Doucouré can be a bit of a problem

I like Doucouré but he gets too excited and loses focus, then misses sitters, and finally he then costs us goals. Let me give you some examples:

He missed unopposed sitters from almost the penalty spot against Leicester, Crystal Palace and Liverpool. Every shot was skyed over the bar – all three. Good positioning but I am sure Alcaraz would have put them away.

These opportunities presented to him are the results of lots of running, challenging and tackling by his teammates. All Doucouré has to do is place them on target and away from the goalie.

Someone has been trying to correct this failing because yesterday he actually positioned his shot but drove it straight at the Man Utd goalie.

He cost us a goal against Liverpool; we were 1-up should have been 2-up except for his miss. Later, he broke away with another Everton player and tried to pass it across the Liverpool defender who easily intercepted. The intercepted pass went to Salah and suddenly we were level.

Against Man Utd, we should have been 3-up except for his miss when in the second half he turns with his arm out and gives them a second closer free kick. Then, to make it worse, their goal was scored because there was a gap between the main part of the wall and one Everton player… care to name the player who left a gap which they scored through? Yes, it was Doucouré.

Finally, Moyes should have noticed this pattern: he is very diligent in watching strengths but he himself has one big weakness. He stated he does not like to use subs. (What is it with our managers?) He tends to use them when injuries occur or if we lose the lead.

Yesterday, he brought on Alcaraz only when we were level and the tide was turning against us. Moyes should have made the substitution at 68 minutes.

Alcaraz's omission was the worst managerial decision that I have seen from Moyes during this tenure. Alcaraz scored and gave an assist the week before yet did not make a start.

Remember the tactics Dyche used? His great plan, week on week, was to continue to play the same forward that had not scored for weeks. There was no incentive and very little time for Beto to show what he could do.

Moyes has inherited a talented team that had no confidence, no faith in the manager's tactics, nor desire to give them a chance to play or even a reward for playing well. Don't believe me: ask Roman Dixon.

Technically, they may not be the best… but they are proving to be the best at playing as a team. I just watched Newcastle, Forest, Man City and Liverpool and I believe we could beat all of them. However, Moyes needs to pay attention to what works and does not. In the last four games, Doucouré has played in three of them and we drew two of them for reasons I stated above.

I think we could qualify for Europe this season but we have to stop throwing points away. Qualifying for Europe along with a new stadium would attract a lot of players to us.

We have to ignore the fact that there are several teams (mainly Liverpool) that cannot get fouls or cards against them unless they are caught on camera and debated on TV; then, we will get an apology from the FA the other team will get the points.

 

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