The Blues boss, like Everton CEO Angus Kinnear, said the intention was to push for a cup run this season
David Moyes watches on from the stands during the Premier League match between Manchester City and AFC Bournemouth at Etihad Stadium. Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images
David Moyes watches on from the stands during the Premier League match between Manchester City and AFC Bournemouth at Etihad Stadium. Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images
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David Moyes wants to do well in the cup competitions this season - though he stressed that is no different to normal.
The Blues boss described them as “hugely important” ahead of Everton’s Carabao Cup tie with Preston North End on Wednesday.
The second round tie will represent an emotional return to the club that shaped him as a player and manager. It will also mark the start of one of the best opportunities for him to add to his legacy at Everton if his current contract, which expires next summer, is not extended.
Moyes took questions on the Preston trip in the aftermath of the season-opening Premier League win at Crystal Palace and made clear his intent was to take both the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup seriously.
Of the importance of the competitions, he said: “Of course we all want to win the cups. Yes the cups are hugely important, would it be more important than staying in the Premier League? I’ll ask you the question: Is winning a cup more important than staying in the Premier League? What would your answer be? Of course we want to do well in the cups, I can’t think of any manager who wouldn’t want a good run in the cups.”
His comments came days after chief executive Angus Kinnear publicly set out the goals for Everton this season. They were to compete for Europe in the league and to challenge for a trophy that would end a silverware drought that would stretch to 32 years if there was to be no breakthrough this season.
He said: “Newcastle, Crystal Palace, have shown that it is achievable of clubs who are ambitious but [where] winning a Premier League or winning a European cup is hard. We have definitely had discussions with ownership and with David [Moyes] about how we use the Carabao Cup and the FA Cup to give something for the fans to really cheer and get behind and be proud of.”
Scrutiny will be applied to Moyes’ team selection given his and Kinnear’s commitment to taking the Carabao Cup seriously - and that Everton were dumped out by a struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers team in the third round of last season. Everton had already won at Molineux in the league when they returned to face a Wolves team without a league win at that stage of the season, but a heavily-changed Blues suffered a meek defeat. The result was one of the lowest points of the campaign, at least until the season-ending winless streak that cost the club a place in Europe.
Asked whether he would rotate his squad, Moyes said he had not thought about it when dealing with the topic on Saturday. He is set to be without Christian Norgaard and Tim Iroegbunam through injury, while he said James Garner was still some way from being ready to start a game after he returned from groin surgery to come off the bench against Palace.
On the potential to make changes, Moyes said: “I did it last year and we didn’t win at Wolves. Our first game was Mansfield and we have a much, much tougher game against Preston. They are a good side and it is me going back to where I started as well. We also have a lot of players who are looking as if... Tyler Dibling is playing better, Keano and Big Jake are around. We have a lot of players who could be classed as first team players, but I have not even thought about it, I was more keen on getting this game played and over.”