Strange days

A quick look at Everton’s results over the last two months should be enough to tell you why I just haven’t been able to bring myself to write anything about them. Four good points from tough away games at Fulham and Birmingham were followed by a hugely satisfying 2-0 win over probably the worst Liverpool team in living memory. Everton then drew at Tottenham, beat Stoke at home, and got a few draws to go with disappointing home losses against Arsenal and West Brom.

Getting beat 4-1 at Goodison by West Bromwich Albion was probably the lowest moment of what has been an up and down season, where the downs have so far outnumbered the ups by some distance. Relegation has never really seemed a realistic fear, but after that game even Europa League qualification appeared just as unlikely. Everton were garbage all over the park and I began to wonder if everything had simply gone stale.

We’ve had virtually the same players, using the same system and tactics, for three years now without winning anything or getting into the Champions League. There’s no doubt that Everton’s pathetic excuse for owners need to be improved upon if the team are to ever challenge at the high end of the table, but with Kenwright and Friends refusing to so much as name an asking price for the cub it doesn’t look like that’ll be happening anytime soon.

The board’s inability to raise funds means that it’s sell to buy for the Everton manager, which is something that David Moyes struggles with. A large chunk of the money from Joleon Lescott’s transfer to Manchester City was wasted on Diniyar Bilyaletdinov and John Heitinga, neither of whom have offered anything at all this season, and we’re about to lose Steven Pienaar (who is the club’s best player in my opinion) for either a meagre fee in January or absolutely nothing at the end of the season.

I feel as though this current side peaked with the FA Cup final in 2009, and worry about whether or not Moyes has it in him to be ruthless and offload players to facilitate bringing in a right-sided midfielder and a centre forward – two positions where we are so badly lacking. Apparently Joseph Yobo has impressed during his loan spell at Fenerbahce and is set to make a permanent move for around £3.5m, which could go towards getting in a decent replacement for Pienaar such as Niko Kranjcar, but we’ll still need in excess of £10m to get the striker needed to consistently hit 15-20 Premier League goals.

Something must have gone on with Yakubu Aiyegbeni for him to be pulled from the starting line-up just when he was starting to hit form. Louis Saha is dreadful, and even though he scored yesterday, Jermaine Beckford is shite. The fact he is willing to run around a bit and move opposition defenders around instantly makes him a better option than Saha, but there’s just no way that this team is going to improve with League One's answer to Andy Cole as the main striker.

There’s no way Moyes will even consider a clear out in January, but he really needs to think about getting rid of a few underachievers in order to raise some money for new signings. I wouldn’t be surprised if come July Heitinga, Yobo, Pienaar, Yakubu and Bilyaletdinov have all found new clubs, and it’s going to be a big test for Moyes to find adequate replacements and move the team forward with only the money he’ll get for whoever leaves available to him.

His tactics are also an issue. Everton set up well away from home, with yesterday’s encouraging 1-1 draw at Chelsea being our fourth consecutive score draw away from home, but at Goodison we're just too negative and predictable. Any team with a bit of pace and organisation can expect to take points from Goodison, as was demonstrated by West Brom last week.

After the game finished I found myself genuinely thinking that it was time for Moyes to go. I can accept that he is a cautious manager, but the overwhelming negativity of his starting XI, along with his baffling substitutions, had me strongly believing that change was needed.

Why pick Tony Hibbert (who is never a Premier League footballer) at right-back if you’re going to play Heitinga (a centre-half) in midfield? If Heitinga isn’t mobile enough to cover an attacking full-back like Seamus Coleman then he clearly shouldn’t be given a holding midfield role. And on the subject of Heitinga, why did it take weeks and weeks of poor performances before he was finally dropped to the bench?
It’s not like Moyes doesn’t have options. He could have brought in a £10m international midfielder like Bilyaletdinov and moved Pienaar inside, or given a chance to Jack Rodwell, who is supposed to be one of English football’s biggest talents.

Not having Heitinga or the horribly out of form Mikel Arteta in the middle of the park made such a big difference against Chelsea. Marouane Fellaini and Rodwell were athletic enough to match Chelsea’s midfield and comfortable enough in possession for us not to miss Arteta passing the ball sideways over and over again.

At least Arteta had the decency to get himself suspended for three games by stamping on some West Brom players’ ankle towards the end of last weekend’s debacle. His form pre-injury and during the second half of last season had me believing he’d finally found the consistency that his career has always sadly lacked, but his performances so far this season suggest otherwise.

Arteta is one of the players who seem a bit too comfortable at Everton. He, along with Tim Howard, Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville and Tim Cahill are all a bit too sure of their places in the team and too friendly with Moyes. In fairness to Cahill, he’s one of the only players to give everything every week this season, but the rest of them have been able to perform very poorly safe in the knowledge that there’s no way they’ll find themselves dropped. Jagielka did have a good game at Chelsea, but at home his horrendous distribution is a massive hindrance.

Next week is Wigan at home and Everton have to win convincingly. Wigan are the sort of team who can only really play if the opposition let them, which is exactly what Everton have been doing at Goodison lately. Moyes needs to get his team playing a high line (the centre-backs are very fast but poor in possession, which makes having them pushed up seem like a no-brainer anyway) and pressing high up the pitch at a much quicker tempo.

I’m confident that if Moyes sticks with Rodwell and Fellaini in midfield then Everton can really give Wigan a hiding. If we camp fifty yards away from their goal and pass sideways, with Saha standing still next to their centre-halves, they’ll grow in confidence and the likes of N’Zogbia and Rodallega will cause us problems.

Everton showed enough in the second half against Chelsea to suggest that this season can still be turned around, but it needs to happen fast. Rodwell and Fellaini were impressive in midfield and Leighton Baines was brilliant. Him and Pienaar down the left combine to create almost every chance Everton have, and his run past four Chelsea players to cross for the equaliser on Saturday was outstanding.

There’s no denying that Everton have been very slow, predictable and easy to play against for a while now, but the beauty of this Premier League season is that everyone is taking points off each other, and even though we’ve played nearly half a season of terrible football, there’s still time to mount a charge for Europe.