My favourite players (in no particular order): 2. Dejan Savicevic

Before I start, apologies for letting this blog slip over the last few months. Winter's coming....more effort will be made!

To get things moving again here's the second in the 'my favourite players' series.

Up 2nd is another Eastern European who played in Italy - Dejan Savicevic. Savicevic was a Milan and Red Star legend, a classic enigmatic number 10, inconsistent but at times sublime.

For the sublime see Savicevic's performance in Milan's demolition of Johan Cruyff's Barcelona in the 1994 UEFA Champions League final. I remember watching this game as a 16 year old - the way Milan beat Barca this night was jaw dropping. Capello's Milan handed out a trouncing of the most emphatic kind on the biggest of stages. Savicevic created the first goal for Daniele Massaro with a typical surging dribble and then put the tie to bed by scoring Milan's third with an outrageous lob from distance. It was an absolute peach, a brilliant combination of quick thinking and technique. He then clattered the post before Marcel Dessaily put the cherry on top of the cake with a fantastic fourth.

No words could illustrate Savicevic's talent better than the video below. It's quite long but worth watching to the end i think as it shows footage i'd never seen before from his international games for Yugoslavia and from his time at Red Star. His dribbling skills are awesome, somewhere up there with Maradona and Messi i'd say. Bloody brilliant!

And to cap things off I found this whilst researching his youtube catalogue.

The Cahill Conundrum

Tim Cahill has been a great player for Everton since his arrival in our 'darkest hour' during the summer of 2004. The 31 year-old Aussie has clocked up 54 goals in over 200 appearances. In recent years though, as the teams style of play has involved, a growing number of fans have been calling for him to be axed from the side. They point to his lack of passing ability and pace as the reason for this.

I can see their point. I think it's unlikely that we'll see him deployed in the centre of midfield in anything other than an emergency for these reasons. I also think his effectiveness in the role of second striker or in the hole in a 4-4-1-1 is decreasing rapidly.

Yesterday in the 2-2 draw with Aston Villa, Moyes played Cahill as our loan striker in a 4-2-3-1 formation and I thought he had a really good game. It's in this role within this specific formation that I think Tim can still be a really useful player for us and in my opinion is probably why Moyes sanctioned the selling of two strikers in the transfer window with only one replacement.

In the 4-2-3-1 we saw yesterday, the presence of two holding midfielders in Fellaini and Rodwell allows the three more advanced midfielders to get a lot closer to the front man. I think this makes the ability of the front man to run in behind and stretch the opponents defence less important as runners from the advanced midfielders can provide this threat. It creates the feel of an attacking four and as with Messi at Barcelona means that the centre forwards can come deeper. Cahill may not have the ability to play a twenty-yard through-ball but his short passing, movement and as importantly his vision for it is very under-rated by Evertonians. His assist for Osman is a prime example. Cahill's job yesterday was to control the ball, and bring Osman + either Coleman or Bily into play. The three players then work the ball in groups of three to create an opening. It's what you see Barca do all the time. I think Tim did this very well yesterday.

The problem for Cahill comes when the full-back (usually Baines) joins the three. At this point Cahill's build-up job is done and he should be heading towards the box to get on the end of the cross. However, because he doesn't have the pace of a Rooney or Messi who play the 'false-nine' role so well, the cross will either reach an empty box or the momentum of the move will be slowed as the wide players wait for Cahill to get there. It's for this reason I think that when Saha is fit he will play this role in Cahill's place. He's equally adept at building the play but has just that little bit extra pace and stikers instict when hitting the box.


So how about Cahill in one of the advanced midfield roles when Saha is back? Well i'm sure he can do a job there but I think Coleman, Osman, Bily and Drenthe all probably offer more than him there. Whether that's pace, range of passing (ie.can switch it if needed) or long range shooting ability so unless they're all out I would say no.

So in conclusion I still think Tim Cahill has a role to play at Everton but it's a striker rather than as a midfielder. Given the fitness of Saha and that Velios and Stracq are so unproven I still think that's a big and important one and when considered as above might be some comfort to Evertonians worried about our lack of forwards.

