Just call me Billy – The Russian lad with the unpronounceable name waltzed into Goodison Park with many questioning the £10m outlay on a relative unknown. But Moyes struck gold again, with not quite the sort of bargain were used to seeing from him, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless and Billy has proved good value for money. Recommended to Moyes by interim Chelsea manager at the time Guus Hiddink, a man who also moonlights on casual days off as Billy’s national team manager with Russia, Bilyaletdinov has a penchant for scoring absolutely cracking goals. A stunner against Man Utd back in February in their 3-1 home win over the now deposed champions was recently voted the clubs goal of the season and he arguably bagged a better one on the final day of the season in a 1-0 win away at Pompey. He’s direct, something you couldn’t accuse most of Everton tricky and diminutive midfield of being, good in possession and about as one-footed as they come. ‘Just call me Billy’ finished the season with 7 goals and 7 assists in 33 games, not too shabby at all.
Solid as a rock – Two other new signings at the other end of the pitch fared just as well with the arrivals of John Heitinga and Sylvain Distin for £5m apiece proving well worth the money. With Jagielka, Yobo and Captain Phil Neville all out for various long spells, it was up to the new boys to hold the backline together at times. Distin, solid in the air and decent on the deck has played with several partners but has looked at ease throughout his 29 appearances in the blue shirt. John Heitinga is kind of a Dutch Phil Neville if you will, a jack of all trades, master of none. He was many fans player of the season for his committed attitude and ability to slot seamlessly into a number of positions such as holding man, centre half, right and left back. Everton finish the season with 11 clean sheets from 38 games having conceded 49 goals in the league, a modest total by all estimations, but without the steady presence of these two in the side, Everton would have been down to their bare bones for most of the campaign and it could have been a lot worse. Is Lescott really worth five times more than each of these players? Not a chance.
Jack the Lad – Having burst onto the scene last season with some mature displays in the heart of midfield, Jack Rodwell has accumulated even more time on the pitch this season making 26 appearances in the league, 17 from the start. Equally comfortable at centre half, the 19 year olds versatility has attracted the attention of Chelsea and Man Utd, who have both apparently placed him at the top of their summer transfer wish lists, with his eye-catching goal against Man Utd proving that he’s not out of place in this sort of company. As a boyhood Everton fan (I know that didn’t stop Rooney but…) I fully expect him to be at Everton next season. He’s not even a guaranteed first team starter at Goodison Park at the moment, so quite why he’s integral to both Chelsea’s and Man Utd’s summer plans is beyond me especially considering that Everton seemed to have acquired some excellent bargaining prowess as highlighted with the Joleon Lescott deal. Everton are not particularly a selling club, only Lescott and Rooney have departed unwillingly in the last five or so years and both for massive fees, so unless either side is willing to come up with £20m plus for him, a figure that despite his undoubted potential is just silly money for at the moment, then he won’t be leaving. It just goes to show the premium put on English talent this season, but he seems like he’s got a good head on his young shoulders and will probably see that his future is best served for the time being at least at Everton.
No repeat of last season’s cup run – Last season Everton quite deservedly took their place in the FA Cup final by doing things the hard way. They knocked out Liverpool via a replay and an extra time winning goal from Dan Gosling that nobody saw, a win against Aston Villa and a penalty victory over Man Utd before going onto narrowly lose 2-1 in the final to Chelsea, their first cup final since 1995’s win over Man Utd, with Paul Rideout the hero. But this season however things did not go according to plan. A fourth round exit away in the Carling Cup at the hands of Spurs 2-0, was only notable for the fact that they played for the first time in their all purple kit, and even worse was to follow in the FA Cup after a pulsating tie at home, they went out 2-1 to Birmingham, which all in all made it a season to forget for Everton in the domestic cups.
Fancy going to Portugal anyone? – If there’s one blot against manager David Moyes’ CV it’s that when it comes to European competition, he hasn’t quite done as well as perhaps he should have done. A strong showing in the groups’ stages this season was ruined by a 5-0 thumping away at Benfica. On to the second round and they drew another Portuguese side in the form of Sporting Lisbon. Looking to conquer their demons from the previous game against opposition from that country, Everton tore into a 2-0 lead and looked to be taking a decent advantage into the away leg in Lisbon, but in the 86th minute, Distin was adjudged to have fouled Brazilian striker Liedson in the penalty area and to make matters worse he was shown a straight red card, with Veloso dispatching the resulting penalty. The second leg in Lisbon was a case of de ja vu for Moyes and his charges after a limp performance saw them dumped out of Europe with a 3-0 defeat. In all honesty, Sporting definitely deserved it over the two legs and their midfield was really quite exceptional on the ball. The feeling that I have gotten from watching Everton in Europe this season is that they play at far too slow a tempo to have any effect. Much like the national side sometimes adapts its style of play in games against higher quality opposition to suit their opponents, Everton have seemingly adopted this less than wanted trait. To truly get at you opponents in Europe you should play in a manner which suits the players at your disposal, and on both occasions away in Portugal in particular, Everton slowed the play down to the point of inertia and simply just played into their opponents’ hands. They won’t get the chance to rectify it next season though having failed to qualify for Europe via the league this season.
