Loyal Leon Osman

Nice article Andre. I'm chuffed for Ossie; as you mention he won't earn more than a few caps for England at his age but if nothing else it must be a massive confidence boost for him and it will be Everton who will benefit. Reward, too, for the years of loyal graft that he has put in for us.
Interesting to hear about Lampard's comments. The phrase "Underrated quiet achiever" could have been written for Ossie.

Nice read. Nice tribute to a nice player.

2004-05: whilst Osman did play well, it was from the right-hand side. The midfield 3 was usually Cahill, Carsley and Gravesen with Arteta then taking Gravesen's place.

Some of his goals have been outstanding, who has seen a better one from an Everton player than the one against Larissa? I think his presence in the middle just symbolises our new-found quality and Moyes's confidence with this quality.

When we didn't have any good wide players, Moyes just packed the middle, made us hard to beat, and played to our strengths. Now that we have quality up front and out wide, Moyes has put a natural ball player in the middle who can service these players and Leon is flourishing.

Technically a very good player, played out of position for too much of his career, who can control a game with his passing, and we didn't even have to pay £15 million for him.

Quality article

Good article Andre. Like you, I believe England are in transition and don't make too much of it but it is great that he is getting recognition for all he has done over many years.

It saddens me the way we are often so quick to deride one of our own. Well done, Ossie and may your great form continue this season.

James, his goal against Larrissa, along with Cahill's against the Skunks, is probably my favourite goal of the last decade.

His mazey run against Sunderland when we stuffed them 7-1 was the stuff of kid's dreams. If that goal would have been scored by a player in the Sky wankfest teams it would still be getting shown to this day at the start of footy programmes.

I love Leon, he is a Blue through and through and compared to some of the London Brigade, Leon is worthy of and England call up. About time the 100% players got a chance instead of the overpaid so-called Super Stars. Hope he plays so he can tell his kids that he played for his Country.

Nice article and I would like to add my compliments and congratulations to Leon on his international squad selection. He has often been derided, as has Hibbo, when we have lost or drawn games where the team has collectively played badly. Certain favourites have been excluded from criticism and blame has often been heaped upon our home grown loyal club players. I have always said that we must keep these players as they are the heartbeat of Everton.

Ozzie lacks physical strength but now he has enough 'muscle' around him to enable him to be the playmaker he really is. Arteta was good when he was in the role but by the time he left for Arsenal it was time for him to move on as he was not producing his earlier form. Now at Arsenal he is not impressive and tends to pass safely rather than defence splitting.

I reckon Leon is revelling in the present team and becoming more complete and confident. He is the perfect link between defence and attack. I just hope that we keep the players we have at the club and strengthen during January so that we can continue to play the best football I have seen since the 60s great team.

Osman is definitely a top squad player and well worth his selection for international squad duty.

There is a marked difference when comparing Osman to Arteta and Pienaar. Part of that is Osman has flourished late in life and, had he shown the same quailty and flair 10 years ago he would have been much closer to the England squad or on the radar of other teams.

The difficulty with England has been each managers desire to persist with the inseparable Gerrard and Lampard I remain unconvinced they can play well together or should be played in the same team. They play in the same position and are essentially the same player. Both require a defensive midfielder to function properly.

As it is, Osman has kept grafting and adding bits to his game and it's great for him to be rewarded for his hard work which should have happened a few years ago.

I like Ossie. He's a decent, hardworking lad blessed with a bit of skill. But the 2 goals he gave away recently, by getting caught in possession weren't the stuff of a top-end Premier League player, nor an England international. He's decent enough, but he's never been great. I still like him and wouldn't want to see him leave, but would prefer him to be a squad player than a starter...

Every team needs a player like Ossie and Hibbert for that matter, a player who stays loyal no matter how many times he's subbed or asked to play in an unsuited/unfamiliar position for the good of the team, doesn't bitch or moan or get into trouble off the pitch.

