Fernando Torres: will he or won’t he?

by Simon Sparrowhawk

Fernando Torres goes into next month’s World Cup with his head spinning after a torrid season at Liverpool. Rumour has it he wants away from Anfield this summer, but where will he end up?

Chelsea, Manchester City and Barcelona are all known to be admirers of El Nino but more will try their luck if the Spaniard becomes available.

Liverpool will be in a strong position should their star man follow Cesc Fabregas’ path and request a move. Rafa Benitez will be able to start a bidding war. So, let’s assess the major contenders for his signature.

Chelsea: The Blues are allegedly at the front of the queue for Torres and they could certainly compete should a likely bidding war ensue. Backed by Roman Abramovich’s billions Carlo Ancelotti would fancy his chances of netting arguably the world’s finest striker. But, do Chelsea need him? They do have Didier Drogba after all. Drogba won the Golden Boot this season and Torres is highly susceptible to injury. He could cost upwards of £70million, surely Chelsea would be better served refreshing their team in other areas.

Manchester City: Torres is widely speculated to be Roberto Mancini’s number one target. Wages? Whatever Torres wants. Fee? Whatever Liverpool want. Money is not a problem for City, but they have one big problem and it’s called the Champions League. The primary reason for Torres leaving Anfield would be the lure of Champions League football, something the Eastlands outfit cannot offer. The former Atletico Madrid captain is motivated by success, not his bank balance, so a move to City does not make sense.

Barcelona: The prospect is mouthwatering. Lionel Messi, David Villa and Fernando Torres as a three-pronged forward line would be unstoppable. With Xavi, Andres Iniesta and, in all likelihood, Fabregas the supply line would be constant and deadly. But, can Barcelona afford him? And, do they even need him? They have Zlatan Ibrahimovic too and he wants to prove himself at the Camp Nou. Having already spent £40million on Villa and £60million last year on Ibrahimovic, can they justify £70million on Torres. Pep Guardiola knows what he is doing and Torres, Messi and Villa seems too good to be true…it probably is.

Real Madrid: It is no secret that Torres has said he will never play in the white of Real. He is Atletico born and bred, he was their youngest ever captain and is still a legend at the Vicente Calderon. Torres would not sacrifice his reputation, standing and legacy with the Atletico faithful to join Jose Mourinho (as seems almost guaranteed now) at the Santiago Bernabeu. I’m sorry Madridistas this will simply not happen.

Inter Milan: Italian football is back! Inter Milan and Jose Mourinho claimed the Champions League in Madrid this week, so Serie A can consider itself back in the big time. Internazionale are rich enough to stay in the race for Torres but will they be as successful next season? Mourinho is on his way to Spain and Inter cannot guarantee that the new boss will be able to keep them in the hunt for the biggest prizes. Torres wants trophies and, with Mourinho, Inter would stand a great chance. Without the Portuguese, I can’t see Torres moving to Italy.

Manchester United: Contrary to popular belief, the Red Devils could afford Torres’ potentially massive transfer fee. But, and it’s a very sizeable but, Fernando Torres plays for Liverpool. He is not a mercenary, he has morals and he loves the Liverpool fans. He will never move to the other end of the East Lancs Road. Torres to United is a complete non-starter.

So, the big question, where will Fernando Torres start next season? I know where I would be putting my money. Liverpool. He will not go to Real or United. City are not in the Champions League and Inter are about to lose Jose Mourinho. The only real possibilities are Chelsea and Barcelona. However, neither of them need to spend £70million on him.

Whether he likes it or not…El Nino is stuck at Anfield.

Interesting Start to the Premier League

After three weeks, who would have though that Tottenham Hotspur would be sitting on top of the English Premier League ladder? They have won a perfect three from three and this is their best start to a season since the Double winning side of 1960/61.

Chelsea has also been playing some great soccer and won its opening three games. Manchester City has justified its big spending with a perfect two from two and Arsenal has also managed this.

