Bailey

Billy is suspended for the derby of the 28th.

 

Shit.

Thats the harshest thing about it. Yes it may have been a red card, but it wasnt malicious, he slipped into the tackle and a 1 game ban would be suffice. To give him a 3 game ban is a joke, hopefully there is some way to appeal its length?

Im really suprised by some of the conflicting views, it really is as if people have been watching different games. We definately have room for improvement but it was much better and to draw with Villa is a good result. We out played them for much of the game which is a remarkable step up from recent performances! IMO Warnock played out of his skin for the most part for Villa yesterday and had it not been for him we may have had a couple more, which I didnt realise until I watched it again on FF. He made a couple of crusial headers when Cahill looked like he was going to power one in.

We certainly bossed the majority of the 1st half, yes they had a couple of chances but the defence looked solid. The only shots they had were outside of the area and the Warnock volley which Cahill should have been helping Neill out with.

IMO Distin looks very settled especially when Yobo is back in the middle with him. While I would say he is certainly no Jagielka, he certainly as quality. He has given the runaround somewhat against Benfica bacuase of who he had around him and I thought he did however have a bad game at Spurs, but yesterday he looked good on the ball and in the tackle. One area you could maybe critise him on is his marking. Id like to see him more but I think with good movement he may have a weaknesses but Il guess we will find out in the coming games!

Im suprised you say Yak had a good game and Felli didnt. IMO they were both very similar. They both held the ball up well enough, drove at players when they could and made some decent passes. They also both lost the ball a bit cheaply at times and also put a few passes astray.

I do feel a bit sorry for Billy. He was unlucky to slip but at the end of the day he did catch him and his foot was high enough. A red card was harsh but iv seen them given for less and iv also seen them no given for more!

Bloody hell your ambitious!

Its kinda hard to tell where we have the most problems with so many injuries. However, we could obviosuly do with some more creativity whether it be in the middle (Manny Fernandes anyone? lol) or on the wing. We could probably do with some more cover at LB and maybe a young/cheap keeper and CB. I hear Gerson is on trial so that would certainly tick the young CB (if he is any good).

With Neville knocking on a bit now it wont be long til we will have to get another ball winner in but I wouldnt expect that to happen this season unless Neville gets another long term injury before the window.

When fit we do have a very good squad. We dont need strikers, or midfielders to play off them and we dont need another RB. But apart from that the rest of the positions could do with some strengthening if the funds are available.

Have you seen the clip of Rafa just after the final whistle on SSN? He actually looks crazy, not the maniacle type, more the dribble and cry in the corner psycho... Funny yet slightly disturbing!

I saw the whole first half and most of the second and Fellaini did have a good game. Yes he still gave the ball away a couple of times and make a couple of sloppy passes but he also did a lot of good stuff and it was good to see. He does make some very intelligent runs and people dont give him enough credit for them. Saying that when he plays as a regular midfield player he doesnt have the license to make these runs which and it takes a large part of his game away.

Yakubu did alright IMO. He had a couple of nice touches and a couple of good little runs which earned us a couple of freekicks. However, its obvious he was still rusty but given time he will back to his old self.

I also thought Heitinga had a decent game in the midfield. Nothing special, but he got stuck, made some nice passes and for the most part the combo of him and Rodwell in the centre worked with Billy providing the class weve missed.

The back 4 also had a decent game. I was suprised by the difference in just bringing in Yobo and Baines made. I never realised until today how important Baines is in terms of the distribution of the ball out of the defence. Especially with the introduction of Fellaini up top, he was accurate in picking out his man which led to use keeping hold of the ball and using the ball much higher up the pitch.

Fellaini is play decently though, which I haven't thought recently.

Thats because he played off the striker which is his best position, like I said in a different thread. Maybe Moyes read these forums?!?! lol

thats another 2 points dropped at home, so far thats 6 points dropped at home, in games WE SHOULD have won

TBH I would definately have taken a draw before kick off. We played much better today and even though we did concede a sloppy goal (again) we looked much more like a team which will hopefully lead to brighter times ahead for the club!

To be fair to all the Neville haters he was crap early on in his spell at Goodison. Couldnt pass, gave away stupid fouls and couldnt keep hold of the ball, especially with Carsley next to him! However, he has really turned it up in the last couple of years showing his skill technically and mentally as well as his heart. Probably one of the best captains weve ever had at the club for a while!

I think we do have a chance but its a slim one and it requires our players having a good game, especially at the back (lets be honest its about time they did!).

Unfortunately Villa I guess are the English version of Benfica. Big target man, 2 tricky wingers and decent passers in midfield, so it will be a good test for that game, and should we get a stuffing here then I imagine the benfica game will go the same way...

I thought he may have been given the nod in the game yesterday... Admittantly it would have been throwing him in the deep end but it would have been nice to see him and let Distin have a rest. Plus tbh if he is good enough then I think Moyes would have played him so I personally wouldnt expect too much as this is as big an injury crisis as we will get (fingers crossed) and he hasnt featured. Maybe its a bit early and I certainly do hope he can become a 1st team regular but I wouldnt expect him to break through any time soon.