Old whisky nose at Man Utd had players like Solskjear, Fletcher to go along with the champagne players.

Moyes says players like Ossie are the heartbeat of the club and he's right; he recognises what value he brings to not only the team but the club. We should all be glad to have Ossie at Everton.

He's a better than average player who is capable of real quality on his day, physical attributes aside he should have been a shining light in this league.

I agree with Andre he put his personal development as a centre mid on hold for the good of the side, he could have been getting this kind of recognition 5 years ago if Moyes had been able to build a better team sooner.

Was it Fwank (Lampard) who bigged up Ossie? I thought it was Joe Cole who said ossie was the stand out player in their age group all through the England youth age groups until he got a bad injury as a teenager (cruciate I think?) which knocked his progression and may account for his lack of pace?

Anyway, he should be recognised – whether you like him as a player or not – as an Evertonian through and through.

Well done on the call up son.

Excellent article. I'm enjoying watching Ossie this season, he keeps us ticking over in attack by keeping the ball, nothing stunning but football doesn't have to be.

It'll be interesting to see if he gets a game and where he plays, either way it's a fantastic achievement and I'm made up for him.

Well written article and a sincere round of applause. I agree with Richard Parker here though. Nice player and loyal servant but should be a backup when we have the players to compete. For now he's fine and does a job.

The Larissa goal was a blockbuster but that was a sweeping, beautiful "team" goal.

For me, the Faddy chip and drive against Charlton showed otherworldly class on an individual level. Both were beauts

Also, just a side note, I think someone posted on another thread that Osman was approached by Besiktas or some other Turk outfit a few years ago but stayed put.. I'm not sure if it's loyalty or that no other big English club really came in for him.

I bet if Man Utd came knocking we'd see the backside of Osman in a flash. Not having a dig, but I'm not sure the chance to "upgrade" was really there for him. Same goes for Hibbert who's been here since he was a kid. Is it loyalty or have they just reached their pinnacle??

Christopher Kelly - I'm still naive enough to think that for some people playing for Everton should be the pinnacle of their career rather than joining Man U or another club. I think that this should be te case

Christopher Kelly – I'm still naive enough to think that for some people playing for Everton should be the pinnacle of their career rather than joining Man Utd or another club. I think that this should be the case especially so if you grew up supporting the club. But then there are plenty of examples of players not thinking likewise to prove me wrong – Jeffers and Rooney to name but two.

I agree - esp. with the way we're playing this season and beyond hopefully... I couldn't say the same for the past 15 though.

And obviously, I was speaking objectively and taking my heart out if it. Any player worth their salt would want to play in the Champions League.

In over 130 years of our great history only 20 players have pulled on the blue shirt more times than Leon and I suspect come the end of his career he will be in the top 11.

So how come he has been the subject of dog's abuse on this site? Why have some not been able to see the qualities David Moyes, Roy Hodgson, fellow professionals and the media seem to see?

It is fairly simple for me, ignorance and herd mentality. His critics have been very quiet in the last few weeks, maybe some have changed their minds or maybe they are just waiting for our next poor result to wheel out the predictable criticism.

So come on what is it? You know who you are!

Graham, I don't think I have ever been on record for criticising Osman on here. But I have lost count of the times when I have left Goodison shaking my head and wondering how Osman manages to retain his place in our first eleven. Maybe it was as others have alluded to that he was played out of position.

However, I am delighted for him, as lesser players have recently been awarded caps (*Ahem*, Henderson and Shelvey). And his loyalty and commitment to Everton is something to be admired.

But, if some of us refuse to jump on the happy clappy bus of appreciation for Osman, it doesnt mean we are hiding away until his next poor performance. He is no different to any other player: if he plays well, he gets the plaudits; if he stinks the place out, then he gets the same abuse as anybody else.

Graham,

Maybe they think it would be slightly churlish to hammer the guy at this moment in time...

It's called graciousness.

