Grey Skies Overhead

Dull, grey and damp aren't just words that could describe the elements at Goodison Park on Saturday afternoon. Adjectives like those are also apt descriptions for not just the performance of the Everton team that played Newcastle United but the mood supporters now find themselves in.

A summer of sunny optimism, bright expectation and clear blue confidence have truely been rained on. Gone is the talk of dark horse title challenges and muscling in on the established order, replaced by talk of rubbing shoulders with the wrong crowd at the wrong end of the table. Talk again too of the dreaded 'R' word, the word on the lips of a few of the Goodison faithful after another disappointing performance from their team. Talk of relegation is a little pre-mature but it is entirely justified to call what has been served up by the Blues so far has been relegation form.

So much had been pinned to the last fixture before kick off after what was chalked off as an unlucky start had supposedly ended with the spirited fightback against Man Utd a week previous. A home match against a newly promoted Newcastle team was exactly what David Moyes's men needed in order to use as a springboard to finally kick their season into life and start trying to catch their would-be rivals in the league.

Newcastle however hadn't read the script and Everton didn't play their part with any kind of committment or passion. Apologists will once again bemoan bad luck and that if two late chances had been converted then a bad day at the office could have been salvaged. That in of itself though is testament to the sorry state Everton were in at the weekend, against a newly promoted team it took until the 90th minute to produce an opportunity of note.

A moment of individual brilliance from Hatem Ben Arfa is what separated the teams to the untrained eye but the real difference was far greater from the first minute until the last.

The Blues were out-fought, out-thought and eventually out-done by their opponants as they were figuratively blown off the stage.

How was it that a central midfield trio of Marouane Fellaini, John Heitinga and Mikel Arteta were entirely bossed by a classless double act of Joey Barton and Kevin Nolan? An engine room which could boast such vision, craft, guile and steel was easily dismantled by the much reviled pair and at no debt to fortune either.

Fingers can be pointed across the Board to find blame for the lacklustre performance but ultimately, blame must find it's way to Director of production, one David Moyes. Even the most avid supporter of the Scot would struggle to argue against the suggestion that the rod for his back is entirely of his own making after this game. The basics have been forgotten and all of the Gaffer's long term tactical aches and pains have gone no way to being remedied.

In order to rescue the club's season from becoming another fruitless chase of the teams ahead of them a few glaringly simple things need to be put right quickly. Things that the majority of supporters could have told you well before a ball was kicked this campaign. Some blunt and perhaps harsh realisations needs to take place and some bad habits of a lifetime need to be bucked by the Glaswegian.

First of all the favouritism that exists within the squad needs to end, it is now such a problem that it is costing the team points.

Leon Osman is a fine central midfielder he is no wide player and when he is having such a game that not a single touch he has falls right, he should be taken off. If Moyes could turn around and say there is no other option than little Leon then that would be fair enough but that is not the case. Unleashing the exciting talent of Seamus Coleman in an advanced role or playing young Magaye Gueye to stretch teams - at least until Victor Anichebe is healthy again - is now a bare faced necessity in order to effect change. This is without mentioning the £10 million enigma Diniyar Bilyaletdinov who is currently warming the bench while his thunderous left foot goes unused.

Sylvain Distin didn't endear himself to the Gwladys Street against Newcastle when after force feeding them a platter of dirge for the second week running, he tried to rile them into support for the team. Had Johnny Heitinga or Mikel Arteta tried this it may have worked but when a player who is playing as bad as Distin is at the minute tries to get a response from the crowd, it can have quite the opposite effect. Since early summer the supporters have been crying out for Heitinga and Phil Jagielka to be used as a centre back partnership but at this point in play, it has become the obvious switch to make. The big Frenchman has effectively played himself out of the team over the last two games.

David Moyes must finally also realise that he has to work with his players and use them to their strengths, not attempt to shoehorn them into working to his own strengths. How long will it be before he accepts that Yakubu will not chase hopeless long balls and Jermaine Beckford will not score with his back to the goal? Neither striker operate in that way and their troubles in front of goal will continue for as long as they are played the way they have been. If you want the best out of either striker then they must be used properly.

Yakubu is the best striker at the club at making the current formation work with his intelligent link up play and strength on the ball. On top of that the Nigerian also has the handy knack of scoring when the ball falls at his feet in the penalty area. Jermaine Beckford is a different animal entirely and has suffered some unfair criticism in his fledgling Everton career. If he were so fortunate as to have a partner to play off - at least at home to lesser teams - or given quality through balls to run at, we may start seeing the best of him. It is unfair to expect the hitman to score goals when he's constantly being dragged deep or asked to hold the ball up while facing the wrong end of the pitch.

The final and arguably biggest sticking point about how Moyes sets his team up is the lack of composure in defence. Across the back four - something Heitinga's style would go some way to solving - there exists a deep rooted lack of awareness and invention when in possession which is leading to bad football. Neither of the current centre backs have any idea how to bring the ball out of defence and are far too eager to resort to aimless punts up the field. Something which both Jagielka and Distin couldn't grasp onto against Newcastle was that Tim Cahill was not on the pitch and if the Aussie isn't there, their punts have little to no chance sticking.

This is by far the manager's deepest flaw as it has been a trait of his teams for years now to resort to such negative and poor tactics when unable to conjure up anything more creative. If he could at least rectify these food and drink problems then he could start to redeem himself in the eyes of many supporters who's faith in him has began to creak. Some serious changes need to be made before the few games and the man in charge needs to take a hard look in the mirror.

The Scot was quoted after Saturday's game as saying he'd have booed his team's performance along with the supporters. The irony that was lost on the Everton boss was that the majority of the supporters weren't venting their frustrations at the team, but at his negative and predictable management.

No longer can anyone at the club fall back on the excuses that injuries to the squad and bad luck have hamstrung our potential to be successful. That luxury has long gone and now is time for the Blues to put up or shut up. Having brought us so far from where we were, don't let us down now Mr. Moyes.

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