Everton: Will We Win Our First Game?

Everton has not won their first game in four seasons and we now come face-to-face with a wounded devil for the start of this season. It's even scarier to note that Alex Ferguson has made some very astute purchases with the likes of Shinji Kagawa and Robin van Persie. So is Everton much better off now than last season? Will we win our first game after five years? Have we done enough during our Pre-season? Let's do a little comparison with what Everton has achieved a year before.

We know that pre season games are meant to build players' stamina and also, sharpen their skills. Still, it is worth noting that Everton played 9 tune-up matches last season - 3W1D5L with Beckford and Magaye showing that they were ready for the season. Goals were hard to come by and yet when the transfer dust has settled, we lost two strikers with Beckford to Leicester City and the protracted transfer of Yakubu to Blackburn Rovers. Not only that, we also lost our playmaker Mikel Arteta to Arsenal. Two loan players came in - Royston Drenthe and Denis Stracqualursi to help keep the club afloat. Many of us had to visit YouTube to see what could we expect from these two players.

It was even gloomier in the 2010/11 season where there were no major transfers, both in or out of the team.

In this new season, Everton played 6 tune-up matches - W4D0L2. Everton had started their recruitment early and though it was just to sign up Pienaar on a permanent contract, and a controversial free transfer of Steven Naismith, the two players proved to be influential in the pre-season games. Everton then went on to sell Rodwell to hopefully, further fund the purchase of more players.
The biggest difference to the team were the signings Moyes made in January 2012. A non-believer of mid-season signing, the purchase of Jelavic and Gibson, together with short term loan deals of Donovan and Pienaar totally rejuvenated the sad state of the team. These players, san Donovan, are still here with us.

Everton is still pretty thread-bare, but from my perspective, the players are much better settled than they were for the last two seasons. Though Manchester United may be a strong team, they are still made up for 11 mortal men. Let's give them all that we have at Goodison Park. COYB!