A couple of years back I was late for Christmas dinner at my mum and dads because i got sucked into a brilliant documentary about Diego Maradona that was on Sky Sports. Being a slightly contrary so-and-so i'd always rallied against Maradona-hate that is prevalent against most Englishmen. Watching that documentary only reassured me that I had been right to look past that handball and the drugs. He obviously did cheat, which is wrong, however there are plenty of Englishmen that have cheated to win over the years, perhaps in less blatant ways but that doesn't actually make him any worse than them.
So firstly, if anyone is able to tell me what the name of that documentary was I would love to know, i've searched but never found it.
Secondly, make yourself comfortable and have a look at this brilliant compilation of Maradona's goals at Napoli. Ok, some of the goalkeeping is woeful, but I swear to god this compilation includes about 5 of the best 10 goals you will ever see!
Saturday 25 December 2010
Friday 24 December 2010
Hands up if you love christmas!
English football and Christmas. They are like two old friends living on opposite sides of the world. Spend some time apart and it’s easy to forget how well they complement each other, but when it’s time to meet up again it doesn’t take long before the old spark is reignited.
For all the good a winter break would do players I’d hate to lose the packed festive fixture schedule. All year most supporters have to wait a week between games, but come Christmas we can all enjoy the hectic high’s and low’s from playing every three days.
For Everton it’s the start of a particularly important period for our season. We play Birmingham, West Ham and Stoke between Boxing Day and New Year’s Day. If we are to start making our way up the table we really need to be picking up 7 points out of the possible 9. We will also find out whether Moyes has figured out an effective way to beat teams that adopt a cautious approach against us. To follow it up we have tough games against Spurs and Liverpool with the FA cup third round sandwiched between.
January 1st also see’s the opening of the transfer window. It is notoriously difficult to do business in this window but this year Everton really must do some. We cannot complete the season with a strike force this blunt and the news that Landon Donovan will not be coming in on loan means we also need to address the right-side of midfield.
With Steven Pienaar out of contract in the summer, rumours are circulating that he will also be sold, possibly to spurs with Nico Kranjcar coming in the opposite direction. As brilliant as the South African is, this has to be good business as we just cannot afford to let our players see out their contracts and leave for free.
As far as the right-side is concerned I think the key thing is to get someone who can carry the ball at pace and who is a ‘specialist’ in that position. We have to save money for strikers so I’m thinking someone at the Routledge, Eagles level rather than some blockbuster talent.
God knows what we’ll do about a striker, but I doubt we’ll get much of an improvement for spending less than £10-15million. We might just have to make do with a loan until the summer, unless we are able to get really good money for fringe players or choose to sell a big player.
Tuesday 21 December 2010
Glory at Eastlands only underlines our problems
Another season, another fantastic win at Eastlands. City must be sick of the sight of Everton and Tim Cahill in particular.
As brilliant as Everton's 2-1 victory over Manchester City was, it only underlines where our current problems lie. When we can sit back and soak up pressure against a team that is coming at us we can get a result anywhere. Draws away against Chelsea and Spurs, the 3-3 against United, the easy victory over Liverpool and now a win away at City illustrate this.
Strange as it may sound, the issue we have is that the likes of City and Chelsea are in the minority! In order to improve we need to find a way to get three points consistently against the likes of Wigan and West Ham who will sit back and invite us to make the play. We need to refine our tactical approach to succeed in these situations and somehow find the right blend of players to execute it. The Everton that qualified for Europe in 07/08 and 08/09 easily dispensed with lower teams but failed time and again against the 'big 4', last year we evolved our approach and were hit and miss against both and this year we've hit the other extreme. What we need now is two Everton's!
Over to you Davey.....
As brilliant as Everton's 2-1 victory over Manchester City was, it only underlines where our current problems lie. When we can sit back and soak up pressure against a team that is coming at us we can get a result anywhere. Draws away against Chelsea and Spurs, the 3-3 against United, the easy victory over Liverpool and now a win away at City illustrate this.