Cahill anomaly – One of the things that I have never quite understood about Premiership defences is their simple inability to pick up dangerous men from set pieces; this is best typified by Tim Cahill, with all 8 of his Premiership goals this season coming via his head. I’ve often preached to my Everton supporting brother that Cahill is a centre forward playing in midfield but his ability to ghost in front of his marker without being noticed is an enviable quality that few people possess. Everton often go with a 4-5-1 formation with Cahill the furthest forward of the midfield and this seems to suit him. His late runs into the box and his ability to leap like a salmon are a crucial weapon in Everton’s armour. I’ve always felt that he can be a bit of a liability in a two man central midfield, and his lack of passing range has can be cruelly exposed, but in a five-man midfield he can tear about the turf, put his foot in the tackle and get on the end of things further forward. I often argue to my brother that what separates Everton from truly breaking into the top four is a player capable of dictating the play. Arteta, Pienaar, Fellaini and Rodwell have all had a stab at it and are all are good at it to an extent, but an out and out deep lying playmaker is what is required and I think Moyes has noticed this, with his pursuit of Joao Moutinho two summers ago before being priced out of a move an obvious example. Cahill will, along with Mikel Arteta, whom I regard as the best footballer plying his trade outside of the traditional top four, will go down as one of Moyes’ transfer masterstrokes, having cost only £1.5m from Millwall six seasons ago. He has an excellent goal ratio of about 1 in 4 and he practically guarantees you between 6-10 league goals a season. An out and out midfielder, not in my book, but he’s one of those most precious of commodities in the Premiership – a goalscoring midfielder, and he’s integral to Everton’s progress.
An embarrassment of riches in midfield – Not since the heady days of the Everton sides of the mid-80s, back when they had a midfield that consisted of the talents of Peter Reid, Trevor Steven and Kevin Sheedy or even going as far back as the days of Kendall, Harvey and Ball in the 60s have Everton had such a complete midfield as they have now. With Arteta, Cahill, Fellaini, Pienaar, Rodwell, Osman Bilyaletdinov and for a spell this season loanee Landon Donovan, they arguably had the best midfield, in terms of numbers at least rather than quality, in the Premiership. If they can add someone able to dictate the play and retain the ball a bit better in the centre and one more out and out winger rather than a diminutive and tricky one, of which they have many already, then they could be a real forced to be reckoned with if they keep everyone fit, as typified by their form from January onwards which was the third best in the entire league behind only league leaders Chelsea and Man Utd, which saw a run of only 2 defeats in 20, away to both Liverpool and Spurs. On their day, when everyone is fit and raring to go, they can be a more than a match for any side in the league and they roundly outplayed Man Utd in their 3-1 home win and did the same to Chelsea 10 days prior in a 2-1 victory at Goodison Park. They truly do have an embarrassment of riches in midfield, but with Rodwell coveted by the top two this summer, Fellaini linked with Chelsea earlier on in the season and with Pienaar consistently linked with Chelsea now, they’d be doing extremely well to keep hold of everyone this summer. It’s a compliment to their talents that bigger clubs are now interested in their services and whether they all stay this summer will go a long way to signalling the club and the board’s ambitions and intent for next season.
