Pienaar considered calling it quits

Sorry to be cynical. But if I was considering quitting my job, but realised I could go in to work, have a laugh with lads and earn a couple of mill a year, I would probably postpone my retirement.

Plus there’s more chance of ref’s booking players for fouls the later the game goes on so he might get more protection.

This season we’ve witnessed no plan B when some of the main players aren’t fit, to rely on them again and expect a full season would be madness. Gibson and Pienaar would bring real quality from the bench but for me they shouldn’t be starters.

I’m afraid our current manager hasn’t quite caught on to this management skill.

He hasn’t been, and is not meant to be a marauding winger flying down the wing, smashing through every challenge.

We kept talking about lacking players with guile to split defences. We have no short of players who can barge their way through. Pienaar brings fluidity to the team play. Paul Scholes was so valuable to Man Utd as he reinvented himself in the middle of the park, pinging long and short passes. While Pienaar can’t do the long passes, he can certainly do that quick one-two defence splitting passes.

He’s worth keeping.

Sounds like we’ll see if he is fit following a full pre season which I suppose ain’t a bad shout.

Not that I advocate getting rid of either, mind you.

The fact is that we need players in our squad who can do what Pienaar, Osman and Gibson can do but sadly none of these players can be even nearly relied upon to be fit for 90% of games. As such I think we need to probably find younger more reliable versions who will be on the pitch more than on the treatment table.

Early in his career with us he did win many free kicks. However he is one of those maddening players who goes down too easily, and in the last few years the refs have not been so accommodating to him. If he played for someone else, we would look on his antics differently.

Apart from this, I’ve always liked him!

I often wonder how playing Pienaar just behind the striker would have fared? We keep harping on and ever since Arteta left, we have let's be honest, harped on about not having a creative midfielder who can play a killer pass. We have never even tried playing a player of Pienaar’s intelligence there and it surprises me considering he is a player in similar stature to Arteta.

Then again I always said when Bilyaletdinov was here that his best position, with his biggest asset being that rocket left foot, would have been in the middle just being a striker, another player who was slated for not producing it on the wing, but to everybody apart from Moyes, you could clearly see the lad was being wasted.

I don’t know if it’s something to consider if Pienaar is fit until the end of the season or not, but having Mirallas on the left and Lennon left just maybe it’s something we could give a trial to.

Pienaar just behind Lukaku with McCarthy and Barry behind him? Or McCarthy and Barkley even?

We know what the current personnel offers in the current formation, it stagnates attacks and frankly it hasn’t produced a free flowing attacking team all season.

Martinez says he’s flexible but we need to see proof.

Signing Lennon would be a start although he’s not exactly young, let’s see if Roberto really does have the nouse to find a young creative CM that would certainly buy him some credibility back after a pretty awful second season.

Was this his Swan song? (Ha Ha Ha). Let's hope not. He looked really useful. Don’t write him off yet Toffee mates!

The important points made so far conclude that with our threadbare squad there are too many players on the treatment table for long periods. We have been too stretched this season, and I hope some of our old, injury-plagued boys can be put out to grass and some of the youngsters given more of a run out.

Contracted till June 2016 at £3.1M, I can’t see him going just yet.

Barkley and Osman are perfect rotation players as both tend to be impact players of late. I am sure that Garbutt or even Baines could do the same with Barry and Pienaar. These players have the experience, skill and know how to succeed.

Beardsley became similar towards the end of his career as did Scholes who was the best English midfielder of Premier League years. None of those players at EFC are on mega bucks so why not keep them when there are no ready made replacements in our junior ranks?

Pienaar was indeed one of the most fouled players in the Premier League because he dribbled and shielded the ball so well. We won lots of free kicks in dangerous areas when Pienaar played and Baines scored a fair few of them. It is no coincidence that Pienaar gave the whole team a lift in his last game and that is because his style of play is effective and lifts the fans too.

I am truly disappointed that our coaches have not been able to bring on a similarly styled youngster to do the Pienaar role and keep that left-sided attacking option open. All we seem to produce are defenders. I honestly believe that perhaps Garbutt could be coached to play that role in the way that Bale was similarly used when he was just a pretty average full back.

Garbutt and Baines each have pace and can defend and cross a decent ball. I think that this is a way to keep Garbutt and Baines happy and valuable to the team. I would try Garbutt in place of Barry or McCarthy at the hour mark in a game instead of bringing on Besic who is basically a defender. Oviedo unfortunately is not yet fit and may not be fully fit this season.

It would be wonderful if Garbutt grew into this role and I am sure that Baines would benefit.

