carlmc25

looking forward to Hafnia trying to big up the 442 after that first half. Absolutely terrible first half performance where our midfield were totally overrun. Second half, Anichebe goes out wide, we come out with a positive attitude and play 451 and we suddenly totally dominate and should have easily won the match but for a poor and fairly soft penalty conceded. Good to see Arteta starting to get back on form, he wasn't brilliant, but then again no one was, but he was a lot, LOT better and actually helped the team get forward.

We've played 451 for years, opposition managers would surely have sussed it out long before now? It's just we had such a good system for the players we have that they couldn't stop it. It wasn't the system that was wrong (I mean 442 is hardly original is it?) it was how our players were performing in that system. There was a lack of effort, of desire to score goals and take risks which had nothing to do with the system. At times during the last couple of seasons we have had serious injury problems and put out really dodgy teams, yet we won due to hard work and desire (and the 451), if we had that same mentality with the teams Moyes has put out this season, we would be in the top 2 or 3. I was calling for 442 last night as something did need to change but the fact is last night proved nothing except that if our players actually try their best and try and score goals, they invariably win. Cahill played in arguably our best result this season (2 1 away at City) in which he scored a goal and set up the other, so to say last night proved we are better without him is nonsense. Cahill could play up front or in midfield, it's not as if many of our players (ie Arteta, Rodwell, Pienaar, Beckford, Saha, Yakubu) are actually doing anything on the pitch is it? I'm just unbelievably frustrated as I think the teams in the league this year are poor, Man Utd are top and they don't even look particularly good, the top 4 and even the title were there for the taking if our players (or Moyes) had just stepped up and played like we all know they could.

Beckford didn't do a great deal last night, Cahill could easily play up front in a 442, he's our top scorer ffs. We didn't play well last night because we didn't have Cahill, we played well because we were actually positive and went out with the correct attitude. There has been very little wrong with the teams Moyes has put out this year, it's the mentality and desire to attack that has been the problem, not the personnel. To blame our poor performances on our best attacking player and top scorer this season is ludicrous.

I think this is rubbish to be honest. Cahill DOES supplement the team, wherever he plays he puts in a shift and contributes to the team. Attacking wise we're basically a two man team this season, Baines and Cahill. I think we can all see that Cahill's all round game is slightly limited, but as an attacking midfielder in a 451 he's up there with the best in the country and he is world class in that position. I wouldn't play him in a 442, but then again apart from possibly Fellaini I wouldn't play any of our midfielders in a 442. I could understand your argument in previous seasons but this year Cahill has been sensational and everyone else abysmal, even when he played up front our midfield was still inept without him. I think Everton may be over reliant on Cahill but that's through no fault of his own, it's purely due to the fact that everyone else is playing rubbish and the fact that Moyes' tactical acumen is nil. Cahill is possibly the single biggest reason we have finished in such good league positions under Moyes, our squad is suited to a 451 and that's where Cahill (and usually the rest of the team) thrives.

Moyes is driving me insane. He plays Anichebe, we beat Man City away. So what does Moyes does following Anichebe's suspension? he plays Saha, the guy who can't find the penalty area never mind the back of the net. HE IS TOTALLY USELESS, it's an absolute farce that he is playing when he hasn't scored for over 9 months and hasn't even looked like scoring in that time. I'm sort of glad that Cahill has gone, I actually think it may turn our season around as FINALLY Moyes may have to change things. IF he sticks Fellaini up front then he should be sacked, seriously. Moyes has been amazing for us but all of his best formations and ideas he seems to have fallen upon through luck (or bad luck - injury etc) rather than any tactial nous. The 451 only came about through injury and lack of players. It's worked a treat for years and I still think it suits our players best but for some reason our players just dont look interested. We seem to do best when we have loads of injuries and Moyes doesn't have any selection headaches, as soon as he has options he makes a mess of it. The season we had Jeffers, Rooney, Campbell up front we got our lowest points total ever or something. He kept switching them around and just couldn't make his mind up, destroying everyone's confidence in the process. Tactically he is abysmal, substitutions have always been poor and any cup matches over two legs he hasn't got a clue. Moyes job must be under threat by now, this season isn't good enough, he has no excuses and the performances of some of the players (Arteta in particular) have to be questioned - is there something wrong behind the scenes? How can Arteta play so badly all season? it's insane, he's our best player yet looks like a chump. Is it Moyes fault through bad tactics or poor man management or is Arteta just not interested any more? Moyes needs to step up and grow a pair, I'd rather see us go 442 and hoof it than see us pussy foot around doing nothing. We seem to have watched Spain in the World Cup and used their borefest style as a marker of how to play, unfortunately we don't have David Villa up front and Iniesta in midfield and at least Spain did try and score occasionally. I cannot for the life of me see how Moyes can think this season is acceptable, after half of the season surely he should recognise that something is wrong and whatever he is doing isn't working. How can we beat Man City & Liverpool, draw with Utd, Chelsea, Spurs and yet we cannot beat any of the poorer teams in the league? we are so much better than most of the teams in the league yet we just aren't trying to win matches, we seem to be going out to draw games. Anyway, get Anichebe up front and get Yakubu or Beckford/Vaughan with him. Just play anyone who'll actually have a go and try and score a goal. I already wish our season was over and I went in with the highest expectation in about 20 years. Moyes needs to get it together and fast.

