Shouting Into a Hurricane

Having said all that he could beat Arsenal and Newcastle by some fluke.One player could hit form or get a lucky break and galvanise the team organised by Moyes overcoming his innate deliberate caution tactics on the day.But there would still be no younger player development plan or change in match preparation.I have learnt that over the years. Moyes does have the players, I don't believe he doesn't.

Law of averages may play a part Jerome.
Don't think he has ever won at Arsenal in around 25-30 attempts

Morning Lyndon,

Fantastic,bang on the money article.

I have to disagree with one point though.
Ive watched almost every team in the Prem after last nights game,every team I have seen is more vibrant and forward thinking than us,Coventry included.
I can see a bottom 5 finish being honest.
Id take 16th now.

As you say you can’t graft your way to success. But you can graft your way to PL survival and that is the extent of Moyes and his masters TFG’s ambitions.
Playing youngsters who don’t strictly follow the formula creates risk that has no place in Moyes football world.

John#2

The Arsenal game was always a barometer of Everton's promise.But Arteta will know to be careful and that could get Everton into the game.

Jerome.
All due respect.It wont.
Why will Arteta know he needs to be careful?

I don't think it's necessarily lack of ambition it's more they realise that they are banging their heads against a brick wall.

I also would like to see more of our very promising young players but it's a long season and they will probably be called upon against the lesser teams.

I think Moyes knows we are going to get short handed at some stage of the season and he's more interested in getting points on the board early because we might struggle later, so it's batten down the hatches again.

Lets be honest with the squad we have we have no chance of troubling the top of the table.

It's not just poor squad depth though, it's poor prioritisation of our resources. We spend £20m on Hackney, and don't play him. Forty on Dibling, twenty on George. Meanwhile we have an urgent need for a competent right back, and spend less than £5m on a journeyman. We've known for three years we needed a right back. It's beyond negligent. Also, if he's not going to play O'brien, he could have brought in another twenty, so why keep him just to keep him on the bench.
this is a critical period for Moyes, I don't think he realises what an awful impression he left when he brought Norgaard on. It was brainless.

Kevin - Moyes said in his post-match interview it was his wrong decision to bring on Nøorgard because he was clearly not match fit. To be fair to him, he owned it.

Someone should buy Moyes a Tshirt and see if he wears that...
Make up your own slogan...
Safety first...Defense is the last line of attack...Keep it tight...

I’d also say that not playing our dynamic young talent is probably less of a concern than the recent form of more experienced players - especially Maitland-Niles and Pickford. We were able to shut Arsenal out for almost the whole game last time down there in a Moyes defensive masterclass, but the form those two are in - we’ll be lucky to get to half-time with a clean sheet. I’d put Garner in for Maitland Niles - especially against Eze, and Hackney to start, but we know that won’t happen.

thanks John, it wasn't just that he was unfit, why bring on a defensive midfielder when you are chasing the game, when you have a galaxy of attacking talent alongside him?

It was a strange decision Kevin as we were only one down then and we had only made one clear cut goal chance up to then.

John @ 9

With all due respect, I’m not arguing with you for the sake of argument, I’m simply explaining my own opinion.

Moyes said he wasn’t Fit.

without not wanting come over as a Moyes Basher, for the sake of it, although, I’m very critical of him, these comments give me reason to be more Critical.

Norgaard Came on at 85 minutes. With the injury time added, after the unfortunate incident involving Martinez, there were due at least another 15 minutes.

That means that Norgaard had about twenty minutes on the field.

In that space of time he was absolutely calamitous, giving the Ball away and committing a Foul, leading to a free kick for Chelsea.

Now, I find it hard to believe, that that was due to not being fit.

He had three weeks during the international Break to get back ( as he was showing signs of before it), to full fitness and be assessed, by both the physiotherapist and Moyes himself.

I could understand him being a little off the pace, in a foot race, or leaning his hands on his knees, while tired, but these were technical errors he committed.

IMHO, he shouldn’t have been bought in the first place, let alone being bought while injured.

We were already well equipped in midfield, it was Defence and attack, that needed addressing

I suppose we’ll just have to strap ourselves in, for some more absolute gems from The Dour One

To Moyes, bringing on attacking talent at 0-1 down means leaving holes in midfield, it’s just not in his nature to go for it. Especially against Chelsea’s forward line.

