2025/26 David Moyes

[Lanolin]

What's the comparison points wise this season compared to the season we had the points deduction? I reckon it'll be similar

We're 9 points better off at the same stage, we ended on 48 points that season and have 47 now so you'd hope we'd end on a few more.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

I think Dyches last full season was a lot worse than people remember it. I think we had four wins on the trot right at the very end, and it put a different complexion on what was a dreadful season for the most part - only pulling clear of relegation in the last 5 games.

Obviously last season we were right in the relegation mix until Moyes came in too, so this season has a completely different feel.

Oh believe me, I remember it! Like I said, i'm not trying to argue that this season hasn't been an improvement in terms of not being in the relegation shake up or winning more points, I was just surprised at people saying they'd have bitten your hand off for being 10th now this time last year. It doesn't really tally up with what most people were saying last year, or what the pre-season polls said, or how people have reacted to games throughout this season, or anything really, so I find it a bit odd. I can't stress enough, i'm not saying 10th would be unacceptable, it's just that it's very much in the bracket I would have expected us to be in this season, and probably towards the lower end of the scale. If people within the club would have bitten your hand off for 10th somebody needs to tell them not to bother bringing in loan players on 300 grand a week because it's completely unnecessary.

*only full season, and without doubt a different feel, lash a 10 point deduction to us in November, with more to come, reduced to 6, with more to come to take to eventual 8 this season and we'd have been in a different feel/relegation scrap this season too before the final stretch.

 

[KevMirallas]

It's all going to come down to his relationship with this apparent transfer committee.

If they are pushing for players that Moyes doesn't want, or if Moyes is refusing to play the players that they do bring in, then there is no point to any of this and nothing will ever progress beyond this mid-table, almost but not quite situation.

Moyes needs to improve on this front. He has not done a good job with Dibling, Rohl, Alcaraz, Aznou, Armstrong and arguably Barry this season and we absolutely can not afford a repeat on that front. I imagine those in charge of the transfers will need to be a little flexible too in targetting more of the KDH mould - prime age, decent pedigree and experience but not quite kicked on elsewhere. It might not be the summer of buying assets with an eye to sale.

I don't have any real other gripe with Moyes's management of the team. Of course there are things I wish he had done differently and some traits which have been around forever, but on the whole this has been a much better Everton team and a much better Everton season. But the squad-building is concerning and leads me to doubt he's a long-term solution. He will have to change, or the club will need to reassess what it wants to be long-term.

 

[hallamblue]

Indeed, surprisingly lost on a lot of folk. Its like kopites who whine they'd have won the league most seasons with their points under Klopp if it wasn't for Man City.



With a sprinkling of we're talking 2-4 results which will determine messiah from a very naughty boy.

He's either the right man, based on decades of experience, or he isn't. If people flip flop on 2-4 results, then perhaps its worthy of reflection.

I don't think he's the right man, but I also don't see a world in which we qualify for Europe and he doesn't stay

 

[Ed_Winchester]

A lot of people say this but I don't really understand why. In the last 2 seasons we've earned the points to finish 12th and 13th, why would you have snapped someone's hand off to be 2 points ahead of 12th and 4 points ahead of 13th (having played a game more)? We've done alright and put ourselves in a position where this could still be seen as a good season, but we could also very conceivably end up finishing no higher than last year. Snapping someone's hand off for that is just bizarre.

This time last year, I just wanted the club to be stabilised after the anarchy of the last few years. To me, it was more important that the proper foundations were put in place to enable the club to move forwards.
Change of ownership and the move to BMD brought a new set of unknowns for us all to navigate through.
I still think we need every signing to click for the next few transfer windows and can’t afford a dud like Barry every summer. The first summer with the Friedkins was always going to be an acid test of our new owners and how we did our transfer business.

We could have had another crazy summer like Koeman’s in 2017 when, Pickford aside, we generally bought badly. Our neglect to buy a proper left back and right back last summer has hampered us this season, but then again sorting the midfield and getting through with what we’ve got at the back was deemed sufficient for this season.

 

[MikeH72]

We're 9 points better off at the same stage, we ended on 48 points that season and have 47 now so you'd hope we'd end on a few more.

Something has gone pretty disastrously wrong and the manager has probably lost the dressing room if we don’t pick up any more points from now on.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

I don't think he's the right man, but I also don't see a world in which we qualify for Europe and he doesn't stay

I think TFG will keep him no matter where we finish, based on my read on what I think TFGs objective is with Everton.

It's all going to come down to his relationship with this apparent transfer committee.

If they are pushing for players that Moyes doesn't want, or if Moyes is refusing to play the players that they do bring in, then there is no point to any of this and nothing will ever progress beyond this mid-table, almost but not quite situation.

Moyes needs to improve on this front. He has not done a good job with Dibling, Rohl, Alcaraz, Aznou, Armstrong and arguably Barry this season and we absolutely can not afford a repeat on that front. I imagine those in charge of the transfers will need to be a little flexible too in targetting more of the KDH mould - prime age, decent pedigree and experience but not quite kicked on elsewhere. It might not be the summer of buying assets with an eye to sale.

I don't have any real other gripe with Moyes's management of the team. Of course there are things I wish he had done differently and some traits which have been around forever, but on the whole this has been a much better Everton team and a much better Everton season. But the squad-building is concerning and leads me to doubt he's a long-term solution. He will have to change, or the club will need to reassess what it wants to be long-term.

