The Goodison outfit are languishing in 14th place, although it was from that position exactly 12 months ago that Everton began their steady climb up the table before securing a successive fifth-place finish.
And Moyes says: “I can’t see this season as a lost cause. Our points total is very similar to this time last year. I get the feeling people will see our season as a lost cause because of the improvement by Manchester City, Tottenham, Aston Villa and Sunderland, but I can’t.
“Maybe, without knowing, we are in the process of building a new side. Maybe we are building again. The injured players might not be the same when they come back, who knows? We are in the throes of transition just now.
“It might well be that we finish mid-table but it would be wrong of me to have that as my ambition. My ambition is to finish as high as I possibly can. That hasn’t altered. We are the kind of footballing side that could easily go on a run and I hope that’s about to start.
“First of all I’ve got to get back to a side that is resilient and hard to beat, and much tougher to play against than we are at the moment. At the moment I think we are too easy to play against.”
The hectic schedule – Everton are coming towards the end of a period of seven games in 23 days – has meant there has been little time to work on regaining those obdurate traits.
“I’ll not make any excuses for it but where do you get the time between these last few games?” says Moyes. “The back four in the last few games, with Tony Hibbert having to play at left-back, is not the back four of the last few years. If we can get back to a resemblance of normality I would hope that would give us some stability.
