Everton - Post West Brom

Saturday 27^th November is for me the bleakest day Everton have experienced under the 8 years, 8 months of David Moyes’ management.

Moyes has been absolutely fantastic for Everton.  The team, squad, and Club as a whole is vastly improved when compared to what he inherited upon arrival.

Evertonian expectations are now to be challenging for European football every season and at the very least making the latter stages of each competition we enter, all while playing entertaining and fluid football.

That those expectations are so far removed from merely hoping to avoid relegation under Walter Smith is clearly a result of the players we now have at Everton and the relative success of Moyes’ reign to date.

Hopes hadn’t been so high ahead of a season for at least 15 years before this one got underway.  It is for that reason that the limp showing we have experienced so far, culminating in the West Brom horror show has been so crushing.

I wrote after our initial 5 league games and defeat to Brentford, that I was personally never going to allow myself to be suckered into believing Everton could become a powerful force again.

The following 5 games produced 3 win and 2 draws, with only 1 goal conceded.  That this sequence included the dismantling of Liverpool only served to increase a slowly emerging feel-good factor.  In truth, that run never had any sense of permanency about it.

After those first five games I conceded that I’d allowed myself to be blinded to the deficiencies in our squad, and they were very much still present five matches later.

At that early stage of the season I still believed that David Moyes was the right man to manage Everton.  The events of yesterday lead me to think, for the first time, that that is no longer the case.

Waking to see quotes attributed to the manager suggesting that he would welcome David Beckham for a new year loan spell set alarm bells ringing.

That Moyes sees Beckham as a viable option for his squad goes against everything he has tried to change at the club.  We are no longer a retirement home for a famous name seeking a final bout of publicity, or a top up of their obscene bank balance.

This is the manager that inherited Gascoigne and Ginola and had no interest in working with them.  Experienced players have worked on occasion.  Stubbs and Weir were vital for Moyes when we finished 4^th, but he’s always known when to move them on.

The misguided idea that Beckham could be what this current Everton side need serves only to confirm in my mind that Moyes has no clear idea what he wants to do with this squad of players.

An endearing feature of Moyes’ management has been an ability to learn from mistakes very quickly.  This season the same mistakes are being made time and again.

Team selections have no consistency, players are being played out of position, and the tactics employed are failing to bring the best from those players we have capable of winning games.

Focusing on recent games there is much to be confused about.

Why has John Heitinga been continually employed in the centre of midfield?  He is clearly uncomfortable in the position, is lazy, and plays with an alarming lack of responsibility.  His woeful showing against Arsenal should have seen him dropped, yet he’s started both the following games.

Having Heitinga alongside him must be hindering Mikel Arteta.  The Spaniard is clearly out of form and it is to be hoped he returns after his suspension more like the player we were delighted signed a contract to stay for the next 5 years. 

That will be more likely if he doesn’t have a headless chicken inadequately performing the holding role intended to free Arteta to play higher up the pitch, where he can hurt opponents.

Rodwell should have replaced Heitinga against West Brom.  He’s not a natural ‘holding’ player at the moment.  He is, however, a footballer of far greater ability than Heitinga.  Moyes is forever telling us that Rodwell should be in England squads.  If you think he’s that good then pick him, and not on the right of midfield in a half-hearted attempt to squeeze him into the side.

Saha coming into the side to replace Yakubu when the Nigerian finally looked as if he was rediscovering his form of two years ago was incredible.  How he then kept his place after an awful display against Bolton only compounded the error.

The inconsistent treatment of Seamus Coleman is increasingly confusing.  The Irishman has clearly been our most effective player wide on the right this season, yet Moyes is alarmingly reluctant to offer any public praise of the player.  He was inexplicably left out against Bolton, before completely changing the tone of the game when he came on.  Replacing Coleman with Anichebe on Saturday defied belief.

Speaking of right sided players, takes us to Tony Hibbert.  I loved watching Hibbert when he first broke into the side.  Hard as nails, combative, and extremely good at his prime job, defending, he was a perfect fit for the difficult to beat side Moyes was building.  Now, robbed of any pace and confidence by illness and injury during the past few years he has no place in any Everton team.

I’m never the most confident ahead of a match, but my sense of foreboding when I see Hibbert’s name on the teamsheet reaches new heights.  His recent receipt of a contract until 2014 was staggering.

Moyes isn’t being helped by the poor form of some players he has come to rely on.  Tim Howard is treading a very fine line, between good ‘keeper prone to the occasional rick, and liability.  Since Howard has been with us we have never had anyone capable of putting any real pressure on his place in the team.

Jagielka is horribly out of form.  I’ve never been totally convinced of him in the way others have, but there’s no doubting that when he’s fit and performing to his best he’s vital to Everton.

