Add in the fact that the unless Saha is fit (which is always a mystery), Arteta doesn't have a decent striker to distribute the ball too. This goes for all the midfielders as well, I believe that much of their struggles can be attributed to the lack of a proper striker.

I'd like to know if breaking up the oppositions play is classed as tackling as Felli just seems to know where the ball is going. He doesn't need to jump into tackles. A great thing he's brought to his game as it means less yellow cards.

The only reason I bothered to make a point of the Arteta/Fellaini comparison is because there have a been a few games this season where, in my eyes, there has been a large disparity between performance and fans' perception.

Against Bolton Wanderers, Arteta had a very decent game, involving himself in most things good about Everton (granted there were not many such things) and putting in a good shift. Conversely, Fellaini had something of a shocker, consistently giving the ball away and looking lethargic and off the pace.

However, many people both on this site and Bluekipper (a reliable site no doubt) praised Felli and ripped Arteta, a point which I personally found outrageous. It seems SOME fans clutch onto a player (like Big Dunc) and deify them to the extent where they are infallible. I do think Fellaini has come on a lot and does much good work for Everton, but why must we be blinkered and imbalanced because of this?

What we all need to accept is that people are putting forward their opinions ? these are not definitive facts that can be proved or disproved with dubious statistics. As individuals, we all have differing views of such things: that does not make some of those views "vitriolic" or "outrageous" ? just different from yours.

The more worrying thing is the way he is treated by the fans at Goodison currently ? a misplaced pass results in groans of derision and screams of "Fuck Off" ? something which is definitely not harmless and part of the debating process.

Not very quick, not very agile, no long passing range, no evidence of any long shooting capability. He's a half-decent tackler and is tidy in possession, he may grow into more but he's not the colossus that some fans have built him up to be, or hope he will be. Perhaps in the future, although, in my opinion, I think he lacks the basic attributes to get right to the top.

Arteta is our best midfielder, experienced, creative and a goal threat, he's having a bad season, but we have no one better (probably not the argument to put forward my pro "Leon Osman in centre-mid" views). He's probably not earned his wage but who apart from Baines has this season? And even he's getting paid to defend which is something we've not done well as a whole.

Aside from a good cup result, we're utter shit. Instead of dreaming of European trips, we're listening to our captain talk about a relegation dogfight. Apart from Baines, no player has consistently performed.

The only problem with selling players is the money would not be spent on new players, so we're stuck with these over-earning under-achievers.

However, too many Everton players have been giving the ball away too easily, even in the Chelsea game, and this has been the real reason we have struggled to win this season, even against so-called lesser teams. This could be a result of poor training or mental conditioning which of course is the responsibility of the coaching staff.

Having said that, some of these players have enough experience to know when and how to shield the ball and make simple passes. Surely Man Utd and Arsenal shouldn't have the monopoly on this technique?

Look at the way Aquiliani failed to make any kind of an impact for Liverpool. If you look through the central midfielders across the country you'd be hard pushed to find an elegant controller of the game. Stylian Petrov is as close as Villa ever got under O'Neill, and he strikes me as anything but a midfield general.

Even the top two teams over the last few years, Chelsea and United struggle to field such players. Essien, Lampard, Darren Fletcher, Anderson ? all athletic high energy players but, besides Paul Scholes, does either side really boast such a player.

My point is essentially that I think it's something of a miracle that we have Arteta at all, and that without him we'd be similarly creatively redundant through the centre. Most teams in England use wide men to break teams down, so to expect everything to go through the little Spaniard is quite unfair. It's interesting that people often accuse Moyes of being negative and tactically turgid; I think he's actually trying to emulate our European cousins in that he wants every midfielder to be able to receive the ball and pick a pass.

The one thing which hasn't improved though ? and not a stat in the world can change ? is his shocking take on set pieces, both corners and free kicks; thank god Baines took that one against Chelski.