Seven Years in the Sun

David Moyes: A ray of sunshine for Evertonian's everywhere.

Time is a peculiar, fluid sort of thing. In saying that I refer to the habit it seems to have of making things seem both distant and recent, both fresh in your mind and yet a predicate to many, many experiences since. What I mean, via means of a more specific example, is that it seems both more and less than seven years since David Moyes took over as manager of Everton Football Club.

It seems only yesterday that I was sitting in my faithful seat at Goodison Park, shivering more with nerves than with the icy, sweeping wind that so frequently pervades the wonderful old stadium, watching as Everton played out a final day of the season battle with Coventry. We survived by the skin of our teeth, on goal difference, at Bolton’s expense.

Those years, the nervous, scrappy years, form the major part of my reminiscence of my time as an Evertonian. Only twenty years young, I wasn’t fortunate enough to witness our glory years in the eighties, and the high point for me, before Moyes, was our 1995 FA Cup final triumph under Joe Royle (best of luck back at Oldham by the way Joe).

And yet, although I remember those days as clearly as if we were still in the heart of a relegation battle, they also seem incredibly distant. Now the thought that Everton could be seriously threatened with relegation from the Premier League seems, wonderfully, a thing of the past. Even at the beginning of this season, when we stuttered into our campaign and languished near the foot of the table for some time, I wasn’t ever really worried. Because in Moyes we trust.

Seven years ago I was thirteen years old. I was living in England, and I’d only been to New Zealand on holiday. I was in Year 8 at school, happily belting a football round the playground. Now I’m twenty years old. In those seven years I have changed almost beyond recognition. I have moved from England to New Zealand, then back to England, then back to New Zealand.

In the past seven years I’ve lived in fourteen different houses/batches/flats/rooms. I’ve attended three different schools, taken two sets of important exams and then completed two years of study towards a university degree. Seven years ago, I had perfect eyesight, now I wear glasses or contact lenses. All of these changes, big or small, have happened to me while David Moyes has been manager of Everton.

And yet it still seems strange to me that Moyes has been at Everton for such a period of time. His reign in charge of the Toffees has been up and down, that’s for sure, though happily it’s been more up than down. Indeed, in comparison to the preceding years it has positive whirlwind of excitement and progress. They say time flies when you’re having fun, and in a way, that’s how it seems.

But similarly, it also seems like it has been a long slow slog. An uphill battle against countless obstacles, but slowly Moyes has dragged Everton steadily back toward the summit of English football – back where we belong. And this more than anything is a testament to the length of time Moyes has dedicated to our club, To the difference he has made to my life, and the lives of thousands of other Everton fans the world over.

From perennial strugglers, Moyes has steadily overseen our transformation. He started slowly, building from the back, quite literally, with his first purchase: Joseph Yobo. But you have to lay the foundations for success and he did that. Bringing in players who would work for him, players who would be the beginning of something. The likes of Phil Neville, established, experienced and reliable, and Tim Cahill, young, untested and hungry.

he took us to safety, then led us into the top six, before another season of struggle. But that was OK, we were realistic and didn’t expect too much. Plus, there was progress. Players like Rooney, Gravesen and Arteta were beginning to grace Goodison. These were players of a quality and flair that we hadn’t seen for some time. But they all had one thing in common. They were good, honest, hard working players. The mark of the manager. And what a manager.

“I am joining the people’s football club. The majority of people you meet on the street[s of Liverpool] are Everton fans.”

- David Moyes, 14.03.2002

Moyes eventually steadied the ship. He led us to the unprecedented territory of a top four Premier League finish. Unprecedented not just for us, but for any club outside the ‘big four’. Back before Moyes, it was the ‘big three’, because Chelsea weren’t so rich. And despite constant trials and setbacks, like the decision that denied us qualification to the Champions League group stages and the penalty shoot out loss to Fiorentina in the last sixteen of the UEFA Cup, Moyes has continued to lead our club forwards.

Over the last seven years, my life has changed considerably, as I’ve detailed. But one of the biggest, most significant changes in that period has been the blooming of Everton Football Club. This sport, and this team in particular is a massive part of my life, and it gives me enormous pleasure to witness us consistently push for European places. For me to admire and enjoy the style of football that we play. For Everton to be a club known throughout Europe again.

The title of this article is ‘Seven Years in the Sun’. I’ve lived in New Zealand, a land traditionally held in regard for it’s sunny climate for only 3 and a half years in total. But since David Moyes took over as manager of Everton, the sun has been shining on our club, and on the club’s supporters. Yes, we’ve had some patches of cloud and the odd bit of rain, but for the most part, David Moyes has brightened up our lives.

