In addition to the new writers, we are looking to flesh out the site a little more, things like expanding our coverage to include Youth, Reserve, and Ladies teams at Everton, revisiting the history of Everton, and hopefully a podcast about all things Everton. If there is anything you are interested in seeing on the site, drop us a line at everton.theoffside.com, or sign up on SB Nation and join us here. Hope to see you all over there, and until next time COYB!

Taylor: Going into the season, there was a lot of optimism surrounding Everton Football Club. Our strong finish last season showed the quality in the side, and many predicted a top 4 finish. While I was certainly optimistic last summer, I was not amongst those that thought we could qualify for the Champions League. There are simply too many clubs with vastly larger budgets than us competing for those 4 spots. Still this season has been somewhat of a disappointment. Our inconsistency is maddening. We can compete with the best teams in the league week in and week out, yet we always seem to falter against weaker opposition. We have shown we can play good, attacking football, but often lack the final ball and the ability to break down weaker teams that tend to sit back and defend against us. Our core group of players is as good as any in the league, but our depth is not as talented as those that consistently finish at the top. While this is largely due to our small budget, it is frustrating, because we have shown that we can compete with the best, but always come up just a bit short. It is often baffling how we can go and beat a top team in their house one week, and then lose at Goodison to a weaker team the next. Injuries have certainly been our enemy this season, but all too often our top players have not shown up. That being said, our team spirit is not in question. The boys all seem to be friends off the field and want to fight for each other on it. We have shown an ability to overcome adversity unlike any team in the league. It has been a roller coaster of a season, and I think if you look at our overall performances, 7th is not an unfair finish. If someone predicted 7th in November, they would have looked like a fool, so I suppose we can be happy that the boys put together such a strong finish to the season. At the same time, the last few months have proven that we are a quality side, and if we could only play the entire season like we do the second half of it, we would be in Europe every year. I have a lot of optimism going into next season. During our injury plague, some young guys stepped up and performed well, and they will certainly be very useful going forward. If our squad stick together and stays the same over the summer, and we can start the season like we finished this one, we will be a force to be reckoned with. Clubs with much larger budgets than us would kill for some of our players, and teams with similar funds can only dream of the squad we possess. While we will be left wondering what could have been this season had we consistently performed at our best, we can at least be proud of the boys and their ability to finish the season strongly, and can have hope for a better finish next year. So to sum it up, I am disappointed because I know we are better than 7th place, but in retrospect, we did not perform at our best consistently enough to finish above some of the teams above us, so our current position is a fair reflection of the season.

Brian: As for me, this season really just seemed to be a typical Everton season under David Moyes. Once again we started the season off slowly, drawing games we should have won, and losing games we should have drawn. The only real difference seemed to be the lack of injuries early on, but that problem fixed itself as we moved in to the new year. Tim Cahill truly saved our butts in the first half as his knack for getting a head on the ball proved to be the one bright spot during those dark months. As usual, the turn of the calendar brought a type of form to the Squad, as Everton managed to remain unbeaten at home through the second half of the season, and dropped very few points in a charge that saw them secure a 7th place finish, up one spot from last season. Unfortunately this season Everton was not able to qualify for the Europa League as both the Carling Cup and FA Cup spots went to teams that did not qualify for Europe, which is a shame as the squad could use the extra money. As always Everton turns toward the summer with the hope of hanging on to its stars, while being able to bring in a few low priced players that David Moyes can work his magic on.

That is all for our quick season reviews here on Everton Offside, check over at Royal Blue Mersey in the coming days for their brief take about how this season went with Everton. Of course just because the the season is over doesn’t mean that we are going anywhere. Over the next few weeks we are going to look at Everton’s season from every conceivable angle as we wait for the silly season to open up. After that we will move into looking at the future for Everton, including previewing the new season, taking a look at the new squad, and as always hoping against hope that Everton can retain some of their biggest names in the hope of finally making a challenge for the final Champions League spot. On other fronts we hope to have some news for you about the future of the Everton Offside/Royal Blue Mersey partnership that includes new writers, new features, hopefully a new podcast, and if we are lucky a few other goodies that we can bring to our readers.  Hope you enjoyed this season, and until next time COYB!

