Stale = 4-5-1 with flat midfield and felli behind striker, naismith right midfield with Neville and Heitinga in midfield, scoring 1 goal and sitting back to try and defend it with long balls searching for fellaini knock downs to a stifled and shot Jelavic.
Badge = said my piece, its rubbish, club will not do that again, new design that meets approval will be in place next year.
Times are changing, we have a man in charge who makes me feel like he has sat bored in the Gladwys street for the past 5 years with his chin resting on his cold hands wondering why he didn't stay in the Thomas Frost and have a skin full. Its like we now have a team with a direction and purpose. Some good early transfer business and a great last minute window - a far cry from the dithering Davie days.
We have a potential world class talent developing in front of us with envious glances being cast from the likes of Liverpool and Man United. Stale? nahhh.
I’ll be giving my thoughts on the entire squad and on how we should move it forward. The most common starting XI will be Howard; Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Barry; Mirallas, McCarthy, Barkley, Pienaar; Koné.
So like Bill, I think we're going to see a 4-1-4-1 as our base formation, though formations are very fluid of course and we'll see plenty of departures from that base formation during games. Martinez talked about tactical flexibility in pre-season and I think our moves this transfer window allow that. At Wigan, when he didn't use 3 centre backs, they often played a midfield triangle pointing backwards and though we've played more of a 4-2-3-1 so far, we've seen glimpses of that single pivot when both of our centre backs have been pressed, with Osman (against Norwich and West Brom) and Fellaini (against Cardiff) dropping in between Distin and Jagielka.
Because we will likely play in the opponent's half in possession, we'll be in position to press immediately when we lose the ball. If we win the ball back again immediately, we'll also already be in a dangerous zone. If we don't immediately win it, we'll want to get in our defensive formation as soon as possible and a high block 4-1-4-1 allows us to do so without much running required. The full backs won't have to run back that much and Mirallas (who perhaps does not have the biggest engine) won't have to either, so if we can just stop the ball for a moment when we lose it, they'll have time to get back in position. We then want to make the pitch as small as possible which is perfectly possible with a high block 4-1-4-1. We'd be compact (with two lines of four close together high up the pitch) and congest the midfield (with Gareth Barry patrolling the space in between those lines). That means among others that Mirallas won't have to defend much space and he should be a perfectly capable defender. It will be very hard to play through us. If the line is high then balls in behind the four midfielders should be easily picked up by the defenders or Barry.
However, there will be a big space in behind the four defenders. That can be countered by having at least one really fast centre back to deal with any attacker who does break through the defence, which we have in Sylvain Distin. If he eventually retires, I think Bruno Martins Indi would be the perfect replacement, especially because he's also very capable with the ball in his feet, which is another big plus for our style of play when in possession. That big space in behind of our block can also be countered by a sweeper keeper who isn't afraid to come outside of his box. Howard is not that keeper, but hopefully Joel Robles can become just that one day.
That one holding midfielder defending zonally in behind the midfield line also allows us to press more aggressively when we want to as others can leave their man and go forward to press. For example, our left wide men can go press a centre back, the leftsided central midfielder moves on to the full back and the holding midfielder becomes part of the midfield two. So we become a 4-4-2 when pressing aggressively. When we're forced into a slightly deeper block then we can also become a 4-2-3-1 as McCarthy (with his box-to-box engine) forms a double pivot with Barry and Barkley stays in front of them. When we defend even deeper, right in front of our own box for example, we can become a 4-4-1-1.
Then on our attack. The goal keeper is expected to play more short passes to defenders than in other styles and he’s expected to act as a pressure relief for under pressure teammates in front of him. That isn’t Howard’s forte perhaps, Tim’s much more of a line-keeper with good reflexes. Given that Robles has been educated at one of Spain’s best academies, I hope he can one day fill that role. In pre-season he tried to play it out from the back almost to a fault, playing it to Distin and Jagielka even when they had opponents close by and they aren’t the most comfortable players in possession under pressure.
They too are expected to be available to a compact midfield as a way-out and to start play up again by playing 10 yard passes rather than 40 yard passes. Distin and Jagielka perhaps aren’t the best pairing for this approach, but they are the perfect couple for our defensive style. Distin is turning 36 in a couple of months and is in the final years of his contract, so perhaps this is his final year as an Everton player? If so, Bruno Martins Indi would be perfect for both our defensive and attacking style. John Stones is the perfect successor for 31-year old Jagielka (whom I would cash in on next summer if that’s still possible, we don’t want Stones wasting away his talent on the bench for too long). So I’d move on from Distin and Jagielka by next summer and move towards a Martins Indi-Stones partnership. Distin can remain as a backup if he’s willing to reduce his wages, Alcaraz will be the other backup. Hopefully, Heitinga’s agent will do his job and find him a club in January so we can still cash in on him at least a little bit.
