‘Way off it’: Michael Ball slams Blues Performance after Cup Exit

Former Everton defender Michael Ball has criticised the team selection and performance after last night’s defeat.

The Toffees travelled to Molyneux for the League Cup third round tie with a 3,000 strong following.

However, seven changes to the usual starting XI left Everton looking insipid and lacking imagination.

Jack Grealish, Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were brought on to try and salvage the game. However, their introduction was too little, too late as the Blues lost 2-0.

Posting on X (formerly Twitter), Ball insisted that David Moyes’ side were ‘way off it’.

The former full-back said: “Attitude way off it from the start tonight from players and the team selection.

“So disappointed for the thousands of fans who travelled to witness that type of performance.

“A team struggling at the foot of the table with 5 losses and we think we could just turn up and let them dictate the tempo and still go through.”

CUP EXIT HIGHLIGHTS SQUAD LIMITATIONS

It’s an accurate post mortem from Ball, and the warning signs were there ahead of kick off.

Making seven changes to the starting XI was only going to invite scrutiny should we get knocked out of the competition.

However, Moyes has defended his decision to rotate, stating: “We’ve got a lot of good players and we’ve got players in the squad who are getting back to fitness, some of them who are not, so we wanted to give some of them an opportunity to show what they can do.

“The team have been playing at a really good level and it was a chance to see if others could join it.”

It’s fair to say that those introduced last night did not seize their chance.

A derby defeat and cup exit has stunted the momentum gained in recent weeks. With a struggling West Ham visiting BMD on Monday, a win is a must to get us back on track.