[Everton](https://roundtable.io/sports/soccer/premier-league/everton) are preparing to face Preston North End in the Carabao Cup this week, and manager David Moyes has sparked some fury among the fanbase for some comments related to the competition.
After a disappointing end to the 2025/2026 campaign, Everton needed a positive result to lift the place again, and there was certainly a positive atmosphere inside the stadium.
Up next for Everton is the short trip to Preston, where they kickstart their Carabao Cup campaign.
Moyes was quizzed on the upcoming tie following Everton's win over Crystal Palace, and his comments haven't gone down well among some supporters.
After the Palace game, Moyes was asked about how important the upcoming cup match is for Everton this week.
"I think it's a question every journalist asks every manager, and in some ways I think 'are those journalists dead stupid?' Do you think none of the managers want to win the cups?"
It was certainly a spiky response from the Everton manager. In a way, he's correct. Of course every manager wants to win the cup, but it was an opportunity for Moyes to read between the lines of the question.
The journalist, Joe Thomas, who I think is one of the best we have as Everton supporters, was clearly looking to get a positive answer out of Moyes that would bring excitement to fans for a cup run. An answer that gives Moyes the opportunity to connect with supporters, showing his understanding of how desperate fans are for a trophy.
“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?”
Is staying in the Premier League more important than winning a cup? Yes, of course. I know that, supporters know that, Joe knows that. But why is it relevant?
Do we have to not take the cup seriously due to the fact that we need to guarantee staying in the Premier League? We are a few players away from having a squad where we can still rotate and win football matches in cup games, when other sides also always rotate.
Take the Palace game for example. Tyler Dibling, Brennan Johnson, James Garner, Jake O'Brien. All on the bench and likely pushing for minutes this week. Christian Norgaard is also a player to add to the squad soon. There will be new signings to take the squad further.
Everton aren't in a relegation battle, and won't be. There is simply no need to be even thinking about the possibility of remaining in the Premier League.
It isn't one or the other. Everton fans can expect and want a decent cup run, and we take it seriously. To achieve that, we don't have to sacrifice our Premier League status.
This leads on from the 'staying in the Premier League' comment, but where is the ambition? Last season, when there was just a small chance of Europe, Moyes was banging the drum that we could achieve it, even though it was going to be difficult. At that point, he was showing ambition, only for Everton to let us down.
Now, before the Carabao Cup campaign has even got underway, we're back talking about staying in the Premier League.
Any relegation talk needed to be left in the 2025/2026 season. At the start of that campaign, I think it was fine to suggest that we just needed to settle in the Premier League for the 25/26 campaign, but in reality, we were always going to be miles away from the drop zone.
Is talk of staying in the Premier League just going to continue forever now?
We're a club looking to head in the right direction. We're a club looking to push into the top half and qualify for European football. We're a club looking forwards and not backwards.
After those comments by Moyes, you'd be forgiven for subconsciously thinking about surviving relegation rather than finishing in the top half.
I'm not sat here now thinking that Everton should be winning a trophy this season. It would be fantastic, but I understand it's going to be difficult. If we're honest, we all know that.
But that doesn't mean we can't dream, hope, pray. Football is all about those three things. What's the point otherwise?
I've seen comments suggesting that we're not going to win a trophy anyway so Moyes' comments make sense. It's not about that. It's about the hinting that we should be grateful to stay in the Premier League and hinting that maybe we should be focusing on staying in the Premier League instead.
If Moyes had of turned around and said 'what's more important? Qualifying for Europe or winning a trophy?', he wouldn't be getting as much stick. Many would still prefer a trophy, but the fact is, that isn't him being unambitious and negative.
For me anyway, it's the fact relegation has been mentioned again that has rubbed me up the wrong way.
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