So let this article shine as a mark of respect to David Moyes. A mark of thanks to one of the brightest managerial talents in the game. May it spur him on to keep going, to keep building with out club. There are always those naysayers who will turn against him when the going gets tough, but Moyes knows he has the love and support of Everton’s true fans. We are honoured to have him, and we look forward to another seven years in the sun.

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David Moyes is: Mr Motivator

David Moyes: A great motivator, thankfully without the leotard.

Many people reacted with surprise to Jo’s stunning debut in an Everton shirt, as he helped fire the Toffees to a resounding 3-0 win over Bolton, despite coming off the back of a torrid spell at Manchester City. However, it came as no surprise to me that Moyes has instantly managed to get the best out of the young Brazilian. We all knew he had talent, he scored for fun at CSKA Moscow after all, and though City paid over the odds for him, I thought it would be a good long term investment for them.

However, for one reason or another, Jo never really settled at Manchester City. Whether it was the language barrier, the speed of the Premier League or simply his team mates and manager, something didn’t click for him. So in came David Moyes. The Scotsman had tried to sign Jo in the summer on a permanent deal but was priced out by City’s riches, but he was very keen to get his man this time, albeit, only on a loan deal.

It was this more than anything, that made me have faith in Jo’s ability even before the Bolton game. When I saw him play for City against Everton I concluded that he had “as much impact on the game as Everton’s did, [and they were] watching from home with injuries“, but as soon as Moyes went back for a second time to try and sign him, I knew Moyes had seen something he liked. And in Moyes we trust, as the saying at Goodison goes, and with good reason too.

A few years ago, there was a tenacious young Australian player doing pretty well at Millwall, and a few Premier League clubs had a look at him. None made a move though. Perhaps they thought he was nothing more than a Championship player, suited to the rough and tumble of that league but without the finesse necessary to grace the Premiership. David Moyes took a look at the same player and saw that determination and commitment, but he saw much more too.

A few years on and Tim Cahill is one of the best goalscoring midfielders in the Premier League, and he seems to be on the verge of becoming one of the better strikers too. His incessant ability to turn up in the right place at the right time comes as a result of the careful nurturing and encouragement of a boss who had complete faith in his ability, and the motivational skills to make him believe in himself.

Joleon Lescott can be the protagonist of a similar story. Gracing Wolves with some fine performances, he missed their Premier League season with a career threatening injury, and perhaps thought he had missed his shot at the big time. But along came Moyes, he had faith in him, and Lescott hasn’t missed a league game for Everton since he signed, and he has gone from strength to strength as a player, becoming a regular member of Fabio Capello’s England squads and at the moment, is one half of one of the most formidable defencive partnerships in the league, with Phil Jagielka.

Jagielka himself, came from the lower leagues too. Signed from Sheffield United where he had long been held in high esteem and had long been linked with a move up a level, no one had been convinced by him. But once more, Moyes picked him up, took him under his wing and set about turning him into a top class centre back. He gave him the confidence to play his natural game at the top level and he too has been rewarded with England caps, and his progression was confirmed in recent weeks when he kept Fernando Torres, one of the best forwards in world football, securely in his back pocket for over 290 minutes of football in the recent spate of Merseyside derbies.

A common theme seems to be emerging here, and that is of Moyes’ excellent eye for a player, but also, as we’ve seen with Jo, his intriguing skill at getting the best out of them. It is a skill much sought after in a manager. Arsene Wenger is perhaps touted as the ultimate in this regard, with his pièce de résistance being the transformation of Thierry Henry from mediocre winger into a flamboyant and truly world class forward. Harry Redknapp is a man held in similar esteem, he seems to be able to bring together a group of players out of favour at other clubs and turn them into world beaters.

So how does Moyes do it? I believe that his secret lies in creating a team of well balanced players, not simply based on their technical skills, but also on their mental characteristics and temperament. You see, there are no superstars at Everton. Every player who pulls on an Everton shirt with any regularity tend to fit a regular mould. They are determined, committed and hard working people, who are committed to the team and don;t simply play for themselves.

There have been exceptions of course. Many Evertonians were mystified to see Andy Johnson depart in the summer, but I was not. He was a willing runner, but one couldn’t help but feel that Johnson wasn’t in it for the team, He scored goals for Andy Johnson and not for Everton. It just so happened that we payed his salary and so he had to wear our shirt. James McFadden was perhaps, another example. I liked him, but I got the feeling that he and Moyes never clicked, and so I feel that he didn’t fit in with Moyes squad.

