Moyes Defends Cautious Approach

David Moyes has defended his tactical approach in Everton´s whimpering 2-0 defeat at Manchester City.

The Everton manager persisted in naming midfielder Tim Cahill up front on his own, and in doing so opted to leave strikers Louis Saha, Apostolos Vellios and Denis Stracqualursi on sidelines, while also bringing Phil Neville back into the side to anchor an already defensive midfield with Jack Rodwell and Marouane Fellaini.

The continued reluctance to field a recognised striker drew critics from fans and pundits ahead of the game, but having seen Man City maul Swansea 4-0 and Tottenham 5-1 in recent weeks, Moyes, who likened his sides chances to somebody walking into a gun fight brandishing a knife, reckons he was within his rights to set up a defensive unit.

Moyes: “We´ve seen other teams getting beat heavily by Manchester City – we wanted to make sure that wasn´t the case and I thought for long spells we did a good job.”

Moyes also took an unusual step in his approach in heavily criticising the below par referee Howard Webb and also accused Vincent Kompany of purposely injuring Tim Cahill.

Asked about Kompany´s tackle which injured Tim Cahill, he told Sky Sports: “I think you should be looking at that challenge instead of asking me about the other tackles. I think he definitely does him”.

“I just want the referee to look at it and the linesman to look at it. I don´t need anybody to look at it afterwards, I needed them to look at it at the time.”

On his Everton side picking up 5 yellow cards, Moyes responded: “You have to be very careful and disciplined. We didn´t go out to get yellow cards. We went out to make it hard for Manchester City and for long periods of the game we did”