The full backs need a great engine to move up and down the wing as they are expected to get to the byline to make crosses rather than putting them in from deep areas. Coleman is still young and his engine is probably his biggest quality so that right back spot could be settled. Hibbert isn’t a capable backup in this system though. I don’t really know much good full backs to be honest, perhaps Sam Byram from Leeds who we’ve been linked with in the past could come in and even displace Coleman? Baines I would personally like to cash in on to aid the rebuilding of the squad. Oviedo and Garbutt (who should go on loan until Baines is sold, hopefully we can get a little bit extra for Bainesy in January) can fight it out for the starting left back spot. Now the full backs are supposed to provide width primarily to stretch the defense so the spaces in the middle become a bit bigger, not to put lots of crosses in, which is what Baines has been doing these past years. He has got a great delivery, but if we play like we have and teams are going to sit back deep in two lines of 4 and pack the box. I’m afraid we’re going to resort to playing it wide and putting crosses in to a box overloaded with defenders and give the ball away for counter attacks if we’re having trouble unlocking the defense from the middle. I think that’s one of the main reasons why Baines had so few assists last season compared to the enormous amount of crosses he put in. We often moved into advanced positions quickly with Gibson or Jagielka going long to Fellaini but when we were there we played slow. With Baines, Pienaar and one other linking up for a while. Baines then crossed from deep and wide areas and we need to cut that out against deep and organized defenses. Of course, if the backs manage to get to the by-line or into the 18 yard box and can pick someone out on a low cross they should just go ahead.
In the midfield we have one holding player and two central/box-to-box players. The holding player needs to read the game, position himself well, be available for teammates who are under pressure ahead of him and recycle possession by moving the ball from left to right until we find a gap to create a chance. The central midfielders need the aerobic abilities to fulfill a box-to-box role, technical and passing ability and some flair in order to speed up the game and create opportunities for assists or goals in a condensed zone. The positioning of these two central midfielders are vital. If they play too deep they will slow the tempo. But if they are too high too soon then they won’t be able to contribute to our build up play as the players behind them will struggle to find them and be forced to pass it sideways.
Gareth Barry can play that holding role this season. Darron Gibson and James McCarthy can be backups in those roles. The central midfield roles can be played by Ross Barkley and James McCarthy, with Leon Osman and Darron Gibsons as backups as they don’t really have the engine to play that box-to-box role. That midfield should be okay for another couple of seasons while John Lundstram, Conor Grant and Ryan Ledson continue to develop. Hopefully they can one day play in the first team. Lundstram could become the holding midfielder, Conor Grant could become the left central midfielder which would push McCarthy to that holding role, etc. If we do need to bring someone in for those central midfield roles, Chelsea’s Thorgan Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne would be amazing and I don’t know how important they are in Chelsea’s plans, given the fact they are buying competition like crazy I think that they might be available if we make a good offer. Thorgan is quickly becoming the best player in the Belgian league at the moment and De Bruyne has been by far the best player for the Belgian national team in the last 18 months or so. Tom Carroll who’s now on loan at QPR could perhaps be an option as well if he impresses there, given how stacked Spurs’ midfield is.
The wide men need to be more like inside forwards, preferably with a right-footed player on the left and a left-footed player on the right. They need to be able to dribble and beat players 1v1 (and it would be nice to find someone who has the ability to take people on 1v2) and not just in the open field, but also in confined space. They need to be creative passers and they need finishing ability. We’ve got Pienaar, Mirallas and Deulofeu for these positions, but all of them are right footed. Peanuts is 31 now and I just looked up that he signed a 4-year deal last summer so he’ll still be around for a while.
The centre forward needs to have a good first touch, good link up play and off ball movement. If we’re going to play in possession in the opposition’s half, teams will be sitting in deeper areas and there will not be a lot of space in behind their defensive line to exploit. So we need a centre forward who is capable of dropping a little bit deeper and help overload in the middle in order to draw defenders out of position and away from the 1v1 specialists (our inside forwards). I think we got that man in Koné, though I would have liked a younger player. I like Belgium U21’s Michy Batshuayi for that role. We then also went out and got Lukaku on loan, who offers something completely different while he works to perfect those skills Koné has, an option to go more direct with his pace and power (likely from the bench a lot imo). When Lukaku leaves, I’d go for a player who’s more similar to Koné in style, like Batshuayi. I’d loan out Vellios this season and if he impresses there, I’d make him third choice and sell Jelavic.
The ultimate goal would then be to create chances from the central area in the box. However, we should not be desperate to get as much balls as possible in this area, by putting lots of crosses in for example. The important part is the quality of the shots, not the quantity. We’re going to have to rely on the quality of our attacking players here.
Earlier in the attack, in the build-up stage, that 4-1-4-1 can morph into a 3-4-3 when both of our centre backs are heavily pressured. The full backs push up (and drag the opposition’s wingers with them) and the centre backs split with Barry dropping in between them. That way we can play 3v2 at the back again and we force the opposition into making a choice: (1) allow the holding player who has dropped deep the space (2) have the holding midfielder pressed but leave a gap in behind: they can either have one of the wings come inside and press, but then the full back becomes available and he can overload the opposition’s full back with our wide men in a 2v1 or they can have one of the remaining 2 central midfielders press and leave a 2v1 in midfield, they can counter both of these deficiencies by having a centre back cover in these areas but then they have a 1v1 at the back. If our centre forward then drops into midfield though we are creating another overload in the middle and if the only centre back decides to follow him, then we can try to exploit their moving defensive line with long balls.
So to sum up my views on what moves should be made in the coming transfer windows. I’d sell Baines, Jagielka and Jelavic and if at all possible I’d try to dump Heitinga, Naismith, Gueye and Junior. I’d then move for a fast and left-footed centre back (e.g. Bruno Martins Indi), a right back (e.g. Sam Byram), a centre forward who can link up play (e.g. Michy Batshuayi), a left-footed inside forward (e.g. Tom Ince, Andros Townsend, Maxime Lestienne) and in the future a central midfielder (e.g. Thorgan Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Tom Carroll, Tonny Vilhena if we can afford them). All suggestions are from England, Belgium and Holland as I have the most knowledge of those leagues.
DLK reacted to Hafnia in the club has gone stale
