So Are we Ready?

We have played a handful of warm-up matches, no European competitions to worry about, and a recently promoted Watford as our very first opponent. So Watford is definitely in for the taking. To be truthful to myself, I don't think so!

In the handful of warm-up matches that Everton played, they have not been impressive. Neither was the last warm-up game against Atletico Bilbao. 13 Million Pounds spent on new signings, 15 Million Pounds between the two strikers AJ and Beats, and how many games have we won during the pre-season? How many goals scored and conceded?

P W D L F A

8 3 3 2 10 7


Scorers

Victor Anichebe 4
Mikel Arteta 2
James McFadden 1
Kevin Kilbane 1
James Beattie 1
Tim Cahill 1

Summary

AJ & Beats - 1 goal in total
Anichebe - 4 goals
Midfield contribution - 5 goals

Hmm...Let's look into my crystal ball

Attack
Moyes will choose AJ & Beats as strike partners, while Anichebe, who have scored more goals that the 15 million Pound men combined, will serve as a substitute until Moyes realises that Beats has the Ronaldo syndrome, he's kind of overweight. Faddie is an on-off player. Many a times when he's on the field, he's either offside or off form. Let's hope he makes in good this time. Vaughan is just back from a one-year layoff. So lay off that guy until we see the better of him.

Midfield
I like the likes of Cahill and Arteta. They will contribute goals and that's what good midfielders are all about, score goals while easing off the pressure of the strikers. Kilbane is more of a super-sub, while his replacement, VdM has too many off the field problems. The latest is that someone kidnapped his pooch. Not too sure how is he ever going to settle at Goodison Park. There's been good reviews about Simon Davies. Please continue that form, I beg of you. He was much a bit-part player last season. Ossie is the other attacking midfielder. I have a soft soft for him though I still feel that he has to play beyond himself to maintain his goal scoring record of last. As for Neville, he'll need to keep away from the red mist! Cars, I feel, will play a limited part in this campaign.

Defence
Leaky leaky! Weir and Stubbsy were good but slow last season. They come in with a combined age of more than 70! It's another season and these guys are not getting any younger. So go do the Math. Yobo is fast but he just has to learn how to clear the ball just as fast. He got caught out a couple of times last season. BUT he bailed the team out just as many times. From the looks of it, Lescott seems like a good buy. Sandro is aging and may be another bit-part player together with Nace while Valente is a good left back, but is just coming back from the World Cup. May be a bit lathargic. Hibbo may take awhile to come back because of his illness. Wishing him all the best. He is a solid right back. No frills!

Goalkeeper
Tim Howard? Hmm...let's see if he can hold up during the campaign. Moyes will most likely go for him as we have a butter finger as our No 1 goalie - Wright, right!

If we lose Watford, the writing then might already be on the wall. It might be the start of our fight against relegation. So what's new?