Clearly all is not well; it seemed to me yesterday that, for the first time, the players were at each other, the body language was poor, even new boy Coleman seemed to be having a right go. Some will say that shows they care, but I didn?t get that; I got the feeling that no-one has a clue how we are going to score, and added to that, I don?t think Moyes?s has a clue and the players sense that.
There is some deep frustration within the ranks ? none more so than Arteta. He seems to be on a distant planet, remote from the scene on the pitch, unaware of his duties ? should he back-track or is that Heitinga?s or Fellaini?s role ? should all play go through him... as he seems to think it should. Their second goal yesterday was a prime example: Baines had the ball and the better pass should have been to Rodwell 10 yds away, but he gives it to Arteta 20 yds away with two Arsenal lads all over him. Hey presto, he looses it, and four passes later ? it?s a goal.
But it's not all Arteta?s fault ? it's our current system. If it was an Arsenal player who lost the ball we would undoubtedly move it sideways, then backwards, then in-field again, then over to Baines and finally a cross into an area 12 passes and 40 seconds later, with 7 Arsenal defenders in it waiting to clear. Four of those passes would have gone through Arteta. The team has believed the hype that we are a skilful ball-passing, ball-retention team, but seems to have forgotten that you need to score goals to win games.
Back to the top comment ? it needs someone like Sunderland to stuff us at the Stadium of Light next week for Moyes and Co to finally say enough is enough, forget 4-1-3-1-1 (4-5-1 to some) ? it ain't working. The successful teams this year are teams with two forwards up front, two strong midfield men and pace/skill on the outside.
My team would be: Howard; Coleman, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Fellaini, Neville; Arteta/Anichebe, Pienaar; Beckford, Yakubu;
The pace would be provided by Coleman and Baines with Arteta?s and Pienaar's roles to open up their back four with intelligent movement. Arteta won't like it, switching back to the outside... but he?s not cutting the mustard as our playmaker at the moment. Heitinga won't get in, and should be sold in January, and Rodwell (when fully fit) will have to push for Neville?s position.
The race for the League 3rd-6th places is really wide open and any team capable of WINNING games on the run would be in a prime position. DRAWING games is not good, winning 2 out of 3 is better than winning 1 and drawing 2 ? simple maths, but to win games you need to score, you need the balls to throw men forward from the first minute ? not in the last 10 mins.
Do you think Moyes will change anything unless we go through our yearly ?it was an absolute disgraceful performance and it won't be tolerated anymore? game? If not, then let's get it over and done with as soon as possible. Sunderland should be full of optimism after their game against Chelsea today.
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For me, my team would be: Howard; Neville, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Coleman, Rodwell, Fellaini, Pienaar, and Arteta in the hole behind the Yak.
Now we would have pace in the middle with Rodwell, ball-retention from Felli, pace down the wings with Coleman and Pienaar, and Arteta sliding in killer balls to the Yak.
Arsenal play 4-5-1, the difference with them and us is.... Say Arshavin gets injured, on comes Rosicky; Song gets injured, on comes Diaby... Players coming on in their perfect positon.
In our case, Felli is out, in comes a centre back... Pienaar goes off, Osman to the left ? you get my drift. Arsenal known their system to a tee, Everton is a mis-match where, week to week, we don't know whether to play hoofball or football.
I also suggested in a previous post that DM should tell them before the match they are 2 - 0 down because that is when they seem to wake up. I thought Distin was quite good in defence but his passing forward (a la Unsworth ? just hoof it!) was dire, three consecutive "passes" went either into no-man's land or to a player heavily marked (used to be known in my day as a suicide pass!!)
There does seem to be a lack of spirit but hopefully this could be the "WAKE UP" match...
We were second best to Bolton on Wednesday, and similar to Arsenal yesterday, basic things like corners and free kicks are a joke.
Too many players who don't look interested, and our passing in midfield goes from left to right without the much needed through ball, to bring our LONE striker into play.
We cannot go on hoping to catch opposition in the last 10 mins, it has worked a few times, but Bolton and Arsenal showed more agression, and in my opinion Bolton deserved to beat us.
Do we ever practice scoring goals? I'm only asking because it never looks as if we do.
Moyes needs to get Arteta further forward, at least then he can pass the ball sideways on the opponent's 18-yard box instead of the half-way line. Also getting Anichebe back will give us that extra bit of physical strength, or just give Saha a slap in the face to wake him up.
The only player I know with a worse injury record than Saha.
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* Everton deducted 8 pts; †Forest deducted 4 pts for PSR breachView full table
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