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Why has our home form been so poor?

Another two points dropped at home today against inferior opposition and unfortunately our league season now seems reduced to trying to build for next season. So what has gone wrong after the expectation following last season?s end of season optimism?

Well perhaps many of us underestimated the size of the task of turning a moderately successful team who played direct football into a purists footballing side who could challenge at the right end of the table? It has been a strange season, even by Everton?s standards, while it has been incredibly frustrating and the results have been verging on unacceptable I can only think of one game (Newcastle at home) where the performance has not been acceptable. This makes it more frustrating in many respects as it seems we aren?t far from becoming a very good side. However this string of bad results has gone on too long to say we just need an additional bit of luck to turn the corner, we have to analyze the performances a little deeper.

I think the first problem has been highlighted and discussed in detail on many occasions this season ? an inability to convert possessions into chances and chances into goals. I think in recent weeks we have been encouraged by Saha?s return to goalscoring form and I thought his performance when he came on today was much more like his old self. I was also encouraged by Arteta?s performance today certainly before the goal his passing was imaginative and he showed a greater willingness to get on the ball. I also liked Osman?s contribution on the left. He seems much more effective there when he plays on the right he tends to go on the outside of defenders and get isolated and barged off the ball. However today he tried to come inside more often and link play letting Baines go outside of him. This suited him much better and hopefully he can fill some of the Pienaar void.

The major problem today is something which has been overlooked but I think needs addressing with some urgency. I think a major factor that has cost us so many points at home this season is how vulnerable we are from broken play. It seemed on each occasion that we lost the ball today West Ham would mount a dangerous attack. It cost us both goals and could have seen us further punished. This has not been a problem in previous seasons as we have always remained well organized at the back and have taken relatively few risks (both with and without the ball) during games. This is something that Moyes has been roundly criticized for in the past and I think trying to do something about it has cost us a significant number of points this term.

I know a lot of goals are scored on the break but are we more exposed to this threat because we are over committing against teams we feel we should be beating? Or is it a case that the very best who are used to coping with teams playing on the counter attack are much more adept at defending it? Whatever the reason I think the problem is becoming further exacerbated by an anxiety in the players caused by our poor home form, this leads to a lack of patience and a temptation to try passes that are not on or make forward runs that leave the defence exposed.

Our poor home form has been the cause of our disappointing season so far and while I think we have made significant improvements in the style of our play this has caused its own problems. Would we be struggling to kill off teams in the bottom quarter of the table with a more direct approach? Has it become easy for teams to sit back and soak up the pressure in the knowledge that they will create chances against us on the break?

While I certainly would not advocate a return to hoofball I would suggest the answer to second of these questions is yes. I don?t think we can blame any one player for our failure to defend counter attacks. I think defending in such circumstances needs to be done as a team and decision making is key. Perhaps we are further away from the top four than we thought and that to go forward we have had to take two steps back. I think this is a key moment in our clubs history if David Moyes can address our flaws at each end of the pitch we could still have a team that can challenge the elite. If not on our shoe string budget Pienaar?s departure may not be the first and we could well be about to witness the breakup of the current squad.

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