The Mail Bag
Positives
Comments (15)
I know we've all moaned and groaned about the negatives of this season. With all the so called big boys dropping points here, there and everywhere, we could have finished a lot better than where we are. I would just like to comment on the positives — if there are any.
My number one is the fantastic addition of Heitinga. Whatever his cost its been a snip. Started slow — as expected — but has been a delight since.
Secondly, the Big Fellai has justified his big fee and a bad injury has ruined a potentionaly great season.
My final positive is that all the whipping boys, Hibbert, Osman, Neville and Cahill have accounted for themselves and over the piece have been a positive more than a negative.
John Keating, Posted 20/04/2010 at 21:39:01
Comments
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
Just a quick comment on Bily. I know everyone has their different views on him regarding his potential for next year etc. The one thing id like to add is his threat to goal. I think he has 5-6 goals already so this alone is a good sign. I think we are now delivering goals from all over midfield and up front. We haven't got a Lescott scoring from the back anymore but they are very rare.
I for one will take a lot of positives from this season and hope DM will learn from the negatives. The most important issue for next season is keeping Mikel Arteta at Everton and keeping him fit.
I think this summer's main taks is to keep this squad together. The vultures are already hovering and even selling Pienaar could send out the wrong message that we are a feeder club for the top 4. I would sooner not sign anyone and offer our top players improved contracts.
I read today the shite are looking at Pienaar. Surely we wouldn't do business with them now?
I read today the shite are looking at Pienaar. Surely we wouldn't do business with them now?
Yes I go along with you Alan Clarke. We have a good squad capable of playing good football and we also have goals coming from all parts of the field. It can only get better given a decent injury-free run. However we need to secure Pienaar and ensure Bily has a good summer break. If need be we can get by without any expensive summer signings.
Don't want to tempt fate but if we ran a book on this issue,what odds would you get that all the main players will still be at Goodison Park next year??
@ Anthony Fitzpatrick:
If we keep hold of Pienaar I think we'll keep hold of all our main players.
If Pienaar goes, who knows how deep it'll cut?
If we keep hold of Pienaar I think we'll keep hold of all our main players.
If Pienaar goes, who knows how deep it'll cut?
If Pienaar wants to go, there's not a lot Moyes could do to keep him. The club needs to show it has the ambition and desire to win trophies and lock him down before he has a good tournament at the WC.
Selling him will only rubberstamp the exits of our better players.
Selling him will only rubberstamp the exits of our better players.
I agree with Alan, if there is any money I would rather see it spent to secure the services of our top players for a few more years. Ideally we want this AND new players, but we're not Man City, we're Everton!
John....just wondering how the hell you got Cahill in the whipping pot with Os , Nev and Hibbo ?
Good article to provoke thought.
POSITIVES
- Fellaini
- Pienaar
- Heitinga
- Arteta's return
- Jags' return
- Osman
- Rodwell
- Coleman
- Baines
- Beating ManU & Chelsea
- Battering Arsenal at the Emirates
- Playing our best football for many years
NEGATIVES
- Pathetic pre-season planning against shit teams
- Terrible injury list
- DM's open despair (at terrible injury list)
- Crap start to season, as usual.
- Benfica
- Sporting
- Drawing so many away games that we should have won (Arsenal, Bham, Villa, Wolves, Sunderland)
TO BE CONFIRMED
- Billy (I think he'll do a Fellaini)
- Pienaar's contract. If he re-signs it will be like having a new player :)
WE NEED
- Strong, mobile attacker & goal scorer (Rooney?)
- Work on our new defensive frailties
FINAL THOUGHTS
A midfield of Arteta, Pienaar, Fellaini, Billy, Rodwell (& even Ossie) will have us purring next season.
Brazilian-style overlapping of full backs by Baines & Coleman will help take our offensive game to even greater heights.
If Yak kicks on with his new-found confidence & gets a good pre-season then attack is less of a concern. But Saha going from sublime to ridiculous.
And finally...
I simply can't wait for the reception at Goodison for Kevin Nolan. The man who committed the worst foul I have ever seen and could have ruined the career of a 21 year old. This shameless shithouse of a human being should be welcomed to hell when he visits us. He should have been banned for a year.
POSITIVES
- Fellaini
- Pienaar
- Heitinga
- Arteta's return
- Jags' return
- Osman
- Rodwell
- Coleman
- Baines
- Beating ManU & Chelsea
- Battering Arsenal at the Emirates
- Playing our best football for many years
NEGATIVES
- Pathetic pre-season planning against shit teams
- Terrible injury list
- DM's open despair (at terrible injury list)
- Crap start to season, as usual.
- Benfica
- Sporting
- Drawing so many away games that we should have won (Arsenal, Bham, Villa, Wolves, Sunderland)
TO BE CONFIRMED
- Billy (I think he'll do a Fellaini)
- Pienaar's contract. If he re-signs it will be like having a new player :)
WE NEED
- Strong, mobile attacker & goal scorer (Rooney?)
- Work on our new defensive frailties
FINAL THOUGHTS
A midfield of Arteta, Pienaar, Fellaini, Billy, Rodwell (& even Ossie) will have us purring next season.
Brazilian-style overlapping of full backs by Baines & Coleman will help take our offensive game to even greater heights.
If Yak kicks on with his new-found confidence & gets a good pre-season then attack is less of a concern. But Saha going from sublime to ridiculous.