Jo on the other hand, seems to fit the bill perfectly. Although he is a Brazilian player, who are usually seen as flair players, and often, quite selfish individual type players, Jo is not. He spent three years at CSKA Moscow, an unfashionable club in Russia, and is noted for his hard work and strong physical presence, aligned with great finishing ability. This work ethic and loyalty make him a great addition to Everton’s ranks, and explain why he has so quickly settled in with his new team mates.

As an Evertonian in recent years it has been a pleasure to watch the bond between the players grow. You can see it in plain view when they are on the pitch, the players are great friends, they get on really well, they understand one another, and they all are 100% committed to the club. This is, as a fan, all I can ask of the players at my club, and it is great to see, especially as it will bring about rewards in terms of the football we play too.

Though for many years in our recent history, when we battled relegation under Walter Smith and some of his predecessors Everton were known as ‘Dogs of War’ and exponents of the long ball game, no one could accuse Moyes team of the same tactics. Yes, we are a strong and committed team, but the football we play is at times, breathtaking. Our midfield is one of the smallest in the league with Arteta, Osman, Pienaar and Cahill all coming in at under 5ft 10in tall. They zip the ball about with great accuracy and speed and look to utilise the overlapping runs of our full backs.

This style of football and the commitment of our players has led to our relative success in recent years, Though we operate on a budget that is minuscule in comparison to the ‘big four’ we have challenged them consistently over the past few years and even broke into the top four of the Premier League on one occasion. All of this success, and our European adventures, are down largely to David Moyes and his excellent motivational skills.

It is he who has brought this side together, with a series of shrewd signings. However, as I mentioned above, a number of clubs looked at the likes of Cahill and Lescott, and could easily have signed them instead of us. However, whether they would have excelled to the same extent under another manager is I believe, questionable. It is Moyes ability to mould a group of players into a cohesive unit and to encourage the players to grow into their talents that have made Everton the team they are today.

With Chelsea having recently sacked the illustrious Phil Scolari, I think it is fairly evident just how important a skill this is to have in the modern game. While Big Phil was an excellent tactician, he doesn’t really have the charisma as a motivator, and I think that is why he failed as manager of Chelsea, and why I was slightly concerned that they may come sniffing around Moyes, until they appointed Guus Hiddink as their interim boss.

Jo’s debut then, aside from being a stunning performance and earning Everton another vital three points in our hunt for a Champions League spot, serves as further evidence to the incredible talent that David Moyes possesses for getting the best out of his players. Whether or not we will be able to afford to sign Jo on a permanent basis at the end of his loan spell is once again, a question that is out of Moyes’ hands. Indeed, with our current financial situation, I think the prospect of that may be bleak.

The outlook for Everton though is certainly not bleak. With David Moyes at the helm we can look forward to further progress, even if there is no money in place. He has shown the ability to create brilliant players from meagre transfer fees and so even if we lack the spending power of our rivals, Everton will continue to challenge at the right end of the Premier League. Thanks to David Moyes, Everton’s own ‘Mr Motivator’, the future’s bright. The future’s blue.

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An Evertonian Tactical Analysis: 4-4-2 vs. 4-5-1

Hello everyone, hope you’re all well. My blog this week will be a tactical examination of perhaps the two most popular formations in the Premier League, with a particular focus on how they are utilised by Everton FC. Most people woulds say that the classic 4-4-2 formation is a more attacking formation than the traditionally more reserved 4-5-1, but I intend to show that in fact, if combined with the right combination of players, 4-5-1 allows the team a lot more attacking freedom and could therefore be considered the more adventurous of the two.

To begin with then, let’s have a look at the two formations in their most basic form:

On the Left: 4-4-2; On the Right: 4-5-1.

Traditionally the 4-4-2 formation is considered the more attacking largely because it simply employs more strikers. And this would be an astute observation if the formation was utilised in that simple sense. But the thing is that today the game of football is so fluid and so fast that in fact, the 4-5-1 formation usually does not resemble the above diagram at all. It is this flexibility that is the key to the formation, and as long as you have players disciplined enough to play to a system, it can be very effective.

Looking at the 4-4-2 formation though, you can see that there really isn’t a great deal of flexibility to it. The two strikers are your most potent weapons, the midfield are there to provide for them and protect the defence, and that’s about it. It doesn’t give particular freedom to wingers, because their absence would leave the central midfielders and defence heavily exposed. One way to tinker with it would be to push one of the central midfielders forward to play ‘in the hole’ but that usually means that the other would have to drop back to protect the defence in what is known as the diamond formation.

