The Mail Bag
Beckford Signs
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So, according to the offical site, Jermaine Beckford has signed a four-year deal with EFC and is looking forward to hitting the ground running. This begs the question of course: Is he good enough for the Premier League?
And the supplementary question: If he is good enough, who will make way for him in our glut of strikers?
A little tongue in cheek that — but do we see him as an ideal partner for the Yak or Louis? Or is it going to be a Victor role of right winger/striker?
Interesting days ahead.
Tony McDonald, Posted 31/05/2010 at 14:16:03
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Your original question is a pertinent one, however. Only time will tell whether he makes the grade and if so to what extent — 8 goals, 12 goals, 15 goals, 20+ goals???? Who knows?
But in my opinion, the lad undoubtedly possesses the pace, height and strength for it. Hopefully with the increase in salary he can buy himself a good pair of finishing boots.
Credit to the club and manager though. Signs look good in terms of trying to bring signings in early. Good start to the 10-11 season and who knows where we can be.
As to who will go, I think it's likely to be the Yak- but as long as all our comings/goings are not protacted (and tie Mikkie A down now!) anything on the last few summers will be an improvement. Nice to get this one done early... let's hope it's a sign of things to come for a change!
It's a free transfer, his contract with Leeds had expired and he was recently released to allow this transfer to go ahead. Being 26, and with no academy ties to Leeds, there is no compensation fee either.
This surely means the end of Vaughan.
Will he be any good? I'm not overly confident. His touch is poor, link-up play is pretty non-existent. He is quick, and will probably be a half-decent sub when we need a change, but I wouldn't get over-excited. This is not the striker to send us to the top-4 or win silverware.
We will still need another forward (if the Yak does indeed leave).
I think it's a good signing, pacy and good finisher. Problem is he's playing against class defenders every week. Can he adapt to Prem level?
What is a good sign though, and Moyes does not do it this often, is he realises we need a bigger squad. Beckford will undoubtedly start off as a squad player.
There are a few more frees like Beckford who could provide cover. Ledley, Scharner, Petrov and Bouma to name a few...
Also proved himself vs Premier League opposition and his second goal against Spurs was even more impressive than vs United – in the 94min received long ball controlled it with one touch, took on Dawson, who BTW is supposedly better than all our central defenders, leaving him flat-footed for the penalty and converted it expertly himself.
Even if he fails at Everton, he would easily command a fee in the region of £4-5M so it is a win-win situation for us.
I'm sure he will be a good signing and even if he doesn't mange many goals he will be sold for a fee! More than likely to City!!!
Welcome Jermaine and good luck for the 10-11 season.
The next Ian Wright...?
...or...
The next flop!
Free transfer and Moyes always gets the best out of players... so, reasons to be cheerful.
I have been pretty much anti-Moyes but his greatest quality is getting the best out of lesser players. He will do it with Beckford.
Beckford looked good against good opposition playing in a poor side. Next season he will have Arteta playing behind him. I just hope DM puts him in the team. He will score our first goal of the season. Get on now with Paddy Power.
A decent acquisition to the squad. Provided it's not a like-for-like replacement (eg, for the Yak), we are stronger for it.
Is it the end of Vaughany? Probably... Sorry to see the lad not getting a chance, but his injury record is horrendous, and I suspect for the good of his career he needs to move down a league and rebuild his game.
Beckford was a Big fish little pond.
He is now a little fish in a big pond.
Sink or swim time. Jury is out!
Bakayoko, Bent or Saha... Which will he be? Well an injury-free Saha would be amazing!
I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he got off to a flyer, scored 13 by Christmas and found himself coveted by Man City. But then I wouldn't be surprised either if he ended up with 2 goals in 32 games, then flogged to a Championship club for £150,000.
He's clearly shown himself good enough when on form, against Premier League sides, ie, Spurs and Man Utd. I can't see it going any better than Andy Johnson to be honest, but he was £8.6M and this is a free, so no problem with that.
What an astounding statistic... until you consider:
(1) Everton played a total of 52 games last season;
(2) David Moyes invariably plays the major part of most games 4-5-1, the 1 being the lone striker;
(3) For half the season, we had this big daft bloke called Jô pretending to the role of 'striker'.
Come to think of it, it's incredible the strikers we have left came anywhere near playing 50 full games...
Do you think it's too much to hope for that we don't stick to 4-5-1 ALL the time? You know Moyes actually rediscovers the word 'adventurous' and realises that, not only will it get you lots of points in Scrabble, but it can actually be applied to football. A mate just texted me saying he hopes Beckford likes playing on the wing!!! But, given this out-of-character early "transfer" activity, I am going to be an optimist... and believe that we will go with 4-4-2. Well... till the first game of the season I will hold on to that hope!!!!
First things first, I'd like to wish the fella all the very best, he was working for the RAC less than 5 years ago, and hasn't been on big money for us, so no-one in their right mind begrudges him the chance to make his family financially secure; spend it wisely, laddo!!
