FAN ARTICLES
Our Inferiority Complex

Tim Cahill took a free kick inside the Liverpool half with two or three minutes left and booted the ball out into the corner for a throw-in, rugby style. I was absolutely infuriated. It was a clear sign of TIm Cahill proving our inferiority complex against Liverpool. Whether you like it or not, it was a pure sign that we don't believe we are better than them. We were happy to waste time as opposed to going for the jugular.
Now I know the usual responses will follow ? some people are never happy, etc, and maybe they're valid ? but if Cahill did that at home, say, to Blackburn, or Bolton, he'd be booed surely?!
Here are our rivals, on the floor, the worst Liverpool side in god knows how long, we played them off the park for 60 minutes, and then we stopped. And then resorted to this. At home! I can't help feeling we missed an opportunity to actually thump them. And I mean 4-0. Easily.
But no. Despite being the better side all over the park, we still lacked the self-belief to go and hammer them. Instead, we spent the last 20 minutes practically camped on the edge of our own area with the odd long ball break away when we should have been knocking the ball around to our cheers while they chased shadows.
I know. I know. There's just no pleasing some people...
Reader Comments (69)
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
2 Posted 18/10/2010 at 13:39:26
All i can think of on your part GJ is that your S&M session didn't go to plan and you have opted for a verbal bashing instead.
Good luck with that mate..
3 Posted 18/10/2010 at 13:42:59
But I've always always really wanted us to put them to the sword and going for it big time for a 4/5 goal win. One that would really be remembered long long after. Still, I'm not (really) complaining but we've got to start believing in ourselves more when this happens.
4 Posted 18/10/2010 at 13:42:29
5 Posted 18/10/2010 at 13:45:55
But then I didn't think Liverpool could play that badly again. However, I think the team were exhausted by the 80th minute. And Cahill knew it. Regardless, I don't think it was a good thing to do, we'd have been better playing around the ball on the deck ...
6 Posted 18/10/2010 at 13:46:19
So a booted clearance in injury time.....when we are 2-0 up means we know we are not as good as a team we are comprehensively beating 2-0? Strange reasoning fella.
7 Posted 18/10/2010 at 13:48:44
I was more interested about it than infuriated. I don't think it was the right thing to do but I think Cahill thought, right let's pen them in, we'll be snapping at their heels near their touchline and will waste some time, they will either clear it or we will get a corner, free kick etc.
8 Posted 18/10/2010 at 14:25:09
9 Posted 18/10/2010 at 14:19:56
10 Posted 18/10/2010 at 14:26:56
1. Surely if you want to waste time you put the ball into the corner area where someone like Beckford will run to get hold of it and waste time.
2. Kicking it to return possession to the Shite - albeit a throw-in right on their goal-line - seems a "shorter" version of time-wasting.
Didn't make sense to me at the time, but I'm sure Cahill knew what he wanted to do; strange... but there you go, who cares now? The result was brilliant, the workrate was exemplary, the fans were fantastic AND the faces on Thug-G and Moaner-C were utterly priceless, let's have more of that blues, you made us proud......
11 Posted 18/10/2010 at 14:32:26
12 Posted 18/10/2010 at 14:28:21
I think the net effect was even further to demoralise the Shite. And I wouldn?t mind betting that one or two other teams will try this tactic in future.
Rationally, is it a good tactic in most circumstances? Probably not. I seem to recall Jack Charlton once saying that the last thing you want to do when you are running down the clock is to give the opposition the chance to get it to their goalkeeper. However, yesterday I think it just drove another nail into their sad little coffin.
By the way, it is a sad reflection that so many people on this site feel they have to preface their views with, "I'll probably get slammed for this but .. " What did that Scottish philosopher Hume say? "Truth comes about through disagreement amongst friends." Cue references to other Scottish philosophers...
13 Posted 18/10/2010 at 14:56:20
15 Posted 18/10/2010 at 15:18:02
16 Posted 18/10/2010 at 15:37:11
Therefore Sir, your argument is invalid.
Where they are concerned, only beating them matters.