Manchester City hasn’t put a halt to opening up the purse strings and this week finally signed Everton’s Joleon Lescott. Following the decision of John Terry to stay at Chelsea, Mark Hughes has been after Lescott. Despite the constant rebuffs of David Moyes, City upped their offer and finally Everton agreed.

It has been a horror start for Everton who have lost their opening two matches. Arsenal hammered them 6-1 in the opening game and then Burnley defeated them 1-0. It has two wins as does Sunderland.

The season has also been notable due to the stuttering start of Liverpool. Losses to Tottenham and Aston Villa see them with three points from three games. They are in 10^th spot and already spotting a six point deficit to those on top of the soccer league. Its next game is away to Bolton and it won’t care how ugly it is – it will just want to come away from there with three points.

Manchester United have rebounded from their sluggish start and face Arsenal is an absolutely massive clash. This is easily the match of the weekend and will be huge for both sets of supporters. Arsenal has been sliding under the radar and a win at Old Trafford will change all that. It has been playing some great soccer and it will be looking for some form of revenge after United knocked them out of last year’s Champions League. Arsenal have a midweek Champions League clash against Celtic but should be able to take it easy after a 2-0 win in Scotland in the first leg.

Everton’s match against Wigan will be critical for the Toffees and David Moyes will be looking for them to kickstart their season. They are traditionally slow starters and a win here will ease some of the tension. A loss will exacerbate it many times over.

David Wiseman writes for us. When not doing that he is looking forwards to the Caulfield Cup.

Everton FC: The Heart of Liverpool.

The site of Everton's new stadium?

Though Everton’s season on the pitch looks to be shaping up nicely after a shaky start, there still hang some serious clouds on the horizon with regards to the clubs future. The ‘new stadium’ debate is one that has been rumbling along with our club for some time but has really gained some momentum in recent years, with the Kirkby proposal seemingly being the chosen option for the Everton officials.

There is no doubt that Everton do need an improved stadium if they are to continue to progress as a club, to allow for larger crowds and thus greater profit to match their on field ambitions. However, I have serious reservations about the Club moving it’s stadium outside the city limits, as Kirkby would be. I’m sure that those inside the club, those with the power to make decisions, feel that in their heart too, and I think they have perhaps abandoned that hope too easily.

Of course, the obvious problem with a new stadium within the city itself is that there are very few, if any, areas for development within the city that are large enough to allow a football stadium and all that comes with it, to be built. A few years ago, we explored the Kings Dock area and even got as far as having a vote amongst season ticket holders as to whether to leave Goodison and go ahead with the move. However, eventually that prospect fell flat and so we were forced to look elsewhere.

The really grinding thing though, is that there is a location that would be perfect for a new stadium. It’s about a minute from Goodison Park and has plenty of space available for development. I’m talking of course, about Stanley Park. And this was an option that was explored, and a couple of years ago, the club approached the Liverpool council with regards the possibility of using the land to build their new home. The council though, said that it was land that was indispensable as a public park, and would not consent to have it bought up for ‘private’ use.

A few years later though, and Liverpool FC, now also deciding that they need a new stadium, also approach the council about the possibility of a Stanley Park stadium. And surprise, surprise, in February 2003 they were granted permission. The plans are now in the pipeline, and the stadium was due to be completed ready of an August 2012 opening before the economic decline halted its progress.

The fact remains though that the Council has gone back on it’s decision to keep Stanley Park for public use, and given Liverpool permission to build a stadium where Everton were denied. This is downright favouritism towards the ‘more successful’ of the city’s two largest clubs, and to my mind, is downright wrong.

For one thing, Everton are the oldest club in Liverpool. Founded in 1878, fourteen years before Liverpool, we were also the original tenants of Anfield stadium, using it from it’s construction in 1884 until 1892, when we left due to a rent dispute and moved to Goodison Park. The owner of Anfield then founded a new club simply to have some use for his stadium, and thus Liverpool FC was formed.

