Sometimes, the league table does lie.

Hello everyone, first things first, an introduction. I am the writer of the football blog They Think It’s All Over… and Abayomi has kindly asked me to write weekly blogs on this site. I am a huge Evertonian and so my blogs will focus on football happenings on the blue half of Merseyside, and I do try and write fairly and without bias, but as you will all know, sometimes one’s heart can get the better of you, so I apologise in advance in case that happens. I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say, please leave comments and visit me at my site if you do!

To business then, and I intend today to put forth an argument in contradiction of one of football’s great old sayings, that ‘the league table doesn’t lie’. If we are thinking entirely literally, to challenge it seems insanity itself. The league table displays the stats of each team in accordance with how they have performed that season, it doesn’t make them up, and so it doesn’t lie. However, if one considers the league table to be an indicator of which teams are the best, I believe that, on occasion, it can be found to be fallacious.

The point of this argument and the relation it holds to my club, Everton, is that I firmly believe that Everton are a better team than Aston Villa. Villa currently occupy the fifth spot (but will perhaps move back to fourth once they play Hull City later today) while Everton are in sixth. Thus many would argue that Aston Villa are, at present, superior to Everton as a team. This is probably the view of the media too, who have been quick to praise Martin O’Neill’s men this season, as they have indeed put in some impressive displays.

There is even serious suggestion that Aston Villa may do the unthinkable and break the monopoly of the ‘big four’ on the Champions League places this season, probably at Arsenal’s expense. And I must concede, Villa have had a blinding season so far. Picking up points against most of the ‘big four’ and looking very impressive in beating the lower sides too, they certainly are a forced to be reckoned with. But I don’t think they’re better than Everton.

You see, Everton haven’t had a very good season so far. We haven’t really got into our stride form-wise, and our best players especially have taken a long time to get going – they are now starting to, but so far, the likes of Mikel Arteta and Joleon Lescott have been below par, as was Yakubu, before he got injured.

And there’s another point, injuries. Now one cannot make excuses and I am not trying to do so, there is no gurantee that we would have fared any better without the injury troubles we’ve had. But I think it is fair to think it entirely likely that if we had had slightly better luck with injuries, we may have fared a tad better so far this term. I mean, what team wouldn’t suffer with injuries to the likes of Cahill, Arteta and Yakubu? As well as others to Pienaar, Osman, Anichebe, Vaughan, Valente and more at other times? There has not been a single game this season when Moyes has not been forced to name a teenager amongst his substitutes, and while we have some great young talent (boy, do we!), it can leave you short of experienced options, which are important.

But aside from a lack of form and troubles with injury, it was the start of the season that really struck us down. We had a very unsettled summer. Huge frustration in the transfer market led to the season beginning without any major signings and then in the last few hours we payed a hell of a lot for a big Belgian fella’ with funny hair. Don’t get me wrong, Fellaini has done well since he joined, but it wasn’t the Summer we all pictured after last season’s fifth place finish.

But then, we are not a club who has ever had a lot of money to spend. Moyes spent fifteen million (ish) on Fellaini and pretty much bugger all else on the others, and that has probably done us for the season. But aside from financial stringencies (which in the current economic climate are looking more and more sensible as time goes on) we had the other upsets of a manager hesitant to sign a new contract and a stadium move that was flickering on and off more than a bloody strobe light.

Moyes’ indecision over whether to put pen to paper on his contract was bemusing. He stated a number of times that everything was essentially in place and so we were just thinking ‘well just sign the damned thing then’. But it rumbled on and on and it got to the point where I actually thought that the best young manager in the country (go on, challenge that statement) might leave our club. Whether it was a lack of transfer funds or just a genuine patch of cold feet we may never know, but certainly, since he signed, we have gone uphill quite quickly. A bit of stability goes a long way at a football club.

The other thing was the ground move. I for one am hesitant to leave Goodison, especially for somewhere outside the city, but it seems the club are keen and we ‘need’ to so they pushed on. Unfortunately it all seems to have gone tits up and has left a rather bitter atmosphere around the club. None of this should affect the players really, because as long as they have a pitch to play on, that should be enough, but somehow in football, if there is unrest at a club at all, it does tend to filter through and have an effect on the playing staff.

All in all then, things were looking a bit grim. And then we had a very dodgy start to the season, and as we were holding our heads in our hands thinking things couldn’t get any worse, we went out of Europe. For me, that was a big thing. We got a really tough draw against Standard Liege, incredibly tough compared to the other English clubs, especially considering we were the top English qualifier and Man City snuck in because they ‘play fair’ (what a load of nonsense that is, just by the way).

