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2024/25 David Moyes
- Thread starter TrailerTrash
- Start date
davek
Player Valuation: £150m
Yeah "I know Everton dont you worry"...his words when he tried to get Baines and Fellaini for 10 bob.
Get the points quick because the fanbase aren't ready to back a Judas like him for loads of games.
Macker07
Player Valuation: £500k
David Moyes, Judas? I'm not sure I'm in alignment with your thinking there Dave. How did he sell Jesus down the river, or up the stake/cross for pieces of silver?
Frenk
Player Valuation: £35m
Lawrence
Player Valuation: £5m
Good point my friend. He sees his 11 years as success. Catterick did 11 years and wasn't appreciated. What Billy LIAR Kenwrong did to a fanbase.
Victus
Player Valuation: £35m
Was 11 years ago, grow up.
Charles Hawtrey
Player Valuation: £50m
Everton have a solid defence. David Moyes’s job is to add goals
If the new manager can recreate the counterattacking style that worked so well at West Ham, Everton will stay upBy Ben McAleer for WhoScored
Ben McAleer
Wed 15 Jan 2025 03.00 EST
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The timing of Sean Dyche’s sacking was poor, coming just a few hours before the team played in the FA Cup, but the Everton owners reassured fans by acting quickly over the weekend and bringing David Moyes back to the club. The Friedkin Group have shown a penchant for nostalgia if their Roma appointments are anything to go by. When José Mourinho left the club last January, they turned to club legend Daniele De Rossi. And when they parted ways with Ivan Juric earlier this season, the owners turned to Claudio Ranieri, a lifelong supporter who began his playing career at Roma.
Moyes’s immediate aim is to consolidate Everton’s place in the Premier League. No one at the club will want the first game in their new stadium to be in the Championship. Everton flirted with relegation last season before winning four of the last six games and finishing 15th, but they did not kick on this season under Dyche. They were slowly sinking while the clubs beneath them were finding some form and confidence.
Wolves have improved since Vítor Pereira’s appointment, picking up seven points in his first four games, including an impressive win against Manchester United on Boxing Day. Ipswich, who looked so naive in the early months of the season, are also starting to turn their fortunes around. They beat Chelsea and drew with Fulham over the Christmas period, and seem to have found their feet in the Premier League. Everton, meanwhile, scored just once in their last five league matches.
Moyes has a tricky start as he looks to stop the rot. Everton welcome Aston Villa to Goodison Park on Wednesday night before taking on Tottenham on Sunday afternoon. Moyes has been dropped in at the deep end, with little time to prepare his players. Fortunately, the squad suits his favoured 4-2-3-1 formation and Dyche routinely implemented this system, so the players are well versed in its demands.
One thing Dyche did get right was the defensive resolve. For all of Everton’s faults, they have conceded just 25 goals in 19 league games this season; only six teams have better defensive records. Only Nottingham Forest goalkeeper Matz Sels (nine) has kept more clean sheets than Jordan Pickford (seven) in the division. In Ashley Young, James Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite and Vitalii Mykolenko, Moyes has an established and solid back four to build upon. In fact, they have conceded fewer goals than Manchester City.
Moyes became the Premier League’s youngest manager when he took over at Everton in 2002 at the age of 39. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
The key will be unlocking an attack that has plenty of potential. Everton have been dire in front of goal this season. They have only scored 15 goals (the second worst return in the league after Southampton); they have the worst conversion rate (only 6% of their shots have found the net); they have created fewer clear-cut goalscoring opportunities (20) than any other team; and they have failed to score in eight of their last 10 games. Wolves sit a point and a place below Everton in the table yet they have scored 31 goals – more than double Everton’s tally. In fact, Mohamed Salah (18) has scored more goals than Everton (15).
Dyche is known for prioritising defensive solidity and allowing opponents the lion’s share of possession, which can work as a strategy but only if you carry a threat on the counterattack. However, Everton are one of the two teams in the league, along with Leicester, who have not scored a goal following a counterattack this season. Defending deep and not having a way out is asking for trouble in the Premier League.
This is where Moyes can make a big difference. No team scored more counterattacking goals last season than his West Ham side (nine). Admittedly, Moyes could call upon Mohammed Kudus and Jarrod Bowen, but Everton have players who could hurt opponents in quick transitions. Iliman Ndiaye has completed more dribbles (49) than any other player in the Premier League this season, while Jesper Lindstrøm, Dwight McNeil and Jack Harrison are no slouches when they receive the ball in the final third.
With a solid set of midfield anchors to call upon, the attacking players should benefit from the additional freedom to work their magic in the final third. The versatility of McNeil, once he returns to action, and the directness of Ndiaye should help Moyes implement a similar counterattacking style to the one that worked well during his final season at West Ham.
Of course, it won’t be an instant change of fortunes or style at Goodison Park. Dyche did not sort out the team’s lack of goals in two years and Moyes only has a couple of days to get his ideas across to the players. But he is speaking positively about what the team needs to do.
“I’m going to try to play as many games to win,” he said this week. Moyes has already demanded more from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who has scored just two goals all season. “We all feel he could be the one who could make a big difference. We’ll give him as much confidence as we can, but you need the player to stand up and do his bit as well,” Moyes said. “I have told him I am needing goals off him right away and he has to start delivering. And we might look to strengthen in those areas if we can’t get results ourselves.”
Importantly, the return of the “Moyesiah” gives supporters something to celebrate. He left the club more than a decade ago but the memories of his successes live on: finishing fourth in 2005, reaching the FA Cup final in 2009, qualifying for Europe four times in 11 years. Everton fans have been frustrated by Dyche’s reactive, and ultimately fruitless, style of play. At least with Moyes, there is cause for optimism for the second half of the season. He may not play the most glamorous brand of football, but he is able to adapt depending on the squad at his disposal.
With more than 1,000 games in management, Moyes is experienced enough to know he cannot revolutionise a team’s style midway through the season. “We need a bit of a sticking plaster at the moment,” he said this week. He will keep the task simple: get the team scoring goals and winning enough games to pull away from danger and guarantee Premier League football in their new stadium next season
davek
Player Valuation: £150m
Instantly want him gone for starting Doucoure.
Macker07
Player Valuation: £500k
Not on your Xmas card list then.
davek
Player Valuation: £150m
I dont think he's on anyone's Christmas card list.
toffeeblue9
Player Valuation: £35m
Not a huge amount he could have changed tonight really. Lindstrom and Patterson on the bench are the only two who had any vague chance of getting in