Season 2011-12 Fan Articles

The Answer

By Alasdair   Mackay  ::  27/12/2011   32 Comments (»Last) It is clear for all Evertonians that the current squad needs re-vamping.

18 months ago, we were in a position where those inside the club felt we were ready to make a realistic challenge for a top four finish. In the summer of 2010, we had brought in two promising youngsters (Silva and Gueye), an experienced international goalkeeper (Mucha) and a proven goalscorer (Beckford) to help boost the squad. We had also managed to hold on to the big names that had been linked with moves away.

Since then, however, it has all gone downhill.

The first sign was a poor start to the season. A bizarre opening-day defeat at Blackburn and a disappointing performance at Goodison against Wolves was followed by a 1-0 reverse at Aston Villa and the opening 3 matches had yielded a single point. One of Moyes?s first signings in Joseph Yobo had been farmed out on loan (despite still being his country?s captain) and Steven Pienaar had not signed his new contract as we crossed into September 2010. Suddenly, the mood was reversed at Everton and the optimism of the summer had faded away.

Following an early League Cup exit at Brentford, there was brief respite from the gloom with a Yakubu-inspired derby victory at Goodison, but then the Nigerian marksman was dropped from the side, never to return, despite an obvious lack of firepower culminating in a 4-1 home defeat to West Brom at the end of November.

By the end of the January 2011 transfer window, the season had all but evaporated with the departures of international footballers Yakubu (on-loan to Leicester) and Pienaar. The second half of the season was not without highlights, but the missed opportunity of the entire campaign was symptomised perfectly by the FA Cup defeat at home to Reading (having dispatched Chelsea away in the previous round).

The summer saw departures from the club for once bright-young-thing James Vaughan, Yakubu (this time on a permanent basis), Jermaine Beckford (who had contributed 10 Premier League goals in his one and only season for the club) and, perhaps most crucially, Mikel Arteta. Despite all these departures (totalling an income of around £20million in 2011) the only players brought in this calendar year have been a promising youngster from Greece for £250,000, a free goalkeeper who will turn 40 next June, and two season-long loans.

Right... enough doom and gloom ? what?s the answer?

This season still has promise! We lost in the League Cup to one of the top sides in the country (and rather unluckily) and we are still in the FA Cup. We sit 10 points off a European place with the three remaining ?big? away games coming at Spurs (where we have a decent record under Moyes), Liverpool (who have a poor home record this season and who know we owe them one) and Man United (which is immediately before a home match with Fulham). There is no reason why we should see a down-turn in form from this point.

We also still have the basis of a very good squad and some of the most promising youngsters to emerge from any club simultaneously for a very long time ? let?s look at the first team squad systematically:

Goalkeeper ? Tim Howard will be our first-choice stopper for another 2 or 3 years at least and Moyes has proved very adept at finding quality keepers. If you look at his record... Wright (7 clean sheets in a row before you say anything), Martyn, Howard, Ruddy... the only disaster has been Baardsen. I feel we should look to sell Mucha for £2million and pick up a freebie or two in the summer.

Right-Back ? Tony Hibbert is one of the best out-and-out defenders in the Premier League. Phil Neville has played for England at right-back. Seamus Coleman has the potential to turn into one of the best attacking right-backs in Everton?s history if he improves the defensive side of his game... and we have a young lad called Tyias Browning making all the right noises in our Under-18 Academy League winning side. No surgery required here.

Left-Back ? Leighton Baines is the best left-back in the Premier League. We have Luke Garbutt coming through and Phil Neville could play there if absolutely necessary. Maybe if a solid freebie became available, we could add to the squad, but it is not a necessity.

Centre-Back ? David Moyes has always preferred to play with correct-footed defenders and I tend to agree with him. I think Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin should be our first-choice pairing and Shane Duffy should look at himself as the long-term successor to Jags. In terms of the left side of central defence, I actually think this is an area where we need to think long-term a little bit. Distin will hopefully sign a contract extension but, if he doesn?t (or even if he does), we need to be thinking about a left-footed central defender who can perform at Premier League level. I think this is a medium priority for us. As for Johnny Heitinga ? sell him! He is a solid defensive midfielder and right-back, but he is world class as a right-sided central defender and world-class substitutes are not something we can afford at Everton. If we can get £5million for him, we could use that money to boost other areas of the squad.

Central Midfield ? We have Fellaini, Rodwell, Neville and Osman, with Barkley coming through. Osman is required out wide at the moment; with Rodwell injured and Barkley not quite ready, I think there appears to be a gaping whole in the side in terms of someone who can drive with the ball from midfield. What?s required here is patience and sorting out other areas of the pitch, so the likes of Osman and Rodwell can focus on their best positions. We should also look to include James Wallace a bit more towards the end of the season, as this could end up saving us some much needed cash.

Wingers ? Problems! Bily is not up to scratch and McFadden is not a realistic first-team regular. Coleman is quality, but his future lies elsewhere on the pitch. Gueye has enormous potential, but is not the finished article yet. The solution is provided this season by the loan arrivals of Drenthe and Donovan, but we need to get the former tied to a permanent contract and look for another permanent solution as well. We should try and get £5million for Bily and look to start next season with four wide options in Drenthe, Gueye, Coleman and another, with McFadden and Osman in support if required. I think this is a priority for the summer!

Forwards ? Er ... help! Vellios will be fantastic, Cahill will find his goals again and Saha maybe off-form, but class is permanent. However, we still need more. Stracqualursi is a marginally better option than me. I love his effort, but the lad fell over four times against Swansea, and he was only on the pitch for 20 minutes! Conor McAleny has a chance, but he is not ready. I think we need one more and we will see that addition give Cahill and the Saha the kick that they need and Vellios will kick-on in the second half of this season and be primed and ready to seriously challenge for a regular first-team slot next season.

In conclusion, my honest opinion is that we only need to add two players urgently and one more less-so, plus tie Saha and Distin to new contracts and get Drenthe signed up. Given that we still have players we can afford to sell to make this happen (possibly as much as £12million); I really believe that, with a good second-half of the season we can be looking ahead to 2012-13 with genuine optimism again! Maybe even with European football to look forward to!

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