Moyes: We panicked a bit

"Not arsed about Everton just looking after numero uno!"

As if...

On another day another ref might have disallowed it anyway with all the shoving, blocking and arm waving by their keeper that was going on. That bloke's a handful at six-foot-six, we need to do better by blocking off the service to him in the replay. No needless corners would be a start.

I was there and myself and the four friends with me all agreed that it was a bad substitution and bad timing. The comment was that he'd got away with it at Bolton but would he again?

Most teams would know how to play the minute /seconds out — get the ball down the oppositions end and hold it in the corner or something. But for that you have to have a forward up front. We all expected the goal — it was obvious to all of us that the ball would just keep coming back into our box and something would happen.

But of course we pay to watch Everton and we were all critical of the (yet again) negative response. It was Oldham — couldn't we at least out-think them? Or — dare I say — out-play them???

I mean I'm up for blaming Moyes when he deserves it, but this is bordering on ridiculous.

Moyes picked our strongest team and they were not good enough, I think this game tells us more about a lack of decision making by our players than any failing the manager might have.

So the previous 85 mins of hoofing was a calm measured approach.

Give £4M Stones a chance!! Or Oviedo.

Oldham is an awful place to visit and we were a hairs breadth from winning. We're rightly favourites for the replay – not that this means we'll win.

I like Moyes and he has done well with Everton considering; the problem for me is that he is pretty tactically inept when it comes to making game-changing decisions, either he leaves it too late or doesn't do it at all.

No, the truth is we've gone backwards in recent games and to me look a team devoid of ideas and creativity. And anyone thinking the Oldham replay and then possibly Wigan game will be cut and dried are seriously deluding themselves.

I think this contract business with Moyes is starting to have an effect on the players with some probably thinking, "I wonder where I stand?" I mean surely an incoming manager wouldn't be as loyal to underachieving players as Moyes has been... Would he? Or is that just me being naive?

From what I saw on tele, Jelavic was poor once again and Neville looks hopeless at RB, I think his time is probably up. We will see off Oldham at home followed by Wigan and a semi-final vs Millwall or Blackburn would be a result!!

In addition to the above it also invites MORE pressure, effectively what you are saying is, oh crap, we can't get out of our box and if I don't put an extra defender on they are going to score. Because you weaken your outlets either up front or in midfield you get yet more "phases" of attack, you know, wave after wave of corners and throw ins and hoofs into the box because you have no one up front or midfield to chase the ball and keep hold of it. Add on the extra 30 seconds introduced by making the sub in time added on and it's pathetic, defeatist, looser, tactically naive, suicidal and inept management.

Just my opinion like ;)

Personally, I can't wait for Moyes to go, give me Laudrup any day of the week.

How about the premier league team try to retain possession, and keep the ball at the other end of the pitch, where the team which is two leagues below is not able to use their 6'6" striker to head the ball into our net?

Or, perhaps after we get 1 goal ahead, we try to finish the game by looking for a 3rd, rather than sitting back on a 1 goal lead and waiting for the opposition to come onto us?

Rocket science, isn't it?

A Jelavic hat-trick in the replay would make amends.

The Moyesiah
Apologist Road
Loseville
L4

Also as for your first post when you are holding out for a 2-1 win it is inevitable that you will be under the cosh, the plan is to get the ball as far away from your own goal as possible, its human nature even if it would be more rational to try and play the same way as you did the first 90mins.

Love the fact that people like you highlight the fact that you may have played to a decent level, so have I but unless you have played for Celtic etc then i'm guessing that Moyes has played to a higher level than either of us.

The article is about Moyes view on the game, including how he felt the team panicked, but the headline shifts some of the blame his way.

Surely the story should be presented as it is and then discussed thereafter where any blame can be directed at Moyes?

We scored from a corner too.

Irrespective of the football reasons of taking off a striker for a 6'3 centre half with seconds to go when you're winning, somehow Moyes is "extending the game" rather than than in actual fact burning up time as every single other team does in a similar position - without exception.

So we are clear there is a *fixed* amount of time - 30 seconds - for a substitution and the mechanics of substitution always takes longer than this, with a net result of reducing playing time. Clearly the sporting Moyes rushed the sub through in less than 30 seconds according to this completely unbiased piece.

The replay will define this team - stand up and be counted or stand aside

Michael Kenrick, instead if post match bashing why don't you setup a post for pre match tactics, formation and game plan. Those who feel they can run things any better can put their name on the line?

Far too easy to come on here post-match and spill out the usual "with hindsight" stuff. Anybody brave enough? I know some do come on and state their preferred team (but it tends not to be the usual post-match whingers) and even then it's not located in a rationale based on the opposition's strengths and weaknesses nor on what actual tactics should be employed. Surely essentials for any real managers.

'The mindless minority'?

Show us your stats!

It is dead dead DEAD fucking obvious that those 'screaming for Duffy for weeks' were thinking more in terms of STARTING him (in place of say the under-performing Heitinga) rather than bringing him on for the last few seconds of a frantic cup-tie.

Still, it's obvious what you want so let me do you a favour.

JOHN MAXWELL WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG, AND IF YOU EVER SUGGESTED DUFFY SHOULD GET A GAME, YOU ARE A NO-NOTHING NOB-HEAD!

Happy?