The key to utilising the 4-4-2 to it’s full potential lies, basically, with having a truly top class strike partnership. While the midfield can get forward and help out, they do not have a hugely free role and are contained within quite a rigid structure because if they are caught out of position there is no cover for the defence. That means that the strikers will get good service from relatively deep, but from there must capitalise on it for themselves.

That led to the development of the traditional ‘little and large’ strike partnerships that became very popular as 4-4-2 became the most popular formation and are still fairly popular today, with Peter Crouch and Jermaine Defoe at Portsmouth until recently being a good example. This means that the ball can be played up to the target man who can hold the ball up or flick it on to his strike partner. The other option is for the ball to be played over the top for the smaller, speedier striker who can then either go for goal or put the ball into the box for the target man to attack.

Up to a point this can work very well, especially against the ‘old school English’ sort of defenders. For much of the nineties the Premier League was home to many of these sort of centre halves, big, strong and good in the tackle, they lacked any real pace and relied on reasonable positional awareness to keep the quicker strikers in check. Against these defenders the 4-4-2 was effective in that the target man could challenge the big defenders in the air and if he won the ball, the speedy striker who was playing off him was often away, as the defenders had been drawn in to the original aerial battle.

However, the game in this decade is evolving. It has become a much bigger business and so the majority of players are becoming more complete athletes. When Tony Adams was at the top of his game he was an alcoholic, and thus his body was not in ideal condition physically. Yet he was one of the best defenders of his time, and could handle most players. Now though, footballers are honed athletes, at the peak of fitness and physically and mentally prepared for every demand the game will throw at them.

With this development defenders have gotten faster and more versatile. No longer are they just big strong guys who can make a good tackle and bully the little strikers around. Because that just wouldn’t work anymore. Now defenders can be just as fast and agile as the strikers, and the strikers are just as strong and committed as the defenders. And with this development, the effectiveness of the 4-4-2 formation has waned. Now that there are fewer physical differences between defenders and attackers, there is less room to exploit them.

So managers have more and more been forced to turn to a new formation, to try and find new ways to threaten the opposition goal, and the solution it seems, has been the 4-5-1 formation. And the manager who has arguably utilised it most effectively is David Moyes at Everton. But it is not the basic old 4-5-1 formation that we saw above. Indeed, in trying to create a diagram with which to demonstrate it to you, I couldn’t come up with one defining way to represent it, simply because the midfield is so undefined. Instead then, I’ve got a few diagrams for you.

Just a few examples of the ways in which 4-5-1 can be utilised.

As you can see in these diagrams, this 4-5-1 formation allows almost endless fluidity through the midfield. Using Everton’s probable line up against Liverpool on Monday, you can see that the flexibility of the midfield is key to Everton’s chances. Victor Anichebe will likely fill a lone target man role, but by no means will he be isolated. The diagram on the left should demonstrate how we will line up when Liverpool have the ball. We are a tireless side and the four players across the middle of the park, when not in possession will revert to this holding line to keep Liverpool’s midfield at bay.

Phil Neville acts as a sort of safety net should the wall in front of him be breached and then there is the four defenders to get through. If we keep our discipline and work rate, it is a very stubborn defensive formation, and the effectiveness of it is demonstrated by the fact that we have not conceded a goal in our last six games.

It is impressive then, how easily such a solid formation can be transformed into an attacking one. You see in the middle diagram how Tim Cahill has pushed up to be playing off the shoulder of Anichebe, almost as a second striker. Expect Cahill to push forward into this role as soon as we have the ball, and as the arrows indicate, the other midfield players (bar Neville) will also have license to push forward too. In a way this middle formation will create something resembling the traditional 4-4-2, with Cahill forming something of a partnership with Anichebe. However, it is much more difficult to deal with, because rather than being deployed as an out and out striker, Cahill is free to pop up wherever he pleases and so it will be difficult for the opposition to track him. Should he be marked by defenders or midfielders? That sort of confusion is what Cahill makes a living off.

In the third diagram, the one on the right, you can see how the wingers Osman and Pienaar have pushed right forward too. The diagram shows Arteta having retreated to next to Neville but in reality he is not really so withdrawn. Instead he will simply be sitting a touch deeper, perhaps midway inside the opponents half and acting as a sort of lynch-pin for the attack. The wingers give him options on either side, as do the forward runs of the full backs, while Cahill can also drop off a little to provide a link in to Anichebe. This is the sort of formation that Everton will adopt when holding controlled and extended possession as they probe against a resilient defence.