So Everton FC were the first football team in Liverpool, and we remain the People’s Club of the city, as David Moyes memorably christened us when he took the manager’s job. But he had a point when he said that the man on the streets of Liverpool supports Everton. The people who actually live in the heart of the city are usually Everton supporters, with Liverpool’s support often coming (quite famously) from further afield and even abroad. This trend, of the people of Liverpool supporting Everton is probably due in part to the fact that Everton were established before Liverpool. The local people already had their team, and we all know how allegiances are passed down bloodlines, thus the ancestral people of Liverpool, support Everton.

It seems even more ridiculous then, that the prime location for a new stadium in the centre of Liverpool was given not to Everton, the People’s Club, but to Liverpool. If we move to Kirkby and Liverpool move to Stanley Park, match days in Liverpool could have the bizarre occurrence of Everton fans leaving the city to go to their stadium, while Liverpool fans flood in to the city from around the country to their stadium. Surely it would make more sense for Everton to remain in the city, as both history and the majority of supporters’ location suggests is logical.

Of course, this option seems closed to us now. Liverpool have been given Stanley Park, and so we must accept that, unfair as it may be, we cannot use that space (don’t even mention sharing). I still think though, that we belong in the city. Everton are, as I have discussed, the city’s founding club. We are the People’s club, and so why should the people of the city have to leave it to watch their team play at ‘home’?

Now comes the point in my article where I must consider the plausible options for remaining in the city, and this is unfortunately where I hit a bit of a hurdle. I can’t pretend that there are many, because there aren’t. The club has looked long and hard, but space for a development of this nature is hard to come by in such a busy city.

It is this which will prompt some to call for a shared stadium between Liverpool (despite my annoyance), and in a sense, it is a sensible call. Financially it would make sense and both clubs would have a prime location for ‘their’ stadium. But would it really be ‘their’ stadium? I think not, I think that with a shared stadium, each club would lose a big part of their identity. Goodison Park is a historic old ground, full of grace and character. Of course we will lose it when we move, but we will retain it’s qualities, and we establish a new ground that feels like home, that is our spiritual place. Likewise, Liverpool have their Kop end, and that is something else that could not be shared. How could a stand be ‘the new Kop’ one week and then be full of Toffee’s the next? It would simply destroy any chance we have of transferring our atmosphere from our current grounds, and that is something that should not be sacrificed.

So if sharing is not an option (and it isn’t), and there is no room for new development within the city, surely moving away is our only option. That is certainly what the club seems to have concluded with their Kirkby proposals, but I hesitate to agree. I think that there is a great location within the city that could house a stadium. In fact, I know it could house a stadium, because it already does.

I’m talking of course, about the area enclosed within Goodison Road, Bullens Road and Gwladys Street, where Goodison Park currently resides. Because what we need is a better stadium. It doesn’t have to be completely new, and we don’t have to move. Goodison Park has the central city location that we so desire, and it also has rather good foundations for a stadium. I fail to see then, why we are not seriously looking in to the possibility of updating and improving Goodison Park.

The club say that they have explored this possibility, but I don’t know to what extent they have done so. I have a sneaky suspicion that what most puts them off the redevelopment of Goodison is that it would mean we miss out on a lot of financial help for the improvement of our Stadia. Moving to a new ground would allow Naming Rights to be purchased, as well as the development of some sort of ‘complex’ adjacent to the stadium, which would help fund the build – at Kirkby, it’s a Tesco’s.

Now of course, that’s a handy financial boost. But I for one don’t like all this commercially named stadium bollocks. The Ricoh Arena for christ’s sake?! Ricoh make photocopiers!!! And why does a football ground need to be surrounded by a supermarket or ‘luxury apartments’ or a fitness complex? It doesn’t. That just detracts from the majesty and purity of a football stadium. It is a place where only one thing matters. Everything should be geared towards the football, and what happens on the pitch. They shouldn’t be trying to sell you shit on the way in. This is football dammit!!!

