The Mail Bag
Jermaine Beckford
Comments (74)
I probably risk being criticised on this site for saying the following (but that's nothing new): What has Beckford done wrong this season?
I'm not a big fan of Beckford's and he is certainly nowhere near the class of some of our ex-strikers like Sharp, Lineker, Latchford, Royle, etc etc, and he certainly has his limits. However, he has got pace which we severely lack in our team, and he also knows where the goal is. He also seems a physically fit lad and with those attributes he is surely better than Yakubu, Saha, Vaughan and Anichebe.
I honestly see Beckford as the best of a bad bunch of strikers that we have. He has played in a total of 37 games this season, his first season in the top league, but 21 of those appearances have been from the substitutes bench. Moyes has a reputation for making subs late in the game, so in a lot of those 21 sub appearances, he has probably only played about 15 or 10 mins at a time.
Beckford has only started in 16 games for Everton this season but scored a creditable 9 goals, better than one goal every two games he's started!
I don't see him as good enough as an all-round striker to play the lone man upfront, but certainly in a partnership, he is more than good enough to be a Premier League striker, especially for a club like Everton that have such poor attacking options and no money to spend.
I really think he has done well this season, despite not been given a fair enough go in the team. As mentioned, I feel he is our only striker that actually looks like scoring a goal and therefore the only striker that we should be looking at keeping rather than selling this summer and giving him a decent run of games next season in a 4-4-2 formation.
Let the criticism begin...
Matthew Lovekin, Posted 16/05/2011 at 17:23:10
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I agree with the thrust of your arguement in that he's "not that bad" or "best of a bad bunch".
What galls me is that the free transfer 3rd Division (In old money) striker who frankly struggles to hit a barn door is the best we have. What a sad state of affairs....
I've been living my Everton dream vicariously through football manager recently and I have to say, its far more enjoyable than the real thing!
Looking forward to the lap of honour at the final game. To my mind, only Baines, Distan and Fellani should take part - and even two of them have been average at times.
That fine if your Darren Bent and you have scored 17 goals in the Premiership this season.
Darren Bent doesn't do much apart from score goals. But when he gets 17 in a season you dont mind.
But Beckford has scored just 7 goals in the Premiership this season and thats simply not enough.
Kevin Davies has only scored 8 goals in the Premiership this season but he works incredibly hard, holds the ball up superbly and causes problems for defenders for the entire game.
Bent does little on the pitch but scores lots of goals. Davies scores very few but has immense physical presence on the field.
Beckford however does very little on the field and only scores 7 goals.
Thats just not good enough for a Premiership team.
Re Beckford, I think he is raw and talented but, as with many before him, won't be played in his optimum role under Moyes. If he went to a more attack-minded club he would get 15 goals per season minimum. I'd have the hump with Moyes if I were him as well!
The only problem with him is that he's just another player that Moyes insists on playing as a lone striker when it's obvious to everyone watching that he isn't a lone striker. He needs to be played just off the last defender, using his pace to score goals.
As for some of the tosh on here like "doesn't know where the goal is" and "couldn't hit a barn door", some of the goals he's scored have been absolute belters.
He's certainly better than fucking Anichebe!
Now I know every article lately doesn't take long until it turns into an "Anichebe is crap" campaign, but unfortunately it's true.
Beckford has only started a handful of games, the majority of which were at the start of the season before he had time to gel, and I don't know if you remember the start of the season, but everyone aside from Cahill and Baines were playing like shit too.
So yeah, 9 goals ain't bad. Chelsea aren't going to shell out £50mil for him just yet, but I can't understand why he is our only "consistent" striker, and yet the only one that our manager is not prepared to give a run of games to.
There's plenty of room for improvement, but I for one have been happy to have him.
I chalk this year up to learning the ropes for Becks. The strike force has been been a ridiculous rotation of musical chairs. Next year though I expect much more from Becks, IF, Moyes can settle on 4-4-2 with Becks + (Saha, Anichibe, Cahill, etc...)
It is worth pointing out though, that only 5 Premier League strikers have scored more than 13 goals this season, and only one (Berbatov) who's scored more than 20. On the other hand, including all positions, there's 33 players who've scored more goals than Beckford.
