twat" Liverpool.... Has anyone watched Hull or Liverpool, and do you seriously think the way we are playing we will beat either?
I think it was Tony Marsh who said bottom three by Christmas; I think again he is right.
Also I have seen the argument to say who would replace Moyes; the argument is moot — Kenright doesn't have the bollocks to sack and Moyes won't walk.
We are stuck with dire, boring, unimaginative, uncreative, stale hoffball. Twitchey Bum time come April / May as 40 points is still a long way away...
While there is no doubt that we are suffering a lot on the injury front, I get the impression that the team (and even supporters) are concentrating too much about who is missing rather than who is available and playing.
Sure, we have very little creativity but we just have to get on with things as they are now.
Another point is that I think Moyes is in danger of trying to mould his team around his "best" players. If players do not suit the system or are not playing well (I’m thinking Cahill or Fellaini) then maybe they should be dropped or not played.
On the pitch, however, us, the match going fans have to endure his torrid negative hoofball week after week with no hope of ever winning anything. To me we’ve turned back the clock this season to good old Wally’s brand of football and I think the players are becoming tired of it.
Our only hope is the situation changes at Celtic and he fucks off up there.
So who is going to do a better job than him now? - Curbishley, Martinez?
Moyes was picked from a 1st division side who made the play offs but achieved nothing. There are better managers than him. Personally I like Owen Coyle at Burnley. They are above us in the table. They’ve beaten us and Man U. They’ve drawn away at Man City in a 3-3 draw and they were unlucky not to beat Villa. Coyle plays with wingers, his team passes the ball and like to attack. Most of all he’s achieved this with less money than Moyes.
There is a long list of managers better than Moyes. If our fans are too shit scared to have any ambition they we are well and truly shafted.
I didn’t suggest I was happy, I asked who would you have in his place since some seem to think he has done all he can with our club. I think within the constraints in which he works, he cannot take the club any further it’s as simple as that, we may never find out what he can do with some cash and proper leadership.
You mention a long list of managers better than Moyes, yes there probably is, but, we can’t afford to sack DM for a start, and who’s to say, that this list of better managers, who’s to say any one of them would come to what appears to be a shambolically run club....? I dare say the list would shorten very quickly.
Yes Coyle has done very well in his first season, I seem to remember Millwall a few years ago, being second at Christmas, and they ended the season relegated, Ipswich did great under Burley more recently for a season look where they are now...?
and wasn’t Moyes taken from a Championship club, Preston who had made the play offs, and played decent football from what I remember? i think taking them up from league one, and then to the play offs in the Championship in a relatively short space of time, whilst selling the best players (look it up you’ll see) is an achievement....
So who would you have, that was my question Alan...
You still read like you’re shit scared of taking a chance and replacing Moyes. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. There are 2 ways of looking at it: the Charlton way or the Arsenal way. Charlton sacked Curbishley and look at them. Arsenal sacked Rioch and appointed some unknown fella from the Japanese league and now look at them. I agree Kenwright won’t sack Moyes unless there is a real threat of relegation. Our only hope is Celtic come in for him once they sack Mowbray.
And wtf is Cahill doing on the right wing? I know Jo has been useless lately but at least he has a left foot, then push Cahill in the middle for Fellaini... must have been a better option!!
But Jay, I never thought I would see the words "Osman" and "enthusiasm" in the same sentence.
Where did you say this? — at the day centre for the mentally challenged. Are you telling me Newcastle, Boro, Bolton, Blackburn, Villa, Spurs to name a few would sack a manager who has lead a team to Europe for the past three seasons.
Get a grip.
Mophead Fellaini out tomorrow. It shouldn’t matter against Hull, any sort of team we put out will struggle. We need the 3 points but they do too just as bad.Gonna need a big improvement to get all 3.
One big hope is that we get no more injuries before Sunday and that January (just over a month away) may just see some new signings to improve the squad. DM may now be walking a fine line if the next 2-3 games do not produce anything.
I suggest you rewatch some of our matches this season and reassess if you still want Moyes in charge. Maybe start with the Benfica game.
In all my days as an Everton fan, I have never been as disinterested.
You’re probably right Bryan, which is why we finish above all those other clubs on a regular basis.
Oh hang on I forgot, if we win a game its because the opposition are shit, but if we lose it can’t possibly be because the opposition are good.
We’ve had anywhere between 6 and 12 first team players missing every game this season, and we’re still hanging in there, no other manager would have done that.
I’m not interested in other clubs
there’s more problems at EFC than an injury crisis, very limited playing squad, poor manager and bad results on the pitch.
it completely misses the point I’m making - which is based on the ’unique’ position EFC finds itself in, in terms of management strategy and the relationships within the management group and secondly, if that management had any balls it would not be allowing the club to fall into disrepair - as has been the case for several years now.
I would suggest therefore, that any EFC management worth its salt would have sacked Moyes by now in the interests of the club.
2002-03 -1 59 7th
2003-04 -12 39 17th
2004-05 -1 61 4th
2005-06 -15 50 11th
2006-07 +16 58 6th
2007-08 +22 65 5th
2008-09 +18 63 5th
Does the trend really show it is time for change?
This year, the following have played defence: Neill, Hibbert, Neville, Distin, Yobo, Baines, Gosling, Coleman, and Heitinga. 9 different players, often times playing out of position, and we expect this to be a good defence?! There’s no chemistry there at all and it’s not Moyes’s fault. Without a good defence, Moyes’s tactics will never work. And it’s not just defence, we have had more changes to our squad than any other team in the prem so there is really no chemistry anywhere on the pitch. Consequentially, we can not put 2 decent passes together and form an attack.
We can win games with Moyes, we have in the past, as Dan pointed out. And at 100% I think we can even challenge for the top 4. When it comes down to it, the players play, not the coaches. You have to look at the players first and see what the problem is there. Only then can you examine whether the coach is at fault.
We are in the situation we are in in regards to players because of a lack of transfers and bad luck with injuries. Transfers are the board’s fault more so than Moyes. Moyes has no control over injuries. So, to sum it up, I don’t see where you can pin the responsibility for our situation on Moyes.
However we cant escape the fact that the manager is responsible for organising and motivating the players and it appears to a lot of fans that he is not doing that right now because he is feeling the pressure of the lack of support and for the first time in his career at EFC passing the blame on to the board and the players.
Right now we need a calm reassuring confident leader and we havent got one.
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1 Posted 23/11/2009 at 16:46:25
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