|
Post by rosscrombie on Oct 2, 2016 20:55:36 GMT
I might as well stick this here as anywhere else so sorry in advance if it detracts from a fabulous article. 1. What do you make of Coleman and Oviedo Ross, and maybe include Baines here too? I think all three are better at going forward than they are at defending, so it might be a case of having to play a back three. With wingers, do we really need attacking fullbacks? 2. In the middle, is it better to have defending midfielders that can't attack or attacking midfielders that can't defend, or do we look for players that are good at both? Barry, Gueye, Besic, McCarthy, Gibson, or Cleverley are all players that do a job, but despite Barry scoring against Boro and Gueye missing a sitter, you wouldn't put money on any of them scoring regularly. Gibson and Cleverley are probably neither one thing or the other, and then we have Barkley who can't defend, can't head a ball, and doesn't put the ball in the net as often as he might. 3. Are our wingers really wingers? Deulofeu and Mirallas get jobs playing out wide, but neither strike me as being true wingers, so it comes as no surprise that they can't find consistency in those roles. Lennon and Bolasie are probably better on the wings, and yet Lennon has had his nose pushed out in a team that still can't make it's mind up who plays where. 4. Crosses. Are they worth the effort? When we put crosses in the box, more often than not it's in the hope that Lukaku will get on the end of one, but in percentages, that's putting an awful lot of effort into providing a cross, for a relatively unlikely event, because I can't remember any other outfield player getting their head on a ball in the last few years, and Lukaku doesn't get to many. So should we be using this tactic? 5. Corners? Ross is taking corners, but isn't he supposed to be our attacking midfielder? Is he getting the job because he couldn't head a cabbage if it fell off the supermarket shelf and hit him on the head? The same goes for Mirallas. More often than not our defenders are the ones getting their heads to a corner, but we rarely see an attacker getting there. It makes me wonder what exactly it is that Duncan Ferguson, a player who could head a ball, is offering in terms of coaching, because Lukaku is still auditioning for the part of White Everton Men Can't Jump. Why is he standing in the box instead of standing on the edge of the box so he can time his run? 1. I think Coleman is a fine player, and not many better than him in the Prem. I think he needs to work on getting closer to his man to prevent crosses, but going fwd he presents a real threat. And I think you need your full backs to pose an extra dimension to oppo teams, so I'm happy with him. Baines seems to have lost an edge ever since Pienaar got injured. He doesn't seem to be in the right place to throw in more crosses than he is doing, so something amiss there unless it's tactical. Oviedo is a stop gap measure for me. Good but not good enough, but he's the best back up we've got. 2. Interesting conundrum. I think Gueye will actually go on to get a few goals but it's not his role, any more than it was Carsley's back in the day. A goal prevented by him is just as powerful really. Barry has already done ok on the goal front, but with his height, he should score a few more. I think now he has complete confidence in Gueye, we'll see Barry further up at set pieces, which may benefit. If you think about it, if your main striker gets you 20 PL goals, Mirallas/Bolasie/Deulofeu get you 15-20 between them, and then Barkley gets his 6-8, then so long as the back 6 chuck in a few from time to time, that should be enough. But they're not all looking like they'll achieve those targets with the exception of Rom. 3. I'd like our Wingers to go outside far more often, especially Geri. Bolasie did it against Sunderland (was it??), and shows it can be done. I don't see Mirallas as an out and out winger, he's more of a Martial type player, starts wide and cuts in. If he can get back to his form of 2-3 seasons ago, we're laughing. Feel sorry for Lennon. Hard working, tireless, energetic, still pacy, but his final ball usually sucks sadly. 4. Yes. More of them please! 5. Another conundrum. In the past Cleverley was our best corner taker, but he is unlikely to be in the team much. As it happens, Barkley's corners have been a step up from all our corners in previous years.
|
|
|
Post by dorf on Oct 3, 2016 12:59:52 GMT
Another great write up, Ross. It's always good to read the thoughts of Blues who have actually gone to the game.
|
|
|
Post by forevereverton on Oct 5, 2016 16:03:43 GMT
Enjoyable write up.
|
|
|
Post by mcrbluenose on Oct 6, 2016 11:38:52 GMT
Couldn't agree more with this article. The number of "debates" I have at GP is getting silly. Now got some who can't see or understand what Gana brings to the game!!!! and apparently Barkley is still a "fat lazy scouse blart" according to a 20 stone idiot who often sits near me. I don't think our players get that much abuse when they play at Analfield.
|
|
|
Post by Avinalaff on Oct 6, 2016 15:00:47 GMT
rosscrombie You'll always get fans that are shouting and swearing at games, and it's been like that since day one. Palace are similar to Everton were when we were the dogs of war type team but they're starting to put a decent side together. By rights we could have lost the game but I'll echo what others have stated and that's that we don't give 100% for 90 minutes and for a decade under Moyes that was never a problem. It's only started since Martinez arrived and it has to stop. It would be cool to get 90 minutes out of the team and I've been saying that for a long time so agree totally. If we can't then why not?
|
|