As we all know Leon Osman has been tried and tested there on so many occasions and, to be frank, has failed. Magaye Gueye looks as though he?s more suited to the left side, and again we are learning that Diniyar Bilyaletdinov ultimately will be a better player in Cahill?s current position, just off the main forward. Jack Rodwell has been tried there (Hull away) and looked lost. Victor Anichebe is the best we have but unfortunately he is on one of his many sabbaticals again!!
There is an option which can help us down the right and that is using Seamus Coleman in his rightful position of right back. We know he loves bombing forward at every opportunity, whereas both Neville and Hibbert are found lacking in that department. Why won't Moyes play Coleman? ? Well, I think Moyes is unsure about our defence, particularly the Jagielka & Distin partnership, and he wants his tried and trusted captain Neville backing them up... or, as second choice, Hibbert. He wont at the moment trust Coleman to do a defensive role that effectively. Moyes I suspect also doesn?t fancy a Jagielka & Heitinga partnership due to their lack of height, and Yobo is only a shadow of the player he was 3-4 years ago.
So the back four is going to be: Neville (or Hibbert ? watch this space if Neville is injured tomorrow) Jagielka, Distin, Baines.
This leaves Arteta, Pienaar, Rodwell, Heitinga, Bilyaletdinov, Cahill, Osman, Fellaini, and Gueye ? all fighting for the 5 midfield places (assuming Moyes will stick with the lone forward). Only Arteta out of that lot can play wide right and there is no way he?s going there again, I suspect. The Pienaar-Baines combination is just too good to dismantle.
So, for the time being, I think we can still only rely on our left-hand side for true creativity. Until Moyes solves the centre-half issue, he can't solve the right-back issue... and if he does manage somehow to solve these quickly (I thought the Man City lad Onuhau was a tremendous prospect and cheap ? but Brucie at Sunderland has snapped him up to join the other six centre-halves he has) he will still have the major issue of Heitinga and Rodwell biting their nails on the bench, waiting for the January transfer window.
People might call for a 4-2-3-1 formation with Heitinga and Fellaini as the two, which could allow for Coleman at right back but again who plays the wide right role in the 3 (assuming Arteta and Pienaar are certs for two places) and where can Capitan Neville and Tim Cahill play!
This really should have all been sorted earlier but with late World Cup players returning and Arteta?s wedding taking centre stage, we really won't be any wiser regarding our best team and formation until well into September. The only hope is that we are still in and around the Top 4 by then...
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
In goal: HowardDefence: Hibbert, Jagielka, Heitinga, BainesHolding role in midfield would be FellainiThree central midfielders would be Arteta, Cahill and PienaarUp Front Beckford and Saha if the latter is fit.Subs would be Distin, Coleman, Bily, Rodwell and Gueye
There's plenty on here who've expressed dismay at Moyes's failure to get his team up to snuff for the start of the season. Why does that constitute a diatribe? Perhaps if more fans looked for a higher standard of performance from this highly paid manager, he would feel more pressure to buckle down and produce the goods, be more adventurous, play his best players...The list of very valid issues is lengthy and there are plenty who have highlighted them on these pages.
Why do we have to sit on our hands coz we've only played one game? ? and lost it. And now, I hear Moyes giving praise to Blackburn for making it too hard for him and his players. Un-fucking-believable! But any excuse for not doing the biz. I suppose he'll be talking up Wolves next and saying what a great team they are and how good their manager is. Blah de blah...
For yesterday's game, there is no valid argument for why Hibbert played instead of Coleman and, based on the amount of space Hibbert was afforded in the first half, that selection alone probably cost us two points yesterday.
As I said in my first post, Moyes's problem is that he won't move on from his favourites, as demonstrated yesterday with the selection of Hibbert and the quite ludicrous introduction of Osman on the right hand side to win us the game.For God's sake, how long have we had to sort out the RH side? After all the progress we still end up with the dream team on the right to win us a game!! If we need to sell to sort out the right mid, for Christ's sake, Moyes, be decisive! Sell someone in an area where we have an abundance of talent and buy someone to play somewhere where we have none whatsoever!!!
In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
» Log in now
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 Talking Points submissions across the site.
About these ads
Get rid of these ads and support ToffeeWeb
Bet on Everton and get a deposit bonus with bet365 at TheFreeBetGuide.com
* Everton deducted 8 pts; †Forest deducted 4 pts for PSR breachView full table
We use cookies to enhance your experience on ToffeeWeb and to enable certain features. By using the website you are consenting to our use of cookies in accordance with our cookie policy.