Get 7 or 8 defenders in the team first then see who else we have. With any other manager I would put money on him being top scorer next season, but with Moyes in charge, he will probably get just as many starts next season.
......................................
Dont really agree with you there Dick. He's a very unselfish player at times, running accross the goal to creat space for other players (Bily's goal a few weeks ago springs to mind).
I like to think positively (however hard that is with Everton at times) so with a season of starts under his belt and a strike partnership with our star new signing [fingers crossed], I think he might just do well. As many people have said on here, he's def the best of the bunch at the moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP0XbD_Avh0
And a striker who scores 7 Premier League goals in a season is not good enough.
To be a Top 5 team, Everton need a 15-20 goals a season striker.
if Baines goes along with the Yak, Yobo and Vaughan, we need to buy a top striker and replacements for Pienaar and Baines with the money.
Dick, Saha only has 7 goals to his name this season too.
It has a certain ring to it don't you think??? Hmmm... ok maybe not. He's not good enough for Everton Football Club. And never will be. There's not another team in the Premier League that would have him. That's how good he (and Victor) is!!!
If he has time to think about it, he will always try to leather it; you don't always need to...
I think he'll come on even better next year after a decent first season with us in the Prem and hopefully the rest of the players will know his game a lot better and play to his strengths and he will contribute the same if not more.
Bent cost over £20 million pounds, he also starts games and, unless injured, ends them, that's over 90mins on the pitch. I don't know what he earns now but at Spurs he was on £90k a week. Can we please have some perspective.
Becks has the best goals/minutes ratio on the team. 16th in the Prem. Not too bad for a free from League 1.
But I think it's up to Areta etc to create the kind of chance he needs with through balls along the floor, which they haven't this season. We also need an out-and-out winger to get round the back and create a different type of chance from the by-line.
The fact is we have NO money to spend this summer, so we can dismiss all the strikers we're being linked with, maybe Elmander on a free would be viable (similar player to Saha, admittedly only one really good Prem season, but seems a good option), and we'll need to sell Yak, Yobo, Vaughan, hopefully Vic, maybe Johnny, maybe Bily, and get in a really decent winger and another creative mid.
The players we have will simply have to do better, and our manager (of whom I'm still a massive fan) needs to not play two defensive mids against a team like West Brom. I'm all for defensive solidity, but this season has been such a let down, I'd rather see us go out and attack and lose/draw than play defensively and still lose/draw.
He's had his first season here and hasn't done bad. He clearly has the traits of a good striker, his movement is very good, and though he needs to learn to outwit defenders and improve his teamwork, he clearly is a rough diamond. We definitely should keep him for next season.
But Dick and Sean, what other alternative is there? We have no cash. What choice does Moyes have if we have no cash? How are we going to get that 15-20 goal striker?
And Sean, how is he not good enough for Everton when we have no-one better at the moment? How are we ever going to get anyone as good as Lineker with no cash? Get with the times man! We are not going to get anyone by saying "But we used to be a Championship winning team... bla-bla"
Beckford knows his strength and, despite all the arguments, could easily score over 20 goals a season IMO.
However, our MF needs to stop acting like the QE2 and get up the pitch quicker in support.
If we sold Yakubu, Vaughan, Yobo & Beckford we would raise around £12 million and could purchase a tasty striker for that type of money.
Or we could just bring Yakubu back and I'm sure he could score more then Beckford's 7 goals a season.
Or how about bringing Hallam Hope through and seeing if he could play a similar role to what Beckford has this season? I would guess that, if Hope had similar opportunites that Beckford has enjoyed this season, he would score 7 goals ? maybe even more.
I'm not suggesting we go and buy a top drawer striker as I know we don't have a pot to piss in!! My point is simple. Have we fallen that far from grace that the best we can hope for is jermaine beckford ?? I really hope not.
You claim Beckford has had no opportunities and only gets 5 mins here and there so I did some maths for you.
First of all, Beckford has been involved in 31 of the 37 Premier League games so far this season.
Now you probably will argue most of them were cameo appearances but that's not true. In fact I worked out the statistics and found this....
