Source: Daily_Mail
Take your chances to stop the rot! Arteta fumes at Everton's misfiring strikers
Mikel Arteta has blasted Everton's strikers, telling them they need to take their chances and start hitting the back of the net if the Toffees are to stop the rot in their sorry season.[LNB]The Spanish playmaker's side were tipped for a European spot at the start of the campaign, but injuries and poor results have left the Merseysiders in 14th place in the table at Christmas, only five points from the drop zone.[LNB]And Arteta has laid the blame squarely at the club's four misfiringstrikers, who have netted only three Premier League goals this termbetween them.[LNB] Net-finders: Mikel Arteta (left) and Tim Cahill (right) lead the way for the Toffees in the Premier League and have three and nine goals respectively[LNB]Great things were expected of Jermaine Beckford, the 27-year-old who signed from Leeds United in the summer, but he's scored only twice for his new club in 13 league appearances.[LNB]That is one more than Yakubu Aiyegbeni, the Nigerian forward, who hit the winner in the 1-0 win over Stoke. That was his only goal in 12 games.[LNB]And Victor Anichebe and Louis Saha, scorer of the quickest FA Cup Final goal two seasons ago, have both failed to net.[LNB] Misfiring: Victor Anichebe (left) and Louis Saha (right) have both not scored in the Premier League this season[LNB] Australian midfielder Tim Cahill leads the way and has nine league goals to his name while Arteta himself is in second place in the club's scoring charts with three. [LNB]Both are putting Everton's strikers to shame, and Arteta has had enough. 'We need those players to score the goals, we can't rely on Tim [Cahill] all the time,' the 28-year-old told BBC Merseyside.[LNB]'We need the strikers to score the goals because that is going to make a big difference in the team.'[LNB] Hope: Jermaine Beckford (left) has scored twice in the league since joining from Leeds while Yakubu Ayegbeni (right) has netted only once against Stoke[LNB] Arteta is hopeful that Monday's 2-1 win over high-flying Manchester City - in which Cahill and Leighton Baines scored - will be the catalyst Everton need to propel themselves up the Premier League and spark a great run in the New Year.[LNB]The midfielder, who missed out on the victory at Eastlands though suspension, is confident the New Year will herald some Everton resolve - especially if the strikers start finding their targets.[LNB]He continued: 'We've had ups and downs, and I think we're not in the position we wanted to be at this moment in the year.[LNB]'The truth is we've had some really bad results against teams that we were hoping to beat, and we've had some really good ones against teams that some people thought we would not get the points [from].[LNB]'So it's been a really strange season from the start, and there's still half of the season to go so we want to put that right.'[LNB]Everton, who host Birmingham in their Boxing Day fixture, won only three points from their opening five games, kicking off the campaign with a 1-0 defeat at Blackburn.[LNB]A draw with lowly Wolves was followed by a loss to Aston Villa, who have also been struggling of late.[LNB]Then Arteta and Cahill both scored in injury time to earn a point against Manchester United at Goodison Park in one of the games of the season so far.[LNB]Many observers thought that the brilliant 3-3, a comeback from 3-1 down, would be the turning point Everton's season.[LNB]Though Cahill and Arteta struck again to down arch rivals Liverpool at Goodison, the team have struggled to finish most teams off and have drawn half of their 18 games.[LNB]Arteta thinks that if Everton are to climb back up the Premier League they must hope for some good fortune - which, he suggests, was on show on Monday night when they held on to three points with ten men as Mario Balotelli struck the post.[LNB]He added: 'The last game against City we had that luck we've been missing in the other games, and we won that game.[LNB]'Some people were expecting [Everton to lose], and they had the chances to score but for some reason they didn't.[LNB]'And the two chances we had, we took them. In the other games this has not been the case. I think that was the big difference.'[LNB] McLeish weighs up a £1.5m move for Boca Juniors striker Pablo MoucheBirmingham boss McLeish battling Villa for Tottenham striker KeaneAndy Townsend's boot room: Clash of the day - Everton v BirminghamStriker Victor Anichebe urged to stay at Everton by manager David MoyesDonovan reopens Everton move debate with candid Twitter discussion Explore more:People: Louis Saha, Tim Cahill, Victor Anichebe Places: Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool
