Where is it going wrong at Everton?

This may seem like a bit of a rant but I have to get it out of me before I explode.

As most of our regular readers know I do not hide my footballing allegiances.

I watched Aston Villa beat Everton 1-0 at Villa Park yesterday and couldn’t believe it.

Everton completely dominated the match and looked more like the home team searching for an equaliser than the away side. Yet Villa somehow held on, despite Everton having 19 corners.

Goals

Despite having the better of the ball and looking dangerous nobody in a blue shirt could put the ball in the back of the net. It’s all very well playing fancy football in midfield but if it doesn’t lead to goals then it doesn’t matter.

For a team that contains so many players capable of scoring I never felt like we would score yesterday. The likes of Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill and Steven Pienaar are all top class players and usual all pose a goal threat. Apart from Pienaar hitting the bar, I just didn’t think we created enough.

Déjà Vu

The start to the season has been typically poor for the Blues. In the last few years Everton have always started slowly. Last season the whole Joleon Lescott saga unsettled the team and injuries didn’t help.

Everton went into this season with few injuries and nothing hanging over the club. The pre-season was good and preparations seem to go well. Everton boss David Moyes had brought in a few players with his modest budget, but all seem to be decent acquisitions.

Wrong

So with a good preparation and the best first team squad since Moyes arrived what has gone wrong? One point out of nine is not great and we have played teams we should be beating if we are going to be challenging for European places come May.

David Moyes is a superb manager but it seems he can’t get his players mentally right at the start of campaigns. This means that every season we have a poor start and end playing catch up on the other teams challenging for the top six, a position that we have finished in three out of the last five seasons.

Strikers

We do have some good strikers but playing with just one up front is not helping them us score goals. Currently Jermaine Beckford is the first choice striker. However he needs time to learn at the top level.

He has come from the third tier of English football and is expected to lead the line of a Premier League side. To be fair to the lad he has worked his socks off but in the Villa game he didn’t exactly have many clear cut chances to score.

On the bench was French striker Louis Saha, who was top scorer last season. On his day he can be unstoppable but unfortunately for Everton he is frustratingly inconsistent and injury-prone.

Then we have Nigerian striker Yakubu. The big striker has been a prolific scorer in the Premier League in seasons gone by but recent injuries seem to have taken their toll on his body and game.

A lot of Evertonians are now wondering if he will ever get back to his best and there was even talk of him leaving this summer. West Ham was interested in signing the striker but apparently not at Everton’s asking price.

Improvement

No doubt Everton will find good form at some point this season and climb the table, it happens every season. Everton suffered just two defeats in the last 24 games of last season and once on form are a match for anybody.

It’s just until then us Evertonians will be pulling our hair out in frustration and wondering why we can’t start like we finish. However if the Everton team didn’t make it difficult for the fans we wouldn’t be Everton!