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Yesterday word spread that Diniyar Bilyaletdinov was leaving Everton and heading back to mother Russia; Spartak Moscow had apparently agreed a fee though to be around £5m. If Moyes can get his hands on that money to strengthen, we could be in for a busy January.

As soon as the news broke, most Evertonians split into one of three groups. First were the rheumy eyed romantics, their lips quivering at the thought of nice boy Bily playing for another team. Then there were those who thought that Moyes had wasted Bily’s talent by playing him out of position on the left (more on them later). Finally there were those that were rejoicing that we had finally shed a dead weight with the touch of a blacksmith.

For me Bily’s biggest strength is his shot. Actually, his only strength is his shot. He is the perfect YouTube player – a player who lends himself to gobsmacking highlight reels but below par performances.

In 59 appearances he has scored 8 goals, not bad for a player who does nothing else but occasionally shoot. His eight goals for Everton in 59 appearances is slightly less than his 31 goals in 150 games for Lokomotiv Moscow, and roughly the same rate as his scoring for the motherland (6gls 45apps). Crucially though, for both Russia and Lokomotiv Moscow he did more than just score. For Everton this is all he does, shuffling around in his glum little world, and occasionally shooting. I’ll miss Bily for his spectacular goals like this one and this one but not much else.

I’m happy to wave goodbye to Bily, with his affable personality, his eastern bloc haircut, his non existent pace, and that sensational cudgel of a left foot.

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Left back in the changing rooms?

David Moyes has been blamed by some for “ruining” Bily by playing him out of position. The argument goes that Moyes has crow-barred Bily into a position that stunted the Russian’s growth, and that if he had played him in a central attacking position we’d have a world beater on our hands. I don’t think this argument holds up under analysis. Here’s a look into where other managers have played him.

2008 European Championships
Manager: Guus Hiddink

• June 10th 2008. Spain 4-1 Russia. Bily plays on the left wing.
• June 14th 2008. Greece 0-1 Russia. Bily plays left midfield.
• June 18th 2008. Russia 2-0 Sweden. Bily plays left midfield.
• June 21st 2008. Netherlands 4-1 Russia. Hiddink brings on Bily in the 69th minute. He plays in central midfield.

I found it hard to find specific positional stats on many of Bily’s games in Russian qualifying matches or Lokomotiv Moscow games, but here are other individual games I found:

• Guus Hiddink. Russia 3-0 Liechtenstein, September 5, 2009 - Bily plays left back
• Guus Hiddink. Russia 1-1 Azerbaijan, October 14, 2009 – Bily plays left back
• Guus Hiddink. Russia 2-1 Slovenia, November 14, 2009 – Bily plays attacking left midfield.
• Guus Hiddink. Slovenia 1-0 Russia, November 18, 2009 - Bily plays in the hole.
• Dick Advocaat. Russia 2-0 Andorra, September 3, 2010 - Bily plays left back.

• Moyes gushing about his new signing Diniyar Bilyaletdinov (via Sky Sports):

“I spoke to Guus Hiddink a few times about Dini and he recommended him to me,” Moyes told the Liverpool Echo.

“He is a very versatile footballer. He can play wide on the left of midfield, but he has also played on the right quite a bit as well.

“Technically he is very good. He has a nice left foot and he has scored a few goals as well.

“Guus told me that even at a push he could play left-back.“

• The best Russian XI of the 2008 season, Bily makes the Reserve XI as “Attacking midfielder left”.
  
• Euro 2008 scouting report from a Canadian website:

“A playmaking midfielder (Diniyar Bilyaletdinov) plays in the centre of midfield, just ahead of a pair of defensive, ball-wining midfielders”

• Bily described as a “left winger” in a blog post prior to Euro 2008.
• Jonathon Wilson writes this in his Euro 2008 preview for the Guardian:“Lokomotiv’s Diniyar Bilyaletdinov will probably be given the more advanced central midfield role, leaving Dmitri Torbinsky and Igor Semshov as options on the bench.” 
• In the comments section of Wilson’s article, he is challenged by a reader who claims that Hiddink will use:“Sychev (right) and Bilyaletdinov (left) as “wingers” – they can well be substituted by Bystrov (right) and Torbinsky (left).”

Hopefully the information above has exposed all this “Bily was out of position chatter” as total anti-Moyes guff. From what I can see Bily was perfectly comfortable in both a central and a left sided position. He played all of Russia’s Euro 2008 campaign – bar one second half substitute appearance – on the left, and countless other games too. Bily just wasn’t the right fit for the aggressively fast Premier League, I think Moyes spared him by playing him wide and that if he had played Bily centrally more often, the Russian would have drowned.

And finally, I found this (perhaps fitting) little tidbit on the Football Ramble message boards: Diniyar Bilyaletdinov is an anagram of Boner invalidity daily. I think those three words sum his Everton career up well.

Guest of honour and Everton legend Dave Hickson will have felt at home watching this game, which was in many ways like a throwback to an earlier era. Hard fought, inelegant, dour, and a fair result in which two dismissals, late on in the game, were the main talking point. Bilyaletdinov’s straight red for a studs-up two footed challenge on Petrov was at first sight a touch harsh, but in the cold light of a slow-motion replay was revealed as a correct call by referee Lee Probert. He now misses three league games; West Ham (a), Man United (a) and Hull (a), returning in time for the Liverpool match at Goodison on Sunday November 29th, so at least he should nicely rested ahead of his first derby. He will be available for the Europa League game against Benfica on Thursday. It took Arteta a season to get accustomed to the Premier League; Bilyaletdinov has two well taken goals to his credit already and there is true quality in his boots, but realistically we feel his best is many months away. Our key observation from the game though concerns our new right back making his home league debut – Lucas Neill. He brings additional height and physical presence to our defence, he offers more than Hibbert going forward, and his positional sense is good. Strong competition in all positions is what we crave and now finally have at right back