Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

A return to pragmatism

Over the last week David Moyes has talked in the media about how Everton were being forced to return the pragmatic style which garnered success in his early years at Goodison Park. In the manager?s view, the loss of key players means the ?free-flowing? football we played around 2006-2009 is no longer possible. Moyes is pushing things a little far here by describing our football as free-flowing. On occasion it was exhilarating, but we were always prone to a bit of up and at ?em even when talk of a new Holy Trinity was flying around.

Broadly, I agree with him though. Too many of the current squad?s creative nexus are inconsistent or simply average. There is no player of the quality of Pienaar or Arteta available to Moyes. Intelligent movement is at a premium in the forward line and Cahill?s all-action approach has diminished as injuries and exhaustion have dragged him down.

So pragmatism it is and this should be no bad thing in a Moyes team. He has always had accomplished defenders at his disposal and been able to mould them into an effective unit. Going forward his teams have never been shy to play the percentages, send it wide and keep slinging the ball into the box until the death in the hope that something will break for them. It?s often ugly and frustrating but the man has had moderate success with it more often than not.

The recent wins have been a model of this approach. Nothing pretty but, with those percentages played, the balance has fallen in Everton?s favour ? helpful refereeing notwithstanding. However, begrudgingly content as I am to accept pragmatism until better players are at Moyes?s disposal, plenty of concerns remain for me.

Firstly, the defence. Two clean sheets is twelve league games does not speak of pragmatism. Everton were lucky to escape with their goal in tact yesterday after both Hibbert and Jagielka gifted the opposition chances. See also Heitinga?s own goal against Wolves. The military precision defending of Moyes most successful periods has not been in evidence at Goodison for some time now. Individual mistakes, poor positioning ? with Baines and Distin often guilty ? and a seeming loss of their ?at all costs? mentality has left the backline too fragile to be the bedrock a resurrection of the 1-0 to the Everton style victories that almost fired us into the Champion?s League.

In midfield Moyes has a different problem. Fellaini is an obvious starter and Rodwell has improved this season, but arguably no other player should expect to play week-in, week-out on merit. To compound the problem, playing both Fellaini and Rodwell often leaves the team struggling to accommodate both Osman and Cahill and consequently shutting out the exciting Barkley or forcing him out of position. On the flanks, Drenthe and Coleman bring pace but neither has produced more than fifteen minutes of good football a match so far this season. Bilyaletdinov is worth a column on his own. Atrocious to the point of insult in some matches, anonymous for aeons, but occasionally, as against Bolton, he can have moments of brilliance. The pragmatic picks from this selection are anyone?s guess.

Finally, up front, there is no Bent or Johnson to tirelessly work the channels and provide a get out ball. Vellios?s is talented, but his uninspiring performance as a starter against Fulham suggests, although his time will come, he may not yet be ready to lead a Premier League forward line. With Anichebe perennially injured and Stracqualursi seemingly judged a gamble that didn?t pay off, it falls to Saha to grasp manfully at his fading star. On his day he?s unplayable but, as with the midfield, his day seems to come less often than it once did.

So a return to pragmatism it is. For me, it?s understandable and justifiable but Moyes?s previous success with this approach was built on a little-changing and well-balanced team of consistent and reliable, if unspectacular performers. That isn?t available to him at the moment and, whilst he?s rightly going back to tried and tested methods; he?s finding himself stuck between a rock and a hard place. He needs to get more out of his inconsistent midfield, restore solidity to the backline and use the Arteta money to bring a competent forward into the club in January. He must find a way to deliver on the basics for a pragmatic approach. The supporters may reluctantly accept a boring team that wins points; they won?t accept one that bobs up and down mid-table all season.

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