It is very fashionable to rubbish him and say he will be out of his depth... I am not so sure. He has the two things that are worth a lot more than you have paid... pace, and a natural ability to finish.
Give the guy too much time to think and he is a bit more shaky (saying that, he has scored some crackers for us too), but the way he plays off the shoulder of a centre half relies totally on the quality of service.
Yes, he'll be up against better centre-halves, but by the same token he'll get better delivery, and he will be as quick off the mark at Goodison as he was at Elland Road.
He is also still learning, the Ian Wright comparison is valid, he has basically played 3 seasons as a pro, who knows how he might develop?
If it doesn't work, you'll kick him out for a couple of mill to a Championship club in 2 years (obviously we'll be up with you lot by then, but maybe Huddersfield will have him!!) and no loss, so really this is a great bet for you.
For what it is worth, I think if he starts 25 games he'll score 10+ goals for you. He gave me a day of days on 3 Jan... if he mugs that bunch off again I'm sure he'll be well received with you guys as well!!
Good luck Becks, and to you Toffee-types, you've a temperamental and very uncut diamond, but it is a diamond nonetheless. If Moyes works his magic, this could look a serious signing.
3 January, Becks, remember the date... this lot hate the Scum as much as we do so you'll have no problems acclimatising...! However, when we visit in the 2011-12 season, remember the feigned injury clause...
4 years ago, JB was fixing windscreens for the RAC. He got £6k a year at Leeds. At £20k pw he won't be short of hunger.
JB is very, very quick. He likes to sit on the shoulder of the last defender and seek the through ball. He's good in one-on-one situations and has scored some sublime goals this season. Arteta will relish the option of playing him in.
Opinion at Leeds is polarised on him. Some fans think he's lazy and he does have a tendency to drop his head if it's not happening. However, given the job he has, he spends a lot of time sniffing around their backline. My friend reminded me that Jimmy Greaves wasn't popular with many fans in his clubs for a similar reason.
Beckford was made captain for the last game of the season and it seemed to matter hugely to him.
All told, a very positive report. My friend thinks it's a shrewd buy and JB will get into double figures for us next year.
For John Crook... agreed, so what age was Wright when he went to Arsenal? And how many did he score for them?
Beckford has played in front of bigger crowds for us than Wright ever did for Palace mate... look at the goal that got us up. It is what he is all about... onto the loose ball, and slipped under the keeper. He'll be right for you, don't worry !!
'being' fit
rather than 'staying fit'
Many still doubt Bent's true quality — but what you can't doubt is the fact that he was born to score goals and that stepping up to the big time didn't stop that... in fact it's actually improved his goals-to-games ratio.
I am confident that Beckford could make a similar impact at Goodison. He seems to have all the attributes necessary to make a top-notch goalscorer, even at Premier League level. I hope my hunch is right and he will bag 20-plus next term. If not, then we've not lost much. Happy.
I don't think the question is whether or not he's good enough for the Premier League, he proved that he is against Man U and Tottenham in the FA Cup. The question is whether or not he can function as a lone striker.
All over our squad we've got players like Pienaar, Arteta, Cahill, Jags, Baines, that have got managers and fans scratching their heads thinking "how the hell did we miss this bloke.....?"
I'm the biggest culprit at times for judging a player by their price tag so hats off to Moyes whether this comes off or not for not being sucked in and signing a player on his potential and ability.
It's a big step up, yes, but the goals in the PL are exactly the same size as the goals in League 1 and with a strike rate for Leeds of a goal in 1.5 games the he certainly knows where they are.
So... I'm going to nail my colours to the post too and predict 20 goals from him next season. He's going to be great.
Might be a little odd seeing a blue shirt moving at pace at first but we'll get used to it I'm sure....
Beckford could turn out to be a great signing, who knows. There have been plenty of strikers who scored goals in the lower divisions but couldn't cut in in the top flight. Equally there have been many strikers who have made the transition and gone on to do great things at the highest level. I seem to recall Paul Mariner was originally playing non-League football with Chorley and was signed by Plymouth. A couple of good seasons with them and he was on his way to Ipswich. Who knows, let's hope that we have a diamond in Beckford — but let's give the lad a fair chance before we judge him, eh?
Fingers crossed we'll have Arteta behind him and I think we might have got ourselves a new, useful option with this lad.
One query — will he get the number 9? He had it at Leeds but I wonder if it's giving him too much pressure to hand it him here. Maybe he'll have to earn it. Of course he could flop, and then this all sounds ridiculous.
Mr Dalmat will do.
You little monkey, Ciarán, for a second, there, I thought I'd slept through the World Cup.
He is 28, and despite having a decent game against us 2 years ago has done nothing of note that should mean we should sign him. He hasn't even been considered Standard's best player, that goes to one of Witsel, Jovanovic (soon to be shite) and Defour.
