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Something wicked this way comes

When are we going to win a game when it really matters? We were all ecstatic when we beat the two teams who are going to share all the trophies between them again and again but late on Saturday night I started to get the feeling that something horrible was going to happen on Thursday.

You see, Everton never seem to deliver when it really matters. Sure, those two victories were great but had we lost or drawn nothing would have changed. We were never going down, never going to finish in the top four or, most likely top six. Cup final. First in donkey’s years, possibly the last involving us in my lifetime, outplayed, with the result a foregone conclusion after the dramatic opening minutes.

First game of the season, needing to set a marker, one of the most humiliating defeats in the history of the club.

First game against the shite and that really matters, the least talented, least tolerable shower since they came up from the old Second Division and captained and managed by two characters who make John Terry look like a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, home defeat. You don’t need me to tell you what happened across the Park. I would have given anything to have stuffed them. Utter misery. Now this.

Don’t give me “it doesn’t matter”. We could have won it, we could have...lost in the final. By the pricking of my thumbs something wicked this way comes.
Tony Burke, Malmesbury Posted 26/02/2010 at 10:05:52

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Mike McLean
1 Posted 26/02/2010 at 15:07:22

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When we have the quality to win such games is the short answer.

All of the argument, analyses etc boils down to one thing: we’re not as good as we sometimes think we are.

Paddy Francis
2 Posted 26/02/2010 at 15:07:18

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It’s bitterly disappointing to be out of Europe, but I don’t agree with your wider malaise.

A top 6 finish would be a great achievement given our resources and a win on Sunday will once again have this web site filled with optimism and deserved praise for Moyes and the players.

2-1 away win on Sunday. I’ll be there and I can’t wait.

Aiden Doyle
3 Posted 27/02/2010 at 21:13:35

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Okay... I understand that you’re upset with what you saw on Thursday night – in terms of the result and the performance... but I have no clue where you’re going with the Macbeth quote. Exactly what “something wicked” are you referring to?

Derek Thomas
4 Posted 27/02/2010 at 20:57:07

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We are just what it says on the tin (and we are forever told that the table doesn’t lie)...MID TABLE aka just not good enough or at best Inconsistant.

Why do Saha and others look like world beaters one week and plain disinterested the next. How to get around it, well if I knew that I would have Moyeses job.

There are, despite what some might think, in the world of Human events and football some constants. From the highest football levels to the lowest these more or less hold true, in no particular order...

You can only beat what is put infront of you.

It is all too easy to believe your own publicity.

Some days shit happens.

You are only as good as your NEXT game.

Choose a formation that suits the players you have ( no Sq. pegs in round holes )

Attack is the best form of defence.

How hard can it be, well probabley very hard, due to the facts that there is now no old style reserves, where reluctant Divas can rot and thus from that and the squad system Johnny Bigtime gets his obscene wedge per week no matter, 50K a week dulls the pain of a lot of bench sitting.

And was it not ever thus, that,

When we are good we are very very good and when we are bad we are horrid

Patty Beesley
5 Posted 28/02/2010 at 04:38:00

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I agree that the way the players approached this game was abysmal. I do not honestly believe that David Moyes told them to play defensive but rather that he told them to go all out for an early goal. In fact, officials’ decisions play a large part. If you remember Senderos did get the ball in the net only for it to be ruled offside, which later footage of the game showed that it was NOT offside. How different the result could then have been. Everton would have been 3 up [ four on the away ruling] and the result might have been completely different. What was the official behind the goal and the linesman doing that they could not see it was not offside.

Neil Steele
6 Posted 28/02/2010 at 04:42:45

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Mike McLean, im sorry pal but that is absolute nonsense and just another excuse for Moyes. You tell me how many of those Lisbon players would get in this Everton team and it will explain to you why you are so wrong. Moyes was outclassed in europe yet again because whilst he is a master of getting Premiership results by playing percentages football, he is clueless when it comes to playing the european style. No ball retention whatsoever, no composure and absolutely no clue how to set things right. Playing the likes of Chelsea and Man United with zero pressure because we expect to lose is worlds away from the big game pressure cooker that the OP is pointing you to. Moyes record in the games that matter is truly abysmal and whilst you can use your ’quality’ argument against the likes of Chelsea, i’m sorry it just doesn’t stack up this time. Lisbon have their worst side in years, are struggling badly at home and cannot score goals. Yet they can batter us for 3 and we don’t have a shot until the 68th minute!! Moyes was shown up once again i’m afraid. I’ve no doubt he can keep getting us in europe, or close, but really, what is the point when he is so out of his depth in that competition?

Ged Simpson
7 Posted 28/02/2010 at 07:30:14

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Neil

I agree that Moyes is not a good European competition manager.

But I think the reason is about believing in some kind of "european style." It is that nonsense that causes us to fail.

If you accept that we have to change the way we play becuase of the need to play in a European style, then you accept that european sides are far far better than us.

I don’t accept that.

We should play with confidence and gusto as we do when we are successful at home.

What our mistake is is that we seem to think that unless we play at 10 mph we will be beaten. I think this is a fear that affects both playyers and Moyes.

It’s rubbish. We should play at 100 mph and scare the crap out of them. Otherwise it is like saying to opposition that whilst we can be good, we may not be that good when we play your way. Stupid.

Until we challenge the myth of European superiority, we will always lose because we are changing the whole couching system for one game and will never have practiced enough to do this.

I hate to say this, but the success of the Red Shite wasn’t achieved by changing their game.

Nor should we.

Neil Steele
8 Posted 28/02/2010 at 07:47:22

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I disagree Ged, we simply have to adapt.

You cant compare the top 4 sides because they already play a vastly different game to us, as the Opta statistics will tell you if you check them.

They play the passing game, they play it AND add the tempo, which is one of the reasons we are dominant in the Champions League, we have a bit of everything.

The problem Everton has is the percentage game football we play serves us so well in the league but is doomed to fail in europe.

It isn’t because they are ’better’, their tactics are simply more effective in that arena and with european referees in charge of games.

We get away with the way we play over here because of the style of the teams outside the top few.

If we launch the ball forward repeatedly against Stoke, Birmingham, Blackburn, Wolves, Bolton etc etc etc, it doesn’t harm us so bad...they launch it straight back, it’s the english way!!

The problem is, teams like Sporting don’t do that.

They are no good but what they are is technically proficient, just as benfica are, just as Fiorentina are, just as Bucharest were etc etc.

Away from home in europe we simply fail to master the absolute basics, which are slowing the game down and KEEPING THE BALL.

I say again, Sporting are no good...we simply played into their hands. We played like a brain dead lower league side and chased them around like a dog chasing a stick, with no though to positional discipline, keeping the ball or tactical intelligence.

Moyes is good at what he’s good at but he is repeatedly shown up as completely one-dimensional and totally naive in europe im afraid.

Derek Thomas
9 Posted 28/02/2010 at 14:55:38

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A new twist on the old myth, eg.it’s had to do well in europe if you have no experience at it.

Total rubbish.

We hadn’t played a European game for 14 or 15 yrs in 85 so how did we manage...We had good players who could actually play. Some said at the time we were the best clubside in the world, and they were right.

Stone, paper, scissors, you all know the formula. The EPL is mostly stone, with the odd scissor now and again. Alot of even poor Euro teams are paper, and we get wrapped up every time.

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