The Mail Bag
Everton's footballing style
Comments (16)
As I find revising for exams in university very tedious, I thought analysing a topic of discussion in a lot of mailbag and articles, which is of course the way play Everton play their football, would be a good idea. The majority of Toffeewebbers have of course played Mr Moyes.
If we look at all the teams who play good football, how are they so successful? In my mind, there are five things:
1. A good defence ? we need a good foundation. That's why Blackpool are doing rubbish in the league, they play great stuff yet could get relegated.
2. Players with good passing and comfortable on the ball.
3. Players to make space ? Players need to be intelligent enough to outwit defenders and make space so they can receive the ball in enough time to pass to the next player.
4. Creativity ? We need creativity to create chances for strikers.
5. Good strikers ? Good enough strikers to actually score.
Now, Barcelona are good at all 5 points, and teams like Blackpool probably good at 2 or 3. That's the difference between success and failure with good passing football. What do Everton have? Well, I reckon 2, maybe 3 at best.
We clearly have a good defence, and that has been the benchmark for our success definitely. They perform a shambles at times, but are generally very good and consistent.
I also think we have good players with good passing skills. I could name Bily, Osman, Arteta, Fellaini, Rodwell etc all good passers and all comfortable on the ball.
But the problem is the other three. Strikers is an obvious one, speaks for itself how many goals we have scored this season.
Creativity I argued maybe one we do or do not have. An iffy one. We have Baines who is fantastic at crossing, we have Osman and Arteta who are good at creating chances. We maybe need one or two more quality additions to sort that out.
The space is a worrying one for me, and I think that is down to Moyes. He can surely integrate more pass-and-move training, focus on that, to create space which enables us to pass a lot better. Just look at Jags and Distin, when they hoof the ball, people ask why? Well, because we have no one to pass it to! Teams like Blackpool and Swansea are that comfortable to build from the back, and that is because the mid-fielders find space
Ben Jones, Posted 19/05/2011 at 14:48:33
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
Might have used ManU instead of Barca, since the former plays in the top league and the latter a minor one. Still would have "good at all 5 points".
Point 5 is the killer. We don't have a final 3rd attack that scares anyone. So they push up and congest the rest of the pitch. Or park the bus for the same reason.
Fear of an opponent's scoring ability is what opens up the pitch for Points 3 and 4. We're stuck mid-table due to the lack of Point 5's effect on Points 3 and 4.
Ben, some good analysis there but I don't agree we have a strong defence I say we have an ordinary defence enabled by a defensive set up.
I'm loathe to criticise individuals for lack of ability because if you're set up to get behind the ball most of the time how are you going to demonstrate creative ability.
I suspect we have a good team in there somewhere ? if only someone could find it.
We have little pace in the side and creativity has been muzzled by having too many defenders on the pitch, they are in essence not attacking players or likely to take on a player to past them. I posted a link to a lad from the Spanish fourth division on the Beckford thread the other day, I'd pay bloody good money to see footwork like that a few times a season:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbE5y9iu0uI
How often has an Everton player got you screaming in joy this season through skill?
Although that could still do with improvement.
We have a team were too many of the starting XI and first team squad are not comfortable in possession. That is the main problem for us and the reason we play such awful football at times.
Also the generally negative mindset doesn't help much.
It's all down to Moyes and his coaching. However, you can't criticise him too much as his methods are getting us in the top half regularly and it is very difficult to play good football and be successful.
Injuries forced Moyes to play Neville and Heitnga in midfield, They both played in defence earlier in the season when we played with less defensive-minded players than any other team in the Prem.
Our inability to find space worries me too, but that's something natural intelligent footballers do instinctively. Is that a skill that can be taught? It's certainly not a skill anybody at our club is capable of teaching.
"Do or Die"
I don't think we have a good defence and the low number of clean sheets this season stands testament to that. But it is in attack that our real problems are. As Gav Ram says at No 4, we lack speed and we get the basics wrong such as leaving everyone back for corners.
But in terms of our footballing style there is more to it than that. We pass too short and always to feet. Now playing to feet is better than whacking it at a team-mate's midriff or lumping it aimlessly forward, but playing into space is more preferable than either. We rarely do that.
Next, we never vary the attack. It is always played out wide and then lumped in. We rarely do low, hard crosses and we hardly every play it on the ground and through the middle.
Take that game against Villa earlier in the season. It is said that we battered them. But we didn't really, we had lots of possession but only a couple of clear-cut chances. All the rest were crosses lobbed in to be easily headed away.
When we attack, we attack slowly, we are no good at breaks and instead look to "hold the ball up", which is seen as a positive attribute ("he holds the ball up well" etc), when in fact all it does it give the opposing defence time to get back into position.
Do we play like this because the manager sets us up look like that? Or does he set us up like that because we have not got the players to play in a more positive fashion?
Our midfield seem to be ordered to protect the back four. We need a box-to-box midfielder, Fellaini, much as I admire him, isn't the answer. Scott Parker would have won us enough points this season to take us to the Champions League.
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 19/05/2011 at 21:51:37
Report abuse