David Moyes has reflected on Everton's recent results and performances, and the season so far, ahead of the trip to Sunderland
David Moyes during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Everton at Etihad Stadium. Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images
David Moyes during the Premier League match between Manchester City and Everton at Etihad Stadium. Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images
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David Moyes is content with Everton’s start to the season. And now he wants to focus on the small details that might have turned more big moments in their favour.
Consecutive defeats, albeit to Champions League sides Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, have seen the Blues slip down the Premier League table in recent weeks. While he is intent on a push for the top half, Moyes believes it is important to recognise how tight the league is.
One consequence of that is the exaggerated impact one or two results can appear to have on how a team is viewed. For the Scot, recent weeks may not have yielded wins but the performances could easily have resulted in more points.
This is a view he maintains on the 3-0 home defeat to Tottenham last time out, a game settled by two set-piece goals, with Pape Matar Sarr’s late header coming in the final minutes.
Everton had the best of the game from open play and forced Guglielmo Vicario into three excellent saves and, asked to expand on his post-match comments, in which he said he could take positives despite the result, Moyes said: “I think our positivity and that we kept our attacks on, we kept knocking at the door. Several little things didn't go for us.”
Aside from the stops made by Vicario, Beto had a good opportunity to open the scoring in the first five minutes. The striker also missed good, early chances in the defeat at the Etihad and the draw with Aston Villa.
Asked to assess how he viewed the current state of the team and its displays as work continues to create bonds after a summer of huge transition, Moyes said: “Well, we want just to turn a little bit of, I wouldn't say it was luck, we want to just turn a few things in our favour. A couple of things in a couple of games have just not quite [gone for us].
“We had a couple of chances against Man City, we didn't take them, Tottenham might have gone our way, might not have gone our way. So we've got to try and turn that balance into our favour, maybe you could say with Crystal Palace we did it, we got a goal late on, we looked as if we should have lost that game and we've done it in that game.”
Moyes was tasked with overhauling the playing squad over the summer and, while he was backed in the transfer market by owners The Friedkin Group, the money was needed as he attempted to build a squad that had lacked investment for a number of years.
Key decisions on a number of contracts were outstanding while the club also had to manage the transition from Goodison Park to the new Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The new-look Blues leadership team has only just started its work together, too, after final arrival Nick Cox moved over from Manchester United after the end of the transfer window.
Moyes’ squad has also been hit with injuries, most notably the hamstring issues suffered by star defender Jarrad Branthwaite on the eve of the campaign, and the setback that came at the end of last month.
Moyes added: “We've got to try and keep that balance just going in our favour at the moment. The players have done great, they really have.
“I think that from where we've come and what we're doing and trying to turn it around, we've done as well as we can do at the minute. We'd have loved to have taken more points in some of the games, but, you know, win one game, you're in a completely different position. So, it's not as if we're far away from it.”
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Moyes said the last week had been a positive one at Finch Farm and explained: “We want to encourage the players, we've shown the players the good stuff, but obviously the bad stuff we all know about it and we know we will have to do better on it.
“There wasn't a great deal between us [and Tottenham], and we are talking about a good side and everybody's talking about them being very high up in the league.
“I didn't think there was much between the two teams in the game at the weekend… We've had a good week. The boys have been fine. We got over it, took a day or two to sort of shake it off. But we’re back on it again.”