To that, I’d remind him of Dibling’s 50 yard sprint against Wolves to make that superb tackle - that had all our bench on their feet applauding. We badly needed that dynamism at that point of the game. I suspect Moyes knows full well he messed it up.

A bit more proactive thinking, would have resulted in wins against HUll and Manure. We struggled against 10 man Ipswich because he has no clue and never has, ay how to actually go out and win a match. Arsenal are not in good form. Stuffed by Brighton and struggled against a struggling Forest. FFS Myesiah go and have a go. What have you got to lose - apart from a dismal as feck record against Arsenal. Chelsea was a disgrace, surprise us all and win.

PS They play BAyern on Wednesday, we've got a free week. Does that come into his thinking ? One can only hope.

Quite a few posters have been critical of David Moyes, for a long time, and this was echoed on another thread yesterday by John P.

All the Moyes haters, who used to make Toffeeweb, a much worse place, or words to that affect, when it’s nothing but clear to most of us that everything negative they write about David, has got merit.

He has been dealt a bad hand, but Lyndon, is talking about the players who are already here rather than the players who we never signed, and because the biggest criticism I have always had against Moyes, is that he doesn’t know how to rotate the players and implement the full use of his squad, then it’s just unfortunately going over old ground, once again.

Paul @ 14 - 3 weeks back in training after that length of a lay off, for a slow player like Nøorgard doesn’t sound like anywhere near enough time to get match fitness - physically or mentally. He should be playing a few U 21 games as an overage player to get his alertness back.
I was really keen on him when he signed and I know a couple of Brentford fans who rave about him - he’s got old-school number 6 qualities to anticipate and snuff out attacks, but he’s going to need an Armstrong or Garner to compensate for his lack of pace. I just hope he doesn’t end up being Moyes’s new Soucek. 32 and slow is pushing it in the PL.

John#6

Moyes managed Arteta and knows what can happen if the ducks line up in a row for Moyes.He was Moyes playmaker . He definitely has the players, most posters complaint are about his reluctance to change and rotate players.

On a scale of 1-100 Jerome, how confident are you of us getting a point?

Also,given he has the players to get something at Arsenal, what team would you select?

What we really need is new owners, a new manager and half a new team.
Oh, and scrapping of the SCR rules.

It would be difficult to find any criticism of your article Lyndon, or of the comments which followed it, trouble is it all makes for depressing reading. It also means that as a fan I have little hope that we will do any better against Arsenal this weekend and I wonder how the players feel. It's really frustrating as we have a number of talented players but the Managers refusal to play them is proving costly. George and Hackney should be nailed on starters against Arsenal, even if this means Garner has to play full back, however, what we do about poor Barry this weekend I have no idea, as chances are that he is unlikely to get a kick against the Arsenal centre backs, I think Beto would have been a better option.

John # 20 team selection and substitution management is my biggest criticism of Moyes who does a few things well but cannot put the icing on the cake due to his own self defeated attitude.

I would tell Jimmy Garner he has to play RB until January when we hope to get a decent RB in.

I would bring Hackney into that MF position.

I would play Dibling and tell Johnson he has to fight for his place and I would bench KDH and put Grealish in as a 10 with George on the flanks.

I would also bring JOB on for the last 15 minutes to give Jarrad a rest depending on how things were looking.

I would also bring Charlie on for Barry on 65 minutes and look to bring Rohl and KDH on when some legs are tiring.

Over to you Davey boy show us you have an open mind.

Well said, John (18). Honestly, if Moyes had put Hackney and Dibling on and we'd had a right go, I wouldn't have minded if we'd conceded as a result because a) we gave away a second goal anyway and b) I'd least have felt like we tried.

Ipswich were dead and buried at the Etihad at the weekend but kept going right to the final whistle and tried to make it 3–3. They could just have easily have lost 4–2 (like Sunderland lost 5–3 there) but it's a much better watch than doing nothing of note and losing 3–0.