And while there is still only Victor Anichebe deployed as a recognised striker, the fact is that in this formation there is a real goal threat presented by Cahill, Arteta, Pienaar and Osman as well. Compare this to the traditional 4-4-2 where only the two strikers pose a real goal threat and you can see just why the 4-5-1 allows a greater attacking threat. This can be demonstrated quite effectively by the comparative diagrams below.

Red arrows represent balls playable to potential goalscorers.

This diagram then (in all it’s pixelated glory) is meant to be a visual illustrator of the greater goal-scoring threat provided by the 4-5-1 formation compared to the 4-4-2. The red arrows are intended to represent the passes playable to players who are free to score goals in each formation. In the 4-4-2 (on the left) you can see that the only players with enough attacking license to get goals are the front two, and so the service to them is often very direct and predictable, which make it easier to defend against.

On the right hand side though, all you can see is a mass of red arrows. What that means then, is that there are simply a lot of options when playing the 4-5-1. The striker Anichebe, is of course a goal threat, as is Cahill who in his elevated position is playing off Anichebe and so can hover in and around the edge of the box, a constant menace to defenders. But the you also have Osman and Pienaar on either flank who can get wide and get balls played into the box. You might think that would take them out of the goalscoring stakes, but in fact when the ball is on one wing, the other can then tuck in and attack the back post, and Osman particularly is great at popping up at the back post, and Pienaar has notched a few from that position too.

Finally the last real threat on goal comes from Arteta. Although he is the deepest lying of the ‘attacking midfielders’ he can often be found sitting on the edge of the opposition box and so is able to pounce on any balls half cleared (not to mention blasting in free-kicks from a reasonable distance!) with his good long range shooting. In this sense then, you really start to get the impression that the 4-5-1 is a much more effective attacking formation for Everton to play.

I hesitate to say that it is the better formation in general though, because I believe that in the end it comes down to the players involved, and thus formation is relative. We played 4-4-2 earlier in the season, when Louis Saha and Yakubu were fit, but it never really worked for us. The two strikers, though both very good forwards, were not compatible when combined in this formation. They didn;t have enough variation between them, both prefer the ball into feet, to turn and attack the defenders. If the 4-4-2 is to work, you need a good, balanced strike partnership, as Crouch and Defoe demonstrated at Portsmouth.

It was perhaps a blessing in disguise then when Louis Saha did get injured again. Although we then lost Yakubu and Anichebe as well and found ourselves without a recognised striker, it has at least forced us to revert to the 4-5-1 formation. I think that before this season, even David Moyes may not have fully appreciated the value of this formation. I think before now he simply played 4-5-1 because that is what suited our squad. We had a wealth of good midfielders but weren’t exactly blessed in the striking department. However, with the upturn in form since we reverted back to the 4-51, Moyes will surely have realised that it is the key to our good performances.

He has shown this awareness too by bringing Mikel Arteta back into the centre of midfield. When we were playing 4-4-2 he was played wide, with Fellaini and Cahill as the more combative central partnership, and this was OK, because his delivery into the two strikers from wide is second to none. However, with a more cultured and less direct approach demanded by the 4-5-1 formation, Arteta is the perfect player to fill the central role. He is the type of player who can anchor attacks, who the ball can come back to time and time again. He will spread the ball wide, and if there are no further options can always happily have it back, because he is so comfortable in possession.

Moyes then has demonstrated the point I have been making. He has recognised that in the end, the players at your disposal are key to the formation that you play, as demonstrated by Arteta’s new role. This tactical awareness is one of the things that makes Moyes such a great manager. Aside from being a great motivator and therefore getting the most effort out of the players, he knows how to achieve the same thing tactically, how to shuffle his pack to get maximum performance from the players at his disposal.

In these upcoming weeks Everton have a run of very tough fixtures. Two away games at Liverpool this week are followed by a home clash with Arsenal and then a trip to Old Trafford to face the Champions. This run of fixtures will provide a huge test for the squad and really test Moyes’ side. However, I have every confidence that we will cause a couple of upsets in there somewhere, largely down to the commitment of the players and the effectiveness of their work as a unit, thanks to the 4-5-1 formation.

In devising a system that makes us both incredibly solid and tough to break down and rather potent in attack with the possibility of goals coming from throughout the midfield, Moyes has created a beautifully balanced team that functions very well as a unit. In the games against the ‘big four’, those teams packed with such talent that the clubs operating in the ‘real world’ can’t afford, it is important to make sure that every player on the pitch is making an impact. I think Moyes has achieved this, and therefore I think we have a real chance of beating the ‘big four’ teams in our upcoming matches.

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