FANS COMMENT

Beauty or The Beast?

In reference to “Mr Stallone” who said we play great football, score great goals, coupled with passages of great play and great passing. If you’re watching old tapes of Everton circa 1960s then I whole heartily agree with you but if its in regard to the current generation I think you need to set your sights a little higher on what you consider “good football”.

I don’t expect the team to play a style of football comparable to Arsenal or Man Utd but we should at least be looking to play decent football on a par with the likes of Spurs, Newcastle or West Ham. I love Everton but it can be both painful and embarrassing watching professional footballers — who are paid exceeding well for their footballing abilities and who practice and train together five days a week — struggle to play half-decent football on a Saturday.

I expect them to be able to do the basics such as “consistently” string five passes together without losing possession, to look reasonably confident on the ball, and to play in a controlled, coherent fashion. Liverpool and Chelsea are accused of playing boring football by most; yes, they employ a direct style of play but their passing is far more accurate and they keep good possession of the football and look confident on the ball — can we say the same about Everton?

We’ve got players with the technical ability to play great, exciting, entertaining football and have done so on occasions but rarely do we do so for more than 20 minutes or so in a match and very rarely do we control a match, even when we are leading the opposition by a couple of goals.

Our way of football is very effective and efficient and has seen us finish 7th and 4th in recent seasons and we’re currently 5th in the Premiership, which is great. But, purely on the footballing side of things, I would welcome a more attack-minded mindset from the team, especially at Goodison Park. Give the supporters something entertaining to cheer about on the pitch and talk about on the way home.

Moyes, in my opinion, has done a pretty good job at Everton and has brought the average age of the side down, bought some good quality players, developed a great spirit in the club, and has made Everton hard to beat. But to do well again domestically and in Europe next season we are going to have to place more emphasise on the creative side of our game as well as ally greater tactical awareness and guile to the way we play in order to progress to the next level.

You don’t need vast finances to play good football — just good coaching and the desire to play the game the “beautiful way”.

Would I rather us play well and lose 3-4 or play poorly and win 1-0? I’d rather us play well and win 4-3 than play poorly and win 1-0.

Responses:

An interesting letter. One thing which tends to get overlooked by people writing about David Moyes is where he came from. He had done very well as Manager of Preston. However, he had not set the football world agog nor were the big clubs clamouring to make him their manager. Everton took him on trust and, in my opinion allowed him (subject to pretty severe financial restraints) to progress the club in accordance with his own dictates.

So many people expected him to produce a team capable of playing a brand of football seen only by the teams well above us in financial support. To produce that style requires a manager to have the players capable of playing that way. The normal run of English footballers in particular were never trained that way as youngsters and, if one looks at Arsenal in particular, one notices a complete absence of English players. The every best English players have been acquired by the top three clubs (the top four excluding Arsenal). They are very well complemented by high-quality foreign players.

Slowly, David Moyes is trying to emulate that, by producing home grown talent, buying very young players who exhibit good skills and buying a very few foreign players who seemingly have the skills naturally. Each year the team seems to me to improve as the older players are shed and the new acquisitions begin to slot in and make their presence felt. Nobody exemplifies this more than Mikel Arteta. I'm sure his skill will rub off on to our younger English players. With luck, we may welcome into the fold Manuel Fernandes. This young man will do as much as Mikel in raising the team's general level of skill.

Maybe next year — yes, possibly as soon as that, we will see our beloved team start to play the style of football we all crave to see.

Oh! Just one thing. I have watched Everton since the days of Dixie. Actually we have not had that many 'glorious' years and in those that we have had, the skill level was certainly not higher than the present team. I think the main difference was that goal scorers were more in evidence. At long last we seem to be recognising that and the likes of AJ, youngsters Vaughan and Anichebe (and possibly Nugent?) may begin to rectify that crucial deficiency.
Tim Lloyd

Great points raised by Alex Storm (great name by the way — are you a WWF wrestler?)

Our brand of football has caused me concern for a long while, win lose or draw. I have often thought that there is an unwritten rule that under no circumstances must we pass the ball any more than three times before the ball must be aimlessly launched forward. Look at the Fulham game, at 3-1 we should have been coasting yet I didn't feel comfortable until the fourth went in because we completely surrendered the initiative to Fulham and, make no mistake, if they had pulled it back to 3-2 all hell would have broken loose and blind panic would have set in. I think back to Spurs away this season and Villa away a couple of years ago and I know we have the ability to keep the ball, but unfortunately route one appears to be the preferred tactic of David Moyes.
Gary H

Want to comment on this article? Drop us a line.

"Fans Comment" articles are submitted by outside contributors to ToffeeWeb. The views contained therein may not correspond with those of the site owners. Editorial policy