The last ten minutes of our games has been perhaps the thing that’s stopped this being perceived as one of our best seasons in years. Too many times we let teams come at us towards the end of games. But for that we’d have given up far fewer points and would be right on the heels of the g14ers.
That’s the moans and gripes over with…I am, true to character, being super-pessimistic & hyper-critical. There was so much to be happy about this season. AJ coming in and finding his feet straight away. He had a superb season and but for referees turning against him he could have had an astounding one. He is a great finisher and his instincts coupled with his pace are a tremendous asset. Simply put he is absolutely brilliant at getting goal-side of defenders…after that it’s upto them to either let him go or bring him down.
Arteta underlined his class with a season, if anything, better than the one before, at times he is worth the entrance money alone. He has everything. Skill, guile, vision, workrate, commitment, strength, not scared to tackle and can hit a deadball. I know you always say no player is bigger than the club but it is a privilege to have him in our team.
Then onto Lescott…my player of the season. Every now and then Moyes will bring a player in from the lower league and give him his chance. Cahill took his, Lescott has done the same. Everything Joleon does just exudes strength and confidence. He’s a great centre-half and has filled in comfortably at right-back for a large part of the season.
The youngsters up front have been another high-point. It was wonderful to see Vaughan come back after his terrible injury...he really does look like a top player. A strong, fit committed target man. Perfect foil for AJ. Having Victor in there too is a bonus...possibly a better finisher then Vaughan although not as complete a player yet. They both show a lack of nouse at times but they are both brilliant prospects.
It was nice to get a dependable keeper in permanently and Manuel Fernandes came in and wowed us with his skill and energy (Hope to see him again next season).
Goals of the season….dead heat between Faddy’s late winner against Charlton and Arteta’s against Bolton. I’d actually say Mikels’s was technically better but the flick and volley in injury time by McFadden takes some topping.
There were negatives too…as I mentioned before giving away points by failing to set a tempo late in games was annoying. Osman seems to go with the flow too much and get lost in some games and, much as I’d love it to be different, Beattie just doesn’t look like ever being en effective player for us (Sorry Beats). Not having any proper full-backs for most of the season was annoying…this meant Neville had at best an average season but he stepped up to be club captain. We saw the end of Davey Weir which was a shame but all good things.
In the summer Wright, Beattie, van der Meyde and Pistone will probably move on. Stubbs looks to be worth another year.
All in all I think this was the best Everton could have hoped for...in this era a club in our position can only really set it’s sights on 5th and then hope for a money club to screw up. If you look at the injuries we had to endure then to be challenging for a European spot all season is pretty impressive. All in all watching them troop round on their well deserved lap of honouer there was nothing but pride...When all's said and done the points we dropped from winning positions haven't cost us, they've underlined our potential. Great to see young lads milking the Gwladys St and chucking their boots into thoe crows, great to see Moysie grabbing AJ and getting the crowd to sing his name. Everton 2006/2007 : real pride
Come on you blues...onwards and upwards. If this season is seen as a tribute to Alan Ball then the little man could do a lot worse.
Final Table
Season Stats
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