Everton need goals

Friday, 03/09/2010

by Shoot's Everton blogger, Joe Strange.

Deadline day at Goodison Park is normally a very boring affair, and unsurprisingly Tuesday was no different.

Rumours about a late swoop for Wolfsburg striker Grafite proved to be wide of the mark, while Joseph Yobo moved to Turkish side Fenerbahce on loan for the season.

Links to various swap deals involving Steven Pienaar and Tottenham appeared throughout the day but ultimately failed to materialise, as David Moyes was left to contemplate another summer of minimal spending.

According to the papers this morning, we actually spent the third lowest amount in the entire league – now that is depressing. 
For a club which has regularly made it into europe in recent seasons, an outlay of just £1.4m on new players simply isn't good enough, particularly given our poor start to the new season.

We're crying out for a top striker – someone who will threaten defences and score consistently. Beckford doesn't look up to the Premier League, Saha hasn't scored for six months and Yakubu is still not match fit. 
Our failures up-front have cost us dear so far this season. We've dominated possession and chances in each of our three games but only managed to score once.

Sunday's 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa was another perfect example of the problems we're currently facing. Not even 18 corners and 67% of possession were enough to help us find the back of the net.

I keep telling myself that we can't keep playing this well and not pick up points, but that's not much consolation when you're stuck near the bottom with just a single point from three games.

The international break should give the likes of Yakubu a bit more time to get back to fitness, while those away with their countries will hopefully stay injury free ready for the visit of Manchester United to Goodison next week.

Not the ideal game when you're desperate for a win to kick-start your season, but hopefully Moyes' boys will put in the type of performance we saw regularly against the top four last season.

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