Lastly, just a couple of notes about the 4-2-3-1 formation. You may have guessed this, but I think it's our best option right now. Splitting the midfield as it does allows us to keep more bodies further up the pitch and given our lack of pace this is key to us offering an attacking threat. Whereas a faster team could get numbers forward on the counter, we can't so it makes sense to allow more players to stay up field more often. Having Fellaini and Rodwell sitting does that. I think it get's the best out of Osman which is crucial now that we have neither Pienaar or Arteta to provide a creative spark in the final third. I was impressed with the way Coleman played in it yesterday too, especially since it was his first game back. He looked more effective in the wide role of a 4-4-1-1 last season and seemed a bit confused when moved to the slightly more narrow role in a 4-2-3-1 but he looks to have done some work on it in pre-season. Perhaps it was having the ginger cafu playing behind him rather than ole pip. Anyway, we all know the result and it was a shame not to win but i'm taking the positives from what I consider was a very good overall performance.

That familiar feeling: Everton kick-off 2011/12 Premier League season with a defeat

Well this was one of the least surprising surprise results of the weekend. Everton in slow start shocker!
On the upside at least we weren't last on Match of the Day for once.

The blues kicked off for 2011/12 with a home defeat to QPR. Queens Park bloody Rangers. Predictably the problems we encountered were very similar to those that dogged us for most of last season. We had the chances to salvage at least a draw but missed them and a defensive error cost us (Jagielka clearing poorly then getting sucked towards the ball like a 12-year old).

What to do now? Attacking is clearly the problem area. Options are so limited up top there are only a few things we can do. If Saha is fit he plays and Moyes will probably go 4-4-1-1. If not then it's Beckford or Cahill in which case I think we should revert to 4-2-3-1. Playing two holding midfielders is frowned upon as being too defensive by a lot of blues but it gives the other three midfielders the freedom to get near to our striker and build attacks with our creative players higher up the pitch. If we do this and Becks is up front on his own we should use him to run in behind and stretch the play rather than as a target man to build from (as this just isn't his game). This means we want lots of good movement from 3 attacking midfielders (who should be Osman, Barkley, Arteta/Cahill) all looking to create space and demanding the ball.

Will someone be sold this week? I doubt it, but never say never.
Will Moyes throw in a wild card, such as starting Velios? I wouldn't have thought so. I'd love it if he did though.

Ho hum. A dissapointing result against a poor side. Options limited. Backs against the wall. A club in crisis. Seems like Davie's favourite recipe for an 8 match unbeaten run.

COYB

The summer of discontent

This summer has seen an increasingly public showing of discontent amongst Evertonians.

Another summer without adding to the playing squad has seen anger rising to the surface and a number of organised groups have appeared to campaign on behalf of Evertonians on a number of issues.

Their efforts appear to be successfully attracting the attention of the national media and the clubs issues have become the subject of several national radio phone-ins and national newspaper articles.

The Old Lady

The aims and objectives of the two main campaign groups, Evertonians for Change and The People's Group, are loosely to strike up a dialogue with the club, for there to be increased transparency around finances and the vision for taking the club forward. There is also a desire for the board to agree with changes to move forward.
EDIT: As of yesterday afternoon all of the main campaign groups have joined forces under the banner of The Blue Union. Their statement is here.

However, whilst these aims are both clear and realistic i'm not entirely sure that satisfying them would be enough for the majority of angry fans that I see writing on message boards and forums. Most of these fans want the board (and/or Kenwright) out and I can see their point - it's hard to make a case that the board have moved the club forward off the pitch in any way during their tenure. Results on the pitch have much improved but most would accept that's down to Moyes rather than the board (although they have obviously supported him in his work).

The problem is that 'Kenwright Out' alone is too short-sighted an objective for a serious campaign. The first logical question by any outside party will always be 'And replace him with who?' at which point realistic answers are required. If the majority of Evertonians really do want the board changed (and I think they've every right to) they need to consider the 'what next' question and come up with some good suggestions.

I've ruminated on this many a time myself and here are my thoughts......

Last 3 games of 2011/12 - the control vs unpredictability dilemna again

The 2010/11 Premier League season is drawing to a close and Evertonians can look forward to visits from two of the top 4 to Goodison, sandwiching a trip to West Brom. First up are Man City who will be hoping for a win to secure their place in the Champions League for next season. Everton then have an opportunity to avenge the 4-1 defeat against West Brom earlier in the season before finally hosting Chelsea on the last day of the season. Depending on results in the meantime the Chelsea game could play a key role in deciding the destination of the league title. I can't stand meaningless final games of the season so really hope this one means something, it would be great to see Everton trampling on Roman's dreams!

