Moyes, how hard will the Carsley loss really hit us?
By Ryan G • Aug 10th, 2008 • Category: Fan Articles | It may have become a cliché, but in recent years Lee Carsley was Everton’s unsung hero – he epitomised everything many fans love to see – passion, hard work and a never-say-die attitude.
Carsley was never going to be the most technically gifted midfielder in the league, not one for magnificent 50-yard passes or extraordinary close control, but he was a vital component in the Everton machine; the foundations which allowed attacks to flourish without fear of leaving an exposed defence. The lack of a replacement in my opinion is worrying to say the least – if Jack Rodwell does not prove ready to shoulder the burden that Carsley carried for many years for what will surely turn out to be a long gruelling season then it will become evident very quickly that our midfield is far more lightweight than it was last season (and some of us were complaining about just that problem then) – Arteta, Osman and Pienaar are hardly heavyweights. Without a strong, gritty defensive midfielder willing to throw himself around and do the dirty work then our defence may become horribly exposed, like for PSV’s goal against us last Saturday.
Lets take a trip back to the 2005-06 season – not one Evertonians look back on with much fondness, due to our rather dull performance throughout, especially in the first few months of the season when we appeared ridiculously toothless and when the opposition would cut through us like a knife through butter. Obviously there was more than one factor contributing to this, but in my opinion a major part of the problem was the fact that Lee Carsley, who had put in such excellent performances the previous campaign, was sidelined through injury for a large part of the season, amost all of it infact. We had to rely on Phil Neville to do the job then, and he simply does not, and never did, possess the grit that Carsley did. I fear that if he is our fallback for defensive midfield in the 2008-09 season we will have no-one who can play the Carsley role, a disastrous turn of events, as it is a role which every team needs.
Of all the disappointments of the summer for Everton, the lack of a replacement for Carsley is, for me, the most worrying – in my eyes we have no-one who is ready to take up the role. Rodwell may prove to be that person in a year or so, but it would be an awful gamble to throw him in this early and expect him to last a whole season, and as for Neville… well I for one just want him as far away from midfield as possible. Who else is there? Jagielka? Yobo? Please. For whatever reason, Everton are making a grave mistake in failing to replace Carsley – it is understandable that many fans undervalued his role but surely David Moyes and his coaching staff recognized his usefulness? It is inconceivable to me that they didn’t, and so surely a replacement must be lined up or a lot of faith is being shown in young Rodwell.
If Carsley isn’t replaced suitably and things go wrong as they did three years ago, then Everton will not be the first and certainly not be the last to underestimate the value of a gritty defensive midfielder – but it is usually an error which is only made once. Last time it was due to injury that we didn’t have him – this time we could easily find ourselves in a situation where we have no-one to cover the position – a dangerous path to go down.
We’re apparently close to signing M’bia, if that does happen, at least I get to say to the Everton board “I told you so” I suppose. Is Mbia good enough anyway?
Really well written article. I agree with all your points, Carsley will be badly missed and I won’t rest easy til someone with a bit of his grit comes along.
Cars played awesome for Brum against Sheff U, I miss him!
if i may be so bold as to say so, i cant help feeling, that MR Moyes, would only let cars go if he was assured that there would be money available for a younger player, to replace him, however i have a strong feeling that somehow Moyes isnt very happy at the lack of finance to strenghten his squad, Moyes is a very astute young manager he is also very ambitous , its no secret that loyalty comes second to money and glory in football, so here is my fear, i fear an interview with moyes saying , i had to take this chance and its with great sadness that i leave everton, but i feel i have taken EFC as far as i can with the very limited resources at the club. The truth is that we must find an investor ASAP the consequences of failing to do so will be disastrous, we are not alone in this predicament, There are many clubs in the premiership looking for investment, and the real fact is that even the so called big four clubs have precarious financial backing not least, our arch rivals across the park. My prediction is that premier league footy is very reliant on rupert murdochs SKY, and should sky decide to move the goalposts, for financial reasons we and many other clubs could go Bang. I have been watching the blues for some fourty years and i am extremly proud to say so, but im sorry to say that money talks and kenwright must walk, if we are to grow into the club of the fans aspirations, oh well saturday brings another season of hope im sure we will do okay, as long as none of the team get injured/ red cards international duties and so on, what i am saying is that we as a club are screwed so we need to get fourty points as soon as poss to ease the pain of being an also ran club.