Fanaticism and Football

Ballack attempts to eat the referee...

It seems to me, as we draw towards the conclusion of another Premier League season, that we’re hitting on some recurring themes at the moment.

First of all, the apalling standard of refereeing in the Premier League, and in football as a whole has ben highlighted time and time again this season. The most obvious and contraversial examples in the last few weeks are obviously that penalty in the game between Man Utd and Tottenham and those non-penalties in the Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona.

I think everyone with half a brain and a video replay will acknowledge that United shouldn’t have had a penalty and that Chelsea should have had two, and I think many people would back themselves to make the right call in real time, given the vantage points of the referees in question. However, I don’t think that is the issue so much.

Instead, what we really want to see from referees is a little bit of consistency. A little bit of reasoning, and the knowledge that, despite how it looks, our team isn’t being treated unfairly on purpose. Because we all know that mistakes are made, that no one is going to get every decsion right and that sometimes that will cost us.

So what we need, quite simply, is to be able to witness the decision making process. When Ovrebo gave a free-kick for the foul on Florent Malouda despite the offence taking place inside the area, we’d like to know what was going on inside his head. Did he think there was a previous infringement for which he pulled it back? Did he genuinely believe that it was outside the box? Or was he preventing Chelsea from claiming a larger lead on the instruction of UEFA and as part of a massive conspiracy?

If we take a leaf out of Rugby’s book (and believe me, this is not a book I recommend very often) I believe we would be able to acheive a more satisfying and healthy relationship with referees. If we fit them with microphones that transmit to television cameras so that we may hear their explanation to players about why a free-kick/penalty has/hasn’t been given, in real time, not after the game, then we will be able to accept that although the decision may have been the wrong one, it was made honestly, from the observation that the referee was able to make at the time, without replays.

Of course, another small improvement that could be made would be for referees to come and and acknowledge that they have made a wrong decision after seeing a replay, and to apologise to the club and its fans for their mistakes. While the damage will remain done, having the grace to apologise and acknowledge that they were wrong will show fans that referees actually have hearts, that they are not trying to actively ruin your season, and that they regret not being able to make the right call, every time.

If you agree with me here, and want to see referees fitted with microphones, please click through to my website where I’ve set up a campaign to that end. It features further, more precise arguments for this measure to be taken and will soon be updated to allow you to show your support for the movement by signing and online petition and adding a badge to your website. Click here to find out more.

The second recurring theme I’ve notice, is players behaving badly. Whether it be Didier Drogba and Michael Ballack in Chelsea’s defeat to Barca, Niklas Bendtner and Ledley King and their nightclub antics or Cristiano Ronaldo and his tantrum upon being substituted this weekend against Man City.

It seems more and more that we are watching a bunch of six year olds running around playing football, who are unable to control themselves and end up making fools of themselves but also of their clubs and of the game as a whole. These are professional athletes, whose livelihood is earned by competing in a competitive sport, and yet they are unable to deal with the pressures of defeat or to look after themselves away from the pitch.

I’m not saying we can impose on how footballers live their lives away from football, we certainly can’t, but I do feel that as role models for the younger generations, they have an obligation to act responsibly both on and off the park, and that obligation is all too often going unnoticed at the moment.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some great professionals still in the game, in fact, the majority of players behave well and are a credit to their club and the sport as a whole, but a minority are letting the rest of them down. When non-football-people think of footballers, they don’t think of guys like Tim Cahill and Paul Scholes, quiet, friendly pros who have a settled family and look after themselves, they think of people like Bendtner and King and Ronaldo and Drogba, overpaid and arrogant egotistical superstars who act like spoiled children, and they apply that attitude to the game as a whole.

I think the companies who sponser these players, from the sportswear companies who give them boots and kit, to the car companies and other businesses that pay them a fortune to sell their products, need to reconsider the players that they sponsor, and if they misbehave, I think they should take away their sponsership deals. It’s a sad fact that some footballers today (especially those likely to get into trouble) are in the game in a large part for the money it brings them, and financial incentives to behave may be the only way to crack down on such childish behaviour.

Thirdly and finally, I think the major thing I have noticed about the conclusion to this season is how little focus there is on the football itself. The issues I’ve discussed above take a large share of the media attention, as do the petty arguments between managers, the transfer rumours, and the financial discussion. Hell, even when talking about the teams under threat of relegation, most people seem more concerned with the revenue lost as a result of moving to the Championship that the fact that the club and its fans will no longer be able to call itself a member of England’s elite Premier League.

The match between Chelsea and Barcelona the other night was a cracker, Chelsea played really well, defending strongly and occasionally attacking with flair and venom, and Barcelona showed the patient, possession football that they are renowned for. But in all the uproar after the game, few people acknowledged that Essian and Iniesta both scored fantastic goals, and I bet the videos of Ballack harassing the referee and of Drogba shouting at the camera (as well as the various remixes of that clip) have been watched as many times as the highlights of the game itself.

Football has certainly become more than a sport on recent years. It’s a business and it’s an entertainment industry and it’s a world of celebrity and of fame and fortune. And while that’s ok, and we cannot resent it because the standard of football that we get to watch has certainly improved as a result, I think it’s a shame that the football itself so often falls into the background.

After all, were it not for the beautiful game itself, that began centuries ago with avreage blokes kicking around a pigs bladder in the mud, there would be none of the other glitz and glamour that seems to be swamping the game. We see footballers donning advertising billboards and on TV commercials, when they really just belong on the pitch. I don’t care what they do off the pitch, as long as they perform well on it.

But it seems that I’m now becoming a minority. People will say that football is the most popular sport in the world, and it may well be, but a lot of people who might be seen to support football are not fans of the game at all. They’re fans of certain players, or of the glamour that it brings. I know many people who support a team but never watch them play, even on TV. They have simply jumped on the bandwagon because football is the flavour of the century.

So as this season comes to an end, I yearn somewhat for a simpler time. When football was all about the game itself, when the talk in the pub was about that beautiful goal, that cutting pass, that thumping tackle; not that new Ronaldo advert, or that referee, or how much money they’ll lose when they’re relegated.

So everyone at SFB, enjoy the end of the season, I hope your teams achieve safety or success, and I hope you enjoy the last few games of football before we encounter a summer without a major tournament; that terrible time when the football itself disappears altogether, and we’re left to put up with the constant gossip and speculation that doesn’t really count for anything at all.

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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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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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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.