So I would be glad of missing out on those particular annoyances if we were to stay at Goodison and redevelop. Obviously that creates financial problems, but really, we’re in no state to build a stadium even with naming rights and a fancy complex at the moment anyway. We’re broke, and need someone to buy us and invest pretty heavily (but sensibly, none of this ‘Kaka for 100m’ rubbish) and so if we have an investor, why not just spend a bit more on redeveloping Goodison. After all, we won’t have to build from scratch anyway, as I said, it has good stadium foundations!

The only other major obstacle I can see to this plan, is that the redevelopment of Goodsion may make the ground uninhabitable while the work is being completed, and so it may leave us with nowhere to play. I am not much of a builder (understatement of the century), and so I don’t really know the logistics of it all, but perhaps the redevelopment could be done in stages, with simply a reduced capacity while the work is done, or (‘lo and behold) we could share Anfield for a season or two. God I actually shuddered as I typed that.

My point is though, that I don’t see any major, major problems with the prospect of redeveloping Goodison, and the fact that it would keep us in the city, and let us remain at our beloved Goodison Park, are enormous plus points in its favour. If anyone else can shed any light on other stumbling blocks that I may have missed, please do so, but at the moment, I see it as an entirely plausible (and favourable) option.

At the end of the day, I think it would simply be a tragedy if Everton were to leave Liverpool itself. While Liverpool, have more history in their trophy cabinet, it is we who have more history in the city. We have been here longer, it is where we belong, and it is where our fans live and work. The heartbeat of the club and it’s fans are in tandem, from the heart of Liverpool itself. I think it is absolutely sickening the way we have been treated by Liverpool council, but I think the club should do absolutely everything in its power to prevent us leaving the city. Taking Everton out of Liverpool would be like ripping my heart out of my chest. It just shouldn’t be done.

By Adam Howard.
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“Rafa Is Cracking Up” As Manchester United Hit The Top

‘Rafa’s cracking up,’ rang out around Old Trafford last Wednesday night, it was not a concerned cry from Manchester United supporters, they were merely laughing at Rafa and his recent antics in trying to upset Sir Alex Ferguson, the ‘King Of The Mind Games’.

Benitez’s outbursts are more an act of mental disintegration and as Gideon Haigh pointed out, this is a unique talent of the England cricket team that they were able to inflict mental disintegration on themselves rather than their opponents. Many believe Benitez did the same thing when he produced his piece of paper last Friday week, seeing it as an act of appeasement on a par with Neville Chamberlain.

Nobody knows anything and they know even less when dealing with Alex Ferguson. Last week a Sky reporter admitted that he hadn’t wanted to ask Alex Ferguson his views on the latest revelations in the Patrice Evra case having already asked him about Ronaldo’s move to Real Madrid. You get out while you’re ahead was the general tone of his report, suggesting that while enjoying an audience with Alex Ferguson you don’t want to do anything that would upset him so it was one tricky question per turn. Nobody ever feels that way in a Rafael Benitez press conference. They ask him anything they like and feel comfortable diong so. With Sir Alex they tread very carefully indeed!

At a time when Liverpool and Chelsea should be enjoying ‘relative safety’ from United after their trip to Japan, they find themselves both behind them as the New Year celebrations are left behind and the run-in to the season is about to begin.

Chelsea and Liverpool could have been 16 points clear of United on their return from the World Club Cup but they blew it big time. Since Japan United have won five straight league games and have not conceded a goal for ten straight matches either, equalling Chelsea’s record.

The fact that United again scored a very late winner yesterday against Bolton doesn’t mean they are the luckiest team in the world either as most opposition fans seem to think. Why do you think Chelsea and Manchester United do this so often and with consistency? It’s because neither team will give up for one single second during a game and they will fight until the final whistle. This is why the two supposed ‘luckiest’ teams score so many late winners.

