Is Steven Pienaar Surplus to Requirements at Everton?

I’ll start by saying that I am a massive Steven Pienaar fan.  I think he is a really intelligent player, who despite being small in stature, uses his body and the ball in ways that I can only dream of.  The amount of fouls that he wins in the opposition box is brilliant and some of his link up plays with Leighton Baines over the years has been top notch.

So why am I asking the question?  I think the last few games have shown us how our play has evolved and how we now need our wide men to play in order to get the best from the system.  We are no longer as reliant on the Baines/Pienaar combination as we once were and we need our midfielders to use the ball intelligently and to pick a pass to unlock the opposition defence.

The weakness of Pienaar in this current transition is that he can often slow the play down or not play the right ball.  Pienaar can be so frustrating at times when passing a final ball.  For someone with so much skill, he rarely picks out that killer pass into our strikers and doesn’t really have the pace anymore to skin a full back.

I think that more traditional wingers who will try things to unlock the door will be the way forward for Everton and the recent performances of Aiden McGeady and Gerard Deulofeu are testament to that, they have the pace, the trickery and the killer pass that is needed for Everton to become and attacking force once again.

My own personal opinion is that Pienaar will have to adapt in order to fit back within the team.  I think he may start to play more central in a deeper position and he will have to speed up his passing to fit into our new style of play.  Pienaar is a wonderfully gifted player and I think he still has a massive part to play for Everton, but as with alot of players in the modern game he will have to get used to rotated more and more as new players are brought in.

What are your thoughts on Pienaar?  Have your say at www.theevertonforum.co.uk/forum