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A few good things about the Spurs game

Here are a few good things that I can pick up from yesterday's game, despite our loss:

We’ve recovered from our loss in Lisbon. Our second half performance proved that. The loss in Lisbon is now in the past.
We were that close to winning the game. If only we knew how to convert goals.
Spurs are not that good after all. And they’re supposed to be the more expensive team.
We now know Anichebe is bad at playing right midfield. So, we need to push Gosling instead. ( I wonder why DM didn’t start Gosling instead. He could not be worst than Anichebe, but at least he could stop Spurs from attacking down their left flank)
Arteta has returned to his best form indicating complete recovery from his injury
So has Jagielka.
We’ve gone through the worst part of our schedule barring Villa (away) and Birmingham (away). The rest of the season is winnable. This means we can win 7th or 6th if we put our hearts into it.
With United picking up the Carling Cup, I am hoping 7th place will qualify us for Europe.
There are 8 games that we can actually get full points. And all we need to do is draw at Villa and Birmingham.
If we win 8 and draw 2, our total points would be 64. That is more than enough to warrant at least a 6th spot. Hello Europe once again.
DM has realized that Billy is a bad buy. He should make preparations to offload him in the next transfer window
Yakubu too looked sharp and threatening. He is near to full recovery, in my opinion.
We can actually go down 2-0 but come back and give the opposition hell in their backyard.
We survived February and didn’t get worst in the table.

In conclusion, cheer up. If we play like in the second half, we’ll come out on top in the league. Now, we don’t have any more distractions, we’d be even more potent in the League.

The best will be if we can beat Villa and Birmingham. To me, that would be a bigger win than getting through against Sporting Lisbon.

Rahman Talib, jakarta Posted 01/03/2010 at 04:42:02

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Ciaran Duff
1 Posted 01/03/2010 at 18:35:52

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Looking purely on the positive side, I’d agree with most of above.
I don’t agree with point 11 - I think Bily is a good player and just needs some time to adjust. Let’s see how he goes next season.
Also, in a way it is good that we play Villa and Brum in the run in (although home would be better). We really need to beat these teams if we want to get 6th or 7th, so those games give us a chance for "6 pointers".

Ian Kearney
2 Posted 01/03/2010 at 19:30:46

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disagree with a couple of these I’m afraid,

point 4 - Anichebe has had more good games on the right in a blue shirt than Gosling has had, he looked miles away from full fitness, but the tactic of playing the ball into him against a full back looked like it might have legs, if only Vic had!

point 5 - Arteta is a good enoughplayer to get away with not being at his best, but is still miles away from where he was before his injury.

Point 11- you’d think people might have learnt their lesson after so many stated Fellaini had already proved he was a bad buy, at least give the lad a chance to fail before totally condeming him!

Glad to see some praise for the Yak though, some of the abuse he has recieved has been way over the top, he scored a goal and should have had an assist, he was a little wasteful in possesion, but no more than Louis ever is.

Brendan O'Doherty
3 Posted 01/03/2010 at 20:55:23

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Points 5 & 6 : Not yet - we have dearly missed both, but although they are worthy of a starting berth we have to give them time to get back to their best.

Point 7 : We still have Man City away to be arranged.

Point 11: A la Fellaini, we won’t see the best of Bily until next season. I doubt DM has given up on him yet.

Point 14: We didn’t survive February because we are out of Europe and lost the derby, being embarassed in both. 2 great wins also, but it’s only a 5/10 for me. The lesson to learnt from the last month surely has to be that there is a minimum standard of performance, below which is unacceptable. Personally I would have preferred to be still in Europe with the prospect of 2 ties against Atletico Madrid than beating Birmingham. Now we have to.

Eric Myles
4 Posted 01/03/2010 at 21:42:31

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11. DM has realised that Bily is knackered from a full season of games in Russia before coming to us and has given him a deserved rest so he doesn’t pick up a serious injury ’cos he’s Pienaar’s replacement for next season and we can’t afford to lose him with a long term injury now.

Neil Waring
5 Posted 02/03/2010 at 05:48:48

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I think Bily has had a similar first season to Fellaini in some ways... looks a little confused and lost sometimes, but still has glimpses of talent and scores a few goals. It would be crazy to get rid of him already..

Tom Bowers
6 Posted 02/03/2010 at 07:28:26

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We have had an up-and-down season and the absence of Arteta and Jags for the most part have been a big factor although Heitinga has filled in well after a slow start and not being available for Europa. The inconsistency at right back is a big problem and hopefully Moyes will now be able to give Coleman an extended run.

Peanuts has been great on occasions but gets upset at some heavy duty tackles and fades as he has done in some recent games. Anichebe needs more game time but I am afraid if he doesn’t show something more by the end of the season then we have to consider letting him go and sadly to say Vaughan too.