Against Bolton yesterday United had a hat full of chances any one of which could have gone in. It just so happens that it was a late effort from Dimitar Berbatov that won the game for them.

Now, instead of still being well clear of United after the Japan adventure, both Chelsea and Liverpool find themselves chasing them again and if you ask me, it will be a futile chase once again. To beat United you obviously must score and for the last 900+ minutes of football, no one has managed to figure out how to do this.

The writing is on the wall……….Click Here For More Manchester United News From Carly

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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Everton vs. Liverpool: A rivalry explained.

Liverpool's Dirk Kuyt tries to kill Everton's Phil Neville.

With the draw for the FA Cup 4th Round pitching my club Everton against our greatest rivals Liverpool and therefore meaning that we will face them twice in a week, I decided that it might be wise to try and explain just why there is such a passionate rivalry between the two clubs. Most clubs have close rivals, some get on but most don’t. However, it is often hard for people to understand the rivalries of other clubs from the outside. There is something innately instinctive about such rivalries.

Obviously that means that my explanation of ‘our’ rivalry may be hard to define of course, and naturally, telling it so much from one side will mean that you will get only one side of the story. I will try to be fair and unbiased though, and I hope it sheds some light on this particularly fiery aspect of fandom. I for one find the obsessions and habits of football fans quite interesting, to be so committed to something over which we have so little control makes little sense, but that’s football for you.

One last qualification before we get going properly too. I am only 19 years old, and so the greater part of the rivalry between the clubs developed before my time. I know some parts of it, but in many ways, what follows will be an explanation of the modern rivalry between Everton and Liverpool. So without further ado, let’s begin.

The obvious starting point of the competitive spirit between the two clubs comes from their close proximity. It is natural that when two teams compete so against each other and in such intimate locations that a competitive rivalry will develop. The fans will know each other, loyalties will divide friends and even families and so the bragging rights hold a lot of sway in such a tight-knit community. However, rivalries like this can often be friendly. Yes they are competitive, but when it comes down to it, they get along, and will stick together should an ‘outsider’ emerge.

This is no longer the case between Everton and Liverpool. While I hear it may have been the case to begin with, relations between fans are now very much strained. For me, as far as I’m aware, this more hateful rivalry began to develop in the mid 80’s.  The two clubs had dominated English football for the whole of the 80’s leading up to the 84/85 season. Liverpool had admittedly been more successful than us, but we were in the ascendancy and won the title that season. Naturally with both clubs so strong there was an extra edge to the rivalry, but that was set to increase as events unfolded on May 29th 1985.

In what has become known as the Heysel Stadium Disaster thirty nine people were killed after rioting between Liverpool and Juventus fans in Italy at the European Cup Final. There had been a heated atmosphere between the two sets of fans all through the lead up to the game on the day, and this was fuelled as the two sets of fans began to throw missiles at each other. Tensions were building and eventually a section of the Liverpool fans charged across the chicken-wire fence and ‘no-mans land’ to bodily attack their Italian counterparts.

Evidently that was more than the Italians had bargained for, and they retreated in the only direction they could; in the direction of the corner flag. As the congestion built up and people began to be crushed, some began climbing the concrete stadium wall to get out and relieve the pressure, but the wall then collapsed, killing 39 people and injuring about six hundred more. After this tragic event, and due to the mindless violence of the Liverpool fans that caused it, English clubs were banned indefinitely from European competition.

Aside from the tragic consequences that occurred directly from the disaster itself, the Heysel disaster also had a large impact on English football as a whole, and Everton in particular. The prospect of a lack of European competition for English clubs meant that many of the best players at the top English clubs were no longer content to play in England. They, understandably, wanted to compete at the highest level, and so there was something of an exodus to European teams who were still allowed to compete in UEFA tournaments.

