Everton through 2009..

Here is a quick midseason review on Everton. After a lackluster start, going out of the UEFA Cup to Liege and the Carling Cup, we managed to play decent .500 footie. It has only been in the last 2 months where we have been close to the standard that we set last year. What has been the biggest surprise is that our defence has been allowing a lot of goals, and bad ones at that. All three goals at Villa should have been avoided. I attribute that loss to Carsley not being re-signed. I am all of bringing up young players, but Rodwell has not looked ready to stepup and we need someone who will thump the ball into row Z. Overall, with the lack of players we have brought in, I feel that we are doing well to be sitting in 6th overall and poised to move up one spot.

The recent wins have coincided with a lack of fit strikers with Vaughan and Yak out for the season and Saha and Anichebe sidelined. This has led to 4 out of five 1-0 wins with Cahill and Fellaini grinding up front. There is a strong need to purchase a striker in the window and I would love to see us get a winger that can be beat people down the line and get a cross in. It seems like that is the only goal we can score, so we need the production down the line.

The Macclesfield game was dissapointing but not unexpected. A 1-0 win flattered us, although we had good possession on a bumpy field. Howard had a key save at the end and save us an embarrassing replay at home.

My halfseason grades are as follows out of 10:
Howard- 9- has been spectacular all year
Nash-NA
Hibbert 3- occassionally shows he is a solid defender but time and time again his crossing is poor
Lescott-6 seemingly back on form, scoring a bit but should have tackled A.Cole against Villa and taken the booking to save the draw. Getting beaten a lot 1v1
Yobo-7 solid this year, making less mistakes
Jags- 8 one terrible mistake otherwise great
Baines-5 -ok in the team, has his last chance to impress now, can get forward well
Neville 7- love him at right back, starting to play well as a stopper, he is what he is
Arteta- 8- best player centrally this year, we can keep the ball with him- DO NOT SELL
Fellaini-8 Another surprise, I think he will end up almost justifying 15 million
Osman-9 - for me the player of the year so far, scores, can play, defends well, love him!
Castill- looks ok, not enough to prove he can play here yet
Gosling- 3 games under belt and three wins...
Pienaar 7- his injury really hurt us early.. showing his stripes now
VDMayde- sell please for the million we will get
Rodwell-5 looks ok, needs more time
Cahill- 8- scoring, defending and working his ass off, great work Tim..
Saha-6- ok when he plays, same old story
Yak-6 -played ok this year
Vaughan 5- out again, could be his career
Anichebe 4- he needs to score sometime, should get some minutes now.

All for now.. I am hoping for a good second half finish although we may lose in the next round to the Pool who are playing well! Hopefully gerard goes to jail and we have a chance..