17 Posted 18/10/2010 at 16:02:06
18 Posted 18/10/2010 at 16:15:09
19 Posted 18/10/2010 at 16:29:46
Beautiful, I loved it.
20 Posted 18/10/2010 at 16:38:04
You ask any of that shower the same thing and all they care about is the result and whatever it takes to get it. Do you think any of them cared that they were battered home and away last season, that they resorted to fouling us off the park and parking the bus in both games?
They didn't give one because they won both and they know alter on that their propaganda media machine can spin it to fool everyone into thinking they deserved it. Even Hodgson seems to have been at the Rafa school of how to do a press conference, if you don't win at least perpetuate the myth that Liverpool are and always will be latently superior. Sometimes its better not to read too much into who deserved it who played better blah blah. They certainly couldn't give one.
Put our high standards aside for one game and just take the good win and the 3 points. As much as I'd like to see us play them off the park at Anfield and win 5-0, if it turns out we defend the whole game get a scruffy offside handballed foul on the keeper goal in the 98th minute and win 1-0 then I wouldn't care.
21 Posted 18/10/2010 at 16:57:56
23 Posted 18/10/2010 at 17:38:42
I just don't think we had enough left to keep the tempo going and for the last 15 mins we had more chances than them with breakaways. From minutes 60-75 was probably our weakest part of the game.
Tougher game ahead next week, which will see us trying to play more possession and counter attack a very offensive Spurs side.
24 Posted 18/10/2010 at 17:42:41
For the last 30 mins of the game we had NO midfield, Fellaini, Heitinga, Osman, Arteta, off the field, with Cahill playing on one leg for the last 15 min and Yakubu knackered, Peinaar, Rodwell, Saha and Anichebe unavailable, yet we still restricted an almost full strength Liverpool to long shots.
We still made better chances than Liverpool late on, how can anyone criticise Cahill for anything he did or attempted in this game when he was head and shoulders above anyone else on the field, possibly apart from Distin and Jagielka, is totally beyond me ? he epitomises everything an Everton player should be, committed, honest, strong and able to play above his god-given ability at will, in short a typical Aussie sportsman, but above all a REAL Everton player.
To finish on a famous quote "I hate you, Butler"
PS ? I don't really !
25 Posted 18/10/2010 at 18:26:21
Over the years, I've seen so many games with squeaky bum moments, when we should've been out of sight; it?s also one of the reasons why 4 & 5 nils have been comparatively rare.
26 Posted 18/10/2010 at 18:49:24
27 Posted 18/10/2010 at 19:21:12
This is not a major complaint from a fan...its a valid point and we should have continued to play as we did in the first half and not just invite trouble.
28 Posted 18/10/2010 at 19:17:19
I actually enjoyed after the game the fact that the shite attacked us as they did in the second half. It means that our defence get the practise that they need to become the wall of blue.
I'm into this because at the Lane we'll need it.
Europe for spurs will give us an advantage with the fitness of our squad.
Tactics will be the old Moyes situation. As Davey said "Back to basics" If we have this altitude and have the gonads we had agsinst the shite then a draw is the worst we will do.
What a time for the Yak to get his hatrick.
GJ shut up about Timmy. That overhead kick at the Bridge purlease get a life.
Twenty minutes into the second half on Sunday we were running on empty. The rs new they had to at least do something positive. They didn't know that they were also on empty, they just knew they had a bollocking comming once in the changing room.
GJ shut up about
29 Posted 18/10/2010 at 20:06:29
Just enjoy the win - I would have taken 1-0 at the start let alone 2-0!
30 Posted 18/10/2010 at 20:20:11
There's just no pleasing some people...
31 Posted 18/10/2010 at 20:27:08
32 Posted 18/10/2010 at 20:37:19
33 Posted 18/10/2010 at 23:31:44
34 Posted 18/10/2010 at 23:42:27
A smart thing to do.
35 Posted 19/10/2010 at 00:14:44
36 Posted 19/10/2010 at 01:39:22
37 Posted 19/10/2010 at 02:25:53
a) A couple of mins to go
b) 2-0 up.
c) well in our own half.