Defour is the most talented, but we're covered in central midfield.
Dalmat is a cracking player... and 28 is widely recognised as a players peak.
The players you mention Fran are not right wingers. Witsel plays in the centre with Defour.
We need a right winger.
Saha — quality but cannot be relied on due to injury;
Yak — looks like a sack of potatoes might beat him into the team since injury, juries out as to whether he will ever recover, looks like he's off to West Ham;
Anichebe — big, throws his weight around but couldn't hit a barn door with a spade;
Vaughan — made of glass, shit off a stick but couldn't find the spade needed to hit the barn door with.
It is essential that we solve our right-sided problem as a priority but trying to get a quick, injury free, goalscorer is next on the list and it looks like we may have found him.
Hardly an unimportant sideshow — after right wing, it's the biggest show in town.
I don't expect much from Beckford — anything we get from him will be a bonus.
Currently, he is our fourth-choice striker.
I like Beckford more by the minute — another player we can look forward to proving Mr McGlone wrong again!
I'd have no problem him proving me wrong.
That us finding a new striker is a side issue and that this one is going to be 4th on the list?
Any way - this conversation has become a bit of an unimportant sideshow for me now, got stuff to get on with.
Keep 'em coming though Ciaran... keep 'em coming!
He is currently our fourth choice striker... and it is a sideshow. He's a third division player FFS... a gamble at most.
How exactly am I wrong on those points?
I'll not expect a coherent answer.
Anyway a minor squabble as I actually agree with your main point. It is a sideshow. We have been crying out for genuine width and pace on the flanks ever since Moyes has been in charge. Granted he has had his fingers burnt with AvdM and S Davies.
Dalmat is a very dangerous player and would be a welcome addition. Witsel and Defour are central players so not sure why they are being seen as better suited for us. I would also be happy with someone like Valon Behrami there.
Or Donovan back. Anything to give us the proper balance we had while he was here.
It is a sideshow; we need balance in midfield — that is the obvious predicament. The main event is getting that sorted, and that involves keeping Pienaar and spending money on the right, or selling Pienaar and buying players for both the left and right...
The undercard is over, let's hope we actually get to the main event.
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Actually Mike,
If you wanna play funny cunts, then he can't sign for us until July first. So he is.
I'm not sure how much pocket money you're getting at the moment but you name your price.
I will wager Jermaine Beckford will play more first team minutes for us next season than Victor Anichebe.
This is barring an injury for more than 6 weeks to either player in which case the bet is null and void.
Money. Mouth. Let's put the two together shall we?
Take Ciaran's wager and stick it on Beckford being top scorer for us next season.
Best odds I can find on't net is 6-1, League only.
As me dad used to say: `You never see a bookie riding a bike...'
Can't do the linkey thing properly;
copy & paste
http://www.bettingpress.com/category/Football/Jermaine-Beckford-6-1-Evertons-Top-League-Goalscorer-201006010032/
Skybet are 5/6 he scores 6 or more league goals next season, that is like finding money in the street in my opinion, based on 3 years hard study... good luck next season anyhow, I think the cynics amongst you might get a pleasant surprise...
"Just thought I would contact you to say that you should not get too excited about Mr Beckford. He has the touch of a ("censored") and is very lazy. I hope I am wrong but he may be a waste of money!! This isn’t sour grapes – honest, he has been most frustrating. But then again he did score 30 for us!"
So "you pays your money and takes your choice". A frustrating 30+ a season striker does it for me.
Yak has not come back to form and I think he'll leave, Anichebe — bloody hell, when are people going to realise he ain't good enough? Moyes plays him on right midfield as not good enough up front and can't even at his age, last 90 minutes.
I think Saha & Beckford are our two top strikers at present and it is Yak and Anichebe who have to force their way ahead of them two.
Since I came over with him, wasn't aware that EFC was such a left-sided team. That Landon basically fit in right away delighted us Americans, but didn't surprise us. He's a terrific blend of speed, skill, and brains.
His arrival coinciding with getting back some injured players put the League on notice. Myself, I believe LD will be back. But him or someone less, EFC has to have pace and skill on the right.
Regarding Beckford? I consider the discussion about his attitude a waste of time. Does anyone really think he'll screw up his (likely) none chance to jump from the 3rd tier to a legitimate 1st tier contender? No way. He'll be breaking his ass to show he's worth it. Not the first guy Moyes's signed with that in mind, is he? For that matter, Moyes did that with Landon too.
I don't know where to begin with your stupid bet... What in god's name would that prove?
Does it factor in injuries? AFCON? luck?
In no way, does that bet prove you point. Perhaps you should stop thinking that your opinion is fact. That's a good boy.
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He cannot register until 1 July.
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How in the hell can a Third Division gamble, with no experience be ahead of the Yak and Vic?
Nonsense.
Buying money! Thanks.
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1 Posted 31/05/2010 at 15:05:48
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