This obviously affected a large number of teams, but in particular, Everton were hit hard. We had just won the league title and finally looked to have overtaken Liverpool as the best side in England and even in Europe. Liverpool had dominated European Competition for the last few years, and Everton, having finally overcome their rivals, looked set to take over their crown. But of course, with no European competition to challenge for, the majority of the clubs best players, and their manager Howard Kendell, left the club, and we fell from grace rapidly in the years that followed.

So in a way, Everton were denied what looked set to be a great era for them, when they would have dominated Europe in the way that Liverpool had done for so long. It was Liverpool’s fans in their violent actions in Italy that cost Everton this chance at glory. It is a fall from grace from which we have never quite recovered too, which was also aided by another key moment in our modern history.

Sir John Moores was a great British businessman who built the Littlewoods business empire and made his family one of the richest in Britain. He was also though, a devout Evertonian and had a couple of stints as chairman of his beloved club, investing some of his fortune in the club along the way. However, as he grew older and fell ill, he withdrew from the business world and left the managing of his business empire to his family.

Unfortunately, David Moores committed the greatest sin in football. Raised in a family of Evertonians he switched allegiances to, of all clubs, our great rivals Liverpool, and selling his share in Everton, ploughed a great deal of money into the club on the red half of Merseyside. This left Everton in a financially vulnerable position (which we retain to this day) while Liverpool were quite rich. Obviously money is not everything in football, but it just so happened that this occurred at a time of crossroads in English football – namely, the induction of the Premier League.

This was the point at which football as a business really took off, and started along the path to becoming the money making machine it is today. It was when the game and the clubs within it became much richer, but also, as is often the way, the clubs who were already in a better financial position tended to profit more from the sudden influx of cash. Thus the likes of Manchester United, Blackburn Rovers and now Liverpool who were financially secure were setup ready to become big players in this brand new and exciting league, and thus profited early from the money that came in.

That left Everton fans with a very bitter taste in our mouths. Obviously David Moores had every right to do what he did with his money, but having been benefactors of our club for such a long time, and being the nephew of John Moores, our long time chairmen and devout Evertonian, we felt that his loyalties should lie with us. If that had have been the case, it would have been us benefiting from his riches, and us taking advantage of the economic boom that football experienced as the Premier League era began.

Essentially what that means is that Everton were again denied a shot at greatness by their rivals, who profited in their place this time. And in many ways, this is the basis of the rivalry. Everton worked incredibly hard to build up a great team in the 80’s, playing football produced from ‘The School of Science’ and eventually rising to challenge Liverpool, only to see them undo our hard work before it had really paid off. Then again, we were denied the chance to profit hugely from the Premier League boom, and instead Liverpool have ridden the gravy train to their recent success.

This probably sounds like we are bitter that they have been more successful than us, but i don not think that’s the case. I think it is more that we feel we have had a bit of rough luck over the years, whereas they have had a lot of good fortune. But more than that, the two clubs also stand for the differing backgrounds of the fans of both clubs, and this is what makes they rivalry so passionate. Obviously here I will make some generalisations, and I ask your forgiveness, but it is impossible not to when discussing a club’s fan base.

When David Moyes was appointed as Everton’s manager eight years ago, he made an immediate impression in his first press conference, when he declared that Everton were The People’s Club of Liverpool. He said that the man on the street in Liverpool supports Everton, and he hit the nail on the head, and gave the club a new nickname in the process. It is true though, that by and large, the working classes of Liverpool support Everton.

Liverpool have a famously foreign fan base, with their supporters often coming from not just outside of Liverpool but also outside of England itself. On the other hand, the majority of those who are regulars at Goodison Park have grown up in the mazey streets around the grand old ground, or in the surrounding City and it’s suburbs. In a way, this difference is key to showing the difference between the two sides. Everton’s fans are hard working and long suffering, while Liverpool’s tend to be more elite, prawn-sandwich eating corporate types, to make use of popular stereotypes. Or course, not all of them are, but far more than one would expect, and that is key.