His Options;
1) A short ball to a blue, runs the risk of giving it away in your own half (see a above)
2) A long ball down the middle (S.O.P.?) which, on average meand to their GK or defender...end result, back down our throats...more on this later
3) what he actually did, it's just a nother version of the old time wasting tactic, get it up to their corner flag, ala Jimmy Gabriel in 66
The benefits are;
i) they have to get the ball back ( it all adds up)
ii) 2 above does not apply.
iii) we get out from under the cosh and move up field for the throw.
Down there for scoring Tim and up there for thinking...SPOT ON.
The main problem to me is the poor way we defend on the edge of our own box / corners
With EVEYBODY!! back.
They don't have everybody forward ffs, but they could if we don't have 2 out of the box ' keeping them honest '
One on the edge of the box for the short clearance, say 5 to 10yds. and one on the half way line to either get the ball and hold it up himself, must admit the Yak had a good game but was obviously working to orders in coming back too far. Or doing enough to stop their CB's having a free punt back into our box.
38 Posted 19/10/2010 at 07:13:09
Was Liverpool having more of the ball in the last 25 minutes the result of tactics or fatigue ? Does Moyes instill in the team an attitude of " if we don't concede we have won the game ?" So we present 2 banks of 4 and say try and get past that. A dangerous tactic I feel, because at 2-0 they only have to get a goal back and suddenly we are hanging on.
Perhaps the change in the nature of the game was caused by fatigue. We did play a very high tempo game in the first half. Our "defending" was very much in the Liverpool half.
In some ways it was very similar to the 3-0 win. They seemed to have a lot of the ball in the second half in that match. Given our recent record against them and the way any luck that has been going has seemed to go their way, I would say that it is only natural that a kind of "David and Goliath" mentality exists. But as Seamus (11) states once we get a few more wins against the likes of the Sky 4 or 5 or 6 is it - then we will be more confident.
On a side issue isn't it great to see all the headlines about Rooney !!? As an Everonian now living in Lincoln I can well recall the jibes from Man United supporting friends & work colleagues when they signed him from us in 2004. " Just a nursery club for United". It's great to see the "boot on the other foot". Closer to home I hope the Derby win proves to be a kick start for our season and that Liverpool continue to struggle. We keep hearing how loyal these Kopites are - lets see how they are when they have some seasons of struggling in the bottom half of the table.
39 Posted 19/10/2010 at 07:54:47
Thats exactly why he did it. It's commonly called rubbing salt into the wound.
40 Posted 19/10/2010 at 08:43:06
42 Posted 19/10/2010 at 10:03:34
This is the same Tim who was often seen patting supposedly hard nut Carragher on the head as if he was a puppy.
This same Tim who was here there and everywhere rubbing their noses in it with obvious enjoyment. The very same Tim who more than once stopped Stevie GBH in his tracks.
The same Tim who more than any other player since Duncan Ferguson RS fans and players have learned to fear and hate.
The same Tim who spent the best part of three days in the past fortnight in transit to and from his beloved Australia. The same Tim who more than any Everton player in the past decade has put his body on the line and always led from the front.
Judging by the strapping he wore Tim was one of our walking, running tackling goal scoring marvels. To dream that Tim in any way feels inferior to anyone let alone the RS ubbish is absolute balderdash.
Only on Toffeeweb could such unwarrented and ridiculous criticsm emanate.
I put this recent criticsm in the same bracket as that classic, HE WOULD BE USELESS IF IT WASN'T FOR HIS GOALS!
43 Posted 19/10/2010 at 12:20:51
Yes, three midfield players went off but we were left with Bily, Nev, Cahill & Coleman ? three internationals and a future international. It'll happen to us again ? it's what squads are supposed to be for.
We were playing a side that was beaten at home in their last game to Blackpool and in my view, is the worst Liverpool side in decades. And yet we spent the last half hour defending for our lives due to the fact we were playing liverpool the club, not realising the fact most of those actually wearing the red jersey are rubbish ? Konchesky, Lucas, Maxi?
And all this finished off by a ridiculous free-kick by Cahill. Booting the ball into the corner seen as an act of rubbing salt into the wounds? Doesn't wash with me. As much as I love Cahill, it was embarrassing.
