Fans Comment
Jez Clein

Gives Moyes a Chance
30 December 2005

Not an easy thing to say after four consecutive defeats – 3 of them hammerings – but I believe that David Moyes deserves the chance to get things right.  Not least for the fact that he has been responsible for two out of our highest league placings in over a decade.  Wednesday night gave us a good opportunity to compare and contrast what has happened at Liverpool and Everton in the last 6 months

From the outside it would be very easy to say that Moyes has taken a team that finished 4th last season, spent £20M and turned us into a bottom-sicx side at best... whereas Benitez has taken a team that finished 5th yet with his £20m has taken Liverpool into a possible top-two side

HOWEVER, the important point is the foundations of these two squads.

Benitez, on arriving at Liverpool, took over an expensive side with a strong homegrown backbone that had finished 4th the season before, and was given a further £50M to spend (Alonso, Cisse, Garcia, Morientes).  Whereas Moyes took a side that finished 4th from bottom, lost about eight first-teamers, including Radzinski, Jeffers and Rooney, with another two strikers who were considered more than past it, and replaced them all with two Championship players.  Quite frankly, that team last season should have been relegated – that they weren’t was a minor miracle, never mind finishing 4th.  I truly believe that at least 10 to 12 clubs had stronger squads than us last season and if we had finished 12th – 14th, 99% of fans would have happily accepted that... make that 100% after the opening game.

Benitez had a fairly decent and large squad and could spend his £20M on 3 players to improve his team — not squad, but team.  Whereas Moyes, and let's not kid ourselves, needed quality and numbers and £20M (if indeed that’s how much he actually spent) doesn’t go a long way – Ferdinand, Drogba, SWP, Veron prove that.  Do you really think he wanted to offer contracts to Pistone, Naysmith, Weir, Stubbs, Watson —  even Kilbane and Carsley for that matter — if he did then I apologise for the title of this article.  If he didn’t re-sign these players then that £20M would have had to buy 15 new players!  Liverpool were able to release Biscan (bought for £5M) and Smicer (bought for £4.5M), both on free transfers, and Diouf (bought for £10M) went cheaply.

If Moyes had his £20M to add 3 or 4 new players, then just imagine Beattie being partnered by Bellamy with a midfield of Parker and Sissoko.  This is where I feel that Moyes has been unfortunate.  I believe he made the signing of Davies with the intention of adding at least one of Parker and Sissoko to the team and then suddenly a midfield of Parker, Sissoko, plus two of Van der Meyde, Cahill, Arteta, Davies, and Carsley is light-years ahead of where we find ourselves now.  However, Davies now finds himself having to be midfield enforcer and midfield creator.  The Board badly let Moyes down by not signing, sealing and delivering these two players

Do you think he wanted to buy Valente?  No, he didn’t... but two left backs were due to miss most of the season.  Do you really think he wanted to buy Phil Neville?  Again, the answer has to be no... but a week before the game against Villarreal we hear that Carsley has a long term injury, so Neville is panic-bought.  Why did we have to take a chance on Van de Meyde?  Because he was only £1.6M.

Hopefully, you are beginning to understand the constraints being placed on David Moyes; he’s not operating with one arm tied up behind his back but both!  It's easy to say that he should have bought a striker but, since two seasons ago, he has lost six strikers, ranging from decent to world class – how do you replace them out of your £20M?  Don’t you think that, if we were a well-run club, then players like Radzinski and Gravesen would have stayed?  Not to mention Roo…..

"Well, what about Krøldrup?" I hear you say...  For me, the jury is definitely well and truly still out on him.  I would be very surprised if we have paid anything above £2M for him; so, again, constraints have been placed on Moyes.  I can imagine Moyes asking for someone like Distin but being told that City wanted the £6M in one go and Bill and Keith telling Moyes that any centre-half he buys must be paid for in installments — you see "you don’t need £5M to buy a £5m player"!!!  I have my own theory on why Krøldrup hasn’t been playing, which I have mentioned before: we’ve paid £2M upfront with the rest linked to appearances.  Once we were knocked knocked out of Europe, we asked Udinese to take him back as long as they write off the rest of the transfer fee — time will tell if I’m correct or not.  Is it any coincidence that Ferrari, who does look like a decent player, came out and said he was homesick once we got knocked out of Europe!

In summary, although Moyes's most recent signings may on the outside look poor, let me analyse:-

• Beattie – I like him; he needs service, gets only one chance a game and is expected to take it, definitely needs a partner
• Davies – He would have been a great signing alongside a stronger midfield; I would be surprised if we have paid more than £2M upfront for him considering his recent injuries
• Arteta – Cheap at £2M; youth on his side
• Krøldrup – Who knows (and I doubt we will get to find out); he certainly didn’t have a midfield in front of him at Villa and constantly had Baros and Moore running at him; needs Carsley
• Neville – He certainly wouldn’t have been bought if either Sissoko or Parker had come.  A panic buy who we will live to regret
• Ruddy – One for the future (we hope)
• Van de Meyde – If we had £5M to spend on a wide man, we wouldn’t have touched him with a barge-pole but we didn’t so we had to!
• Valente – another panic buy
• Ferrari – looks too good for us

So, for the £20M (or more commonly known as the Rooney money – the Board didn’t even have the grace to give Moyes the prize money for finishing 4th) he has had to buy 9 players and we are still 3 or 4 players short of a reasonable-sized squad.

My criticism of Moyes is that he is either too naïve or too stupid to stand up to the Board.  I wish he would tell it like it is – did the Board convince him that there was really £10M available to buy Owen or Kuyt?  And, if so, did he put all his eggs in one basket for a striker? – why buy Bent when you can get Kuyt!

Give Moyes a chance – don’t forget, any new manager is still going to have the same lack of backing from our Board!

Jez Clein

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