It is certainly true that poor or excessive training methods can result in fatigue or the weakening of joints etc etc. I very much doubt it would be down to poor training methods as its 2009 not 1909, we have sports scientist who measure all this crap so I doubt it is that. As someone mentioned earlier it is most probably down to the large number of games (club and country) and the fact that the squad is being strethed due to injuries to other players. Add this to the fact that normally at Everton we press lots, get stuck and are generally quite fiesty on the pitch, these will add more stresses to the joints/muscles etc (like the challenges on Neville & Pienaar) and knocks can be easily picked up. If your tired then your more likely to get injured so all these factors will come into play. Add to this a little/large sprinkling of bad luck and viola you currently have the Everton injury list!

I'm afraid so, even before half time it was obvious we were struggling, with Louis having to go off that virtually destroyed any chance we had of getting back into the game. That should have been the catalyst, with nothing to lose by then he should (IMO) have gone 4-5-1 taken Fellaini off and put TC back in the hole behind Yak, with some fresh and (hopefully) willing legs in midfield, we just might have salvaged something.

Yeh I agree to some most of an extent. Instead I would have dropped Cahill into what was the Arteta role (get the ball down and get us passing), Rodwell in the Neville role (Break up play, with better passing) and Fellaini off the striker, where as he showed at the w/e he can be a real threat as he made one real run forward and he scores a great goal!?! He played off the striker last year most of the time and he was pretty damn affective (sp). Playing 4-5-1 doesnt have to be defensive like a lot of people tend to think it is (they werent complaining when we played 4-5-1 against Sunderland and won 7-1 or that wonder Osman goal against Larissa). It does however get defensive if the support striker doesnt stay far enough forward to actually support the striker, because we lose the ball too easily and it comes straight back at us. There is a fine balance to be struck but players such as Fellaini and Cahill have done it either last season or seasons before in Timmy's case.

We dont have any balance whatsoever in the midfield when we play 4-4-2. The defence has no cover, and the strikers get no real delivery or support. Anyone who has seen the last games should quite clearly be able to see this. You can blame the Fellaini's, the Jo's and the Cahill's but if they arent being played to their strengths then they arent going to play as well as they can. That doesnt however excuse the lack of effort in some cases of the aforementioned names and the team in generel but thats for another thread!

Play to our strengths, go back to what we have done for the last 5/6 seasons to win games and when the confidence and the players come back we can start playing the flowing creative football we all want to see!

One thing I failed to mention earlier was the great support from the travelling Everton fans. All through the second half I could hear them singing through the radio even with the pitiful excuse of football that was being played by the blue (purple?) boys...

I guess it was either sing or cry!

Wow yet again another depressing defeat and what also sounds like a depressing performance... From what I heard it was more or less all Spurs and on another day it sounds like they could have been in double figures. I personally think it was stupid playing a full strength 11 (as good as weve got anyway!). Yes maybe play Yak, Jo, Neill, Heintinga & Gosling but the rest should have been reserves. Im pretty sure most Everton fans couldnt give a toss about the CC at this point in time and we have an important game against Villa that we need players to be fit and rested for. Then just to add to his stupidity he takes off Saha. If he really wanted to win the game from the start then keep him on until its beyond our reach (unless injured). Dont take him off at H/T when were only 1-0 down because that shows the attitude that youve given up on the game?!? To add to this we go 2-0 and the game is more or less over, take out the players who need a reat such as Cahill and Rodwell?! Also from what it sounds like Gosling was having a stinker so why not mix it up??

I respect Moyes and I do think he is a great manager but sometimes he just makes you wonder WTF?!? Either stubborn or stupid, im not sure which one...

Jo for Saha? what gives?

Please dont say he is injured!

"I totally disagree, saha had a really good game, hardly lost the ball, dropped back to recieve it on many occasions, he had a really good game, so i really have to disagree with baileys comments on sahas performance"

I thought in the first half he was playing well, especially when we were in the ascendancy (sp). Your right he did pick up the ball, and use the ball wisely most of the time but as the game progressed and when we really needed to keep hold of the ball he struggled a little bit, losing the ball in the challenge more and letting some passes go astray. However, as I said with my Jo comments, a lot of that was due to him having little support or delivery to him.

Just to clarify, im not saying Saha didnt play well but it wasnt anymore than I expected of him as such. Whereas Jo wasnt as good but he certainly wasnt as bad as a lot of people are making out.

Dont really fancy this one tbh... I guess it depends on who starts for both teams. Although I dont particularly want Moyes to risk any of the first team, I think he will. In an ideal world Id like to see Cahill and Rodwell rested with Jo and Fellaini starting up top. IMO (and it probably is only mine!), when Jo and Felli play up top together they link up really well and I would guess they each scored/contributed the most last season in these positions. I certainly remember the Wigan game (last season) where they both very good (the game when Felli went with corn rows)!

Id say Jags. We need a real leader at the back to take control, plus for me he should be the captain after Neville. I always thought Jags and Joey together were our best CB partnership for parts of last year. Saying that I can completely understand the Arteta view. Without him or Pienaar we have no ability to hold the ball and pass intelligently in the midfield. Rodwell tries his heart out but he needs a break as Davey says.