Everton at the back look vulnerable to the extreme.  An individual running at them, or any ball played into the box is a cause of panic and a near miss, or increasingly often, a goal.

Beckford is the only forward we have capable of turning opponents defenders towards their own goal.  The last minute chance at Sunderland, however horrible a miss, was the first time we got behind them with any pace all night.

Despite this, he is clearly not ready to be a regular forward in a Premier League side with designs on competing at the top.  It is the manager’s fault that we’ve gone into this season with an abundance of creative players who can play some beautiful football, and not one striker that can be relied upon to score goals, let alone appear with any regularity.

The £10m signing making a Russian shaped dent in our bench is becoming a bigger elephant in the room every week.  Moyes’ signings are subject to intense scrutiny, such is the scarcity of money at the club, but that is an aspect of the job he, along with the vast majority of managers in the league has to accept.

Biyaletdinov is fast becoming the player I, and I’m guessing many others, look at and think, ‘what could we have bought with that £10m?’, not to mention of course that around the same time £6m went on Heitinga.

Moyes’ attitude towards Steven Pienaar is baffling.  The South African is currently our best player, and certainly one of the outstanding individuals at the club.  To openly concede he’s likely to leave, while making what appears little effort to keep him makes no sense whatsoever. 

Pienaar is one of the few players that can be relied upon to keep the ball, and his link up play with Baines on the left offers the only consistent incisiveness the side has.

What was especially perturbing after the West Brom debacle was Moyes’ willingness to concentrate on the refereeing the preceded Arteta’s sending off.

There was clearly a foul on Baines, and on Arteta which he then reacted to.  To lament that this cost Everton the chance of getting back and winning the match is to ignore what’s going on in front of the manager’s eyes.

He refers to how we were seeking to overturn a two goal lead at the time, and that we clearly weren’t being ‘carved open’ as both goals were from set-pieces.

Well, that’s alright then.  It’s OK to concede goals in that manner, and being 2-0 down to West Brom within half an hour isn’t a worry.

For years we have witnessed Everton having to grind out every victory they earned.  There have been signs during the past few seasons that this may be changing.  Lesser teams were coming to Goodison and being brushed aside in a manner verging on contempt.

Many Evertonians-me included-thought that pattern would continue this season.  West Brom are a good side, but they are exactly the sort of opposition that we hoped to see soundly beaten on their visit to the old lady this season.  That they walked away with such a comfortable victory was the greatest example yet of the contrast between our hopes-and in many cases, expectations- for the season and what has actually unfolded.

Moyes looks tired and he is exuding a defensive persona, unwilling to accept responsibility for Everton’s dire form.  Most strikingly, he doesn’t appear to have a clear idea of how to turn that form around.

David Moyes has done a fantastic job at Everton.  As I’ve stated, he is largely responsible for raising the expectation levels that aren’t being met.  Most importantly he has given Everton back our respect, something that was eroding-save for a brief, exciting period under Joe Royle-since we last won the League title in 1987.

As well as the dud signings I’ve mentioned there have been some excellent purchases.  In the current side alone; Cahill, Arteta, Pienaar, Fellaini, and Baines are excellent footballers.

Moyes’ time at Everton, I think, has simply come to an end. 

Who could replace him?  No one stands out.

Bill Kenwright will have an extremely difficult job selecting the right man.  The size of that task shouldn’t deter him from making the decision that needs to be made.  He got his appointment spot on in March 2002, and should be confident of doing so again.

I can’t imagine Hiddink or Guardiola will be rushing to take a job with a team currently sitting 16^th in the league, and paying wages somewhat below those to which they may be accustomed.

The usual old names would, I’m sure, be trumpeted.  Martin O’Neil, Dave Jones, Martin Jol.  No thanks. 

Whoever any new manager may be he would inherit a squad that has a very good side within it, and includes some exceptional players.

It is a squad that needs fresh ideas, and a man that has no pre-conceived ideas about any of them.  A fresh, knowledgeable pair of eyes is required to start getting the best out of what we have, and to bring in the players this team is crying out for.

Sure, we would benefit from cover right across the defence, and in the middle of the field.   A wide right player would appear imperative, but given a proper opportunity I believe that Coleman could develop into an excellent performer in that position.

For me, the absolute priority is to bring in a ‘keeper who is a viable alternative to Howard, and most definitely another striker, possibly two.  If a new manager was given the opportunity to purchase these players he would be presented a strong hand with which to start.

This is no knee-jerk reaction.  I’m a big fan of David Moyes and I’m sure he’ll go on and be successful elsewhere.  Quite simply, however, his work at Everton is finished.  It is time for him, and Everton, to move on. 

This is a crucial time for Everton.  Changing manager after nearly 9 years is a huge decision, and one, if I’m honest, I’m glad I don’t have to make.  It is the right thing to do.  Over to you Bill.

Paul McNamara