The Everton manager spoke about the state of the squad after the friendly loss to Roma at Hill Dickinson Stadium
David Moyes the head coach / manager of Everton during the pre-season friendly match between Everton and AS Roma at Hill Dickinson Stadium on August 9, 2025 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images)
David Moyes believes Everton still have significant work to do in order to be ready for the new season. The Blues boss saw positives in the narrow defeat to Roma - particularly in the first display in Royal Blue from new signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
But he acknowledged there are wider issues that need to be dealt with ahead of a landmark first campaign at Hill Dickinson Stadium. Asked for his assessment of his squad with the season opener against Leeds United just eight days away, he said: “We’ve got a lot to do, haven’t we.”
Moyes was speaking after Everton fell to a 1-0 defeat in their final pre-season friendly - the senior team’s first game in front of supporters on the Liverpool waterfront. James Tarkowski, Thierno Barry and Iliman Ndiaye all had good chances to give the Blues the lead.
But the hosts faded after a series of changes on the hour mark - after which Matias Soule scored the only goal of the game.
After the match, Moyes said: “First half I thought we were OK, I didn’t think we played so well in the second half. Roma were better in the second half. We missed a couple of opportunities to get in front but didn’t take them. The first half was OK, the second half we weren’t so good.”
Moyes was pleased with the performance of Dewsbury-Hall and Everton’s drop in competitiveness coincided with the withdrawal of the 26-year-old and fellow new signing Barry.
On their performances, the manager said: “I thought Kiernan did well. I thought he gave us some quality. You could see the difference in his levels and some of the things he did were very good. I was really pleased with that part. I think Barry had moments as well."
Mark Travers, Adam Aznou and Carlos Alcaraz have also been signed but Moyes has been outspoken in his desire for more transfers - and more are expected over the coming weeks. This match was a reminder of the lack of options he has on the right, both in midfield and defence.
His problems were exacerbated with left-back Vitalii Mykolenko forced off with an early injury. His issue is yet to be fully assessed but it comes with Nathan Patterson being examined over a potential hernia problem and with Harrison Armstrong out after suffering a thigh strain in training.
Moyes remains focused on addressing his side’s creative struggle. He said: “We've been lacking it [creativity] for most of the pre-season to score enough goals and make enough goals. So, we did do last season, we scored a lot of goals in the second half of the season. Hopefully we're keeping up for the start of the season.”