Moyes is not Infallible
Peter Fearon has the temerity to suggest that the Messiah is not without his faults

10 December 2003

I believe David Moyes will ultimately find the right formula at Goodison and eventually produce a winning Everton team.  But there is no doubt that he has made some highly questionable decisions this season.

Ultimately it is the poor individual performances by the players that have cost us so many available points and forced us into another relegation battle.  But you can’t find fault with the orchestra without recognizing the failings of the conductor.

Here’s just some of the bad calls that I think Moyes has made this season and which have cost us matches:

1. He has consistently favored McFadden over Kilbane. The only explanation for this is that he is trying to justify signing a player who has contributed almost nothing since his arrival. McFadden seems a brilliant signing. Play him!
    
2. While he keeps making noises about ‘protecting’ Wayne Rooney, he puts a negative spotlight on him by unfairly making him carry the can for our failure to score, repeatedly substituting him. Significantly, the substitution of Wayne Rooney has not once turned a potential defeat into a victory. We almost always look like a less potent force without him.
    
3. It was a bold and justifiable move, but signing Francis Jeffers turns out to have been an error. It is a worse error to persevere with a striker who has lost his way to goal. Far from growing at Arsenal, he is half the player he was. Jeffers failure is worse than Rooney’s. Jeffers has had real opportunities to score and has screwed up every time, sometimes from five yards.
    
4. He kept Rooney and Jeffers on at Middlesbrough well into extra time, yet took them off when it was highly likely there would be a penalty shoot out. At least one of the strikers should have stayed on in case of a shoot-out. Not good tactical thinking.
    
5. He ignored Osman for most of last season and all of this season, then gave him a crucial penalty to take after coming off the bench for just 13 minutes. If Rooney and Jeffers had still been on the field, he would have had more options.
    
6. Even after telling others not to blame Osman for the loss at Middlesbrough, he dumped him. Similarly, he dumped Peter Clarke, burdening him with the responsibility for the Blackburn debacle that really should have been shared 11 ways.
    
7. He played a bold new 3 man attacking line-up against Manchester City, then gave it just 45 minutes to work. That suggests to me his heart wasn’t really in that strategy.
    
8. He substituted Rooney with McFadden against City. Why would you take off a player who is floundering for service, in favor of the player most likely to give him that service? Why would you bring on someone who can create chances and take off the player most likely to convert them?
    
9. He eventually took off Jeffers, long after it was obvious he wasn't going to hit the water from a bridge. There was still tiem for for Campbell to make a significant impact on the game, but that was a substitution that might have been worth making at half time.
    
10. Just what was Kilbane’s role on Saturday? Defence? If he was the only available sub for Tony Hibbert, surely Carsley or Lee Tie should have dropped back, allowing Kilbane a role further up field. At the end of the game we had what should have been a potent attacking force - McFadden, Kilbane, Campbell and Radzinski but they were not attacking as a unit.

All of these errors of judgement will pale into insignificance if David Moyes can get the team clicking again. Six points in the next two matches will do nicely, thank-you. But if the players are supposed to be looking deep within themselves and the way they play their game, he should be looking at some of his decisions too.

Peter Fearon

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