Strange as it may sound, the issue we have is that the likes of City and Chelsea are in the minority! In order to improve we need to find a way to get three points consistently against the likes of Wigan and West Ham who will sit back and invite us to make the play. We need to refine our tactical approach to succeed in these situations and somehow find the right blend of players to execute it. The Everton that qualified for Europe in 07/08 and 08/09 easily dispensed with lower teams but failed time and again against the 'big 4', last year we evolved our approach and were hit and miss against both and this year we've hit the other extreme. What we need now is two Everton's!
Over to you Davey.....
Monday 20 December 2010
When was the last time we scored a goal like this?
Remember when our strikers could get in behind a defence? Check out Yakubu's third against pompey back in 2008 and refresh your memory.
P.S I also loved Cahill's goal in this game. Power play!
P.S I also loved Cahill's goal in this game. Power play!
Bad medicine required for Everton to progress
As the half way point in the 2010/11 English Premier League season approaches a pattern of frustration has been set for Evertonians.
Following on from the excellent tactical and statistical analysis of our season so far by the executioners bong it's clear that there are a number of fundamental problems that David Moyes will need to solve if Everton are to turn the corner and move up the table.
Firstly Everton this season have shown the problems that are caused through having an unbalanced team. Our attacking strength/defensive weakness down the left and attacking weakness/defensive strength down the right makes it easy for teams to set a game plan to either attack us or nulify our threat depending on their mindset. This inbalance is nothing new for Everton (barring Landon Donovan's loan period in early 2010) but has been brought into sharp focus through the bluntness of our attack this season. As the executioners bong mentions the attributes of our current strikeforce means that opponents can defend high up the pitch, press our midfield and generally lends itself to a rather one-dimensional style of play.
So how have we got here? In my opinion it is an unfortunate symptom of the business model that the club is following which allows zero transfer budget. I am not advocating that the club spends money it hasn't got, but it does impose certain pressures on the manager and the team:
- Serious injuries to players pose a greater problem for Everton than many other premier league clubs because not only can they diminish a player's essential qualities but in turn this has a knock-on effect to their sell on value. Drops in form can also not be accommodated.
Everton's team is built around a system including a lone striker. Louis Saha and Yakubu have both proved adept at playing this system in the past, however both have suffered with injuries and loss of form. The result is we have gone from one of the higher goalscoring teams in the premier league to one of the lower. Between them Yakubu and Saha have one goal this season. Neither are now have the pace to run in behind the defence which limits our counter-attacking options and means that our build up has to be slow and methodical. It also means that their transfer values have fallen significantly from their peak.
- Our ability to build a balanced team is entirely reliant on being able to sell players at a profit. As well as the issues caused by serious injuries mentioned above, this gives Moyes no room whatsoever for mistakes in the transfer market. It also makes it hard for us to spend money on experienced players whose sell-on value isn't likely to be recouped and means that we cannot afford to let players run out of contract.
When Everton sold Lescott last season Moyes replaced him with Distin, Heitinga and Bilyetdinov. Of those purchases Bilyetdinov is currently looking like a mistake. Personally i still think Bily could come good but Moyes's refusal to start him this season suggests he doesn't agree with me. Distin has been one of our best performers this year and whilst Heitinga has been poor this season, he has been played out of position and has a sufficiently good reputation to make back our initial outlay should Moyes wish. So one possible mistake out of three, not bad you would think - a lot of managers would kill for that success ratio (wouldn't they Rafa?). But it's not good enough for Everton as our strategy does not allow for any mistakes. It was a missed opportunity to solve our right midfield problems and an expensive one at that.
