There is no denying that the Everton defeat was undeserved and clearly a missed opportunity. I previously argued that the Everton match could be both pivotal and defining for the rest of our season. Certainly, if we had managed to grab the points against Everton, we could have reinforced our position above the relegation zone. That would have then set us up very nicely for two winnable matches against Hull City away and Burnley at home.
But that would be doing it the easy way and the Hammers invariably have other, more painful, ways of going about things! Everton was not a ‘must win’ match, but a victory could have been instrumental in changing our focus from relegation struggle to more positive and ambitious aspirations. However, it does not now necessarily mean that the dye is cast for a season of struggle.
I am looking for us to scramble up to mid-table, consolidate there prior to Christmas and then position ourselves in the hope that a further push up the league table is possible in the New Year. That still remains the objective, in my view, as we now prepare for the Hull City and Burnley games. It is just that now we have put needless pressure on ourselves going in to those key games!
What went wrong? Well, we just set our stall out wrong from the start. I got to the ground late and I was absolutely amazed when I saw that Jimenez had replaced Noble. Surely if you rest Mark Noble, the obvious replacement is Diamanti?
The team did not play badly in the first half, but the incisive play in the final third, apparent against Arsenal and Villa, was missing. We over-elaborated, had little width and unsuccessfully tried to pass through the centre of the Everton defence.
After a lot of unproductive ’huff and puff,’ we suffered two self-inflicted goals of the worst kind. For the first, our players clearly failed to close down Saha and he had an absolute age to get his strike off, 0-1. For the second, we did not clear our lines properly, even though we had the opportunity to do so, 0-2. Everton must have thought Christmas had come early for them at Upton Park.
However, the introduction of Stanislas and Diamanti transformed us. The substitutes ran with the ball, initiated greater movement and gave us width. We looked a different team and pushed Everton on to the back foot. Diamanti played like a ‘force of nature’ and frightened Everton to death with his skill, vision and passing. The way in which he expertly picked out Stanislas’ forward run for our goal was just sublime!
Diamanti is a class player, can anyone still doubt that? Moreover, its clear that his presence lifts the team and brings direction and variety to our forward play. Yes, sometimes Diamanti is over-ambitious with his long range efforts, but you should not discourage a player like him from attempting the outrageous. It’s an integral part of his make-up. He will start hitting the back of the net soon, it’s just a matter of time.
Diamanti must start against Hull City! I reiterate my long standing view that he is best deployed at the point of the midfield diamond, just behind the two strikers. He needs to be given a free role to dictate play and closely support the strikers in advanced offensive positions. And I feel that this is an important point. If he is so accurate and dangerous shooting from 30 yards, imagine how deadly he could he be in and around the edge of the opposition box? In that respect, Diamanti could potentially play the same type of goal scoring role for us that Lampard does for Chelski!
With Diamanti on the pitch, pulling the strings, we carved out enough chances to win three matches! On leaving the ground I overheard the ‘fair weather’ tendency criticising Hines for missing his opportunities. No doubt the very same people, on Wednesday, were praising him to the heavens for grabbing the winner!
Yes, Hines missed two or three good chances. On a couple of those it was probably inexperience that was his undoing, snatching at shots that he should have placed more carefully. The fact remains that he is a real prospect, but he is not the finished product! As good as he currently is, we must not lose sight of that. Hines is on a steep learning curve and it is vital that he learns from his mistakes in this match and comes back all the wiser.
The key thing for me is that Hines has the natural instincts of a goal scorer. He instinctively gets in to dangerous goal scoring positions. He may have snatched his shots, but he had to be in the right position to get the goal scoring opportunities in the first place. You can sharpen your finishing, but it is far harder task to try and teach a striker that type of instinctive play.
We played some magical football in the second half. At times we tore the Everton rear guard apart. Hines is dangerous and Franco is starting to show what a neat player he is. Parker runs himself in to the ground for the cause and we have quality and variation in Berhami, Collison, Noble and Stanislas. The rearguard looks to have improved, but there are still lapses at the back that need work.
We need to be more professional in our approach. We need to defend higher up the pitch as a team, stop making silly mistakes at the back and convert our chances when we have the opposition under the cosh. And Zola needs to rethink using Diamanti as a so-called ‘impact sub’ and play him from the start. Even if he runs out of steam at the hour mark, hopefully by then he will have steered us in to a winning position. At the moment he is being brought on to try to rescue matches and that is counter-productive! When we start getting these things right then the results and points will follow.
I am actually very encouraged by the way that we played in the second half against Everton. I do not see any reason why this team cannot get it right and climb in to mid-table before the New Year.
Hopefully, they will not do it the hard way, but I think it is safe to say that ‘do it,’ they most certainly will!
SJ Chandos.