I first went to Goodison in 1970. League Champions. The start of ‘five great years for Everton’ according to the great Alan Ball. It wasn’t. In my first season we finished lower midtable, where we’ve been for much of the time since.
Midtable teams win and lose unexpectedly, inexplicably. They have players who are half-decent, who might be better with better players around them. They throw away leads, hang on bravely, play like sloths, then tempt you with the odd patch of pace and purpose, before returning to type, almost as if they know they’re not really good enough.
That’s what we’re watching these days, isn’t it?
I haven’t been taken in by the scrambled wins, or the points we’ve ‘thrown away’, because this team has barely dominated a game all season. You can be physically strong, well-organised as we can be on a better day, but if you have barely a goalscorer in the team and a chronic lack of pace, you’re one step away from turning victory into defeat.
Of course, at the start of the season I predicted a 10th place finish, pleaded with the gods for a season of boring midtable mediocrity, but now that we have it, am I the only one looking for a bit more?
All credit to Moyes for steadying the ship. Not easy losing/gaining eight players and moulding them into a coherent team. He hasn’t really done that, but he has the nous to get the points more often than not. No doubt he will say job well done.
Talking about 40 points is nonsense. We were safe once we passed 30. Justifying O’Brien at right back ‘because it worked for Lescott’ is outdated nonsense in an era of pacy, incisive full backs who almost attack more then defend.
Moyes has strong opinions about players. Always has. He has an admirable trait for buying players and dropping them like a brick when he thinks they’re not good enough. But like all attributes, when you overdo them, they become weaknesses. Aznou and Patterson may not be everyone’s choice of full back. But they are full backs, and playing them there might give us the balance we blatanly lack. How about Branthwaite with O’Brien/Keane as centre backs, moving the team up at least 10 yards and filling the void between midfield and defence?
Gana looks knackered after the AFCON. ‘Premier League experience’ isn’t that vital when games pass you by, while Rohl sits on the bench after a good performance at Villa and Armstrong is stuck on the wing like a fish out of water. We know he doen’t rate Beto and Barry, so instead of playing hit and hope, pretending that they’ll turn into hold the ball up and score strikers they’ll never be, why not try a false nine with Ndaiye/George/Dibling and have the team playing to feet more?
I’m not saying any of these ideas will work, but in a time when we’re not getting relegated and, frankly, unlikely to qualify for Europe, why not give them a try? If nothing else, they’ll be some markers for next season, or for who really should depart in the summer.
Moyes looked completely exasperated in the post-match presser last night. His midtable team undone by dreadful misses from the striker, way too deep defence and a gaping hole where full backs should be. It's in his hands to pick Gana and Tarkowski. I’d drop them both. It’s in his hands to play full backs at full back. It’s in his hands to try something different upfront.
The transfer market is a lottery, especially for strikers, but I’m expecting a proper showing from the recruitment team this summer. And some boldness from the manager, who needs to realise that the ability to control a game, or at least keep pace with it, is just as important as PL experience.
In the meantime, midtable is as midtable does, until you try something different. Let’s try something different with what we have now, before buying something different in the summer. Act now before any new stadium, new era momentum stops in its tracks.
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