Everton fans will want to quickly move on to their next fixture after suffering a crushing 4-1 defeat to Newcastle United on Saturday evening.
Everton came unstuck against a rampant Newcastle side who hadn’t won away from home all season, trailing 3-0 at the break thanks to Malick Thiaw’s header, an avoidable Lewis Miley strike and a deft Nick Woltemade lob that had fans at the Hill Dickinson Stadium reeling.
David Moyes won’t have been happy with the performance, despite Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s sweet strike, and it leaves Everton 14th in the Premier League table having done so well to get themselves to within three points of the Champions League spots.
And the Scottish boss has claimed that Newcastle’s prolonged spells in the Champions League over the past few years was evident on the night due to the physicality and nous that they exhibited on a cold, forgettable Saturday night on Merseyside.
Everton winger Jack Grealish.
Photo by Darren Staples / AFP via Getty Images
David Moyes believes Newcastle’s Champions League experience was evident on Saturday
Speaking after the crushing defeat, David Moyes admitted that Newcastle were ‘by far’ the better side.
And their European experience was what carried them over the line, according to the Scot, with Newcastle doing the simple parts well such as covering more distance than Everton.
Moyes said after the game: “We were beaten by a far better team. We go again, you move on, but Newcastle were much better than us.
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“You can see the experience they are gaining from playing in European games.
“They were just much more powerful than us all night.”
The Magpies have faced sides such as Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund in recent years on the big stage and those outings will help their players in the long-term.
Everton need to qualify in Europe to finally take off as a club under David Moyes
Everton haven’t featured in European football for almost a decade, let alone the Champions League.
It was David Moyes who last took Everton into the Champions League back in 2005, and although they had a fleeting run of UEFA Cup and Europa League campaigns throughout his spell and in the years after, the last game they played on the continent was in December 2017 – almost eight years ago to the date.
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Everton v Newcastle United - Premier League
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That reputation of being a regular European-qualifying side alone would help better players arrive at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, and it was clear to see with the likes of Sandro Tonali, Bruno Guimaraes and of course, Malick Thiaw excelling on Merseyside on Saturday evening.
The Toffees were making good progress in their bid to finally end that streak but the 4-1 defeat was a setback and a stark reminder that there is work to do before they can continue to punish teams in the manner that Newcastle did.
Moyes has spoken out about poor performances, and even stars with a lot of European experience such as Jack Grealish were criticised by fans in the defeat.
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