The Mail Bag
Dour Street Halfway House
Comments (41)
Halfway through the season now and we're looking like total no-hopers. Managed by a very rich man who looks bereft of inspiration. A backroom staffed by cloggers, fine blokes I'm sure, but not exactly brimming with Joie de Vivre. How has it come to this from the (mild) highs of our Euro adventures and bobbing around the top six for the last half dozen seasons with a famed team spirit even the pundits noticed?
I remember reading articles on the younger Moyes and was glad he was with us, his meticulous preparation, his wallcharts and databases, his nerdish fascination with the minutiae of his players' wellbeing ("You wanted to see me boss"? "Looking leaner Wayne, but more Fish, eat nowt after 8pm Wayne"), his comical tracksuited windmills on pitch as he and the team warmed up like a PE Teacher encouraging his rag-tag lads to victory. Even when his assistant left to Preston NE, he took over both roles and we were better for it. Where has it all gone? Where has that manager gone? Where has the optimism gone?
Where once there was unity, now we seem to have unrest. Long-serving players like Yobo flung out to Fenerbahçe, secret weapons not getting on the bench. It all coincided with Heitinga arriving and our self-imposed wage ceiling being broken. Johnny, I believe, had also been shipped out from his last club, but I have no ammo to point the finger there so I'm going to leave it... but we no longer have that all-for-one attitude that guided us as the upsetters of previous seasons.
We have players playing that need a spell in the reserves; we have back up players that need a chance to shine; it's just a shame there is no real reserves anymore to make that process work as it should. To let Pienaar go seems footballing suicide: Pienaar to Baines... cross to Cahill ? is our only tactic unless one of Coleman's runs pays dividends.
I've been disillusioned and disinterest in football since before the World Cup, when France cheated to make the finals, but never did I think this disinterest would carry over to the team I've loved since Mick Lyons grimaced from the team photo on my bedroom wall as a child. But it has?
I don't even get upset when we lose, no sulking, nothing. I don't even expect us to win anymore. Even games like last night, it's inevitable we'll go behind, perhaps scrap one back and then, it's in the lap of the gods which team scores the next or if the ref feels we're all bored so blows the final whistle.
Since about match three this season I've been convinced it would be Moyes's last in charge, but then it's Groundhog Day each following match, with no murmur from up above.
Maybe its football I don't love and Everton are just a casualty.
Andy Mack, Posted 29/12/2010 at 13:23:18
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
I have never witnessed Anti-Football like it in the top flight in my life. I'm not saying Holloway is the Messiah, but just look at how he sets his teams up to play. As Matt Busby said "Go out and enjoy yourselves."
It does seem all very suspicious, what other manager would make the same repeated negative decisions, week-in, week-out?
I like Moyes but it really is time to reinvent himself. Get shot of the dead wood and find some hidden gem with a bit of flair......then fucking play him.....in his proper position! (Although lack of help from his chairman is a major piss take.)
He is not alone in this and even the drunken ruddy faced alcoholic whiskey gulping red nosed alcoholic Alex Fergusdrunk has had seasons where his fans fear he has lost the plot, then he reshapes the side, does something new and usually wins a trophy or five.
After the City game the players really showed some emotions but I feel that its being eroded by those in control.
I said "They are. Just a couple of minutes to go", and she said "how come you're not screaming and shouting and going mad like usual?"
No point in me telling her that there was nothing to scream and shout about because she doesn't like football, but that statement from her hit it all home. I just don't really care much any more.
That little conversation sums it all up for me..... very very sad.
If I was Moyes, I would be seriously rollicking those two and dropping them for the next game as neither of them looked to bomb up behind Cahill. I think Rodwell did twice to little effect.
It is now FACT that Rodwell is not the best since Rooney. I have not seen him have a good game. In fact, all I see is a slow, sideways passer with little skill. Is this Moyes's fault that he has become so bloody negative and is it coincidence that Arteta is now also soooo bloody dire??!!
Please leave, Moyes, and let's have someone with an ounce of charisma with the passion to win that the fans so deserve. Redface Redknapp chucked a striker on when Spurs went to 10 men, Moyes would have put on an extra goalkeeper!
Maybe we could dig him up and play himup front when Tiny goes because there isnt anybody else.
Those loveable redshites have just been beaten at home by Wolves!!
Oh dear wettin meself!
Merry Chrimbo chaps!
Getting decisions right being able to motivate people thats what £3 million a year is about.
The famous American Football coach Vince Lombardi said:
"Coaches who can outline plays on a black board are a dime a dozen. The ones who win get inside their player and motivate."
Sacrilege to the x - box fans who get on here talking about 4 5 1 interminably like their kindred spirit Moyes.
Loads of fans sussed Moyes out years ago but there's still plenty on the x-box.
Personally, I would like that striker to be Beckford his movements good even though he might miss a few chances at least he is getting the opportunity's unlike Saha and the Yak, who knows... if he actually gets some time on the pitch, he might get a bit of confidence and start taking them chances.
The playing staff are another problem altogether. Rodwell offered little, but at 20 asking for the sort of maturity and consistency required at present is asking a lot.
Arteta on the other hand needs a rocket up his arse, every game he gets deeper and deeper. If we are talking about players lacking spirit and togetherness, I think he embodies it. Lacks bottle and goes missing too regularly for me.
Heitinga, as I have said before, is an easy scapegoat for some fans. He has hardly played all season; when he has, it has been out of position. I struggle to see the supposed impact. Whilst there have been a few reports from dubious Dutch magazines, there are no reports of him being an unsettling influence on his teammates, or openly slagging the club off.
Moyes is desperately searching for a goal scorer and he might get wind of your suggestion. Come to think about it he could not do any worse.
You no longer expect us to win. And in today's Echo, Moysie is wondering whether or not the team had the belief to win at West Ham.
I am far from one of Moysie's biggest critics - he has done a great job in many ways given the constraints he has faced. But what messages are conveyed to the team when you start a game without a recognised striker?
I'll tell you. It creates two self-fulfilling prophecies: (1) the team sense that the manager doesn't think they can win; and (2) the strikers think that the manager has no confidence that they can score (even if they get on the pitch).
Contrast with the City game.
Incidentally, not playing your strikers also devalues their marketability, including of course the price you could get.
This season is draining me, us, the players and probably Moyes! My pool team is currently sitting just above the drop zone. In the pub the other night, me and the lads were saying that we can't wait for the season to end, get a couple of new players in, even just squad players to boost the numbers, and we can start afresh next season! We could quite easily have been talking about Everton!
I think I am going to take the captaincy on next season, lead us back to respectability! I have the track record: 3 promotions in 5 seasons during my first reign. I resigned a couple of years ago because I thought I had "taken the team as far as I could and we had reached our level. Our glass ceiling".... This is sounding VERY familiar!!!!
We are an attractive proposition for the reason of our history but going forward our future looks dodgy. No money for new players and no chance of a new stadium.
We've started poorly and usually kick on in the second half of the season, wait till Cahill goes down under and Pienaar goes in the transfer window; then, with everything against us, we go on a hell of a run!
How's about this for a New Year's wish: Tactically were shit, but there is a great tactician on Merseyside currently unemployed... let's get Rafa in to work as Moyes's No 2.
The only great tactics the FSW had was to spend a fortune on average players and double the wage bill in the process.
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.
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
-sm.jpg)
1 Posted 29/12/2010 at 14:43:08
Report abuse
His post-match comments defy belief. I think he has really lost the plot. One of the worst tactical displays I have seen yesterday that would rank up there with anything Walter churned out. Dire times.