Victor has indeed cheered up, and has been gaining richly deserved plaudits from all quarters for the swaggering dominance of his recent performances. What has changed? Is it simply down to a mentally fragile player suddenly being regarded as top dog rather than a squad make-weight, and the sudden uplift in confidence that has brought? Boring
I’ve just finished reading Mick ‘Baz’ Rathbone’s rightly acclaimed autobiography ‘The Smell of Football’, and was gripped by our former physio’s account of how lack of confidence (and being in awe of Trevor Francis) totally incapacitated his attempts to forge a career at his hometown club, Birmingham City. This seems to chime almost exactly with how the old Anichebe used to play: he seemed to lack self-belief, which affected his performances, which got the fans onto his back, which made playing a trial, which made even scoring a goal a relief rather than the trigger for euphoria it should be.
Whilst Anichebe Ver 2.0 is not guaranteed to remain with us, I think both Victor himself and the Everton management deserve credit for, in the former case, turning his attitude and performances around, and in the latter case, keeping their faith and not offloading the newly christened ‘Scouse Drogba’ for one or two million quid. This seems to me another example of the greatness of our manager, currently on my screen having to suffer the presence of Alan Hansen on ‘Match of the Day’.
Incidentally, this is another theme of Baz Rathbone’s book. He describes the rigour and thoroughness of Moyes from their very first meeting, and the togetherness of the squad and other staff during his time with the Toffees.
I’m sure any responses to this post will be the usual negativity dwelling on the manager’s myriad perceived inadequacies, but, with his contract negotiations up in the air, I can’t believe the lack of appreciation for the achievements of David Moyes over the last 11 years. It’s depressing watching smaller clubs reach finals and win things (especially when they’ve beaten Everton on the way – and I wish Wigan nothing but good luck in their FA Cup Final), but I can’t think of any other manager who’d achieve the league consistency that Moyes has managed on such a shoestring net spend compared to the majority of our rivals. For that, whatever the summer holds, I thank him.
And whilst our tightened finances might be the reason why we have persisted with Victor Anichebe, when any other team in the upper echelons of the Premier League would have jettisoned him, we might have more cause to thank the manager if our number 28 finally becomes a true number 9.
It took Mick Rathbone endless setbacks and a massive amount of graft – flogging Blackburn kits, relegation with Halifax Town, 4 years of medical training, working 358 days a year – to finally feel he’d made it (on receiving the keys to his Jag at Everton). Victor’s journey has been less bumpy than that; hopefully he can earn and deserve the hometown adulation that Baz could never attain.
Reader Comments (25)
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2 Posted 14/04/2013 at 01:17:55
Big Vic remains a mystery to me. You honestly couldn't say where his career goes from here. He's blessed with pace, strength, and height. He's got a good strike on him. He's even got a decent engine. Injuries have no doubt set him back but, at 25 (well, nearly), he still doesn't look a natural. He looks like he's got some specific centre forward moves coached into him but lacks any kind of instinct. Maybe that's a confidence thing but I see this as being as good as it gets - awkward hold up forward who is unlikely to get into double figures.
I agree with Moyes. We need a centre forward.
3 Posted 14/04/2013 at 01:56:50
"I remember bringing Victor on as a substitute and hearing the groans coming down from the stands," said Moyes, often alone in his faith in the forward. "But he has got all the attributes. He is a terrific player and has got all the bits that top centre-forwards have. Some of his hold-up play was terrific. The big change in him has been self-confidence."
4 Posted 14/04/2013 at 02:15:15
5 Posted 14/04/2013 at 08:36:07
Like many of our players though he lacks touch and brains. His lay-offs are much better but he often doesn't see a pass, and there were two occasions yesterday when the pass was a better option and would have given us a goal attempt — the better players know what's going on around them.
6 Posted 14/04/2013 at 11:09:34
7 Posted 14/04/2013 at 11:18:07
8 Posted 14/04/2013 at 13:11:05
9 Posted 14/04/2013 at 13:41:41
10 Posted 14/04/2013 at 16:57:56
11 Posted 14/04/2013 at 17:02:44
So all the time, effort and money thats been spent coaching him since he was about 8, all the injuries, the huge amount of appearances of sulking and being lazy, the year long goal droughts, the millions the club has paid him has been worth it for what has so far been about half a dozen decent games.
12 Posted 14/04/2013 at 17:11:18
The "demented" bit you might have a case.
13 Posted 14/04/2013 at 19:51:20
14 Posted 14/04/2013 at 22:24:06
As of today, he is in great form, and as of today he deserves to be the lead striker in our team. But that changes all the time, thats why we have a squad, and thats why Moyes wants another one - to make sure we can still fire when Vic and Jella are out of form.
Let's keep both and add.
15 Posted 14/04/2013 at 22:09:13
16 Posted 15/04/2013 at 04:46:39
Great see a player improve especially coming through the ranks.
17 Posted 15/04/2013 at 08:28:02
18 Posted 15/04/2013 at 08:41:33
Is this fella any good, will he make the grade - is he the CF we are looking for?
19 Posted 15/04/2013 at 11:24:50
As for Vic, I think its ironic that many on here who in the past have lambasted Moyes for persevering with Vic have also attacked Moyes for not developing youth. Moyes has defied the critics in keeping faith in Victor and it now seems we might have a quite effective if not always pretty striker on our hands. He has all the attributes (apart from first touch maybe) and might even have scored 3 or 4 more this season with a touch of luck and a few more starts up top.
20 Posted 15/04/2013 at 12:54:43
Even looking at the plain facts, Vic has had 18 starts, with another 8 as sub and scored 9 goals. Jelly has had 30 starts, with 7 as sub and scored 8 goals.
As much as I like Jelly (or at least last seasons version), Vic's had less starts but scored more goals.
He also looks like he is enjoying it more (as mentioned above) and his running, especially against Citeee, can't be faulted. I for one, as a defender would not fancy Big Vic closing me down at the speed he does, compared to Jelly.
Have to give the lad his due, he is basically more effective as a CF at the moment than anyone else we have.
21 Posted 15/04/2013 at 13:00:09
22 Posted 15/04/2013 at 13:38:12
23 Posted 15/04/2013 at 19:11:47
24 Posted 16/04/2013 at 00:32:39
25 Posted 17/04/2013 at 14:25:11
Would love to be proved wrong like!
Squad player at best.
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1 Posted 14/04/2013 at 01:07:14
If David Moyes wants to be a pundit, and he doesn't seem a natural to me, maybe he could consider the effect it might have on his first job.