Everton have the quality to compete

Michael Kenrick , 5 September, 16comments | Jump to most recent

Sylvain Distin believes Everton have enough quality in their squad to "compete for something interesting" this season.

"When you see new players coming in you know everything is moving in the right direction and that is what every single player wants," said Distin.

"It's a bit early to say this is the best squad during my time here.

"We need a bit of time for players to adapt and see how well they are going to do but I rarely remember the squad having so much quality.

"We have enough quality to compete for something interesting this season. We have started well and the squad is only going to get better and bigger.

"We want our team to get better and for there to be more competition between the players. But we should never expect too much too soon. It is a good start, which is very positive, but we are so far from the end [of the season]."

Quotes or other material sourced from The Independent

Reader Comments (16)

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Dan McKie
1 Posted 05/09/2012 at 15:13:46

Im hoping we get this Ofoe in, as he seems to come with high praise, and with Gibson looking like he will miss a couple of games, I hope he shows enough in training to get thrown straight in. Would love to see this line up against Newcastle:

Howard
Neville, Jags, Distin, Baines
Fellaini, Ofoe
Mirallas, Naismith, Pienaar
Jelavic

James Stewart
2 Posted 05/09/2012 at 22:32:53

We competed last year until distin dropped his annual clanger in the derby. If his concentration matched the rest of his attributes he would be the best in the world

James Flynn
3 Posted 05/09/2012 at 23:24:18

James, he fucked up. Unless you can hook us up to the Wayback Machine, that game is done and gone.

He's stating what we all can see, we're quality.

Moyes' dealings since January has rendered "Punches above their weight" obsolete. We can punch with anyone on equal terms. The lads will have to play up to it. It's all in their mental adjustment now.

Ciarán McGlone
4 Posted 05/09/2012 at 23:39:33

Nonsense James... It's all about management now. We've had quality first elevens under Moyes before and he made them look ordinary.

Now he has very little excuse, let's see how he fares...

James Stewart
5 Posted 06/09/2012 at 11:29:03

Ciaran he has had decent players before but I would never say we had a quality side. The closest we came for me was when we had Donovan on the right and Pienaar down the left. We are still short of quality in a few key areas.

Sam Hoare
6 Posted 06/09/2012 at 11:36:05

If this Ofoe does not come in then I think we will look very short in the middle of the park. Hopefully he does and really hits the ground running. The fact that he is still training at Brugges does not fill me with confidence.

Hopefully this could be our lineup for Newcastle.

Howard
Hibbert Jags Distin (heitinga) Baines
Ofoe Osman
Mirallas Fellaini Pienaar
Jelavic

Dan McKie
7 Posted 06/09/2012 at 12:01:12

He cant do anything else though, Sam. I read that he is also training on his own. We will be lucky if he is even fit enough for the first couple of weeks.

Trevor Lynes
8 Posted 06/09/2012 at 12:00:55

We are still in a perilous situation with just 19 squad members and at least two of those will need replacing soon. Distin cannot go on forever although he has been an object lesson to all players in his professional approach to his career. Neville is also very close to the end of his best days.

None of our youngsters seem to be knocking at the first team door which leaves us in the hands of the gods! If we have more injuries then we will struggle. We do not have sufficient cover for many positions.

Other clubs have cover in every position with really strong bench's. They have players who can be brought on to turn games.

It's OK trotting out hopeful line-ups for the next game, but we are one or two injuries away from being able to turn out a really competitive team that can mount a realistic challenge.

We cannot seriously compete for Europe with a squad which is less than the 25 allowed. We have enough on our plate with Premier League fixtures and domestic cups.

Brian Harrison
9 Posted 06/09/2012 at 12:36:44

Dont you just love football fans, nobody knew who Ofoe was till David Moyes made an offer to take him on loan. Now some fans want him in from the start and we havent been given clearance yet.

I hope that we do get to sign the lad and he turns out to be a really good player, but lets sign him first and let him get used to his teamates before throwing him in to the first team.

James Flynn
10 Posted 06/09/2012 at 13:36:26

Ciaran - The mental jump is from "Punching above our weight", "Little Engine that could", etc to CL contender (which we have the squad to compete for). You think that's all on the manager? Think it then. I don't.

The players themselves have to make that leap. At least of few of them, anyway, and the rest will follow. Someone on the pitch has to do it, not the guy on the sideline watching.

Paul David
11 Posted 06/09/2012 at 14:18:33

James your right but the mental make up of a player is part of a players ability and its the manager who has bought the players with mental strength or weakness.

Imo except for one off good or bad performances its the manager who should take the praise or criticism for everything that happens on the pitch. Its him who buys the players, trains them, picks the team, formation, tactics and makes the subs.

James Flynn
12 Posted 06/09/2012 at 23:09:08

Paul - Not arguing it's the manager who gets it in the neck when teams lose. Fair criticism or not, it goes with the territory; Moyes' no different.

But there's a limit to manager influence. Players play, managers stand on the sideline watching. If we're going up the Table this season (we have the talent to do so), someone is going to have to refuse to lose. And it aint the manager.

Brendan McLaughlin
13 Posted 06/09/2012 at 23:37:37

James # 123
"There's a limit to manager influence"...of course there is but we need to set that limit pretty high.

James Martin
14 Posted 06/09/2012 at 23:52:42

Ciaran how did Moyes make his quality first 11s look ordinary? If they were quality we only knew that because of how they performed under Moyes, if Moyes made them look ordinary all the time then they can't have been quality. Of all the criticisms of Moyes the 'you buy quality players then make them look ordinary' one is a very strange one indeed.

I still think the 2007/8 side is better than this one. No one in the current team can touch the sort of form Arteta was producing back then. He could win games on his own regardless of who was playing. He singlehandedly battered a hot villa team in the cup with a midfield of Rodwell and Neville and a forward line of Cahill flanked by Gosling and Anichebe. If Gibson is missing from this team it all seems to fall apart. Lescott was a class apart from any defender we have now as well. It's arguably only up front, and depth wise, that this current team is superior.

Jack Okell
15 Posted 07/09/2012 at 01:32:41

Howard
Hibbert Jags Heitinga Baines
Felli Ofoe
Naismith Mirallas Pienaar
Jelavic

Jack Okell
16 Posted 07/09/2012 at 01:39:28

I don't think we can afford to have Neville or Osman in the middle. Until Gibbo is back, it would be wise to push Felli back.

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