Like John @ 3, I am not wholly convinced we won’t be dragged near to the foot of the table. In 2001/02 season we collected ten points from the opening seven games. That was as good as it got. We subsequently plummeted down the league. Walter Smith was sacked in March to be replaced by David Moyes. With the help of the new manager bounce we scraped enough wins to survive.

Not so much the result but the performance against Chelsea coupled with the failure to beat Hull left me wondering where and when we will win enough matches to stay clear of the strugglers, none of whom look completely devoid of hope.

A year ago, the trio of Garner, Dewsbury-Hall and Grealish, ably supported by the two Senagalese, Ndiaye and Gana Gueye, looked fresh and exciting. Now, although the two midfielders are still the mainstays of the team and continue to run the hard yards at over 11 kilometres per match, we have less control in matches while the deployment of Jack has become too predictable to trouble opponents other than in occasional moments.

Therefore few would disagree the team’s attacking play needs to be rejuvenated. The best, arguably only, options are Hackney, George and Dibling. I suspect we will learn very soon if they are capable of delivering the improvement required.

One explanation for Moyes’s caution about using them is the inevitable rush to judgment by some fans about individual players; for example Nørgaard written off after a poor fifteen minutes, Maitland-Niles lauded after his late equaliser against Manchester United but now dismissed as a no hoper after two ineffective performances and Johnson struggling to make an impact in his early appearances. Those three are established players, more likely to possess sufficient mental resilience to cope with criticism.

That’s less likely in younger players especially in a team which has yet to establish a consistent, effective pattern of play. Already there are a few murmurings about the worth of Harrison Armstrong’s contribution in relation to his early yellow cards and impact in the final third. As we know reputations are easily boosted for individuals sitting on the bench especially when preferred options fail to deliver. Those reputations are easily lost when they are confronted with the reality of needing to prove themselves in a team not wholly at ease with itself.

All that noted, I think nevertheless we are at the point at which Moyes must introduce more pace and energy into our play by selecting the two young wide players in starting roles. If not now, then when would be a legitimate question. In my view it would be better now while we still have a cushion rather than later when we might well be in the proverbial.

My main concern was the attitude of being 1-0 down against Chelsea with 15 minutes to go.I think he brought on a defensive midfielder to consolidate and nick a draw, by getting the right ball drop to the right player or a set piece.He got it badly wrong, even though the defensive midfield was unfit.It was negative tactics that was deservedly punished.If he had have put on Dibling or Hackney he may have got the same result, but there was more likely a chance to score.

John#20

I would not place a bet on the Arsenal result, but have seen this type of situation before with Moyes and had to eat humble pie.

I would drop Glealish and play younger players like Hackney and younger players to get the ball forward quicker.I would play Braithwaite and O Brien to play the defensive line up the field a bit, to reduce gaps and have pace to recover.I would chance AMN at right back,he surely can't make errors in a third match.

But Moyes may just adjust midfield.AMN will play and hopefully Grealish can be less of a carthorse.

Tongue in cheek, perhaps, but it’s beginning to look like a carefully orchestrated plan to get rid of concessionary season ticket holders!

Never have I heard such disillusionment from my contemporaries (I’m aged 70) about the pain of getting to the stadium, and the dross we have to witness once we get there. Maybe the Club needs to lose these hangers-on?

Those of us who remember the young Colin Harvey, Jimmy Husband and Joe Royle, come to that Kevin Ratcliffe and Graeme Sharp, recall the game time those young players were given to develop their careers. It seems it can’t happen now.

"I would not place a bet on the Arsenal result, but have seen this type of situation before with Moyes and had to eat humble pie."

You havent seen it at Highbury or The Emirates Jerome,hasnt happened in 27 attempts.
What game had you eating humble pie?

got to agree with ray @ 21 and add scrapping var to that list.
i'm sure most evertonians are fed up with moyes - its like deja vu all over again.
the negativity and safety first football will make it a nervous end to this season.
i hope I am wrong but with tfg not spending our mini squad will only be depleted further when injuries happen - goals win games and we certainly ain't got a load of goals in this squad

We are only 15/2 to win at Arsenal - don't laugh.
We should be 20/1, I'll eat both my hat and my shoes if we win.

Arsenal to score in both halfs is my bet Raymond.
6/5