Neville believes Everton are over-achieving with the squad currently at Moyes' disposal
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville, pictured here at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, believes David Moyes' Everton side needs more quality if it is to mount a proper challenge for Europe. (Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville, pictured here at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, believes David Moyes' Everton side needs more quality if it is to mount a proper challenge for Europe. (Photo by James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
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Gary Neville has called on Everton’s owners to back David Moyes in the summer if they want the club to progress.
The former player-turned-pundit was full of praise for the Blues after their narrow defeat to Manchester United. On the job being done by Moyes, he said what he has achieved to date with his current squad is “absolutely fantastic”.
Neville argued Everton have a group of players with lots of positive attributes but that the team lacks players of the quality required to mount a challenge for the higher reaches of the Premier League table.
Everton fought hard at Hill Dickinson Stadium and were unfortunate to lose after a solid display against Michael Carrick’s side. The hosts were undone midway through the second half as they sensed an opportunity to push for a win - only to leave themselves exposed at the back.
Even then, it took a sublime long ball from Matheus Cunha to set free Bryan Mbuemo, whose pass was finished by Benjamin Sesko. All three players involved in the move cost Man United in excess of £60m in the summer.
On the performance of Everton, who are ninth in the league and within touching distance of the European qualification spots after four successive relegation fights, Neville told his podcast, The Gary Neville Podcast: “They were game, they were dogged, they were organised, they got beat by a sensational goal from a counter-attack the full length of the pitch. It was always going to be about one moment of quality or one mistake. David Moyes, at the end of the season, will just want a higher contribution from his board and the ownership. He needs some players, doesn’t he? I think what he’s getting out of these players and the position they are in the league and the points total they have is absolutely fantastic.”
Everton spent more than £100m in the club’s first summer transfer window since the takeover of the Friedkin Group. While the outlay represented the most significant spend for some time, Moyes’ checklist was significant as he sought to overhaul a squad that had lacked investment during the chaotic final years under former owner, Farhad Moshiri.
While Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and the injured loanee Jack Grealish added Premier League-proven quality, Everton’s lowly position of recent seasons meant the club largely targeted prospects who could grow their talent with an upwardly mobile side. Some of the growing pains have been obvious in a season of both real progress and missed opportunities.
Neville continued: “It’s not a spectacular team. They have got a very good set of pros who put a real shift in, which is a great quality. You can’t criticise any of those lads out on that pitch tonight. I always say if you’re an Everton fan leaving this stadium, they’ll be very disappointed but what they’ll never do is question the actual commitment of the players. You can’t. You can see they’re giving everything.
“They just need those three or four players. Now, I know every team needs three or four players but if they had an Mbeumo… a player who seems to exist at other clubs. They have got [Iliman] Ndiaye down here, he is lively and good but they need two or three players who can give them that bit of quality to go with the solidity and reliability of the other lads that they have got.
“They could then jump up to eighth, seventh and be challenging in those positions but they’re going to need that recruitment to be good and David Moyes is going to need backing. These Everton fans deserve that... You feel for Everton in the sense that they put a lot into the game, they probably shaded it territorially in the second half, but the quality in open play wasn’t good enough… I just thought Everton on the set pieces and in open play did not have that little bit of spark and creativity and quality to unlock the door.”