I agree, also although he isn't playing particularly well it's not like he isn't putting a shift in, he's not lazy he's just not playing in his correct position. He either needs to be played as a central midfielder or attacking midfielder, preferably in a 5 (not DM) or on the wing. He's our most talented player, dropping him makes no sense unless he's being lazy. It's Moyes job to get the best out of him. The same with Rodwell, Moyes has played him recently on the wing and in DM, both positions in which he is pretty useless. Hopefully once Fellaini is back in and HOPEFULLY (who knows with Moyes) playing as DM, Arteta will get some freedom back to actually get forward before it gets to the final 10 minutes of the match. At the moment, he is totally wasted and I couldn't believe what I was seeing against Sunderland when Heitinga was constantly further forward than Arteta, absolutely criminal tactics from Moyes.

then my friend, you are insane. Pienaar is in the last year of his contract, many Evertonians would jump on the chance to have a go at him if he wasn't performing (earlier in the season he wasn't great) but these last few games he has been outstanding and the fact that he is getting motm votes proves it. Against Arsenal he was easily the best player on the pitch and I thought he was fantastic again last night. Baines had a good game, although both their goals came from crosses down his side, but Pienaar was everywhere and played some fantastic balls for Baines to get on the end of. He was man of the match imo. The way he is playing he deserves to be our top earner. I agree Fellaini was flavour of the month on occasions last year, as was Jags the year before (when imo Lescott was quite regularly the classier performer), but Pienaar deserves all the plaudits recently.

If Saha starts for us ever again I think I'm going to lose it. SERIOUSLY. He's a useless lazy donkey who can't win a header, hold a ball up or make a run. We're aiming everything at Cahill because when it goes in Saha's direction he doesn't win it, and he's about 5 inches bigger than Cahill. Pathetic again. As for saying it was disgraceful etc, the only thing that was disgraceful was the fact that Saha played and the fact that we didn't win. We were playing away from home against an in form team and aside from 20 mins after we scored the first goal we totally dominated and I think we easily deserved to win the game. Why we sat off after we scored I've no idea. Pienaar was sensational again, three matches in a row now he has been electric. Arteta is totally cheesing me off, that being said who's fault is it - his or Moyes? He is actually sitting deeper than Heitinga which makes absolutely no sense. Heitinga is much better defensively and Arteta much better going forward, it's a total joke. Arteta, as per a fair few of the games this season, suddenly starts to go forward in the last 15 minutes and all of a sudden things happen. He sets Pienaar up for a good chance, he scores a goal, he looks dangerous. At the end of the day he has the talent, he's a fantastic footballer who needs to be in and around their box picking passes and putting in crosses and shooting, yet it's as if Moyes has told him to sit in front of the defence and bring the ball out from the back so we don't play the long ball anymore. It is a total waste of his ability. I don't know if it's Moyes decision or whether Arteta has taken it on himself to sit back but it's absolutely crazy tactics. I thought we played really well last night, if Yakubu had have been up front we would have easily won, the problem is Saha is absolutely abysmal. In the 80 mins he was on I can't remember him making any meaningful contribution, ok Beckford missed the chance but at least he made the run to get on it, at least Yakubu shrugged someone off and had a shot on goal. It is so frustrating as we have totally outplayed Blackpool, Bolton and Sunderland and come away with only 3 points. We've been the better team in virtually every match this season yet we're 14th, we should be in the top 4. Unfortunately, again, we're leaving ourselves too much to catch up. I have no doubt we'll get back into the top 8, but really the league is poor and we should be in the top 4/5. We may have done too much damage to get up there now and then the likes of Pienaar will leave and we'll struggle to replace him. Moyes you buffoon, drop Saha, play Arteta as an attacking midfielder (and if he doesn't perform get Rodwell in there) and stick with Yakubu.

it's what happens when you 'rest' man of the match Coleman from the previous game and pick Saha ahead of Yakubu, even though Saha is the biggest bum in the premiership. Seriously, I am getting well hacked off with Moyes love affair with Saha, he is absolutely 100% bona fide rubbish. Heshould never play for us again. Once again Moyes makes crazy team selections and then fails to make substitutions until it is too late. 100% domination all match and somehow we manage to be behind and wait until the last 10 minutes to take off the totally ineffective Saha.

