 EVERTON are on target to collect an unwanted title - that of the lowest scoring team in the club's history. And we shouldn't really be all that surprised. The Blues haven't scored goals for many years - and looking at the Everton squad at the start of the season, you certainly wouldn't have expected them to be in the top 10 of Premiership goalscorers. It's difficult to put your finger on why Everton have proved so goal-shy, but you can certainly spot a few reasons. James Beattie made a slow start, then has often found himself shouldering the goalscoring burden on his own. James McFadden is not an out and out striker, Duncan Ferguson has been more out than in, Leon Osman? What is he, an attacking midfielder or a deep-lying striker? Tim Cahill can be relied upon for a few goals, but even he had to wait until New Year's Eve to open his account. But there's literally nobody else you can expect any goal threat to come from. And that puts an intolerable burden on Beattie to provide. Any team looking to do more than just survive relegation - and Everton should always be looking to do more than that - needs 30 goals from its forward players. When I was at Everton, the strikers - Inchy, Sharpy and myself - weighed in with 60-odd goals. But we were fortunate enough to be part of an exceptional team. And we knew that if we were having an off-day and couldn't get a goal, one would come from a number of other avenues. Kevin Sheedy and Trevor Steven regularly got into double figures from midfield, Derek Mountfield scored 15 from centre-half, while Gary Stevens was also a regular marksman . . . from right-back. Contrast that to the current squad.David Moyes has to find a regular strike partner for Beattie and may have to take a punt on a striker from the lower divisions. Other clubs have done it successfully. West Ham brought in Dean Ashton from Norwich and Marlon Harewood from Nottingham Forest. While Ashton cost big money, Harewood came in for just £500,000. Charlton were spectacularly rewarded with Darren Bent's transfer from Ipswich - for a modest £2.5m - and unless Moyes can find a foreign striker on a Bosman, he may have to consider that option. It's 'replay' agony >>> | 
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