And finally...
I simply can't wait for the reception at Goodison for Kevin Nolan. The man who committed the worst foul I have ever seen and could have ruined the career of a 21 year old. This shameless shithouse of a human being should be welcomed to hell when he visits us. He should have been banned for a year.
Alan,
I was going to post my summary but you summed it up absolutely perfectly !
The only thing i would add is a comment for Donovan — I thought he was absolutely superb and outrageously exposed how bad our right hand side has been in recent seasons — that is not a criticism of Osman. simply an acknowledgement of what a proper right sided player can add to our team. I pray that along with securing Pienaar and keeping hold of our other players that the permanent signing of Donavan is pulled out of the bag in the summer. If we can achieve that who knows, we may yet be looking at another 24-year landmark.....
I was going to post my summary but you summed it up absolutely perfectly !
The only thing i would add is a comment for Donovan — I thought he was absolutely superb and outrageously exposed how bad our right hand side has been in recent seasons — that is not a criticism of Osman. simply an acknowledgement of what a proper right sided player can add to our team. I pray that along with securing Pienaar and keeping hold of our other players that the permanent signing of Donavan is pulled out of the bag in the summer. If we can achieve that who knows, we may yet be looking at another 24-year landmark.....
I think the best addition to our squad would be a severe dose of good luck. That would be the missing ingredient in the team that Davey built.
Difficult to add to Alan Kirwin's comprehensive summary. The most important for me is the style of football. We've had a few false dawns on this in the past - a few weeks of good stuff then revert to hoofball when we get a few injuries or defeats. I genuinely think we've now turned a corner on this - too many good footballers at the club to go back now. As others say, holding on to Pienaar is critical.
Alan, I agree with you absolutely on your comments about Nolan. What I cannot understand is the response of David Moyes to that assault. He suggested, if I recall correctly, that Nolan wasn't that type of lad. He was and he is. In my view he is a disgrace to his profession.
Andy, DM did grossly underplay what Nolan did. I can only assume that he hadn't had the benefit of seeing it fully on the replay when doing so.
I have seen some disgusting tackles in over 40 years of watching the game. Jimmy Shithouse Case's assault on Geoff Nulty (& end his career) was bad. Souness did a few.
But I have never seen anything like what Nolan did. It was deliberate and it was disgusting. He leapt several feet through the air to plant both sets of studs, with his full body weight, on Anichebe's knee. How in sweet jesus Victor didn't suffer an Eduardo-type injury I'll never know.
Anichebe lost a year of his career. Nolan lost sod all. It wasn't a tackle it was an assault. Nolan must be left in no doubt about Evertonians' verdict on shithouses like him threatening the career of a young player.
Final point, the noises coming from Pienaar & his agent seem to be mildly encouraging. He wants his situation sorted out before the World Cup & doesn't want to use it as a shop window.
After Villa's result tonight this season's over. But after our performances since Xmas it leaves me disappointed in the extreme. I've had enough of these wanky pre-seasons, shit starts and Moyes getting depressed for the first 3 months. The mission is to get the team fit as fleas and playing like Barcelona before the first game. I want to be first, not last, out the traps next season. There's a mini league of 8 at the top and it will be tough but we can do it. Bt no handicaps, PLEASE!
I have seen some disgusting tackles in over 40 years of watching the game. Jimmy Shithouse Case's assault on Geoff Nulty (& end his career) was bad. Souness did a few.
But I have never seen anything like what Nolan did. It was deliberate and it was disgusting. He leapt several feet through the air to plant both sets of studs, with his full body weight, on Anichebe's knee. How in sweet jesus Victor didn't suffer an Eduardo-type injury I'll never know.
Anichebe lost a year of his career. Nolan lost sod all. It wasn't a tackle it was an assault. Nolan must be left in no doubt about Evertonians' verdict on shithouses like him threatening the career of a young player.
Final point, the noises coming from Pienaar & his agent seem to be mildly encouraging. He wants his situation sorted out before the World Cup & doesn't want to use it as a shop window.
After Villa's result tonight this season's over. But after our performances since Xmas it leaves me disappointed in the extreme. I've had enough of these wanky pre-seasons, shit starts and Moyes getting depressed for the first 3 months. The mission is to get the team fit as fleas and playing like Barcelona before the first game. I want to be first, not last, out the traps next season. There's a mini league of 8 at the top and it will be tough but we can do it. Bt no handicaps, PLEASE!
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment to the MailBag, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and MailBag submissions across the site.
© ToffeeWeb
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
1 Posted 21/04/2010 at 06:11:34
Report abuse
* Felli has shown his true potential for the team. Scary thing is he was bought for the defensive mid role and Moyes and most of us thought that was a mistake. After all the shifting around he went through it looks like all he needed was more time to get to grips with the EPL.
*Johnny has taken to the EPL like a duck to water. Already a fan favourite.
* Jack Rodwell has come on again this year and improved.
* Even if Bily hasn't set the world on fire he is at least not to shabby and I think he will only improve, further depth for the squad.
* Osman has had his best season in my memory
* Moyes has shown he can coach a side to play smooth passing football and Everton when balance with two wingers have shown we can beat anyone.
Things can still go wrong eg - losing players this summer and injuries but next year at least looks to be full of potential.
- Saha's injuries haven't been that bad.