And I ask those who diagree, would you accept it if we were two-nil up against Blackburn or Wigan? If the answer is Yes, then fair enough, we agree to disagree. If the answer is No, there my friends is your inferiority complex.
44 Posted 19/10/2010 at 12:34:06
45 Posted 19/10/2010 at 14:33:10
As Blakey so famously said "I DO hate you Butler"
But if we keep winning games, I keep saying I hate you, I am sure you will be very happy.
I thought the support was fantastic on Sunday, but I would loved to have heard ringing around the ground -
"You bought the wrong club, you bought the wrong club, fuck off to Boston, you bought the wrong club.
But you cant have everything.
46 Posted 19/10/2010 at 15:37:43
But either way, I dont see anything in you're reply that responds to my arguement? Whats you're point? Yes, the crowd on Sunday were great, who said otherwise?
I can only assume your hatred comes from answering my question at the end of post 40 and getting the answer you didnt want? One thing we do agree on, if we keep on winning, I'll be very happy, so hate away my friend. Hate away.
47 Posted 19/10/2010 at 18:41:09
you might be too young to remember,<
Good job you aint called Rett or you'd have been totally lost with, frankly my dear i don't give a damn.
48 Posted 19/10/2010 at 22:38:20
49 Posted 20/10/2010 at 00:39:43
I'm pretty sure judging by your comments neither of you have played top flight team sport.
The RS players had their heads down and Timmy made them scurry to the corner to quickly take the throw which was humiliating to say the least. Rather than showing Inferiority it was a display of arrogance and distain towards the shower of shite, especially given the little bit of time waisting he did leading up to the kick.
Agree with Dick, there is no way on earth Tim was showing them respect or fear by kicking it out.
50 Posted 20/10/2010 at 08:59:19
We're winning, you're losing. "Go fetch"
51 Posted 20/10/2010 at 10:19:07
52 Posted 20/10/2010 at 10:24:15
Sorry Peter, didn't realise you play top level footy yourself. Can I ask, in all the top level games you've ever watched (or indeed, played in) when did you ever see someone booting the ball into the corner like that? Im open to being corrected but I cant think of one, so to suggest this is 'the done thing' and only those 'in the know' would understand such embarrassing timewasting is ridiculous.
As I've said in both my original post and my follow up response, would you accept it against the likes of Blackburn or Bolton? Nobody has bothered to answer.
53 Posted 20/10/2010 at 15:02:46
54 Posted 20/10/2010 at 15:24:40
55 Posted 20/10/2010 at 15:35:02
It's good not to feel inferior, but it's just as great not to be overly arrogant!
56 Posted 20/10/2010 at 15:39:05
I am not sure I would accept this behaviour in general. However, we have since learned that: (1) our team was knackered and probably replete with injuries; (2) our manager felt happy for the Shite to have the ball, because he did not think they would hurt us (and he was proved correct in this, the Shite were shite). In the light of this, I think it not unlikely that a player might think it a good idea to hoof the ball into the corner, by the Shite fans, dismissively and contemputously. Perhaps players would feel it equates to a nutmeg.
The Shite and their fans seem to see themselves as a superior breed. It is why they make coments about ?small clubs?, ?off to Kirkby, the City?s ours.? Cahill, whose behaviours and gestures are rarely casual (like those of the Aussie cricket team), may well have been sending a message to those self-confessed players of the pink oboe, all dressed in red.
On the other hand, it might just have been a miskick ?
57 Posted 20/10/2010 at 15:05:02
The game was played for 90+ minutes and instead of basking in the glow of a well earned defeat you have to post a thread having a go at the man of the match.
I know everyone has their opinions and fair play but it's such a ridiculous statement to say booting the ball out to waste time by a player probably going on with an injury shows any kind of inferiority complex and then to say the comments on here back it up.......On the Buses? definitely
58 Posted 20/10/2010 at 16:23:05
And the one and still only person who took up on my point that we wouldn't accept it against Blackburn/Bolton seemed to me to back up my statement. We did it because they are full of themselves?? Think about it.