Before the game and thinking about both teams, it was obvious that the threat to our three points was going to come from Chelsea’s dominance in the midfield and movement off the ball.  Obviously this would enable them to string more passes together, create more chances and with chances comes goals – or so it would seem.

Chelsea unleashed £50million worth of world class player in Anelka, Essien, Lampard and Malouda to create the chances for the blunt Torres.  It looked to me like their game plan was to get one of their attacking minded players to either a) drop in to drag one of our centre backs out to create space for the Spanish international substitute to exploit or b) get out wide, thus stretching our back four and dragging our midfield about a bit allowing the very intelligent Lampard to exploit the holes created.

The second option worked very well with the England man successfully completing 53 of 59 passes, the majority of which were played from just in front of our back four to Anelka, Malouda, and the on rushing Cole and Ivanovic.  However, despite creating numerous opportunities, only one fell to their record signing and it wasn’t set up by Lampard.  Torres had ONE shot, from outside the box, and it was blocked.  Another operation required for the excellent Phil Jagielka to remove Chelsea’s number 9 from his back pocket (but he should be OK for pre-season). In comparison to the 11% of Chelsea’s play which took place around this area, Everton managed only 253 Successful passes in total and 6% of our play took place in the “hole,” highlighting the lack of movement in the current squad.

From the back, Tony Hibbert, Phil Jagielka and Sylvain Distin were absolutely solid.  Leighton Baines’ defensive qualities are questionable.  However, I wouldn’t swap him for any left back in the league including the one in black with orange trim on Sunday.  Leighton bombs up the left hand side of the field like no one’s business and for the past two seasons has been our main outlet – embarrassing at times that your main threat is a left back.  This places extra onus on the right back to tuck inside by 10 to 15 yards when he does so, allowing the other 2 centre halves to shuffle across to cover and effectively play as a back 3 until Baines recovers.  Baines spent more time on Sunday at the Chelsea by line than our own (6% vs. 2%).  This has been the story of the season and the reason why he has made more successful crosses and assists for goals than any other player in the Premier League this season.  Player of the Year by a long shot and fully deserved.

The midfield comprised of a World Cup final centre half and the rather frustrating Jack Rodwell.  Heitinga does a job there, no doubt, but he does tend to run around like a headless chicken – a dangerous game to play in the middle of midfield allowing your back four to be exposed especially with the likes of Lampard in opposition.  However, he had a steady game and we didn’t concede, not bad considering the queue for the treatment room at present.

This week, the manager has come out and told the press he requires £15mil to build a team around Rodwell.  I think he has the Birkdale youngster mixed up with a certain Belgian.  I can’t personally see what Rodwell brings to our team when he plays, but perhaps this illustrates that he is in fact a centre back and not a midfielder.  Rodwell’s strength is breaking up play and passing the ball simple.  He also has a very good engine.  In my opinion, his weakness is going forward, joining in the attacks, and his ability to see the bigger picture.  At times this season, Saha and Beckford have made very intelligent runs off the ball and when the centre of midfield contains Rodwell he has failed to see these runs.  In his defence, he is just a kid and the amount he has to learn is learnable in the time he has left in the game.  However and again my own view, I would be more than happy to cash in to either Manchester club or a London club for a minimum £15mil so that Moyes has no option but to build a team around Fellaini.  Leon Osman also played in the middle of midfield. Osman has been excellent since Christmas and stepped up when Arteta was injured.  Again, he had a great game. Neat and tidy on the ball, always losing his man to find space for the pass, linking up well with Coleman down the right and getting stuck in when needed.

The boss went with Arteta on the left and Coleman on the right. Coleman was up against Ashley Cole who, like Baines, loves to attack.  Both Coleman and Leon Osman exploited this very cleverly.  When Chelsea decided to attack with Cole on the overlap he passed Cole onto Hibbert.  The centre of midfield tracked back to cover.  This left Coleman in space as the outlet to look to attack.  When Coleman was unfortunately and harshly dismissed, Osman moved into this area to look to receive the ball and you could hardly notice the one man disadvantage.

