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Stuck between a rock and a hard place

By Matthew Lovekin :  26/09/2010 :  Comments (33) :

I am a very positive, glass half-full type of person.  I have always been a fan of David Moyes and (prepared for the criticism) Bill Kenwright.  It was Kenwright who appointed Moyes as manager and both of them have taken Everton from a consistent relegation-fighting team to a team competing for and (obviously not this season!) in Europe.  All this has been achieved with a lot smaller resources than our main competitors.  In fact, even mid-table teams like Birmingham and Sunderland seem to out-spend us now in the transfer market.  In summary, what Moyes specifically has achieved for Everton in this modern day football era has been nothing short of remarkable.

All the terms used by the media for Everton such as "overachievers", "hitting a glass ceiling", etc are probably correct.  Moyes has taken a small-middle table resource Premier League club that is Everton to a top 6-8th position. However, I feel that it is not just Everton that has overachieved, but Moyes himself.

A club, or a person, cannot carry on consistently punching above their weight; sooner or later, it will catch up with them... and Moyes has had a good run.  This was the season that pushed Everton back into the big-time, 8½ years of squad building, all the potentially good younger players that were bought were now hitting their peak.  It was supposed to be Everton?s time to gatecrash modern day football with traditional values of hard work and building a team properly rather than splashing money around.

But now, Moyes?s deficiencies as a manager have been found out.  He is not good enough to be in charge as a top four manager in the Premier League, whether it be in charge of Everton or another club; he has blown his chance of managing Man Utd.  Moyes?s level is a small club fighting hard and doing well to finish mid-table in the Premier League. Unfortunately, Everton deserve better than that; us fans demand it ? we have seen it before and we want it again.  The only person that seems content with mid-table is Kenwright.  Moyes will probably end up at Celtic ? you don?t have to be a good manager to do well in Scotland, just look at Gordon Strachan... even Walter Smith, relegation material in the English Premier League.

The only question is when will it happen?  When will Moyes leave Everton? 

Kenwright won?t sack him as he is happy for mid-table.  There have been highs and lows under Moyes, a Cup Final appearance, a 4th-place finish, European adventures... but also the dour hoofball, the mind numbing defensive formations, and now rock bottom of the league.  This all averages out to make Moyes a mid-table manager. 

We will never win anything under Moyes, there have been and currently are, far better managers that our league attracts:  Mourinho, Ferguson, Wenger are all a far, far better manager than Moyes will ever be.  Moyes has nowhere near the same tactical knowledge as someone like Mourinho.  Moyes gets praised for his skills in the transfer market, but how many world class players has he bought like Ferguson or Wenger?  It?s not about the money, it?s about spotting the talent, Ronaldo was signed for £12m, Henry for £10m, Vieira, Bergkamp, etc, all signed for about the same amount that Everton paid each for Bily, Fellaini, Yakubu!

Ok, Fellaini may yet develop into a world-class player and you may argue that Henry, Bergkamp, etc were great players that would have turned down Everton, but they weren?t that great when Arsenal signed them and in fact their careers were struggling at Juventus and Inter.  It?s managers like Ferguson, Wenger and Mourinho that turn good players into great... but Moyes doesn?t have that ability.  Players like Bily, Fellaini and even Rodwell will never become great players under Moyes?s leadership even though they have the potential.

I still believe in the traditional values that if you are good enough, then you will make it to the top regardless ? even in the modern era of money talks ? but that applies to managers as well as players.  Look at foreign football with Wolfsburg or Twente, two sides that won their national leagues within the last two years that are both much smaller and with less resources than the likes of Bayern Munich or Ajax. 

You may argue that the Premier League is stronger but I think that Moyes is simply not good enough a manager to take a team into the top 4 in England, let alone champions.  Look at Blackpool, most people expected them to get relegated from the Championship last season; instead, they got promoted and now in a position that Everton would be jealous of in the Premier League!  If the managerial ability is good enough then it can be done: Jewell at Wigan; Hodgson at Fulham, etc.

Moyes?s main problem is that he is too conservative.  He is worried about losing.  He found a system that worked six years ago, but is still using it now.  Times change and you need to change with them or you will get left behind.  Just being good at your job isn?t good enough any more ? you need to be excellent... different from the rest... something that makes you stand out from the crowd.

That is why Everton finished 4th before as it was only us and Chelsea (under Mourinho) that played a new formation (4-5-1) in this country; it was something different and opposing teams didn?t know how to play against it. Teams know how to play against us now.

In order to win a trophy, you either have to be exceptional at what you do, or do something different from the rest.  At the World Cup, all the quarter-finalists played this new formation, 4-2-3-1, teams like England didn?t know how to play against it and because England were only an average side, they got left behind and failed miserably.  That is what Everton are doing now. 

Moyes is so reluctant to change anything, tactics or players. What does he have to lose? We are already bottom, it can?t possibly get any worse. The majority of pre-season, he tries different ideas, plays 4-4-2, plays Rodwell in an advanced role, tries the youngsters, all of which seem to work, but then come the start of the season, it?s back to normal. Rodwell never got his deserved chance before his injury, Coleman only got his chance because of injuries but ended up being our best player against Fulham. Why can?t he change the formation?

Even against Brentford, a side struggling in League 1, we play with only one striker. Mourinho, Ferguson and Wenger have all used variations of 4-5-1, 4-4-2 and 4-3-3 with players playing different positions.  Moyes needs to be brave and try different things ? and not just for the last ten minutes of a match.

Therefore, if Moyes is not the manager to take us to the Promised Land, with or without money, surely the answer is to sack him and get a manager in that can, a Mourinho from 10 years ago, an Alex Ferguson from 30 years ago, a manager good enough that is going to prove his potential? Well, no. Unfortunately, there doesn?t seem to be a manager out there at the moment.

Martin O?Neill is available and good but would he put up with the financial constraints at the club before walking out in a huff after a few months?

Ian Holloway possibly. He has done an incredible job at Blackpool and plays attacking football with a 4-3-3, but would he cope with a slightly larger budget, bigger egos and bigger expectations or would that make him go even more insane?

Di Matteo, Martinez? Good... but good enough? I doubt it.

Gus Poyet, who at my hometown club Brighton has turned them from relegation material to League 1 leaders in his only year in his managerial career and playing good football, is a possibility but the Premier League is a hard league to learn your managerial training and a steep learning curve.

This is Kenwright?s decision: either he takes a massive gamble on someone like Poyet and Everton do a Wolfsburg or Twente... or we do a Paul Ince at Blackburn and flop, probably end up getting relegated.  His other choice is to stick with Moyes and have a few highs, a Cup Final every eight years, and a few lows, fighting relegation a couple of times every eight years, but ultimately end up mid-table mediocrity.

Nil Satis Nisi Optimum, eh?

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