I agree, he's our most creative player and needs to be around the box more. Also, before his injury, he was easily our best set piece taker - aside from a slight dodgy spell for a couple of months. Baines set pieces aren't usually anything special but I do agree that he should be taking more at the moment, most of his assists come from open play, Arteta was an amazing crosser in open play too. I think once Arteta gets back up to speed (assuming that he does) hopefully his set piece delivery will return, when/if it does, he should take all of them as far as I'm concerned. He needs encouragement, not stick, he's our best player and we want him to express himself not get negative and play safe.

Unless I'm mistaken Jags, Fellaini, Arteta were injured most of last season and Rodwell didn't exactly set the world alight and we finished in the top 7 or 8 so yes I do. Heitinga can play in defence, Pienaar in CM, Rodwell isn't first choice and Neville can play in DM. We have options all over the pitch. When BK took over we probably had about £20m worth of talent (pure guess obviously) whereas now we probably have £100m ish - at least. I'd rather have the assets on the pitch rather than in the stands or the training ground. In an ideal world we'd have both.

People always seem to forget that we aren't as much in debt because we now have genuine assets on the pitch that we could sell to raise money. I'm not sure how much in debt we are - I'm sure someone can tell me - but I would expect that selling the likes of Arteta, Rodwell, Jags and Fellaini would wipe it out, and still leave us with a team that would finish in the top half of the table - unlike the perennial relegation scrappers we had when BK took over. Therefore, we are better off than when BK took over as we had no one worth a carrot in our team in those days.

I cant believe he's spent that much, that was a real surprise, although their turnover has probably jumped quite markedly in the time. It's obviously more like £56m now after the Milner money but still more than I realised. What a load of crap they've bought!

I can't even be bothered looking into Lerner's figures but I cannot for the life of me see how he's spent £20m a year? He sold Barry for massive money and Milner and apart from when he first took over and bought Ashley Young, Dunne, Friedel etc he's hardly spent anything in the last couple of years that I can remember - players like Downing were easily outweighed by the monies brought in? He sold two of the fans most popular players and wouldn't give O'Neill the money to replace them with anything decent. As everyone keeps going on about Lerner I'd love to see the actual investment he's put in - ie players brought in against players sold, I think you'd be surprised at how little money he has actually spent. The fact is Lerner hasn't done a better job than Kenwright even with his money, mainly because most rich people don't actually put any of their own money into the club as they are in it for business purposes, not love like Kenwright.

how depressing, the same old anti-BK stuff again. If I hear the Lerner story (fabrication?) wheeled out ever again it'll be too soon. He probably picked Villa (if he was even interested in us) because they are far more centrally located with a much bigger catchment area (ie potential fanbase), probably less debt, a stadium in less need of renovation and they are the number one club in their city. It may not be that BK turned him down but the other way round. Also, what the hell has Lerner actually done for Villa? they've finished below us virtually every season haven't they (I think last injury ravaged season was possibly the only one where they did finish above us)? their manager quit because he wouldn't give him any money and he'd just sold off one of his best players without replacing him and the man he picked to turn it around was Mr Average Houllier. I fail to see how Lerner is the world's greatest chairman or an improvement on BK, who Moyes and the players seem to genuinely care for and respect? Also, Hafnia spouted some absolute nonsense about how BK couldn't sell buns or something on the Apprentice. When you've set up your own theatre company, made millions and bought your own football club then I think you may be in a position to comment on BK's financial and business acumen.

to be fair, the article with Neville in the Echo was spot on, he said the things I've been waiting to hear all season. It's not about trying to be Spain and trying to pass teams into submission, we need to realise our limitations and actually go for the jugular. I don't want long ball stuff but we need to get men into the box and actual throw some balls and bodies into the box. I like what he said this time and I think he means it, it appears that too many players (and fans like me) were too obsessed with how good we could be and where we may finish the season rather than playing each match on it's own merits. Let's just concentrate on giving 100%, the rest will take care of itself. Some players (and the manager) need to take a look at themselves and Anichebe needs to get fit. I think this could be a turning point in our season, Everton are brilliant at bouncing back, it's pretty much the only time you know what Everton team will turn up. Fulham better watch out at the weekend. We need Cahill back and we need to get after them from the first whistle and no more poncing about on the halfway line.

it depresses me Romey, every time I see our players giving it loads in the papers before the match I can pretty much guarantee we'll be rubbish. We need to shut and get our heads down and grind out some results.