We gave Liege a run for their money, but fair play to them, those Belgians are a top side and deserve to be in the UEFA Cup group stages as much as we do, which is a lot. Either way, the competition was going to lose a good team and we were it in the end. And that was disappointing for the club. We had such a great run in it last season, losing only on penalties to Fiorentina after having beaten the eventual champions Zenit St. Petersburg relatively comfortably in the group stages. To then find ourselves with no hope of repeating the adventure gave the club a huge dent to morale.

And we have a history in that department. A few years ago, after we finished fourth (yes, it HAS been done before, thank you very much) and qualified for the Champions League, we were all set for a rollicking good time in Europe when we crashed out. Drawn against (another toughy) Villareal we were unfortunate to be knocked out after Duncan Fergson had a goal calamitously ruled out in what was, without doubt, the worst decision in the career of the world’s best ever referee, old beady eyes himself, Pierre Luigi Collina.

Bounced into the UEFA Cup we then fell at the first hurdle against Dynamo Bucaresti (I think, but don’t quote me on it) and found ourselves not in Europe at all, despite our magnificent fourth place finish. That then had the added knock on effect of causing the players to lose morale almost completely and have a very stuttery first half of the season, almost like we have this time around, after again going out in the first round of the UEFA Cup.

So there we go, a (not so) brief summary of the various things that may have impacted on our season in a negative way so far. I say again, these are not excuses. There is no guarantee that things would have happened differently under different circumstances and many of them were our own doing, or at least avoidable, but I think it is fair to say that all of them, to some extent, may have hindered our progress through this season’s Premier League campaign.

And so we return, eventually but inevitably, to the reason behind this whole article. Because Villa haven;t had any of these problems really. They’ve had a few injuries, but who doesn’t? And it’s been nothing on the scale of what we have suffered. Their best players (indeed most of their players) have not been struggling for form. Gaby Agbonlahor have set the League alight and even earned the privilege of being mentioned in the same breath as ridiculous and doubtlessly career ruining moves to some of Europe’s top clubs in the English press.

They don’t have any particular financial worries either. Indeed, their foreign owner is probably the sort of foreign owner that Carlsberg would profess to provide (that is; the best foreign owner in the world). He does not lavish them with money and it’s good friend, pressure, but he provides for them what they need, and has the sensible nature to not mess around with affairs that are beyond his expertise. That meant that Villa had a good little summer, bringing in a few players to add good strength in depth to an already promising squad, without upsetting the apple cart by splashing out massively, as say, Tottenham did.

A much more accommodating draw in the UEFA Cup first round meant that they didn’t have much trouble getting into the competition proper and avoided the sort of blow to morale that has affected my club. All in all then, Villa’s path through this season has been altogether smoother than Everton’s rather bumpy one. Which suggests, to me, that the league table does, on occasion, lie.

I’m not saying categorically that Aston Villa are worse than Everton. Nor am I denying that on current form, Villa are superior to my beloved Toffees. But what I will contest is the assertions made by certain elements of the English media that Villa are the most worthy and most likely challengers to England’s ‘big four’. For one thing, people easily forget that we did in fact break the monopoly a few seasons ago. And for another, I think we are just as likely to do it again, as Villa are to do it.

Because if one takes away all the factors that I discussed above, Everton’s season would perhaps have panned out slightly differently. Because although we have had a poor start to the season form wise, we are still in sixth position. We are still only three points (maybe six by tonight) behind Villa themselves. We are still very much in touch for the European places. Imagine then, if our season had been as smooth as Villa’s. We could be well up there with the likes of Chelsea and Man Utd as well as that other Merseyside club. You know the ones I mean.

So for people to jump to the conclusion that Villa are the best team outside the ‘big four’ is to make a mistake I think. It is to do us a bit of an injustice. Because yes, they have been great, and yes, they hold their current position on merit, but, the league table doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. Everton’s season has been blighted by disturbances and they are not reflected in the table, nor should they be. But I think the table may read differently if they had not occurred.

So before jumping on the Villa bandwagon, I say, give it some time. Let the road run it’s course. We have had our fair share of bumps and hopefully will not suffer too many more. Villa may have a few around the corner, and the true test will be if they can stand up to them as well and as successfully as Everton have so far. Villa and Everton are two very, very strong teams and I think they will push the ‘big four’ all the way. Let us wait and see the final league table before we make our final judgements though, because that table is one that doesn’t often lie, I will grant you that much.

Thank you for reading, I hope you found it worthwhile. Please visit my site if you did, by clicking the banner below. Cheers.