Follow, follow, follow, follow: Mikky's back!

Everton's mid-season injury crisis finally seems to be easing and two of the 'big hitters', Cahill and Arteta, returned to the starting line-up against Wigan last week. Whilst allowing for the two players getting up to match speed the match at the DW Stadium was notable for returning to a pattern that has been evident for the majority of the season, but missing in recent weeks. Against Wigan, Everton mounted long periods of pressure on the Wigan goal, winning many corners but rarely actually creating clear cut chances. This pattern was only really broken during the injury crisis when the team were robbed of Arteta, Fellaini, Cahill and Rodwell.

I've talked about this problem all season. Essentially I think it's a dilemna between control and unpredictability. When we have Arteta in the side we have more control, his pass complettion stats show why, but building attacks in a controlled manner is not always a good thing. As we've seen time and again against the lower teams who put more emphasis on defence, it only leads to frustration. Whilst he was injured the players available meant that we played a slightly more direct game which seemed to allow us to dispatch the lower teams more easily, resulting in wins over Fulham, Wolves and Blackburn.

The good news is that the control that Arteta gives us is absolutely neccessary when playing against the top 6 teams. Without it you get performances like our recent one at Old Trafford, where we defend admirably but are subject to wave after wave of attack without being able to muster a clear cut chance of our own. The best little spaniard we know should be in the starting line-up against City today and with our recent records against them I really wouldn't be surprised if we got some kind of result from this. The same applies to the Chelsea game, it'll be the forth time we've played them this season and as yet we haven't lost so there should be some confidence amongst the players.

For next season, whilst buying a new striker will be seen by most as the biggest priority, I actually believe Moyes' most important task will be finding the right balance between control and unpredictability in each game. A one-size-fits-all approach to this doesn't work in the Premier League, so he needs to find a way to dial up and down the players personal style of play to suit the situation. I would say we need to improve the squad to do this, except we've shown we can play both ways this season with players we already have. It might be that Moyes needs to select his line-up to suit the oppo more often, rather than just choosing his best 11 but however he does it, if he can nail this, i reckon we'll have a much better season in 2011/12.

Against all odds: Everton defy injury crisis again

Just when it looked like the 2010/11 season was going to fizzle out as meekly as it fizzled in Everton have only gone and woken up. A stellar sequence of five wins, two draws and just one defeat from the last eight games have resulted in a move up to 7th place in the Premier League and given the blues an outside shot at qualifying for Europe.

Criminally underrated Osman is on great form

And yet even more astoundingly this purple patch has coincided with a crippling injury crisis which has seen Fellaini, Arteta, Saha, Rodwell and Cahill all absent. Amazing! Or it would be, were it not frankly completely predictable.

Year after year, when the chips are down, when the team is on the ropes, when the star player injury hoodoo has struck David Moyes' Everton teams have gone on phenomenal runs of form. So why is this?

Unlocking the door to a parked bus

A particularly mixed metaphor it may be but Everton's inability to do this has pretty much been their problem all season and was once again last night in the 1-1 draw against Birmingham City.

The story has been the same week after week. Against pretty much everyone aside from the 'big six' Everton dominate possession and territory, sustain minute upon minute of pressure, clock up double-figures for corners and attacking free-kicks yet somehow fail to find the back of the net resulting in a draw or, after an error, a loss. Against any team that takes the game to us we play a high tempo pressing game without the ball, disrupting the opposition's rhythm and through interceptions high up the pitch or counter attacks find the space to create clear-cut chances and score goals. It's amazing how consistent the pattern has been. If I was a betting man i could've won a fortune this year. If those 'big six' teams had adopted the same approach as Birmingham et al our season could be even worse. I've no doubt that if Chelsea still had a coach as pragmatic as Mourinho in charge they would have sat back and picked us off on the break with ease, saving us a couple of extra cup games and leaving us a point worse off in the league.

Whilst I do think this is partly down to personnel, in particular the lack of pace in midfield and of a consistent goalscorer up front, I think it may have something to do with the system we play too.