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The Football Manual: A Damning Verdict

David Moyes has done an incredible job at Everton. His teams have meticulous planning, are well drilled and difficult to beat. Everything that coaches are told to teach their teams, Moyes does it perfectly.

Defensively all players move accordingly to the position of the ball. The full-backs tuck in to help the centre-backs and the wide midfielders drop back to cover the sidelines. The defensive midfielder sits just in front of the two centre-backs. There is a left-footer at left centre-half and a right-footer at right centre-half. Every player knows their place at set-pieces. Even during attacking play, the full-backs overlap the wingers, the central midfielders move accordingly to the play and the ball is passed the correct way to pull the opposition around.

Everton?s only mistakes this season seem mainly to be individual errors that are hard to compensate for. Howard has made a couple; Jagielka, Fellaini, Arteta, Pienaar have all made mistakes that have led to not just goals conceded but unfortunately points dropped.

Everton are probably playing the best football under Moyes. We are playing reasonably well, creating chances but not being clinical enough in front of goal. Surely this is just the strikers misfiring and being off form? This is again another case of individual errors. Goalkeepers and defenders making individual errors lead to goals conceded; strikers making individual errors lead to not scoring enough goals, but tactically there is not much wrong.

Unfortunately, I don?t believe this to be the case.

Perhaps Moyes has been too meticulous in his planning. The team is so well drilled that there is no margin for error, defensively or attacking except for individual errors. This margin for error is not just a good thing but also a negative. There is no individuality, no creativity, basically no skill or room for a genius.

Our main creator has been forced to play so deep as a defensive playmaker to keep the ball moving. I?m sure Arteta is happy to play the ball five yards sideways all match, but for £75k a week, he needs to be having more of an impact on our games and be forced to play further up the pitch where we know he can do some damage. Arteta playing as a defensive playmaker in Arsenal?s team might be ok where they have a luxury of attacking talent, but we can?t afford that luxury and Everton need to make the most of what we have.

Traditionally, the creativity comes from wingers in a team. This should be even more important in a 4-5-1 formation than in a 4-4-2 but Moyes plays with a full-back and a central midfielder on the wings, that?s when Osman and Anichebe aren?t fit ? another central midfielder and a striker! I know money is in short supply at Everton, but I can only remember Moyes buying one winger (Van der Meyde) in eight years of being in charge. How many central midfielders, central defenders, full-backs has he bought in that time?

Our lack of creativity in those eight years from the wings is down to Moyes alone. Even if Moyes thought that some of those potential wingers were not good enough or don?t run for 90 minutes, surely that would still be better than a full-back and central midfielder? Van der Meyde only did one good thing in his time at Everton and that was that cross for Gosling?s goal against the RS, but what a moment that was. Ok, McGeady, Etherington, Pennant, Kightly, etc may not have been good enough to grace the blue of Everton, but they might have given us more chance of winning a few more games than being concerned with not losing games as much.

Whatever happened to the likes of Gascoigne, Kanchelskis, Limpar, Sheedy, etc? Players that may have had their flaws but also a touch of genius, a piece of magic that would make spectators stand up and get excited, a touch of class that would bamboozle an average Premier League defender playing for the likes of Sunderland, Wolves and even Blackpool!

Moyes seems to have gotten so concerned with steadying the Everton ship and making us hard to beat that we have almost forgotten how to win a game, certainly against quality opposition. This is where Moyes has reached his managerial level: a manager that can make a team play above their level, do well on a shoestring and make a decent side.

However, he will never be a Champions League quality manager, he doesn?t have that spark, that touch of genius that separates the excellent from the good; he will just be a good solid manager, and Everton epitomise Moyes?s characteristics now. Everton have reached their peak under Moyes: falling just short of the big teams, just short of the Champions League, just short of a Cup win, and that?s because we need that extra bit of quality that Moyes doesn?t have because he is too busy studying his football manual.

I hate to see Spurs doing so well recently, but that?s because Redknapp has got two playmakers in the team, not one, but two!!! Van der Vaart is a world class player playing in his best position as playmaker with no restrictions, then Modric following up as an attacking midfielder! Add to that, two flying wingers in Lennon and Bale (yes he is a winger not a full-back) and you have five out and out attacking players on the pitch! Moyes's mind would explode!

Everton have one isolated strike... even if we had Drogba, he would struggle in our system. For all Cahill?s ability and superb form this season, he is not a playmaker, but is playing as the only supporting player to our lonely striker. Therefore, who is going to create our goals? Our main creator who is almost playing in the back four? Our right full-back playing right-winger or Pienaar, who for all his skill and endeavour, is being played out of position and has very little end product in terms of goals and assists. In fact our best creative attacking player this season is our left-back!

Sunderland go to Stamford Bridge playing 4-4-2 and win 3-0. Everton go to Brentford playing 4-5-1 and lose, as well as playing Blackpool, Bolton and Wolves and only getting draws. Moyes needs to be more positive and ambitious and go out and try to win games.

Credit where it?s due, Moyes has assembled a top quality squad, many of whom deserve to be playing in a top 4 side. Unfortunately football isn?t played on paper, it?s played on grass and now Moyes has got a great squad and he has spent about £90m whilst in charge, he now needs to deliver and get the best out of the players.

Heitinga is being played out of position, he is a great centre-back so play him there or sit him on the bench as third choice, if he doesn?t like it then sell him as he is one of the few sellable assets we have, being a World Cup finalist and all that. As mentioned, Arteta is being played out of position which is all Moyes?s fault. We need to get the best out of our so-called best player, so play him as a playmaker á la Van der Vaart, Sneijder, Ozil, etc ? also known as Cahill?s position.

Cahill has to stay in the team as he is one of only a few good points so far this season. Therefore, play Cahill either as a striker, as our strikers don?t know how to score a goal, or as an attacking midfielder which he was originally, á la Lampard, but we need more creativity and can get this by pushing Arteta forward.

Moyes needs to try something different, not just because we aren?t winning games, but because opponents struggle to deal with something a bit different, like a player that likes to take an opponent on and try to beat him. I think Moyes has conformed too much to the football manual and needs to input a bit of originality into Everton to get results.

Insanity: ?Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.? ? Einstein.

Genius: ?Someone embodying exceptional intellectual ability, creativity or originality, typically to a degree that is associated with the achievement of unprecedented insight.? ? Wikipedia

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