Wayne Rooney has been speaking about how his former manager David Moyes has improved Everton since returning
David Moyes and Wayne Rooney attend Nordoff Robbins' Legends of Football at JW Marriott Grosvenor House on October 7, 2024
David Moyes and Wayne Rooney(Image: JMEnternational/Getty Images)
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Wayne Rooney believes David Moyes is improving Everton by delivering a simplified message to their players.
The Blues were just one point above the drop zone having taken 17 points in the first half of the final season at Goodison Park under Sean Dyche – less than 50% of their tally in 2022/23, which was the lowest equivalent total in their history as they avoided what would have been a first relegation in 72 years by a single Abdoulaye Doucoure goal on the final day – when the Glaswegian gaffer returned. However, having got them safe with five matches to spare, this term Moyes has got the team in contention for a European qualification place.
Although the 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth on Tuesday was seen as a big missed opportunity to kick on, despite their current six-game winless streak at Hill Dickinson Stadium, Everton have triumphed in 11 of their 22 away matches under the 62-year-old, who has steered them to eighth in the table, having delivered nine top-eight finishes, including a highest ever Premier League placing of fourth in 2004/05, during his first spell in charge. Rooney emerged as arguably the Blues’ most talented home-grown talent during Moyes’ first full season at Goodison Park back in 2002/03 before playing for him again at Manchester United, where the striker won every major honour in club football and finished his time at Old Trafford as their all-time leading scorer.
Speaking exclusively on the Footy Accumulators No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, in partnership with BOYLE Sports, Rooney told former Everton manager Sam Allardyce: “He’s improving. He’s done what you expected Moyes to do, and I think what we’re seeing now in the game is that there’s an overcomplication of everything.
“Moyes, I assume, has gone in and not complicated it and kept the messaging simple for the players. What happened to him at West Ham doesn’t get talked about enough, I think it was an absolute disgrace.”
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Host Allardyce, who also took Everton to eighth in his only season in charge was initially hired on November 30, 2017 to get the team out of relegation danger, but after watching them beat a West Ham United side managed by Moyes 4-0 and then defeating Huddersfield Town 2-0 in his first game in charge, they finished the week in the top half of the table. The 71-year-old recalled: “I was on holiday and got the call that I was going to be managing Everton the next week. I watched the last game in the stands before I took charge, and Wayne scored a hat-trick and one of the goals was from inside his own half.
“It was one of the challenges I’ve faced a few times to try and get teams out of real trouble, and Everton at that time were in real trouble, particularly with the goals they were conceding. But that was an outstanding victory, and that particular goal was too.”
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Indeed, Rooney insisted he wanted to show incoming manager Allardyce his worth that night having been left out of the previous game at Southampton by caretaker boss David Unsworth. The 40-year-old Scouser from Croxteth said: “David Unsworth had left me out of the team and that was the first game he started me.
“He came in, and Joe Royle was overseeing it with Unsy, and he left me out of the team for Beni Baningime. It was only when Sam was watching from the sideline that he put me in, and I scored a hat-trick.”