David Moyes has called for his side to show more consistency during matches after suffering an “abysmal” second half in their 1-1 draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light on Monday.
The Blues got the better of the hosts for the opening 30 minutes of the contest and created a flurry of chances which was capped off by Iliman Ndiaye’s fantastic solo run and goal. However, missed chances cost them dearly as the Black Cats grew into the game with time and completely outplayed Everton in the second half.
Granit Xhaka scored just 40 seconds after the restart to restore parity and in the words of Moyes, the only positive from the second half was that his side didn’t concede a second goal.
Everton are winless in three matches as the draw with Regis Le Bris’ side was preceded by losses to Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur and Moyes wants his players to show their quality for longer spells.
"Yes, we want to keep it going. That's why I'm disappointed tonight, because I thought the second-half performance was way below the levels we've set generally, and I think we'd set the levels we think we're at in the first half for long periods. But it's not good enough if we're only doing it for 30 minutes. We need to be able to play well. We played quite well at Man City for 30 minutes, we played quite well against Tottenham for 30, 40 minutes, but it wasn't enough and it's not enough. We've got to find a way out – doing it for much longer periods than we're doing at the moment.”
Despite the way the match ended, Everton’s start to the game couldn’t have been better. They dominated possession inside the Sunderland half, created several interesting rotational moves around the opposition box and made constant forays. The Blues also pressed extremely well to recover the ball quickly as the Black Cats struggled to get out of their own half and relieve the pressure.
James Garner had the first stab at goal, shooting from distance inside the first minute and just missing the target. Ndiaye put the Toffees ahead after beating four defenders and slotting into the left corner.
Jack Grealish’s shot from outside the box was thwarted by the woodwork while Grealish almost had an assist just minutes later as his delicious cross to Thierno Barry was met with a ridiculous attempt that flew over the crossbar despite being just two yards away from goal.
"After a few minutes or so I was thinking, 'We've got this game, we're playing so well and if we keep this up then we'll be getting the goals'. We get one, hit the post twice, then Barry misses a big chance which would have made it 2-0. I thought that took the wind out of our sails a little bit. I think everybody sort of went, 'Oh my goodness, we didn't take the chance we got', because Sunderland are one of the best defensive teams in the league at the moment and not giving away too many opportunities.
"So to have got 2-0 up would have been a big thing for us and we didn't get it. I thought they became the better team in the last 15 minutes of the first half and they were certainly the better team for the majority of the second half. I thought we were absymal in the second half. We were resilient enough to stick and get a point out of it, but I'm a bit disappointed. I'm more disappointed with the performance today than I am with the point."
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()
There are no responses so far to this article. Be the first to offer a comment using the form below.
How to get rid of these ads and support TW
© ToffeeWeb