The good, the bad and the ugly: Everton 1 - Wolves 1

The good

There was some good passing in the first half of today's dreadful tie to Wolves. With excellent movement and lots of pace, we actually started the game off well, something that rarely happens. But of course, again, we couldn't score a goal to save our life, but I'll get to that in the bad. Lots of effort was shown by Pienaar, if that counts for anything, and Heitinga was pretty solid in his first league game after the World Cup. Distin had a pretty decent game as well, and I'll eat my words from last week as Hibbert was also pretty good.

The bad

I feel like this will be a long list. Regardless of his effort Pienaar's passing for most of the game was atrocious. The only thing worse in terms of accuracy was Bily's shooting. I have been sticking up for Bily since he showed up at Everton, but today he made me think twice. His key attribute was always his ability to shoot with power and score. Today just wasn't his day and I think the team suffered because of it. Times like today, I wonder why on earth we signed Saha. Not only has he not scored in the league in ages, he actually cost us the win today. Careless play, and a lazy attitude from him, set up the goal that not only cost us two points, but very nearly got Heitinga injured. At the end of the day, we fell apart in the second half. We were sloppy and slow and it cost us.

The ugly

I sincerely hope that Lee Mason will never be able to ref an Everton game again. The reffing truly was horrible and I'm just thankful we came out of this match without any injuries. Wolves were allowed to get away with murder to put it simple.

Moyes' tactics were also ugly. At home, we need to play two strikers. Everyone knows it so just do it already.

Ugh, at the end of the day this game was just terrible. I am actually losing years off my life with every game I watch.

Not as bad as last year I guess

Premier League day one: Blackburn 1 – Everton 0

There really is nothing like losing your first game to leave you completed dejected. Today started full of promise, with all of our players back from injury, no one could stop us, except of course for the hard-hitting Blackburn Rovers. At times, we looked like a team that had never played together before. Which simply isn’t the case, since we didn’t start any of our new signings. Moyes seems to have the “England syndrome,” playing players based solely on what they have done for the club, not what they could do today. In my opinion, if we want to challenge for the top four or even the league we have to drop some of our heart and relegate them to the bench to come on if we need them. Neville is not good enough for a top-flight team anymore. He is too slow and probably hasn’t made a good pass in years. It’s time for him to retire and join the coaching staff. I’d also really like to know what Coleman has to do to make the team. He wasn’t even on the bench! Our substitute for Neville, if he had come off was Hibbert! This is simply unacceptable. Our defense looked terrible at times, our midfield sometimes nonexistent and our attack left by the wayside. The solution to having nothing going down the right was to move Pienaar over. Why would you change a player’s position when the only thing working for the team, was his partnership with Baines.

I won’t even bother talking about possibly the worst goal-keeping error in recent history, because I’d rather just forget about that and focus on what needs to change. Here is the team I would like to see Everton play:

Howard

Coleman Jagielka Heitinga Baines

Fellaini

Bily? Arteta Rodwell Pienaar

Beckford or Saha

I’m still hopeful for the season, but fear next week against Wolves will be a repeat of today. Fingers crossed it won’t.

Maybe summer is not all bad

I wrote this post a while back but forgot to post it. Given Everton has just signed Arteta to a new deal. I thought it might be a fitting time to post it, even if it outdated.

If your favourite team is owned by a Russian billionaire, or a Sheikh, I’m sure the summer months are filled with hope, anticipation and an overall feeling of promise. Every day brings the chance that your team has added a bigger, faster, more talented player. If you are an Everton fan, these two-and-a-half months are pure and utter torture. Each morning you awake to the dread that one of your best players has been traded, or at the very least is rumoured to be leaving. These days are a nightmare. Last summer’s Lescott debacle undid our entire season. This year, there appears to be many players on the proverbial chopping block. I cannot even begin to consider the devastation if any of the current rumours are true. Not only is there a permanent cloud over Pienaar, but Arteta’s future seems to lie in the balance. First it was Manchester City, then Arsenal and then Arteta simply wanted to go back to Spain to be closer to his family. Today, he is in Australia, a good sign, but Manchester City have once again raised their ugly head supposedly offering Stephen Ireland, Nedum Onouha and Michael Johnson for our beloved Spaniard. Why would we want players that have been warming the bench to replace arguably the linchpin of our team? This must be a joke! If we could just keep our team intact, this could be our year.