The Honeymoon is Over

David Moyes: Facing his first genuine crisis in the Goodison hotseat

It is an all too familiar a position for the Blues to be in, the only surprise — and let's face it, given Moyes's initial impact, it's a real kick in the balls — is that the "R" word has returned to the Everton lexicon so soon after the interminable proverbial corner looked to have been turned under the new manager's stewardship.

Hindsight having perfect vision, it's astonishing that Everton spent six months in the top six of the table last season given the fact that Moyes is dealing largely with the same ragbag collection of journeymen punctuated with the odd shining star that is underperforming so badly now; indeed, the changes in personnel since May could only have improved his lot.  Yet here we find ourselves in the bottom three of the Premiership staring another long, hard winter in the face.

When you look back at Season 2002-03 and stare past the six-match winning streak that catapulted the Blues into unlikely European contention, you can see an underlying mediocrity about Everton that Moyes's fitness regimes and emphasis on effort and tenacity can do little to mask now.  If you were to apply the team's win rate from the other 32 games of that campaign (one win every three games) to that six-game stretch, Moyes's side would have finished in the bottom half of the table with less than 50 points.

An even more depressing statistic is Everton's form since the turn of the year.  In 28 league games, the Blues have racked up just nine wins and 33 points, which is only five points more than the team earned in the last 28 league matches under Walter Smith!  While no one realistically believes that Everton are as bad under Moyes as they were under his dour, defensive-minded compatriot, the fact remains that the players have reverted to the same frustrating characteristics that blighted "Tictac's" ill-fated reign.

There is the inability to compete from the first whistle which, whether borne of complacency, lack of belief, fatigue or a silent form of mutiny, is the chief reason why the club finds itself in the drop zone.  By the time the players have been stung into action they are usually a goal or two in arrears and chasing the game.  Conceding the first goal became a hallmark of last season but for some reason this time around the players don't have what it takes to either salvage games or go on to win them after falling behind.

Then there is the complete inability to maintain possession for any length of time and the propensity to give the ball away with breathtaking abandon, putting a weak midfield and erratic defence under constant pressure; the abject failure to create anything meaningful from set-pieces; and the inability to consistently despatch of lower-division opposition in cup matches.

The issue of the manager being hamstrung by a chronic lack of funds is a pertinent one, but taking last season's seventh-placed finish at face value, it doesn't explain why ostensibly the same group of players performed so well then but have been so dreadful at times this campaign.  Frankly, I'm not even going to try and find an answer to that conundrum.

Suffice to say that the players at Moyes's disposal simply aren't good enough, and I'm sure the manager knows that.  While he can begin to trim back the wage bill next summer when the likes of Alexandersson, Gemmill and Unsworth are out of contract, that is of no real use to him now.  Forced to build an enterprising midfield from a pile of steaming mediocrity is unenviable task and yet Moyes must now start making some bold decisions in that area of the pitch if he wants to steer his team out of the bottom three as quickly as possible.

Leon Osman: The time to see what he can do at the top level is long overdue

Firstly, none of Li Tie, Lee Carsley, Scot Gemmill, Alex Nyarko or Tobias Linderoth are ever going to be the answer in midfield.  If Thomas Gravesen was more reliable, more consistent and, frankly, more of a leader, the manager might be able to get away with one of these steady but unspectacular options.  Instead, I can see no sane reason why Leon Osman shouldn't be drafted into the starting line-up at the first available opportunity. Sure, he's inexperienced and untested at the top level but he cannot be any worse than of the afore-mentioned central midfielders.

Secondly, despite his inconsistency and inexperience, James McFadden should be restored to the midfield and kept there for as long as fitness and eligibility allow.  As he demonstrated at Blackburn, he is the only player aside from Gravesen with any flair and ability to create a chance from nothing.

Thirdly, the reliance on Kevin Campbell or Duncan Ferguson up front must be broken immediately.  In a team that is mis-firing as badly as Everton are at present, you need goalscorers in your line-up, not knackered journeymen whose only purpose seems to be to provide leadership (although that's a joke with the Big Yin) and to act as a target for long hoofs from defence.  Don't get me wrong; Campbell in particular has been a wonderful servant to Everton FC, but if Moyes wants to move forward, he can't consider KC a regular starter.

None of us really know how much money — if any — the manager will have at his disposal when the January scramble for players starts, but Moyes will hopefully have a dynamic and creative midfielder and a rock-solid central defender at the top of his shopping list.  The central midfield question has dogged Everton managers since Joe Royle's Dogs of War were exposed for their limitations and rendered redundant by a chase for Europe eight years ago.  However, with Alan Stubbs looking increasingly shaky at the back, David Weir sidelined (and not getting any younger) by injury and Joseph Yobo unavailable for a crucial stretch in the New Year because of his international commitments with Nigeria, central defence has emerged as another very worrying problem.

How he signs players for either position — be it on a season loan, payment on the drip or outright purchase — is immaterial.  The club cannot sit back as it did in January last year and expect everything to turn out fine with the current squad.  If the board want to avoid relegation or mount a challenge for a UEFA Cup place (which is by no means out of the question) then action has to be taken during the transfer window.  We can only pray they have the scouts out looking now, and I don't mean in the same old domestic places.

The next five games will provide the acid test for the attitude of the players as well as Moyes's ability to motivate his current charges and get them playing effective football.  Matches against Wolves, Bolton, Manchester City, Portsmouth and Leicester City provide the perfect springboard for getting our season back on track.  The squad that challenged for so long among the "big boys" last season should be quite capable of beating all of those sides and those 15 points are there for the taking.

For what it's worth, based on the season so far, I believe that if Moyes is determined to stick with a 4-4-2 formation, his strongest line-up should be based on the following:

Most people would have Rooney as first choice striker but, for the next few games, I would personally use him as a "super sub", firstly, because he has struggled to find his feet so far this season (for Everton at least) and, secondly, because Jeffers hasn't been given the chance to show why Moyes brought him back to Goodison in the first place.

There is no doubt that the squad of players that Moyes possesses, littered with internationals as it is, is too good to go down.  Whether their attitude will improve sufficiently to haul the club out of danger is another story but, as already pointed out, the next five fixtures will go a long way to indicating how the remainder of the season is going to pan out.  Three wins and a couple of draws and everyone will wonder what the fuss was about.  However, if the current dearth of goals and the accompanying run of defeats continues, things could get very ugly in Liverpool L4 again.

Lyndon Lloyd