Everton take on Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Carabao Cup at Hill Dickinson Stadium on Wednesday night
David Moyes (Photo by Harvey Murphy/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
David Moyes (Photo by Harvey Murphy/News Images/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
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David Moyes will have to seriously contend with the outcome of Everton’s deadline day for the first time on Wednesday.
The departure of four players - Nathan Patterson, Beto, Iliman Ndiaye and Tim Iroegbunam - followed that of Adam Aznou on the penultimate day of the summer transfer window. Even with the late arrivals of Jack Grealish and Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Moyes entered the run to January with just 18 senior outfield players.
That presents a problem for a club that knows it cannot afford to pass up opportunities for a cup run. It was Wolves that ended the Blues’ Carabao Cup hopes at this stage last year, beating a much-changed Everton team at Molineux.
This should be a different proposition. Wolves are now a Championship side and, while in the likes of Raul Jimenez, Andre and Hugo Bueno they have players who would compete for places in Moyes’ threadbare side, Everton should have enough to overcome them.
That this game is at Hill Dickinson Stadium should help, as should the pragmatism likely to define Wolves’ approach to the game: This season has to be about returning to the Premier League - anything else is a distraction.
That is useful for Moyes as he leads his squad through a three game week. He does so without the injured Christian Norgaard who will not be available before the trip to Hull City next week.
Merlin Rohl suffered an injury against Manchester United that rendered him unavailable for the trip to Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening. He is, therefore, unlikely to feature in midweek.
That poses one of several problems for Moyes. With Rohl potentially out, does he play the only specialist right-back at the club Ainsley Maitland-Niles, knowing a knock would be difficult to respond to? Or does he move Jake O’Brien there - depriving him the option of resting both James Tarkowski and Jarrad Branthwaite?
In midfield, teenager Harrison Armstrong has started all five games this season but Hayden Hackney and James Garner have had their minutes managed through the summer and, like Branthwaite, Moyes will be wary of overloading them.
What this game should be is a chance to look at Tyler Dibling and Carlos Alcaraz, two players who have barely featured this season, more closely. For Everton to have some resilience in their squad they need one, if not both, of that pair to step up to support the frontline attacking options of Tyrique George, Jack Grealish, Brennan Johnson and Thierno Barry.
Moyes cannot afford to make too many changes though - it would be better to start strong and aim to rest players if they can get the team ahead than risk making this a difficult night.
But this might be an opportunity to see whether Brennan Johnson can share the burden of playing up front with Barry - after the collapsed Falorin Balogun deal he will need some help from somewhere.