Everton lose penalties, what a shocker. Do we ever win them? Oh well, hopefully we may finally see a reaction from the players now. Moyes job must now be seriously under pressure. I don't care what anyone says, I'm his biggest fan but his cup record is about as bad as anyone's in the premier league especially considering how long he's been in the job and our league season is seriously in danger of imploding before it's even begun.

I thought Beckford would miss, his penalty in the last round was rubbish as well.

That he does, but Coleman is already a better attacking defender than Baines so potentially, he's going to be some player. The fact is, we never keep a clean sheet with Distin in the team, before he was playing we were ok - whether it be Yobo/Jags, Lescott/Jags we were solid, with Distin we look ropey. Every time Villa attacked he panicked getting totally roasted by the paceless Carew on several occasions, and Berbatov absolutely humiliated him. Heitinga (unless he is causing problems in the background) needs to be back there, for his range of passing as well as his leadership and strength.

I never thought for a minute he'd be anywhere else. He's desperate for Neville's leadership, Moyes just doesn't seem to understand that Fellaini is rubbish as an attacking midfielder, ok he's good in the air but that's it. He should just screen the defence, full stop. Arteta needs to be moved forward, we need his interplay with Pienaar, Baines, Osman and Yakubu etc around the box. As much as Moyes is cheesing me off with his selections the teams he is putting out should still be able to win against most teams we've played this season. I wonder if something is wrong in the dressing room like a few years ago as too many players seem well out of form.

Baines doesn't get roasted often (although it does happen) mainly because he stands off a lot and lets them just cross it (see Man Utd). Baines is no great defender, he's ok and very good going forward.

Still, in reality. he's probably a better passer than Jagielka who has a Koeman complex, unfortunately Jags is good for one or two absolute shockers per match that nearly gift a goal to the opposition.

I am Moyes biggest fan but even I am getting well cheesed with his Walter Smith esque reliance on certain players and lack of risk taking. He must be under pressure now, he has no excuses this season and our start has been absolutely abysmal. If I was chairman I'd seriously consider sacking him at the moment as we look like we don't have a clue. The team selection was appalling, once again he doesn't drop anyone, even though Distin was an absolute joke last week, even though Hibbert gets subbed every match for Coleman, even though Beckford is less effective than a cone would be, they all keep getting played. Yak has more talent in his bum cheeks than Beckford has in is his whole body. Heitinga looks a bit of an uninterested joke, he is not a defensive midfielder - FELLAINI IS! Fellaini is not an attacking midfielder, Arteta is far better suited to the role. Let Arteta get forward and in and around the box and let Fellaini sit back and put Heitinga in defence. We NEVER keep a clean sheet with Distin in the team, it may have not been his fault today but the fact remains that when he plays we always let in goals. Yobo was a far better defender and Heitinga is easily superior. We don't have any balance, we don't look interested in getting men into the box and it's all so safe safe negative rubbish. I have to seriously wonder what we work on all week as tactically we're inept. Our season is nearly over after 5 games and we have the strongest squad we have had in a long long time. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. Get Neville back in, he may not be that good but at least he has some pride and will give it a go. How we missed Cahill today, someone with passion and will to win. I can't see where our first win is coming from, unless he changes the team around and actually let's players play in their best positions we're screwed. Oh and I have no idea why people still have faith in Bily, seriously, apart from score a couple of wonder goals he has - so far - been one of the worst signings off all time. Arteta needs to be pushed forward, he is our best and most creative player, so far this season he is just sitting around the halfway line playing passes sideways - a waste.

I know we've been struggling to score goals but my main concern when watching us this season has been the defence, every time Utd and Villa attacked they looked like scoring. Since we signed Distin we've kept virtually nil clean sheets, he was absolutely abysmal yesterday and wasn't much better against Villa. Heitinga was awesome in defence last year, he and Jags looked like they could be potentially the best partnership in the league yet Moyes won't drop Distin, probably because he wants a left footer in there. He needs to sort out the defence, if he does we'll fly up the table and top 4 is still a possibility, otherwise we're stuffed. People criticised Yobo but he was ten times the defender Distin is and at least had pace to cover any mistakes he made. Jags was excellent yesterday but with Baines lack of closing down and Distin's awful positional awareness and decision making we're screwed. GET HEITINGA IN THERE. As it happens, I thought Heitinga was very poor yesterday in midfield and looked a little disinterested, he is nowhere near as good as Fellaini in DM. The team that finished yesterday's match, with the exception of Distin, should start every match until Anichebe is fit. We need to start winning, we're lucky that all our rivals have had a poor start as well.