Arteta did well as the game progressed.  He started to put his foot on the ball, move inside onto his stronger foot (and have Ivanovic on his weak side) and tried to thread in Beckford.  It’s unfortunate that he did suffer injury as I think Arteta could have had a big finish.  As it is, I would cash in on him too and get fresh blood in.

The goal scorer, 10 goals in his first season freebie Jermaine Beckford had an excellent yet frustrating afternoon at the office.  His movement up front is very good at times and he gives us something which we have lacked for years in pace.  However, his finishing justifies why I wouldn’t have paid any money for him.  He found himself one on one with the goalkeeper on three occasions and converted one.  His goal was excellent, no doubt, yet it was the most difficult chance of the lot.  He’s had that sort of season.  His goal at Anfield was superbly taken on the turn and struck just as the ball bounced.  However, one on one, 6 yards out, he puts the ball out by the corner flag.  Encouraging first season for Beckford and I can’t help wondering what he will be like with a consistently fit Saha or another striker next to him.

All in all, Everton held our shape very well, especially at the back.  The two central midfielders were disciplined throughout and left the flair stuff to the four players ahead of them.  I only hope we can find a midfielder who can move into space as well as Osman but who has the ability to play the killer ball forward.

In his first season in the EPL, Jermaine Beckford reached 10 goals for the season. Most Evertonians have a divided opinion of the former Leeds striker, and I know I have been critical of him earlier in the season, but no one can deny that Beckford has had an excellent season for a player who this time last year was playing in League One.  Although Beckford still needs to improve his finishing, he missed too many open chances this season, he certainly excelled in an impact substitute role where his pace and strength caused a lot of difficulties for the opposing defense.  Hopefully Louis Saha will be able to remain healthy for a longer period next season, because it would be very interesting to see a partnership between the two form in a classic 4-4-2, similar to what the team played in January to great success. For those of you that haven’t seen the goal, or want to bask in its gloriousness once more, just click play and enjoy.

Seamus Coleman had no business getting sent off for a second yellow card. This was the classic case of the tackle looking much more serious than it really was, plus a bunch of Chelsea players deploying some despicable Barcelona like tactics by surrounding the ref. If you look at the video, Coleman executes a proper slide tackle to the front of the Chelsea player, and his cleats hit the ball square on, the problem is that his foot then rolls over the ball and into the players shin, which causes him to fall as though felled by an ax. I could understand if the ref decides it is a foul, but worthy of a second yellow is just plain crazy. Of note here is how the ref was not even reaching for a card until the Chelsea players surrounded him, at which point he then reached into his pocket. But in the end justice was served as Everton managed to score despite being down to 10 men.

The best part of this game was that it was the first time in a while that the team took the game to their opponent for pretty much the entire 90 minutes. One thing that Everton has been justly criticized for has been the very up and down play of the squad over the course of the game. On Sunday the squad decided to dominate the game for a good 75-80 minutes, far more than they normally do. Even in games that Everton has won convincingly, they often struggle for close to an entire half before managing to put a goal or two in to secure a comfortable lead. This inconsistency has been compounded by an inability to score, which leads to dropped points. If the Toffees can come to play for an entire 90 minutes, then there is no reason why they won’t be in the hunt for a Champions League berth at the end of the season.

Although this is the final game of the season, both the Everton Offside and Royal Blue Mersey will be here every day through the summer to give you our thoughts on this past season, look ahead to the new season, and maybe we will have some transfer news here and there to sprinkle in. Check back here tomorrow for a tactical look at the Chelsea game, and then on Wednesday we will begin taking an in depth look at this past season, as well as a few changes on the horizon. It hasn’t always been fun this season, but it sure has been exciting and until next time, COYB!

