12 hours ago, Everton defied their critics to hold the Arse to a 2:2 draw at their ground. We could even have won it if luck had been on our side. James Vaughan missed when clean through and then the Arse got the second of their deflected goals in injury time. While victory has eluded our grasp, one cannot deny that this is the best performance from the boys in what has been a wretched season. We made one of the best sides in Europe look ordinary, and we did it without our best centreback and our best playmaker. I think the team ought to be applauded for their Herculean effort.
Imagine my shock and disgust when I read some of the comments on one fan site.
According to Michael Kenrick, who is on the site’s Editorial team:
“I truly believe it is Moyes�s fault. Killing the game is just not in his repertoire. The players are not trained to think in those terms. They are trained to defend en masse, and nick a goal if they can. This game was a perfect opportunity to put Arsenal to the sword, and I�m sorry but we failed. Yes, I do blame Moyes!”
It seems that whatever David Moyes (Everton manager) does, he is criticized. He can be too defensive at times but when he chooses to go for broke last night, he is also criticized. It does not take much logic to realize that not even the best manager in the world can do a thing about it if his forwards cannot hit a barn door from five yards.
Secondly, training a team to defend en masse is not only technically sound, but an essential component of modern football. You build a football team from the back. Why does Jose Mourinho win trophies? Because his teams always have a strong backline. A single goal can decide a football game and if you cannot defend, you will win nothing. Watching Everton last night, I was reminded of FC Porto, who won the 2004 UEFA Champion League. The tactical discipline, short, intelligent, and pragmatic passing, and committed work rate were a joy to behold. No more hoofing the ball 70 yards into no man’s land and our breakaways were a refreshing change from what has been dished out by the team prior to the game.
Everyone who has blue in his heart is no doubt gutted that we could not hold out for a win. Moyes and the boys should be still be commemorated for a job well done.
Not happy at being refuted by fans, Mr. Kendrick defends himself by spluttering more balderdash.
“Paul: "... but the way Arsenal play sometimes that happens." � And the way Everton play, those things don�t happen for us. It�s more than just luck. It�s about having the winning mentality. As a manger, it�s about communicating that to the players, inculcating it into their every thought and action. Moyes always comes up short. Instead of that mentality, it�s "keep it safe", "play it square", "hoof it away", "all back for corners", "maintain your shape"...
Drives me fucking mad with despair when you see what we could be achieving with this team. And a game like this underlines it for me far more than those utter embarrassments against Hull and the like.”
Pray tell, what is wrong with ‘keeping it safe’, ‘play it square’, ‘hoof it away’, ‘all back for corners’, and ‘maintain your shape’? Aren’t all these what any manager would expect from his defenders?
As for ‘maintain your shape’, which professional team does not maintain their shape? Hell, my Sunday League football team is as hopeless as it is, but even we don’t run around helter-skelter! I don’t know what game this joker was watching last night, but we played some very good football and in wintry conditions too.
His other comments:
‘Phil, I think if you analysed the game carefully, you would still see far too many opportunities when the Everton players were making poor decisions while in possession of the ball. For me Cahill is the major culprit in this regard, but his brilliant work to set up the second goal shows what he is capable of. In all honesty that goal was so unusual for an Everton side under Moyes, I could hardly believe my eyes! It was almost a breakaway except the crucial element was Cahill holding the ball perfectly and then playing a perfectly timed killer pass. But too often he would choose to go the other way, or pass it back. The only explanation for me is the overall approach to playing the game, which is something that comes from Moyes. We play in his image. We don’t know how to go for the jugular. '
You know you can't do a single thing rightwhen you are blamed for every fuck thing,
including global warming, the financial crisis
and the death of Michael Jackson..
When shit happens and it is not the gaffer’s fault, the blame always goes to Tim Cahill. He might have wasted a few opportunities but the same could also be said for his teammates. To single a player out for criticism is more often than not unreasonable and in this case, totally unjustified. This is a player who has played in four different positions to plug the gaps in a team decimated by injuries and against the Arse he and Fellaini ran their classy midfield ragged. To digress slightly, he may not be firing all cylinders this season, but the same goes for most of the team. Football fans who were singing his praises last season are now calling for him to be transferred. Shows you how fickle, ungrateful, hateful, and illogical football fans are.
And in football, there is nothing wrong with passing the ball backwards or sideways, especially when there is not a single teammate in front of you. Kendick’s incessant wailings are childish and uncalled for. I don’t know why imbeciles always get into editorial teams and in the media.
Anyone who is taking a course in the Arts should follow football. It is the most artistic and emotionally driven of all sports. It is the most popular game in the world, probably because it has elements unique to it. The bulldozer charge of an NFL quarterback is crude compared to the mazy dribbling of Messi or the lightning fast stepovers of Ronaldo as he attacks the flank. The best baseball pitch and basketball free throw cannot compare to the ineffable beauty of a free kick that curls around the wall and into the back of the net. Imagine the level of skill needed to control a 70 yard long ball using your foot without breaking stride. Or the telepathic understanding of a well-drilled group of players who string 40 passes together without an opponent even getting close to the ball.