So far this season, Beckford has played at least 1247 minutes of Premier League football. I say at least because that figure does not include injury time. My guess is with injury time it could be closer to 1300. But he's definately had 1247 minutes at least.
Do you really believe that playing someone in 31 games and giving him at least 1247 minutes of Premier League football can be considered as not giving him opportunities?
If Hallam Hope played in 31 games next season and had at least 1247 minutes of Premiership football... would he score more then 7 goals?
Wayne Rooney was lucky to get away before he got stifled by Moyes. I really don't see a better option than him but his team selections are beyond belief sometimes, example being playing Anichebe against WBA for our attacking force!
Don't forget Andy Johnson used to score goals for fun in the Championship for Palace but he's an 8-goal-a-season Premier League striker.
Even Yakubu has found the net 10 times since January in the Championship.
If your minute count for Beckford is correct then you have indirectly given him a compliment. 1247 minutes is a total of 13.85 full games, which means he scores once every 2 games or less or 20 goals a season. Did you forget to do the math before you posted?
13.85 x 90 minutes = 1247
Take that away from them and expect a workhorse and you get a striker who can't score in a brothel.
Look at Torres, look at Saha early in the season, look at Drogba even.
Based on these stats, if he played every minute of every game, he would have about 19 goals.
Do you realise that Beckford's number of minutes on the pitch compared to the number of games he has played equates to 40mins a game.
Hardly a substantial amount of time to become a match winner for the team let alone even get a few chances at goal.
Yes, the lad is a bit short of nous sometimes and does some strange things. There is however no doubting his movement, which is better than all our other strikers by far. He also is a fairly decent finisher although he appears better when it's instinctive rather than when he has time and space.
He has also recieved piss poor service in pretty much every game he has played.
He ain't top drawer, but he also isn't anywhere near as bad as some make out.
Decent squad player and likely to improve.
Also, strikers thrive on confidence. When has Moyes ever given this guy a chance to build up some confidence?
If he was a big money foreign import he would have been given this season to settle in.
I would say probably not. He's just a kid. Not a good example. It'd be nice if he did though!
Beckford is a decent striker; to ask a player totally new to the Premier League to play a lone striker role is in my view quite poor tactics by the manager David "Legend in his own Mind" Moyes. He is never short of criticism for the strikers... pretty poor man management I would say, yet he is always ready to defend certain players.
I like Tim Howard, a worthy sucessor to the likes of West and Southall; however, when he drops a clanger or has a bad day, Moyes defends him to the hilt, unlike some of the strikers. He should show such public backing for all of his players. He has his favourites, eg, Hibbert, and, as manager, that is pretty stupid man-management in my opinion.
Had Beckford gone to Newcastle, I think he would have scored more goals as he would have been given more of a chance and been played in a more attacking formation.
David Moyes to blame? ? well, he gets paid lots of money to decide on the tactics. It's about time he took some responsibility. I read we are interested in a couple of strikers ? until Moyes stops his obsession with 4-5-1, I won't get too excited... after all, if he signs a striker, it's a case of which 3 or even 4 will be on the bench!!!!
I can think of plenty of good strikers that don't defend well... Drogba, Bent, hate to say it but Torres (he will come good), Berbatov, Van Persie, Anelka etc etc. What they do if left on the pitch long enough is score and win you games. Something that 8 or 9 defenders/holding midfield players won't do.
And I am not even going to insult the lad by comparing him to Vic.
1: Not really acting as a footballer. A poacher sure, but his overall ability is poor.
2: Not showing real spirit to hide his weak spots
3: Failure to actually show on time for a game
4: Poor body language
5: Episodes of dissent
6: Will dive if he gets the chance, falls over like a leaf in the wind.
What has he done right:
1: Contributed a fair few goals
2: Came free so should be judged thereafter?
3: Really tries?
4: The team don't really try to play to his strengths
All-in-all, Beckford is too poor a player to really make a difference as a first team player, yet seems too confidence-needing to be able to contribute as an impact sub.
He is a result of our hopeless financial situation and is not really to blame, but watching the lad play is really depressing most of the time. Sadly, except Saha, we have no-one better up front.
His finishing is usually absolutely terrible, that's why he is getting stick.