I cant wait until the whole team (more or less) is back and playing together. Its a real shame our season ended like this last season (injuries) and started this season (performances and injuries).

I also think that after we scored our 2nd we kinda ran out of steam. I really thought we were going to kick on, but they stepped it up and we didnt have the legs to respond. Then for them to score , exactly the same type of way they scored the other two is the most dissapointing thing for me.

jo was a waste of space today, lacked confidence an was too greedy which resulted in a load of half arsed atempts. should have squared the ball to cahill as well.

dan gosling useless in the 1st half an stoopid in the 2nd, think he could become a good player 4 us in a few years but definitly shouldnt be startin yet.

saha was great, and the rest of the team done okay with all things considered but the goals we conceded today were too soft.

While I didnt think Jo had the greatest of games today, I certainly wouldnt say he was a waste of space. He did a lot of good stuff (and some bad) and on another day he may have scored a couple of goals. Saha's goal was great and he had a nice couple of touches but he did much the same as Jo. He gave the ball away and misplaced passes yet just because he scored and has scored a fair few he doesnt cop any stick. Yes I know the main role of a striker is to score goals, but Jo isnt that out and out striker as Saha is. He drops back, moves out wide, strethces the defence allowing other players like Saha to find the space he did to score his screamer. He also tracked back a number of times to help out the midfield and fullbacks and did a decent job. The lad has got quality and when we get our other quality players back in the squad supplying him with decent and consistent delivery (so that he doesnt have to go searching for it) then he will be scoring and creating.

Yeh I agree too... Another example of this was after Elstone came out and said we had spent more money that the sale of Lescott in the transfer window yet wabout 48hrs later (ish) Moyes came out and said that he didnt have any more money available to him than what he spent after the sale of Lescott.

I dont blame him, and while I admit he can be tactically unaware at times, I dont see any other manager doing what he has done at Everton. We need some money desperately and we also need some luck. In the second half today our defence looked fairly solid and not susseptible (sp) to the long balls of Bolton (like we did in the first half) and then our injury curse strikes again and Heitinga goes down. Yes we needed more bodies in before the start of the season but no-one could have predicted this kind of injury plague!

3 goals conceeded through set pieces and not clearing our lines. We showed a lot of heart to get back into the game after being 2-0 down but as soon as Heitinga went off we were always going to struggle. It also seemed that when we got back to 2-2 we took our foot off the pedal (which doesnt suprise me) and that mental attitude has to change but who knows, if Gosling had just squared it we could have been celebrating a well earned victory.

Oh well, Spurs on Tuesday with Heitinga most probably out and it wouldnt suprise me if Cahill doesnt make it. IMO just play the reserves and U18's. The organisers of the competition dont want to show us any respect so as far as I am concerned f**k the League cup, save our senior plays and get prepared for another pasting.

On a more positive note, I was very impressed with Lucas Neill at RB today, his distribution was real quality!

I would have Cahill in the starting line up every time over Felli, an out of sorts Cahill is still much more useful than Felli any day of the week

I actually think Felli plays well when playing off the striker and is shocking when playing in the midfield like he has been recently. Cahill has played there and he even did for a bit against Benfica but showed nothing. Felli needs the confidence so stick him up top and let Cahill sit in the middle with Rodwell. I would say play 4-4-2 but for so long we have had such poor balance in the midfield that it doesnt really work and IMO when used correctly a 4-5-1 can be just as if not more attacking. Our biggest problem normally is that we dont retain the ball at the top end of the pitch so no matter how or who we play that has got to be priority number one for me!

While I despise the man and sure as hell dont agree with his views, he has in a way been useful as he has made the major political parties think seriously about immigration. For too many years the current Labour govt have been sweeping it under the carpet, giving us crap about figures and the measures that they are supposedly have taken. I imagine that right now it is one of the major concerns for the majority of the British public and it somehow needs to be reigned in. The recent statistics have shown the huge and very rapid increase in the population of which the public sector have been completely unable to cope with. As far as I see it you either dramatically improve the NHS, housing, policing, infrastructure etc which costs billions and billions or you cut the amount of people entering the country, even if it is for a certain period of time until we can properly cope.

On a sidenote, of the 3 major parties consistently represented on Question Time the Lib Dems are always the ones that seem to have the better policies, ideas and less bull... Its a shame that they wont get into power!

I dont really fancy this one and I dont really expect too many if any of our injuries to be fit. If I were moyes id drop Cahill if its possible. His performances have been terrible at best recently and as Marcopaulo says he needs a kick up the arse! Id try and make sure Fellaini plays up top with Saha or Jo. He plays his best football there and seeing as we like to play hoof ball atm it may be worthwile to have such a good strong aeriel presence up top especially with it being Boltons strong point. If Pienaar is back maybe slot him in the middle and put Billy (if fit) on one wing with Baxter on the other. Then again as I said before Bolton are good in the air and strong so maybe Cahill in the middle (alongside Rodwell) will let us compete more.

Im not sure I can really predict who will play at the back as I have no clue who is fit but I would imagine we will see Neill, if not sunday then definately Tuesday...