Football is also the most emotional game ever. Rangers and Celtic are spilt along religious lines. Fierce rivalries manifest themselves in their boisterous and - at times gory - glory in derbies, when two teams from the same city or area play each other. El Salvador and Honduras went to war after a football match, the football being the last straw for the fermenting hatred between the two countries. It is tribal warfare without the spears, sabers, AK-47s, genocide and pogroms. It is US vs THEM and Gawd helps those who get in our way.
Football allows people the opportunity to let loose their pent-up feelings in an acceptable fashion. All the screaming, shouting , cheering abusing the opposition is a therapeutic exercise unmatched by the costliest shrink session or yoga class. Humans are essentially animals, and tens of thousands of years of social and biological evolution have not eradicated our natural aggression. You don’t even need to hold a grudge against the other team. All it takes is some choice words from ‘that mob’ about your ancestry and even a mild-mannered man may be driven to retaliate with some choice words. For that 90 minutes, you can be yourself. No need to put up appearances for the sake of social convention. You can drop that façade of civility and return, to a degree, what you really are. We are all animals.
Rooting for a football club is essentially an egoistic exercise. You identify with your club because you need to identify with something in the way religious people are religious because they need to identify and believe in something greater than themselves and which represents what they live for. The club is everything you believe in. It is your job, loves and hatreds, family, cherished beliefs and other things more. There may be , physically, no correlation and similarities between a game played with a ball chased by 22 players and what goes on in your daily life, but to a diehard fan, the game exemplifies what he is. Ask any football fan and he will tell you how crappy he feels when his team loses, and when his team wins, suddenly every shit thing in life will turn out fine. The sheer amount of emotional energy invested by supporting the team creates strong bonds between the fan and his beloved team. For many fans, ‘the team is me.’ What happens to the team happens to him. Every goal scored is a validation of his superiority and every goal conceded is an personal insult; he feels every injury suffered like it is his own; suspensions makes him feel he is in jail. Football offers a ray of light at the end of the tunnel that is life for a football fan. No matter how wretched life is, there is always a chance of you ultimately winning in the end. Like when your team wins a game or lifts the cup. That is you. Is it logical? No. But humans are emotional and logic and reasoning often fly out of the window.
*** *** ***
The BBC has just reported that the Togolese have decided to play in the African Nations Cup after all.
After what has happened, to make Togolese team play in the tournament is inhumane. Although the Togolese say they will play in memory of their dead colleagues, the more realistic among us would no doubt wonder about what caused their change in attitude. In Africa, the wiles of the regimes take precedence over the rights of the people. Imagine the amount of dirty money African politicians and organizers will lose if the tournament were to be called off.
My cynicism notwithstanding, one cannot deny that organizers are obliged to provide security for players and supporters and this horrific incident only underlines their inability to do so. Trying to deflect criticism by saying that the Congolese should have flown instead of travelling by road through the separatist region of Cabinda is a pathetic excuse and downright irresponsible.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) should not escape criticism for the way they planned the African Nations Cup. Why is Angola, a country that is being ravaged by civil war allowed to host matches? Who was in charge of security and why was the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda given free license to attack the Togolese team bus? Where were the security forces when the attack occurred?
Managers in the Premier League may have vested interests of their own in suggesting that their African players be allowed to return to their clubs in England, but this does not mean that it isn’t good sense to do so. If the organizers cannot guarantee the safety of the players and their fans, it has no right to insist that they stay. Taking the moral high ground and criticizing the English Premier League and other European leagues for their selfishness is sheer petulance. European clubs, who pay huge salaries to their African players, are perfectly justified in wanting to protect their assets. The commercial interest aside, basic human decency demands that after such a tragedy, players should not be made to force their already fragile emotional psyche through the rigors of a cup competition.
CAF should not use the Munich Olympics as an argument to continue the tournament. Despite its troubles, Europe in the 70s was a lot safer than present-day Africa. After the murder of Israeli athletes, the organizers did tighten up security. I cannot say the same for Africa. Most of the worst genocides in recent years have occurred in Africa. Ivory Coast, Angola and Sudan are still embroiled in civil wars. Even South Africa, among the more developed of African countries, is suffering from high crime rates. Africa, as a whole, is not fit to host any major event, let alone a sporting spectacle of such magnitude.
Arguing that the African Cup of Nations must go on in order to send a strong message of African solidarity to criminals and terrorists is ludicrous as it is exasperating to hear. The only way to send ‘a strong message’ to violent people is to fight fire by fire. You send in the army to exterminate them. You don’t risk the lives of ordinary people in a half-baked PR exercise.
This terrible incident has raised concerns about Africa’s capability to host the 2010 World Cup and rightly so. If there is a lesson to be had, Africa must stop hiding behind their excuses and start to take responsibility. They can start by cancelling the 2010 African Cup of Nations.
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