59 Posted 20/10/2010 at 17:29:53
I certainly wouldn't bring it up as an embarrassing moment the next day.
60 Posted 20/10/2010 at 17:43:25
Yes, he did put on Beckford and apparently went 4-4-2 although the Yak was probably out of gas at that point too.... and Beckford sadly was a hopeless parody of a striker. The last 30 minutes of the game were not particularly fine watching, scoreline aside, and that free-kick epitomised what was going on.
And as for discussing it on here... of course we shall. In fact, aren't you always playing this card? Saying we shouldn't be talking about something? It's a post-match discussion FFS! ? We talk about what went on in the match. If YOU don't want to, then YOU don't have to.
61 Posted 20/10/2010 at 20:13:29
62 Posted 21/10/2010 at 09:45:58
A 4-4-2 is an attacking formation according to so many on here yet he does it and you suggest it's a bad move because you don't like Beckford. you put yourself in a position to have a go at him regardless of his decisions (no matter if they are crap or if they effectively win a game)
Yes it's a discussion board but this post in regards to an insignificant stupid free kick by a knackered player in a game we comfortably won and no matter how much you over analyse the free kick, we won comfortably.
It's in the same vein as your post when we had just beaten ManUre 3-1.
Enjoy the win and at least let people enjoy the victory before starting to slag off the man of the match and apparently us fans because we are not up in arms over a daft free kick from Cahill. I see Round is getting it now, what does he do for us, Bily had it a few days ago and Beckford is the Devil incarnate etc
We Evertonians just can't enjoy a win without slagging someone/something off can we?
If the opening poster feels embarrassed because of this free kick, I genuinely feel sorry for him. Then again I am an "apologist" etc etc
63 Posted 21/10/2010 at 14:48:59
Well, in addition to fully celebrating a great win, some of us also have critical faculties that we exercise after a match, and it doesn't detract in any way from the pleasure we have over the win. In fact the discussion we have may help bring out points which make the win that bit more special, as I think has happened in this case.
The fact that you decry others for doing something you don't want to do yourself does not mean they are in the wrong or that they should stop at your behest.
And here's the latest news: these discussion you have so much of a problem with are not going to stop, because post-match analysis is what it's all about after the match is done, and so post-match analysis is what we have always done and will always do. If that involves discussing a player who did not play well, so be it. If it involves an unusual incident from the game, so be it.
If YOU don't like it, YOU don't have to participate. I think you like to tell us all how much you don't like it, though, which is your prerogative. Where you overstep the line is in telling others not to do it because YOU don't like it. Well, sorry, but that just ain't happening.
64 Posted 21/10/2010 at 16:48:43
I know it's not going to stop and guess what? Neither am I when I want to post a response to something I agree/disagree with (until you ban me)
Also there is critical faculties and there is just petty nitpicking.
Editorial Team
65 Posted 21/10/2010 at 17:22:46
"... instead of basking in the glow of a well earned defeat you have to post a thread having a go at the man of the match." [Err... "defeat? ? I thought we won!]
"I certainly wouldn't bring it up as an embarrassing moment the next day."
"Enjoy the win and at least let people enjoy the victory before starting to slag off the man of the match and apparently us fans because we are not up in arms over a daft free kick from Cahill."
"We Evertonians just can't enjoy a win without slagging someone/something off can we?"
Tell me I'm wrong, Tony, but that sure carries the message to me that you are saying he shouldn't have posted it. (I know you don't actually say those specific words but I'm talking about intent and meaning here.)
I'm all for people disagreeing with posters about their conclusions opinions, interpretations, etc and providing alternatives... That's what we are all about ? except when it comes to the alternative that the post should not have been posted.
It's one thing to provide your opinion of what went down... it's quite another to tell other fans how they should be reacting. Why do you need to do that?
66 Posted 21/10/2010 at 17:30:31
Here was a professional footballer who rather than role the ball to a teammate (Distin I think was three yards behind), he chose to boot the ball out of play as far down the pitch as possible. Not into the corner for Beckford to chase, but straight out of play, near no-one. Your opinion is it it was an insignificant incident, but it's not often something happens in a match that you have never in the history of watching football previously witnessed, and that is genuinely the case here (for me anyway), so I thought it was worth bringing up and seeing others' opinions.