The armchair managers are absolutely fantastic after the game, they can say without a hint of fuckwitishness exactly what Moyes/Everton should have done at x, y & z and believe that they are somehow more tactically astute than the fella getting paid almost £4m to do his job within the confines of real time, not after watching, re-watching the game and making a decision that no-one could ever prove right or wrong.

That's my tactical contribution, nice and simple.

It won't work, only if someone picks the same formation and team as Moyes could they be proved right or wrong. I will put my head on the line with this though, Neville will be picked at the weekend and will be shite.

It's much easier however, to say we should play two strikers, especially when playing lower League opposition.

My pet hate about Moyes though, is that he insists everyone is back for set pieces or corners. I said to my mate on Saturday that they would equalise, because we had no-one waiting to take the pressure off when we cleared the ball.

We just invite pressure when we are leading a game.

So, pre-match tactical change to leave at least one up (so he is marked by two defenders) when the opposition have a corner or set piece.

Another thing: if you are being paid £4m a year, I expect you to get most things right throughout the course of a match. Or am I expecting too much?

How about this stat, there was a clown walking down Goodison Road with a cake.... Was it you?

What about if Pienaar has his usual ineffective game and isn't clicking with Baines?

What is Mirallas's paper hammy goes when he is warming up pre-match?

It's not just as simple as saying, pass to him then to him, cross it and shoot. The other team tried to negate your attacking threat by either man marking/doubling up on better players or kicking lumps out of the player... sneakily so the ref doesn't notice it.

Sometime goalies try and deck other goalies and then try and hand ball it to score. How do you set your team up to combat that?

What happens if you are being overrun in midfield, or as usual the teams target your less than shite right back... you don't have any cover, what do you do?

Etc, etc...

I also hate that tactic and it makes no sense when you have players as small as Pienaar and Osman on the pitch. There is zero chance of scoring on the break like Oldham did to us. When we concede a corner we are actually conceding 2 set pieces cos when we clear it the opposition player has all the time in the world to control the ball, look up to see what's going on, and play the ball back into our box.

That is a tactic I would throw some fucks into the players about. It's not as if we are chasing a game when we do it, I am talking about turning over possession from the minute Jagielka or Distin receive the ball.

Two touches, look up, and HOOOOOOOFFFFFFFF!!!

"How about this stat, there was a clown walking down Goodison Road with a cake.... Was it you?"

John, a few weeks ago I saw a documentary on BBC1 about a bunch of lion cubs trying to survive during a particularly dry African summer.

Food was scarce and eventually their mother died of hunger, leaving the two cubs to fend for themselves.

It was incredibly sad watching the two little ones eventually become prey for other larger, stronger beasts.

I won't go into detail about the end as it was too distressing but I will admit I shed a few tears

The reason I mention it is that, sad as it was, it still provided more laughs than your piss-weak clown (none) 'gag'.

Maxwell !, see me at break-time

Seriously?

We shouldn't draw to Oldham, but it's the FA Cup, and as Liverpool, Chelski, Spurs, Arsenal, Norwich, QPR, Aston Villa etc etc have proved this season, strange things happen in the FA Cup. So please try and consider the context..we will beat Oldham at home comfortably imo, and then we will be one win against Wigan at home from an FA Cup semi-final. Personally I'm excited.

I think I have heard David Moyes say that it is based on some kind of Charles Hughes type stats that say that a goal is statistically less likely to be scored the more bodies there are in the box (notwithstanding the fact that that was exactly the opposite reason we conceded on Saturday).

I don't know about that, but I do know that:

a) leaving one man up almost always takes two of the opposing team away from our box rather than the one they leave there, therefore 10 of our team vs 8 of theirs, which is a better defensive ratio than 11 vs 9;

b) when and if the thing does get cleared it ALWAYS comes straight back without an outlet which means you have another attack to deal with rather than just the corner and surely statistically two attacks are worse than one?

The real issue here is the fact that we always do it, no matter who the opposition are.

Surely the coaching staff must look at these lower League sides and and think they are vulnerable on the counter? So why have all 11 back in the box?

Still, at the end of the day, I think the substitution was irrelevant, as was the foul on the first corner and the debatable foul on the 2nd. If Jelavic had put away a perfectly good chance ten minutes earlier then we wouldn't have been in that situation. That, to me, was the turning point.

People are focusing on the last substitution, but for me a bigger issue is the last 30 minutes. To move the team to the next level we need to be keeping our foot down when we go a goal ahead, not sitting back on a 1 goal lead. How many times has that cost us under Moyes management?

We will probably never win anything while that attitude remains the same. Moyes teams will always be paralysed by the fear which emanates from the man himself.

Firstly, the last time Barkley tracked back and attempted a defensive tackle he miss timed it, gave away a penalty and was summarily dropped, still hasn't made a starting 11 appearance since I believe. So the chances of him trying to make a tackle back there are pretty remote. Also, I'm not sure how much pace he has. He is also young and therefore not one of Moyes' favorites.

On the other hand, playing Barkley in Midfield at home against Oldham would make lots of sense. He's shown he can not only play at that level but can score, create chances and dictate a game. But for all the reasons above Moyes won't play him from the start at home against them, not in a Thousand years!!!!!!

A touching story indeed !

In fact it kind of reminds me the day you and Kenwright part, sure you'll be wondering about in the wilderness for a few weeks until you are taken in by the "Venky's Pride".

That will certainly bring a tear to my eye.