This summer Everton had the opportunity to sell Mikel Arteta for a very large fee but instead chose to break the clubs wage structure and offer him a bumper new contract. At the time I and every other Evertonian were over the moon. 'Finally a sign of ambition' we shouted! In hindsight I think this might have been a mistake, not because of the effect of breaking the wage structure (although that may yet prove to be a problem) but because it went against the overall strategy. Whilst selling your best players runs counter to every manager and fans wishes it is at least a logical and rational strategy. By not selling Arteta we missed out on our chance to finally balance our squad with a top striker and a decent right midfielder.One individual is not more important than the team. The heart ruled the head and if there is one thing you have to remember as a manager of a club completely reliant on selling players to buy new ones, it is never let your heart rule your head.
It sounds like i'm blaming Moyes but in I actually believe it's just an unfortunate fact that our strategy allows the manager no room whatsoever for the errors of judgement which he quite naturally has from time to time.
So where do we go from here? If we are to see an improvement in our fortunes this season I believe that we Evertonians are going to have to sit down and take some bad medicine. Whilst most of us could probably cope with selling Heitinga, Yakubu, Saha or Bilyetdinov I think we might have to face facts and accept that those players are unlikely to fetch sufficient transfers fees to allow us to balance this team. The loss of bodies from doing this alone would probably leave the squad weakened. Therefore I think the best option we have may be to sell one 'key player', someone who on their own could command a transfer fee of £20m - for that read Arteta, Fellaini, Rodwell or maybe, at a push Jagielka. It will not be nice for any of us, but then nothing worth having ever comes easy though folks....
Following on from the excellent tactical and statistical analysis of our season so far by the executioners bong it's clear that there are a number of fundamental problems that David Moyes will need to solve if Everton are to turn the corner and move up the table.
Firstly Everton this season have shown the problems that are caused through having an unbalanced team. Our attacking strength/defensive weakness down the left and attacking weakness/defensive strength down the right makes it easy for teams to set a game plan to either attack us or nulify our threat depending on their mindset. This inbalance is nothing new for Everton (barring Landon Donovan's loan period in early 2010) but has been brought into sharp focus through the bluntness of our attack this season. As the executioners bong mentions the attributes of our current strikeforce means that opponents can defend high up the pitch, press our midfield and generally lends itself to a rather one-dimensional style of play.
So how have we got here? In my opinion it is an unfortunate symptom of the business model that the club is following which allows zero transfer budget. I am not advocating that the club spends money it hasn't got, but it does impose certain pressures on the manager and the team:
- Serious injuries to players pose a greater problem for Everton than many other premier league clubs because not only can they diminish a player's essential qualities but in turn this has a knock-on effect to their sell on value. Drops in form can also not be accommodated.
Everton's team is built around a system including a lone striker. Louis Saha and Yakubu have both proved adept at playing this system in the past, however both have suffered with injuries and loss of form. The result is we have gone from one of the higher goalscoring teams in the premier league to one of the lower. Between them Yakubu and Saha have one goal this season. Neither are now have the pace to run in behind the defence which limits our counter-attacking options and means that our build up has to be slow and methodical. It also means that their transfer values have fallen significantly from their peak.
- Our ability to build a balanced team is entirely reliant on being able to sell players at a profit. As well as the issues caused by serious injuries mentioned above, this gives Moyes no room whatsoever for mistakes in the transfer market. It also makes it hard for us to spend money on experienced players whose sell-on value isn't likely to be recouped and means that we cannot afford to let players run out of contract.
When Everton sold Lescott last season Moyes replaced him with Distin, Heitinga and Bilyetdinov. Of those purchases Bilyetdinov is currently looking like a mistake. Personally i still think Bily could come good but Moyes's refusal to start him this season suggests he doesn't agree with me. Distin has been one of our best performers this year and whilst Heitinga has been poor this season, he has been played out of position and has a sufficiently good reputation to make back our initial outlay should Moyes wish. So one possible mistake out of three, not bad you would think - a lot of managers would kill for that success ratio (wouldn't they Rafa?). But it's not good enough for Everton as our strategy does not allow for any mistakes. It was a missed opportunity to solve our right midfield problems and an expensive one at that.