Bily has the talent and finishing and will be all the better next season as will Fellaini who was finally showing some good form before the injury. We know King Louis and the Yak will get goals but the absence of strikes from midfield is still poor.

Nobody seems to possess a good shot from 20-25 yards except maybe Rodwell and I guess that’s why a lot of goals are from dead ball situations. Cahill is now just a good sub.in my opinion.Certainly getting Rodders shooting more often may help but we need a team leader in the middle of the park ala Peter Reid to keep the concentration level high.

It is now a perfect time for the younsters to get experience because if money is tight then signings will be affected in the off season and we will generally have to go with the squad we have now except for Donovan and one or two others who may be gone.

Patty Beesley
7 Posted 02/03/2010 at 07:51:47

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"If is a ittle but very big word"!!!!

Mark Stone
8 Posted 02/03/2010 at 07:56:03

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I was also a little suprised that the flak Yakubu took after Saturday. He was quiet in the first half but I thought that in the 2nd half he looked very threatening.

Geoff Edwards
9 Posted 02/03/2010 at 08:05:54

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There have been numerous posts (see Eric’s above) on why Bily is not looking great at the moment. I’m going to repeat Eric’s sentiment again because it seems people just ignore it and claim he’s a bad buy etc etc.

HE’S ALREADY PLAYED A FULL SEASON IN RUSSIA.

HE’S KNACKERED.

GIVE HIM A BREAK AND SEE HOW HE GOES AFTER A REST AND PRE-SEASON.

Sean McCarthy
10 Posted 02/03/2010 at 09:19:57

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"....Yakubu too looked sharp and threatening. He is near to full recovery, in my opinion...."

Are you watching the same game as the rest of us??? Hes overweight, lazy, and looks every one of his (estimated) 40yrs!!!

Sorry Yak but 1 injury too many in my opinion. Time to move him on

Chris McCullough
11 Posted 01/03/2010 at 16:56:59

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It seems to me that a receipt of more than £20 million in exchange for Julian Lescott represents unarguably good business for the Toffees. Paying £5 million for John Heitinga is surely mentionable with Cahill, Arteta, Pienaar et al in relation to Moyes most astute signings.

Regardless of transfer fees, wages and so-called loyalty to the club, I would rather have Heitinga than Lescott playing for Everton. He’s just a better centre-half.

Steve Kidd
12 Posted 02/03/2010 at 10:24:49

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I actually agree that Yakubu looks like he may be getting some type of form back. Yak is actually one of our better footballers, something I believe he is not given enough credit for as he is composed on the ball and always finds an Everton player with a pass.

The only problem seems to be that he has to come outside the box to get the ball to start off a move, and by the time the ball is back in there he is not close enough to finish it off. He is therefore trying to turn creator for himself. It is up to Everton to play to his strengths by slipping the ball in behind him or playing into his feet and having runners available for him.

Brian Waring
13 Posted 02/03/2010 at 12:40:36

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1. We have recovered from our loss in Lisbon, no we didn’t, we actually got beat by Spurs.

2. We were that close to winning the game. Spurs could have been 4 up in the first half, and had a few more good chances in the 2nd half to have put the game to bed.

3. Spurs are not that good after all. What does that say about us then, if we have been beaten by a team who are not that good.

Peter Warren
14 Posted 02/03/2010 at 16:13:47

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We have no fucking chance of getting 64 points. we had good money for Lescott but I think his partnership wih Jags was great and yet to be fully convinced by Heitinga . He’s been getting plaudits and rightly so, but Lescott was an absolute quality player for us make no mistake

Paul Mackie
15 Posted 03/03/2010 at 07:50:53

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I’d argue that the reason Lescott looked like a £22m defender was because he had Jags beside him. He’s not been anywhere near as good at City.

Damian Scott
16 Posted 03/03/2010 at 09:31:20

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Have to agree with Sean McCarthy regarding Yakubu... He looks totally off the pace.. needs to lose some weight i think. He just doesn’t have the sharpness that he had before his injury.

Tom Bowers
17 Posted 03/03/2010 at 12:59:53

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I think everyone agrees that the palyers who have been out for a while will need the rest of the season to regain their best form — Jags, Arteta, Yaks and Anichebe — but they need to get lots of playing time.

Anichebe has the best chance because of his age and, if he has something to offer, let’s see it but not as a wide midfielder. He is strong but lacks real pace and quick ball control. Donovan is supposed to be back at the Galaxy on March 15th. Can we not send Osman instead?

Lescott has gone — forget him; we got Heitinga who is a steal and can cover as a holding midfielder. Notice how Lescott’s goals have dried up?

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