Everton: Should the Toffess be considered as title contenders?
If you asked me exactly a year ago how it felt to be an Everton fan, I would have gotten up (just for a moment) from my deep ice-cream eating depression and cried at your feet with tears pouring down my face. However if you were to ask me now? Well, I have to simulate the whole scene first to show you exactly how I feel. This is how it would go.
Random person: "How do you think Everton are doing at the moment?"
Me: "YEEEEEEEEEEEEEH, we are gonna win the league, we are gonna win the league!!…(etc)."
If I could have filmed that scene and put it on video it would have been a much more entertaining spectacle. Now away from all the weirdness of my very being, let's get serious. Why is it so good being an Everton supporter at this moment in time and why am I looking forward to every single game? It's simple. We are playing unbelievable football at the moment. Our passing is crisp and fast, we are racking up goalscoring opportunities like there is no tomorrow and more importantly we are scoring goals like there is no tomorrow.
Compared to a year ago, or two years ago or even three years ago, we are doing absolutely brilliant. And not only is it that we are currently doing well, it's that our overall squad quality is better, which means that we could possibly do well for the entire season.
Now, while I am drenched in positivity, I think it is best that I start previewing our next Premier League game, which is against Southampton.
The Saints won their first League game of the season a few days ago, at home to Aston Villa. I watched this game and was hugely impressed with the Saints' second half performance after going one down in the first half. They eventually ran out 4-1 winners.
Their main threats, which Everton are going to have to stop, are Rickie Lambert, Gaston Ramirez, Jason Puncheon and Adam Lallana. However, considering the Toffees' last few performances, this should not be that difficult, but of course that is taking into account how none of these players are yet established in the Premier League and have put together consistent performances to date.
Something that should worry David Moyes would be our central midfield position. Since Darron Gibson has been injured Phil Neville has stepped in and has done a decent job, but I still fear that if he was challenged with a central midfield threat, such as Gaston Ramirez, he might struggle. That's why I think we should move Fellaini back into a holding midfield role and bring in Naismith to play behind the striker. But knowing Moyes he will come up with some amazing tactical plan which will be completely different to mine yet we will still win the game 5 - 0.
Here's hoping we have another great weekend at Goodison.
Calling all Everton fans: Do you share Dave's enthusiasm and optimism for the future? How confident are you that Everton can see off the threat of Southampton this weekend? Do you think Everton could really challenge for the title this season? Whatever your views, we'd love to hear from you.
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