This summer Everton had the opportunity to sell Mikel Arteta for a very large fee but instead chose to break the clubs wage structure and offer him a bumper new contract. At the time I and every other Evertonian were over the moon. 'Finally a sign of ambition' we shouted! In hindsight I think this might have been a mistake, not because of the effect of breaking the wage structure (although that may yet prove to be a problem) but because it went against the overall strategy. Whilst selling your best players runs counter to every manager and fans wishes it is at least a logical and rational strategy. By not selling Arteta we missed out on our chance to finally balance our squad with a top striker and a decent right midfielder.One individual is not more important than the team. The heart ruled the head and if there is one thing you have to remember as a manager of a club completely reliant on selling players to buy new ones, it is never let your heart rule your head.
It sounds like i'm blaming Moyes but in I actually believe it's just an unfortunate fact that our strategy allows the manager no room whatsoever for the errors of judgement which he quite naturally has from time to time.
So where do we go from here? If we are to see an improvement in our fortunes this season I believe that we Evertonians are going to have to sit down and take some bad medicine. Whilst most of us could probably cope with selling Heitinga, Yakubu, Saha or Bilyetdinov I think we might have to face facts and accept that those players are unlikely to fetch sufficient transfers fees to allow us to balance this team. The loss of bodies from doing this alone would probably leave the squad weakened. Therefore I think the best option we have may be to sell one 'key player', someone who on their own could command a transfer fee of £20m - for that read Arteta, Fellaini, Rodwell or maybe, at a push Jagielka. It will not be nice for any of us, but then nothing worth having ever comes easy though folks....
Saturday 27 November 2010
What's David Moyes up to?
David Moyes has taken the unusual step of publicly declaring his interest on taking a player on loan, seemingly before even initial talks have taken place. And not just any player, David Beckham!
So what's he up to? I suppose there is a small chance that everything is exactly as it seems and Moyes is just trying to get his man. But then why do that through the media? He mentions in the interview that Beckham is good friends with Phil Neville - why not sound him out that way? That explanation just doesn't add up for me and it would go against the secretive manner in which Moyes usually goes about his business.
So that leads me to believe that it is nothing more than a story for the media. The next question is why? Some cynical Evertonians are suggesting that it's merely a PR stunt to generate some excitement amongst the fans during an underwhelming season and stimulate some half-season ticket sales. It could be this, and the way that Moyes has gone about it is so out of character that it would stack up.
The only other explanation I can think of is that it is a media smoke bomb. Something to distract the press and our competitors whilst we pull off a completely different transfer coup. That may be clutching at straws but I like to be positive! If it was another signing, you'd have to think it was someone pretty sought after to justify going to these lengths. Someone other Landon Donovan who he also references in his interview. Hopefully it will be that top striker we've been missing all season. I guess i'm just gonna have to wait.....and hope my positivity is not unfounded!!
So what's he up to? I suppose there is a small chance that everything is exactly as it seems and Moyes is just trying to get his man. But then why do that through the media? He mentions in the interview that Beckham is good friends with Phil Neville - why not sound him out that way? That explanation just doesn't add up for me and it would go against the secretive manner in which Moyes usually goes about his business.
So that leads me to believe that it is nothing more than a story for the media. The next question is why? Some cynical Evertonians are suggesting that it's merely a PR stunt to generate some excitement amongst the fans during an underwhelming season and stimulate some half-season ticket sales. It could be this, and the way that Moyes has gone about it is so out of character that it would stack up.
The only other explanation I can think of is that it is a media smoke bomb. Something to distract the press and our competitors whilst we pull off a completely different transfer coup. That may be clutching at straws but I like to be positive! If it was another signing, you'd have to think it was someone pretty sought after to justify going to these lengths. Someone other Landon Donovan who he also references in his interview. Hopefully it will be that top striker we've been missing all season. I guess i'm just gonna have to wait.....and hope my positivity is not unfounded!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)