His "favourites" have done it year-in and year-out, so of course if they have a slump he will defend them because he knows they can perform. Beckford is yet to do that and should rise to the criticism and prove Moyes wrong instead of trying to twat every ball through the onion bag rather than just in it.
if Beckford stays for a few years, I bet the "digs" will relent and he will back him when he has a lean patch.
Fecking man-management? ? those overpaid feckers should just take one look at their wage-slip, turn cartwheels then bust a gut for the team. He is probably on more a week than I am a year, so feck their fragile mind state, get on with the job they are handsomely paid to do. Man-management, feck off!
The reliance to play deep, with even Arteta played as a bloody sweeper, isolates the lone forward who has 3 defenders to contend with.
Under Moyes, the tactics are negative safety first. We can certainly pass the ball and that looks nice but no killer passes thru the defence to a speedy Beckford.
What's Manny Fernandes up to these days as he was able to thread the eye of needle. Alas we have David Moyes and, as much as he has done, we are also-rans with him at the reigns.
He always looks likely to get a goalscoring opportunity and the reason for that is that he is fast and has good movement. Qualities none of our other strikers possess.
If he started 38 games next season with another striker, I would back him to score 15 goals. And that makes him fairly useful in my eyes.
But instead, he persists with a lad who is never going to be a goalscorer or a half decent Prem player, who also has not scored for well over a year.
Putting it simply, its pathetic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbE5y9iu0uI
Everton have ambitions to be a Top 5 club and 7 goals is simply not acceptable.
We need a Darren Bent or a Javier Hernandez.
Again, not saying he can't score, and a goal is, after all, a goal. But I've not really been wowed by his 'skill' as such.
Am I missing something?
GOALS PER MINUTES PLAYED
This is the true measure of how useful a striker is as a goalscorer. 1 goal per 175.7 minutes is, at the very least, acceptable.
I don't think his supposed lack of goal scoring is a problem at all. If we are going to talk about problems with Beckford, let's talk about his inability to hold the ball up. He is a fine goal scorer.
Shane and Long.
Look at how many games he has actually started/minutes played and the fact that he has scored goals, yet Anichebe, who last scored when, walks into the team?
There have been some seriously messed up decisions made this season and we all know it, such as picking Saha continuously when he was playing some of worst football I have seen for a while. I say lay off Beckford and give him a chance, a decent one like everyone else seems to get.
Moyes IS a 4-5-1 manager.
Now who do you think is going to have the say on this??
Moyes strikes me as a 'My way or the highway' person... but without the highway option.
Until there is a change, Goodison will stay to all intents and purposes a Strikers' Graveyard.
Imagine players dictating the line-up and tactics, you will have eleven egos vying to have their tactics used, because they all know best.
He looks like a real striker, good pace, quick feet & a natural goal scorer. Together with adding someone like Sturridge it would add some much needed spice to our bland strike force.
Bring Vaughan back. Make them a partnership, work at it on the training ground. Both have bags of pace and could initiate excellent counter attacks.
With JV's fitness and lack of injuries, he could well be in a position to finish his unfinished business at Goodison Park.
It's Moyes's inability to change and accept that maybe there is another way that will prevent Moyes from developing into an excellent manager. The fine line between failure and success is ever so fine but sometimes so wide.
But I would rather have him than Anichebe... Beckford, that is.
While Beckford is on the pitch his movement if not creating himself chances will give others goalscoring chances.
We all know his touch is not very good as Saha's, and he will miss chances and piss us all off... but he will also get goals.
It's been easy for Moyes to drop Beckford: he cost nothing and is no star name... but Moyes did not drop Arteta or Jageilka at times this season when their form was arguably far worse than that of Beckford.
Players with average technique and pace cost a fortune and are England Internationals.
More craft in midfield and a more attacking system and Beckford will get us goals but we may have to put up with some terrible misses to go with it.
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1 Posted 17/05/2011 at 15:18:13
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But at the moment, if we have to pair him up with anyone, it has to be Anichebe, due mostly to our lack of striking options. I think one of the last times we started with those two up front together was the away derby at Anfield. And god, from what I can remember, they were so, so poor together.
However, Beckford and Saha was a winning formula. Pity Saha's a permacrock