This difference in class (to the extent that British society retains it’s class system) is symptomatic of the resentment between the two sets of fans. The upper classes traditionally regard those below them with scorn and feel superior, while the lower classes resent the wealth and arrogance of those above them, especially as they work so hard themselves simply to survive. As you can see, these societal relations are almost exactly those reflected in the fortunes and relationship between Everton and Liverpool. Everton are very much characteristic of the downtrodden but resilient underdog, while Liverpool appear very much as the swanning, haughty aristocrat, and this is bound to bring tension.

Everton feel that we are deserving of the sort of fame, wealth and prestige that Liverpool seem t be attributed the world over. Founder members of the football league and the Premier League and the first English club to clock up 100 seasons in the top flight of English football. We have had some success too, but when looking at football on Merseyside, a neutral will always regard Liverpool as the ‘bigger’ club, due to their bigger honours list. But were it not for Liverpool and the various incidents discussed above, it might be we who were the ‘bigger’ club. Our fans, long suffering as we struggled to re-build deserve success and recognition. We have suffered for it and it will be all the greater when it comes.

This rivalry will rear it’s head again next week when Everton face Liverpool at Anfield twice in a week, in FA Cup and Premier League matches. The recent games between the two sides have furthered the angst between the two clubs, with Liverpool having dominated in the results department, but having been incredibly fortunate with various refereeing decisions and other key happenings. Penalties awarded against us, red cards given to us and not them have been regarded as typical of the blatant bias that English football seems to have to all those clubs in the ‘big four’.

Such favouritism to the ‘big boys’ naturally riles us Evertonians as we see ourselves very much as their equal on history and passion and feel that we should be treated as such. Therefore, one may expect the upcoming derby games to be heated and passionate affairs, as they always are. So for the neutral watching these games, when you watch them or see the result, remember, there is more than the result riding in this game. More than a place in the FA Cup 5th round or three Premier League points. This match is representative of a societal struggle, the clash between the working class and the upper class.

People argue that there are no more class divides in English society, but that is simply not the case. They are certainly less distinct and the middle class has swollen considerably, but there is certainly still a divide there. The clearest representation of this divide is football, which is so often representative of the society to which it belongs. When the class divides truly have been demolished and all are equal, there will be no more rivalries. Everton and Liverpool will co-exist peacefully and be treated fairly and equally, and the derby matches will simply be the culmination of a friendly local competitive spirit.

The upcoming matches will not be that though. The rivalry between our clubs, and the divide between the fans, is still as ferocious and passionate as it has ever been. The matches will reflect that, and for once wouldn’t it be nice if the underdogs truly overcame their more celebrated rivalries. If you have ever felt that oppression, the lack of recognition or simply the patronising arrogance of those who believed themselves your betters, lend Everton your support against Liverpool. We are the People’s Club, and we represent the People. Everton’s success is symbolic of the people’s success, and we have waited for it for too long.

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Robbie Keane for Arsenal?

Although it sounds rather absurd and stupid, there were rumours that Arsenal may be signing Liverpool’s Robbie Keane, as Keane hasn’t played the football and scored the goals he wanted to in Liverpool. And the ironic thing is, Keane was the one who scored a stunning goal in Liverpool’s match against Arsenal.

But the chances of him moving is really slim. Liverpool wouldn’t really just sell a player they bought for 20 million after half a season. It’s not a smart financial move, and seeing Arsenal and Liverpool are rivals (not the right time too, 20 years ago, everybody know what Michael Thomas did), Liverpool wouldn’t want to sell and the asking price may be high. And will the fans accept it too? I don’t know. This is a man who once played for Arsenal’s fiercest rival, Tottenham Hotspurs, and he may have changed club, but the history is still there.

Finally, Robbie Keane’s goal against Arsenal was fantastic, and that may just be what Keane needs to start his goalscoring run.

So from what I think Robbie Keane won’t be moving.