Injury curse strikes Everton again – Quite a few clubs have gone through injury crises of sorts this season. Man Utd went through a defensive shortage for a few weeks around the crucial January period, most of Arsenal’s key players have had spells of various degrees on the sidelines, but what makes Everton’s situation a bit different and most out of the ordinary, is the sheer length of time that Everton players miss through injury, with most of them proving to be either extremely serious or even season-ending ones. Moyes has gone about his business in this respect, in a calm and unfussy manner, putting it down to nothing more than misfortune and bad timing. Perhaps Arsene Wenger should listen up and take note, because on this issue alone he could learn a thing or two about humility from the Scot, as there’s simply no need to spout conspiracy theories every time one of your players gets injured the way that Wenger does. Maroune Fellani picked up an ankle injury in the Merseyside derby in February which ruled him out for six months and thus ending his season. Last season Phil Jagielka picked up an anterior cruciate ligament injury which ruled him out of the FA Cup final and half of this year’s campaign. Mikel Arteta picked up a knee ligament injury last February which sidelined him for nearly a year and even Captain Phil Neville got in on the act and he spent nearly two months out with injury earlier on in the campaign with a foot related injury. Yobo has struggled this year with various knocks as has new boy Bilyaletdinov and even promising youngster Dan Gosling suffered yet another cruciate ligament injury for an Everton player back in February which ruled him out of the rest of this season and the beginning of next. It’s extremely difficult to not only explain but also fathom and head physio Mick Rathbone has been kept extremely on his toes and very busy as a result. Yakubu, Anichebe and James Vaughan, three of Everton’s main first-team strikers, have all had injuries in the past couple of seasons which kept them out for over a year at least and this has had not only a detrimental effect on the squad but also their progress as footballers and it’s a wonder Everton did so well this term. The last two season’s an injury curse has hung over Goodison Park and it rears its ugly head every now and again to rule out another crucial first team player for a long spell. Everton do not have the biggest of squads in terms of strength in depth all over the park and to have to go through this on a regular basis is just ridiculous. Had their entire first team squad have been fit for the entire season, I very much doubt they’d have finished as low as in 8th place and they would probably have been closer to Spurs in 4th place, who in the end just finished 9 points above them, not an insurmountable ask over the course of a long season. That’s not an understatement, but how would every team above them have fared with injuries to their most key of players for this length of time, in my opinion, probably not quite as well and Everton have. They finished the season in good form and should they keep the nucleus of the same squad together, and most importantly, keep them fit, then they can go into next season with renewed hope, and I wouldn’t bet against them making a real attempt to break the top four.
Investment needed for club to progress – I admire the job that David Moyes has done at Everton; he’s completely transformed them from relegation battlers to consistent European contenders. The style of football on display is immeasurably better than what he inherited and the squad is now the strongest and most complete that they’ve had in just over 20 years, but in order to push on they’re going to need some serious investment. This could be the summer to push the boat out, with Liverpool struggling on and off the pitch and looking like they have little to spend, Villa Chairman Randy Lerner preaching the principles of fiscal prudency down at Villa Park and Man City somewhat out of sorts, it could be the year to spend, and spend bigger. As I stated above, I fully believe over the course of a season a fit Everton side could have taken Spurs all the way in the chase for fourth place. With a fully fit squad, extra resources and the brilliant manager that they have at their disposal, they could really push on. The finances at Everton have always been a riddle, but for all of Chairman Bill Kenwright’s virtues and fandom, you do get the impression that he was always the mate down the pub who said ‘sorry lads, I’ve only gone and left my wallet in the car’ and he simply doesn’t have the money to take the team to the next level, a point which he would be the first to concede himself. He’s stated that he’s been looking ‘24/7’ for a new owner but he’s been doing that for ten years now and although he states that they need a billionaire to compete, I don’t think there as far away as he thinks. Something is obviously making Everton an unattractive proposition to potential investors though. From an outsiders perspective it’s baffling though, but in my opinion I think it’s the issue over the proposed new ground. I think a much more sensible plan is to modernise their current home and get the local council on side, because if they rotate the stadium and close one stand off each year for four seasons they can boost their capacity by nearly 15,000. Put in a few more directors boxes to sell off to rich clients whilst retaining the old-worldly feel of Goodison Park and this remains a much more viable and cheaper option. The fact of the matter is, is that Everton have been naive financially much in the same way that local rivals Liverpool have been in exploiting the clubs’ image abroad. They should have a much bigger presence in places like the US, Asia and the Middle East than they currently do, because they are undoubtedly a big club, a sleeping giant to borrow the often used footballing cliché, and they just need a prod and because it’s just waiting to be woken up. This naivety has cost them dearly and they’ve fallen behind in that respect to other clubs such as Man Utd and Chelsea. With the way things are currently, with a talented manager who’s done an excellent job, they can’t continually expect to punch above their weight. I think they need to redevelop Goodison Park rather than move, if they can at all that is, and get together a sustained and attractive economic business model. A potential ground-share was mooted but Liverpool don’t seem keen and neither do Everton unless they’re desperate so I don’t think it’ll happen, particularly if Liverpool are bought out this summer by a Chairman with a wad of cash in his pocket. Everton are not too far away at present and the playing squad is probably only lacking a top class striker in support of Saha and a central midfielder who’s able to dictate possession, from consistently challenging for domestic honours. But unless they find investment off the pitch and use it wisely to fund their endeavours on the pitch, Everton may have reached the limits of their capabilities, when all evidence suggests that in reality they’re not too far away from a potential breakthrough.
Arbitrary marks out of ten – 6/10 – A very average first half of the season was followed by a very good second half to the campaign, with the key difference inevitably being the return of several key first team members. Moyes is an excellent manager but for how long will he want to work within such limits and constraints? The Old Trafford hot seat beckons.
Written By James McManus