To begin with, Everton does not have the ability to break down a side that is going to try to park the bus. With Wigan sitting in a relegation fight, their tactics were very predictable, bunker down in the back, and then try and snatch an early goal and then get all 10 men behind the ball the rest of the game. Compound this with the lifelessness that Everton showed for the first 20 minutes, and it was a recipe for at least one point if not three. Time and time again, especially in the first half Everton rushed the ball forward and promptly lost it as the ball was played to a player in traffic. The few times the side was patient and moved the ball around, the Toffees looked extremely dangerous, but it seemed there was too much focus on hoofing the ball up the pitch as quickly as possible. This was rather disappointing showing considering Everton are normally able to get a large number of quality chances, but fail to put them away, which is much better than failing to even convert chances.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this weekends game was just how poor Leighton Baines was in the back. Baines was caught ball watching on the first goal, and things did not get better from then on. Wigan constantly attacked down our left flank, which not only forced Baines into some last ditch defending, but also prevented him from getting forward as often as he normally does, which only hurts the Everton attack. Hopefully this is just a temporary thing from Baines who was able to convert our second penalty kick of the game, and not an issue that will continue for the rest of the season.

Of course speaking of penalty kicks the question has to be raised why Arteta was allowed to take a penalty kick. Now granted the kick was well taken, and Wigan’s keeper did well to save the kick, but it seems inexcusable to stop riding the hot hand on penalties, in addition to letting a player who just returned to the lineup try and take a penalty with all the pressure that accompanies it. Maybe Baines taking the kick wouldn’t have made a difference, but with the confidence Baines has that attempt would have probably found the back of the net, and we may have ended up with 3 points.

That about sums up this past weekend’s match against Wigan, up next for the Toffees is a home match against Manchester City. Hopefully Everton will once again be able to grab 3 points from a top 4 side to help secure a seventh place finish. Also I will spare everyone a rant against Victor Anichebe, I’ll save it for next weekend when he inevitably screws up again, and until next time COYB!

On the injury front Tim Cahill returned to action at the half against Manchester United, but both Fellaini and Saha are still out due to injury. Cahill was a marked improvement for Everton, but it is possible that Moyes will leave him out of the starting lineup this weekend in order to give Cahill a little more rest in preparation for games against Chelsea and Manchester City next month.

Projected Lineup:

Beckford

Cahill

Osman – Rodwell – Neville – Coleman

Baines – Distin – Jagielka – Hibbert

Howard

The back 4 will once again look the same as Tony hibbert provides the cover at right back while Phil Neville plays in the midfield. Hibbert was at fault for the lone goal against Manchester United as he lost his man on the back post when both Distin and Jagielka shifted to the left to shut down the attack. Jags and Distin both had fantastic games against United and will be looking to replicate their performance against an out of form Wigan side, while Baines was fairly quiet last week as he was forced into a more defensive role to take care of an advancing United midfield. Look for him to get forward much more often against a suspect Wigan defense.

As always any questions about team selection will come from the midfield as the return of Tim Cahill gives Moyes yet another choice. On the right side Seamus Coleman is most likely to get the start with his speed likely to terrorize the left side of the Lactics defense. In their previous meeting, Coleman was unlikely not to score and will be looking to add to his tally this time around. On the left Leon Osman is going to try to be the creative maestro for the Toffees as he continues his excellent run of form over the second half of the season, and his linkup play with Baines will be key for Everton to have any chance of grabbing 3 points. In the center Rodwell and Neville will get the start together once again, with Rodwell hoping to have a much better game than he did against his possible future team last weekend. Tim Cahill is likely to get the start in front of the central midfield in his tradition role, and hopefully he is fully fit for the first time since the Asia Cup in January. Since his return he has been largely invisible when in the team, certainly a far cry from his fantastic form that kept the team afloat in the first part of the season.

Up top Jermaine Beckford is likely to get the start unless Moyes decides to scratch his Victor Anichebe itch. Although Beckford is never going to be an amazing lone striker, his hold up play and speed is of a much higher quality than Anichebe although his work rate will certainly need some improvement. Ideally Moyes would play both together in more of a 4-4-2 to give both players more support, but almost always reverts to his traditional 4-5-1.

With Bolton having encountered a rough patch of form recently, Everton look more and more likely to keep a hold on seventh place, but will most likely need to win out to have any hope of catching Liverpool in sixth place. Saturday’s game is on Fox Soccer Plus or foxSoccer.tv here in the US at 10am ET, 3pm in England. Enjoy the match and as always head over to Royal Blue Mersey for the gamethread, and until next time COYB!