Ciaran,

I'm sure the last thing the critics of Osman can be credited with is graciousness. Their silence indicates his performances have shown their comments to be the nonsense they are. Sure, players have bad games and should not be immune from being told so, but you judge a player in the round over the long run. Leon Osman's 300 games tell the truth of the matter.

Just have a look at some of the comments on here and tell me they can be justified. There are hundreds to choose from but I have pasted one of my favourites.

"Reality check. Slow, weak, bad in the air, bad in the tackle, one of the weakest shots of a player in the premier league I've ever seen, and has never ever had the fitness (Spurs match was understandable, but he has been going missing in the last 20 minutes for the duration of his career). " Mar 2012

Shaun Sparke 'He is no different to any other player: if he plays well, he gets the plaudits; if he stinks the place out, then he gets the same abuse as anybody else.' I don't think this is true at all. There's been some players at the club who can turn in whatever standard of performance they want and don't hear a word of criticism against them. Some of our big stars have had shocking games yet they don't get criticised and then get showered in plaudits even if they have distinctly average games. Osman has to play well for ten games of the season to even garner any form of praise whilst if he has a bad game against Sunderland (or if we don't win and one of Howard Hibbert or Neville can't be blamed) then all of this will have been undone. I've watched periods of dire dire football like the christmas of last season where he carried us through singlehandedly with some of his play even when out of position yet people were still calling for him to be out of the team. Even now people still come out with comments like he's not premier league standard or he's too lightweight for the premier league or that he would only get into Everton's squad no other premier league team would have him. He's started every game this season in his proper position and we're 4th, and he's just beeen called into the England squad. A lot of our good football is because rather than being just good enough for the squad he's actually one of the vital cogs in our first team. Some people would still rather see the Fellaini Rodwell axis back or even worse there's been calls for a Heitinga- Hitzlsperger partnership. It seems that Osman will never be a big enough name for some people on here no matter what he does with the ball.

I couldn't agree more with James Martin #920, and I’d go as far as saying that some ToffeeWebbers opinion of Osman borders on pathological hatred; I’ve commented numerous times on how many threads on this site end up as an ‘Ossie/Hibbert (or both) is/are shite’, despite the thread having nothing to do with them.

As James observes he’s in his rightful place and I only hope that Moyes keeps him there at the expense of Neville when Gibson comes back.

Nice piece, that was. Yes, he's 31 and all that, but Jackie Charlton was 29 before he got his first cap and look what he achieved!

Martin, it was remiss of me to explain that when I said he would get the same abuse as any other player. I was talking about my own reaction and not of that of the other regular 36,000 match going Evertonians. I would never dream of representing my own views as a consensus of opinion of every other fan.

Sorry, James. I didn't intend to use your surname as your first name. No offence was intended.

I hope Osman does get a few caps, & they're long overdue, imho. Although not helped by playing much of his career out wide, he also probably didn't fit with successive England managers obsession with 4-4-2. Playing for England in his current position within a 4-5-1 formation would have dramatically improved the England team of recent seasons, but that's the national teams loss so I'm not really arsed.

Good article. The loyalty aspect of the title raises an eyebrow because an Everton with Moyes in charge, in whichever season of his tenure, would be as good as gets for Osman.

The call-up makes perfect sense to the style of play Roy is implementing with England and the international game, hugely different to the Prem is suited more to the talents of Leon.

In fact you could argue, as many have mentioned about his style of play, that his career would have been better suited on the continent.

But then, being at Everton is as good as it gets, no matter how talented you are :)

All those Osman haters.... The guy is Everton through and through, he gives his all every time he is on the pitch. Don't slate someone who gives our midfield an extra boost, he is in the same class as Scholes.

Great to see Osman get an England call up, its long overdue. In terms of his technique and close control I don't think there is another English central midfielder as good. He is Everton's most influential player in the last two seasons. He has finally been getting played regularly in his proper position and it is showing; he is having an excellent season and looks to be still improving his play even though he's 31. He's a great professional, a true Evertonian and I hope he gets a few caps for England.