That’s all well and good if you have an "ample" transfer budget to replace the loads of players every different poster wants dumping.

Ossie, Pienaar, Hibbert, Gibson, Kone, Barry, Distin, Alcaraz, Howard, McGeady... that’s ten already.

How exactly are we going to replace these ten players? Is Kenwright going to win a few lotteries all over the world?

We are brassic due to the incompetence of the board and that’s why the infirm are getting extensions.

Bobby last year said we needed 6/7 players, we got 2/3 and now we are going to probably lose about 6 this season so we are about 10 short of where we should be again..... don’t panic....don’t panic.

On a brighter note, I have decided to give it one more season; soft ollies here is renewing... the baby won’t realise I am missing every Saturday in two just yet. Why do we do it???

We can’t help it mate - being at the match is a lot better than not being able to attend, no matter what the performance from the team is. Having to watch ropey streams on our lap-tops is bad enough for the away games but is intolerable for the home matches, we need one of those magic, "everything falls into place" seasons next time around, or the one following... or the one after that...

Pienaar is a favourite in our family - normally referred to as "Peanuts". We were having Sunday lunch at friends, and my kids were chatting with their kids. My son was going on about "Peanuts" and my friends son giggled and then said "penis" (as it sort of sounds similar to peanuts if you are only six years old) - and giggled some more. My friend’s daughter then joined the banter and giggled and muttered "vagina" to which my son immediately shouted back "No he’s not, he’s from South Africa !" (He thought she’d said "(he’s) from China").

Should he stay? I hope so, I think as mentioned above - he’s useful to have in the squad, can do a job coming off the bench, and he’s creative in a way we have a short supply.

How many games have those 10 played? 3 fit first team players could replace them I imagine.

Despite the numbers showing that there are indeed bigger clubs out there, Pienaar will always seemingly have the "stain" of leaving and returning held against him rather than welcoming him back. Look how the fans have treated Lukaku and Mirallas and last season Baines.

What I like most about him is that there is no-one t Everton who can routinely take on two or three players and in a space of mere inches get a pass through to a teammate. When he occupies two players or requires the second man behind on defense to hold his spot, it opens up space that allows Baines, Barkley, Mirallas, Lukaku, Barry, McCarthy etc to be open.

This is the value of him versus Naismith or Lennon, or McGeady or even Atsu etc. A pacey player without close skills is easier to defend than one who gets in on you and by you not with speed but guile. He creates the fouls by getting the defender formerly in front of him, behind him, making them come through him like Cazorla, Hazard, Osman, etc.

Even if we had the money to replace 10 players, his name is not one of the ones I would put on that list.

The best example I’ve seen in a long time of a poster taking hundreds of opinions (many well-reasoned) and condensing them all into one glib, fact-free oversimplification.

Do you have any views on films, theatre or literature?

The Godfather maybe?

"Just a load of gangsters like... in the olden days"

Equus?

"About a trick-cyclist with a patient who likes horses and stuff"

Decline And Fall?

"A toff who gets lobbed out of Oxford for running round with his kecks off."

(By the way, I’m a big fan of Pienaar.)

Had his contract been running out in 2015 he’d be leaving the club this summer but I believe his contract runs out in 2016 so he’ll be around for another year – as would all of us if we were earning £3M a year...

The old guard of Osman, Pienaar, Hibbo and Howard to some extent need to be leaving the club over the next year. We should be looking to get replacements for at least two of these this summer so we don’t have a disaster next year. (Nevermind Distin and Alcaraz...)

A truly gifted and influential player of whom we’ve had the best years of, let’s remember? On the other hand, if Pienaar cannot stay fit, then his contract should be allowed to run down and I would not be surprised if he might opt to return to South Africa and have his swansong in his beloved Cape Town. All in all, Steven and Everton FC have been good for each other and I think most fans will remember him fondly when he leaves.

But let’s be honest how many players of his all round quality have we been able to purchase in the last few decades? If he can come on for the last 20 mins of a number of games next season and still make a difference in the EPL then he’s worth every penny.

Everyone knows that we need new, younger creative players in the squad but don’t be too quick to write off the impact that someone of Pienaar’s can have on a tightly contested game (which is every game in the EPL).

And despite leaving us, you could never doubt his effort for the cause. In that mauling we got against Arsenal (Lescott saga) he was the only one who showed a bit of hurt and pride. 10 heads went down and he just worked harder and harder. That kind of thing sticks with you.

Despite all that, it’s clear to me he needs to be replaced. He’s not the future and he’s barely the present. Left mid is a vital position for us to strengthen.