Hard when we have Smalling at full back and Rio at centre back both them struggle to pass the ball nowadays. Then we have Fellaini and Cleverley who are devoid of any confidence. Then we have the Rooney dilemma of having to play him behind the striker and that leaves us outnumbered in our weakest area!
All of which Moyes himself can change by not playing Smalling at full back, not playing Rio at centre half, and then actually operating with a genuine #10 that can link the midfield and attack. Our problems are self-inflicted.
It isn't just about 'inferior' and 'superior'. It is about the right players. We have players suited to playing 442. And in any case, not all the lesser teams in the league that play better football have inferior midfield players anyway.
Such as? Look, it may be 'hip' to tear into our players at the moment but I still refuse to follow that line of thought. We have the most consistent midfielder in the Premier League over the past two seasons in Carrick. He probably has the best range of passing, with both feet, out of every single midfielder in the division. We have him. Then there's Fellaini. Admittedly, he's out of form, however, this is a player that has been one of the most effective midfielders in the league for around 3 years now. And people can pretend that he "only looked good in the hole" all they like, but the reality is that it isn't true. The vast majority of Everton fans preferred him in the centre of midfield and for good reason. He was good there. Then there's Cleverley. Generally, he's tidy on the ball, has previously shown he can keep the ball, keep it ticking, and make very quick, accurate short passes. They're not world beaters, but they
are good footballers. They are more than capable of playing in a system and set up that actually advocates passing the ball to one another. Suggesting otherwise is nonsense.
What it requires is a manager that can get the best out of these players. In Moyes, I see nothing of that. Our players are miles apart. Our defenders are pumping it up the park at any given opportunity. Our wide men get the ball without a hint of an option near, and either run with it and make an arse of things - see Adnan yesterday - or do absolutely nothing at all with it and pass back to the full back - we know who I mean here. With our clear lack of style and ideas, we could throw Xavi into the centre of the park and even he would look relatively useless. What good are these players when the coaches clearly don't instruct our players to actually pass the ball? Do we even work with the ball? Only two weeks ago, Kevin Mirallas was on SSN boasting about how Everton now do a lot more ball work and the training is "less Scottish." I kid you not. Look, I don't want to sit here and tear into Moyes either. But the long balls have increased and our style of football has regressed further. We all know the midfield needs work, but that is no excuse for what we see now. I'm fecking sick of reading about how bad our title winning players are, while our no mark manager needs tens of millions of pounds to "sort them out." He needs a couple of midfielders and could maybe do with a nice, shiny winger. He isn't managing Fulham and he has more than enough resources already to achieve some progressive football that actually involves passing the ball a bit.
If Leon Britton, De Guzman and Jonjo Shelvey can pass the football about, I'm pretty sure Michael Carrick, Tom Cleverley and Shinji Kagawa can.