And having analysed it myself, I see it as an act of a side with an inferiority complex, showing far too much respect and desperatley trying to waste time. Some on here seen it as an act of arrogance. We'll disagree and move on. Role on Spurs and hopefully the same result ? with another curious incident to boot...
67 Posted 21/10/2010 at 19:17:35
68 Posted 21/10/2010 at 23:44:38
We had our whole midfield off injured for the last 30 minutes and still held them comfortably. The shite never looked like scoring, so the fact you think we should have gone on some sort of goal spree and that we played like a bunch of ladies makes me embarrased for you.
69 Posted 22/10/2010 at 01:11:26
70 Posted 22/10/2010 at 08:41:35
I just want to pick up on these points you made. Firstly you say it's a minor point we stood off the gas with a good 30 minutes to go. Sorry lad but resorting to those tactics is almost considered self injury. I mean if you stand off and let them come on to you, more times than not your going to concede goals. Yes the shite where gash but that could so easily have been suicide.
You also say it's pure fantasy we could have won 4 or 5 nil. Umm did we watch the same match here or not? We where all over them like a nasty rash in that first half and by that virtue alone we should have created far more chances and banged in more goals. Every Liverpool supporter I know was of the same opinion, they where reeling and where gob smacked it only ended 2 - 0, it should have been at the least a good 4 - 0 win.
Point is against the bigger teams who are reeling it's important to stab home as many chances or create as many as possible and try to put them away. As you may have seen with 30 minutes to go, we practically gave up and literally camped ourselves on the edge of the box. You just can't do that shit. You telling the opposition to come on and beat your defense. I am not overly thrilled with our defense as it is at the moment, leaking goals all over the place.
While I realize we have got no strikers at all, and I certainly don't class Beckford as one because the lad is completely and utterly clueless as demonstrated time and again in the premier league matches he has played and more importantly in the Derby where he was more interested in fouling than trying to get into any type of position to capitalize on. The Yak for all his bluster is supposed to be a striker not some midfielder chasing every single ball down.
Never the less a great win, and I hope we can take this confidence into the Spurs game on Saturday, where we need to win. Maybe by winning Saturday and getting closer to 4th at the end of the day will change the tide of optimism in the team and give them the belief to go, despite having fuck all up front in the way of natural strikers.
71 Posted 22/10/2010 at 08:57:56
Just thought id pull this apart. Firstly it makes no difference whatso ever that fly weight and useless Osman is on or Off the pitch really. And Fellaini has been gash this season because he has been constantly played out of position. Again it would not have mattered if he had played or not, seriously in the position he has been forced to play it, it would have made no difference.
As for the Heit, I can't help but wonder just how many free kicks we would have given away with that lad. He can be extremely wreckless.
Arteta despite his goal, will no doubt readily admit he has had a gash season by his own standards this year. Maybe that 75k a week has got to him, who knows, but he most certainly isn't the same Arteta we know know and love, to me he is very sub part with last season.
I agree with you about Pienaar I'll give you that. As for Rodders, I am sure there are plenty of people of the same opinion as myself, that he gets around a bit, is quite a bit clumbsy and has still a long way to go to convince me he really deserves that starting place. The lad as talent and shows it in rare glimpses.
However bare in mind we had coleman on the pitch, and Moyse's clueless Bily (11m wasted), added to that we had the Yak playing in midfield when he should have been upfront. One wonders why Moyse brought Beckford on, then again it might be because we had camped the midfield on the edge of our own box, with barely anyone bothering to break out of be ready to receive the ball. I'll say again, 3/5 of the mf out is a complete cop out, when you consider what I said above.
You mention some players that where never involved from the start so I fail to see how he could be contradicting himself/
Anyway at the end of the day, it doesn't matter we won and shit as still in the bottom three to me thats failing to make a champions league place.
72 Posted 22/10/2010 at 09:16:48
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.
Editorial Team
1 Posted 18/10/2010 at 13:39:20
But it was a great win and all such sins will be forgotten!