Everton manager David Moyes cut a proud but disappointed figure after his side’s Premier League defeat to Liverpool, insisting the result did not reflect the quality of his players’ performance.
“I thought the players played great today, they didn’t get the result they deserved. We deserved more from it than we did. They did a great job. Disappointed with the last goal but in the main the players did a brilliant job.”
– David Moyes, speaking to Sky Sports.
Everton had a goal disallowed, a decision Moyes accepted while making clear he felt his side were hard done by overall.
“The game was quite chaotic. In that period, it looked like a good goal for me but we trust the people that they got it right. We’re not here to make any excuses, we should have got more, we didn’t.”
– On the disallowed goal.
The afternoon was further complicated by an injury to Jarrad Branthwaite. The Everton boss was effusive in his praise for the young defender’s display before the setback.
“It doesn’t look great, it caused problems because we had already made a couple of subs so we were down to our last one. Jarrad was head and shoulders above anyone else on the pitch, I thought he played so well.”
– On Jarrad Branthwaite‘s injury.
Despite the defeat, Moyes was keen to stress the wider context of facing one of England’s top sides – and insisted his Everton team made Liverpool work hard for the three points. It is a fixture that has rarely been kind to him; across 41 Premier League meetings with the Reds as a manager, he has won just four, drawing ten and losing 27, giving him a points-per-game return of 0.54 – his lowest against any single opponent throughout his top-flight career.
“There’s no shame in how we performed today, we’re playing against one of the teams in the league who expect to be challenging for Champions League and trophies. I think we gave them a good run for their money. I want this team to always be competitive. They didn’t have it their own way.”
– On losing to Liverpool