Saturday’s game against Norwich City marks the start of a succession of winnable games over Christmas and the New Year – Swansea City (h), Sunderland (a), West Brom (a), Bolton (h), culminating in the FA Cup 3rd round tie against Tamworth on 7th January. However talking of wins might be putting the cart before the horse because in order to win you first have to score and in their last two games Everton’s forwards have kept unwelcome clean sheets. Given his limited resources David Moyes has tried just about everything he reasonably could; starting Saha, starting Vellios, pushing Cahill further forward, trying Conor McAleny, even giving the hopelessly out of his depth Dennis Stracqualursi game time.
Of course it’s not just, or perhaps even, an issue of chances not taken, it’s also a problem of chances not created. Royston Drenthe is the quickest and most penetrative player on the books. His absence over the past month, initially with an ankle injury, latterly, if the rumours are to be believed, after a bust-up with David Moyes, has been damaging. His return, and one blistering run and shot, or sharp cut-back, might instantly resolve lots of problems and send a warm pulse of confidence flooding through the team. Magaye Gueye could also be thrown further into the fire, at least beyond appearances limited to seven minutes here and two minutes there. The injuries to Leon Osman and Jack Rodwell are frustrating but Ross Barkley, fresh from his match-winning performance in the 2-1 Youth Cup win at Selhurst Park, always looks a goal threat, and must surely come right back into the thick of it after being withdrawn from the firing line by his protective manager.
Given the urgency of reinforcements up front we predict a flurry of activity when the transfer window opens on January 1, perhaps including the departure of Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. One positive addition would be the return of Stephen Pienaar, who despite his diplomatic comments about life on the bench at Spurs, must be deeply frustrated. The news of Darren Fletcher’s illness has inevitably reignited the rumours that Manchester United might turn their attentions in the direction of our lad Jack; we think this wide of the mark, Ferguson needs an established, experienced, high-quality midfielder capable of slotting straight in, not a player like Rodwell who – despite his England cap – is still very much a work in progress.
Unless Rodwell and or Osman have recovered from their hamstring injuries we suspect the inherently cautious David Moyes will start the team, which in the opinion of many neutral, reasonable observers did well in holding the Gunners to a wonder strike to nil. In a perfect world a fit, or forgiven, Drenthe would return to replace Bilyaletdinov; that change alone would give morale a much needed boost. A real throw of the dice and totally un-Moyes-like move would see Vellios and McAleny starting up front in a 4-4-2 formation.
EVERTON (4-2-3-1): Howard; Hibbert, Jagielka, Heitinga, Baines; Fellaini, Neville (c); Coleman, Cahill, Drenthe; Saha
Substitutes from: Mucha, Neville, Distin, Barkley, Vellios, Gueye, Osman, Rodwell, Bilyaletdinov, McAleny, Stracqualursi, McFadden
NORWICH CITY (4-4-1-1): Ruddy; Naughton, L Barnett, Martin, Tierney; E Bennett, Crofts, Johnson, Pilkington; Hoolahan; Morison
Substitutes from: D Rudd, Whitbread, Holt, Fox, Surman, Jackson, Wilbraham, de Laet
Referee: Howard Webb
Kick off: 1500, Saturday 17 December, Goodison Park
It’s a recurring theme Moyes falling out with talented forward players. Duncan Ferguson, Rooney, Fernandes, Andy Johnson, Beattie (well semi talented in his case), Yakubu and apparently now Drenthe. If Drenthe wacked him one then fair enough, however maybe the problem lies with Moyes the negative tactician himself? Especially as many of the players mentioned went on to prove Moyes and his extremely stale tactics wrong, come to think of it even Saha a little upset with him now!?! Anyway Drenthe and Barkley must play against Norwich as Everton could be in the mire with a defeat, however Moyes won’t play them both as that’s just too offensive for him! Why fans still back him and Kenwright I’ll never know, hence why Everton are in the dire position because the board know generally the fans will accept mediocrity! Prove me wrong people????
ouldn’t agree more with the above comment. As for Drenthe I dont believe for one minute that he has assaulted Moyes, frankly he would have been shown the door, good player or not. I genuinely hope he plays Barkley and Drenthe on Saturday but sadly I think he will stick with the same team and we wont win. As for reinforcements I think he has around 5 million max and obviously will have to sell to bring in additional funds. Obviously Billy is the most likely to be sacrificed but how much he brings in is anyones guess, personally I think Moyes will be lucky to get half back to what he spent on him, yet another on filed under the Kolstrup/Yakubu of a lot of money wasted.