- May 26, 2004
- 4,785
- 2,124
Madness, utter madness. That is what I go through every time the ball goes up to our striker, or out to a winger, and every other player stands where they are and waits to see what they do.
Our players, and I am looking especially at the midfield here, are so reluctant to get out of their comfort zone it makes me sick. Taking yesterdays game as a prime example, there were so many players who did not really want to win the game. So few were willing to go that extra yard. Pavlyuchenko not challenging the keeper on a spinning high ball. Zokora sitting with the centre backs marking Zamora, while Johnson was halfway in his own half, picking up easy second balls and relieving the pressure on his defence. Jenas, playing square ball after square ball, never looking to run into the box. Its not exclusive to our team, but not every team has 30 cap England internationals, £10 million+ players, highly paid players who are content to make sure all they do is not mess up, which is ironic given the number of times they do make a mistake.
A player would misplace a very simple pass, the crowd would moan and the player would break a sweat to redeem himself. That’s great, and what we want to see, but it should not take a mistake for them to work hard and play well.
One of my absolute pet hates is the situation at a goal kick. It’s going to be a long ball up to the striker. If he does win the ball there is absolutely no one running beyond him. If he gets a piece of the ball and it drops around him, often the wingers are not interested, the two central midfielders are sitting far too deep, and its left to Modric to out fight his marker, a spare centre back and probably another midfielder. It’s ridiculous.
Is it a surprise our best chance of the game yesterday came from our left full back bursting through their defence and putting in a cross for the right winger who had run into the box, or that our goals against Spartak came from Modric being 6 yards out or a central midfielder getting on the end of a touchline cross from a rampaging left back?
There are times when you need to be solid, rigid almost, when you need to get into position and stay there. And we are pretty good at that. Wonder why we have done quite well against the better teams who look to take the game to us? Again, it’s not exclusive to us; even the teams at the top are finding it easier when they are playing away from home, when the impetus is not on them. But they are generally better at breaking teams down and getting men in the box.
We might be alright tomorrow. WBA might look for the win. But now we have had the Harry bump, teams will take a point off us happily, and look to sneak a win. It’s what Everton have done for the last three years, and we have failed to break them down.
I can see why Harry wants another striker, the options are not great and at least with two upfront we should have more men in the final third of the pitch, but I feel all we will end up doing is having two frustrated players upfront instead of one. Some of our players need acclimatise, some need time to get to know their teammates, and some of them need replacing. Some of them just don’t have the positional intelligence, the game vision or simply the will to make a move that will result in a goal. Ultimately, that is not good enough, and we will need to take a step up to the next level of players.
Our players, and I am looking especially at the midfield here, are so reluctant to get out of their comfort zone it makes me sick. Taking yesterdays game as a prime example, there were so many players who did not really want to win the game. So few were willing to go that extra yard. Pavlyuchenko not challenging the keeper on a spinning high ball. Zokora sitting with the centre backs marking Zamora, while Johnson was halfway in his own half, picking up easy second balls and relieving the pressure on his defence. Jenas, playing square ball after square ball, never looking to run into the box. Its not exclusive to our team, but not every team has 30 cap England internationals, £10 million+ players, highly paid players who are content to make sure all they do is not mess up, which is ironic given the number of times they do make a mistake.
A player would misplace a very simple pass, the crowd would moan and the player would break a sweat to redeem himself. That’s great, and what we want to see, but it should not take a mistake for them to work hard and play well.
One of my absolute pet hates is the situation at a goal kick. It’s going to be a long ball up to the striker. If he does win the ball there is absolutely no one running beyond him. If he gets a piece of the ball and it drops around him, often the wingers are not interested, the two central midfielders are sitting far too deep, and its left to Modric to out fight his marker, a spare centre back and probably another midfielder. It’s ridiculous.
Is it a surprise our best chance of the game yesterday came from our left full back bursting through their defence and putting in a cross for the right winger who had run into the box, or that our goals against Spartak came from Modric being 6 yards out or a central midfielder getting on the end of a touchline cross from a rampaging left back?
There are times when you need to be solid, rigid almost, when you need to get into position and stay there. And we are pretty good at that. Wonder why we have done quite well against the better teams who look to take the game to us? Again, it’s not exclusive to us; even the teams at the top are finding it easier when they are playing away from home, when the impetus is not on them. But they are generally better at breaking teams down and getting men in the box.
We might be alright tomorrow. WBA might look for the win. But now we have had the Harry bump, teams will take a point off us happily, and look to sneak a win. It’s what Everton have done for the last three years, and we have failed to break them down.
I can see why Harry wants another striker, the options are not great and at least with two upfront we should have more men in the final third of the pitch, but I feel all we will end up doing is having two frustrated players upfront instead of one. Some of our players need acclimatise, some need time to get to know their teammates, and some of them need replacing. Some of them just don’t have the positional intelligence, the game vision or simply the will to make a move that will result in a goal. Ultimately, that is not good enough, and we will need to take a step up to the next level of players.