Moyes is top of the pyramid mate, clearly, nobody comes in without his say so.

He gets the plaudits and the criticism for all transfers - the DOF model he doesn't like was legged - one thing we can say under Moyes is there's no more tedious portioning of transfer responsibility.

 

[hallamblue]

I think TFG will keep him no matter where we finish, based on my read on what I think TFGs objective is with Everton.



Moyes is top of the pyramid mate, clearly, nobody comes in without his say so.

He gets the plaudits and the criticism for all transfers - the DOF model he doesn't like was legged - one thing we can say under Moyes is there's no more tedious portioning of transfer responsibility.

No just a load of money pissed away on players he doesn't play

 

[Lanolin]

Indeed, surprisingly lost on a lot of folk. Its like kopites who whine they'd have won the league most seasons with their points under Klopp if it wasn't for Man City.



With a sprinkling of we're talking 2-4 results which will determine messiah from a very naughty boy.

He's either the right man, based on decades of experience, or he isn't. If people flip flop on 2-4 results, then perhaps its worthy of reflection.

Yeah to be fair it's kind of off topic on my part because I'm not really talking abut Moyes as such, it was more just a comment on the season as a whole. I very much expected us to be in the 8th-10th bracket so I absolutely wouldn't have bitten your hand off for being 10th (meaning that to my eternal horror I have to go on Nymzee's 'not a reasonable Evertonian' list). It's not really me saying I think Moyes has or hasn't done a good job, just that whoever was in charge I think moving into the bracket above the one we were in had to be the minimum aim for the season.

For all the 'if someone had said we'd be a couple of points off Europe...' stuff you can just as easily say 'if someone had said we'd be sandwiched between Brentford and Sunderland in the table we'd have all assumed we were in the relegation zone'. The league this year is what it is, I don't really see the fact that the whole middle section is tighter than it was last year as a massive success story for us the way some people evidently do.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

No just a load of money pissed away on players he doesn't play

I understand the approach of players for now, vs the future.

It falls down though when the players signed/recalled for the future, dont get minutes - Dibling (19), Aznou (19), Armstrong (18), Rohl (23), Alcaraz (22)... George (19).

[edit] But then Moyes went just on 5 years without starting a teenager so what do we expect;

 

[Simon Buttle]

I understand the approach of players for now, vs the future.

It falls down though when the players signed/recalled for the future, dont get minutes - Dibling (19), Aznou (19), Armstrong (18), Rohl (23), Alcaraz (22)... George (19).

[edit] But then Moyes went just on 5 years without starting a teenager so what do we expect;

Agree you do expect it with Moyes but there are managers out there who would have integrated a couple of those lads a bit more by now which is the frustrating side of it.

 

[davek]

It's all going to come down to his relationship with this apparent transfer committee.
If they are pushing for players that Moyes doesn't want, or if Moyes is refusing to play the players that they do bring in, then there is no point to any of this and nothing will ever progress beyond this mid-table, almost but not quite situation.
Moyes needs to improve on this front. He has not done a good job with Dibling, Rohl, Alcaraz, Aznou, Armstrong and arguably Barry this season and we absolutely can not afford a repeat on that front. I imagine those in charge of the transfers will need to be a little flexible too in targetting more of the KDH mould - prime age, decent pedigree and experience but not quite kicked on elsewhere. It might not be the summer of buying assets with an eye to sale.

I don't have any real other gripe with Moyes's management of the team. Of course there are things I wish he had done differently and some traits which have been around forever, but on the whole this has been a much better Everton team and a much better Everton season. But the squad-building is concerning and leads me to doubt he's a long-term solution. He will have to change, or the club will need to reassess what it wants to be long-term.

Bearing that in mind, if we finish out of the top ten, having been eliminated from the only two competitions we stand a chance winning (or at least reaching Wembley in), and on the back of a season with two more derby defeats and home form that's little short of a disgrace, then how can anyone say this has been anything other than a massively disappointing first full season of Moyes being back here?

To declare such a scenario as anything other than failure is absurd.

For me, only European qualification can change the perception of viewing this season from one of failure to one of progress. Certainly, if we fall out of the top half to where we've been is a sackable offence.

Of course, that's why right now and for the last week or so we've seen Moyes' mates and media flutters out in force trying to strongarm him over the line for a new contract...they know it's far from impressive and he needs their pressure on the board to keep him in situ of we dont get Europe.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

Agree you do expect it with Moyes but there are managers out there who would have integrated a couple of those lads a bit more by now which is the frustrating side of it.

Sounds a bit odd, but I'd consider a season with us 12th, with the likes of Dibling, Aznou, Rohl, Alcaraz having positive impact as a better one than say, 9th with them not getting a sniff.

We were desperately trying to get shut of McNeil, but he's starting game after game ahead of a player we signed for £42m+20% sell on.

It leaves you scratching your head a bit.

Bearing that in mind, if we finish out of the top ten, having been eliminated from the only two competitions we stand a chance winning (or at least reaching Wembley in), and on the back of a season with two more derby defeats and home form that's little short of a disgrace, then how can anyone say this has been anything other than a massively disappointing first full season of Moyes being back here?

To declare such a scenario as anything other than failure is absurd.

For me, only European qualification can change the perception of viewing this season from one of failure to one of progress. Certainly if we fall out of the top half to where we've been is a sackable offence.

5 games to go, 4 are against bottom half and 2 of them are 18th and 17th.

Dig out that passport.

 

[toffeeblue9]

Bearing that in mind, if we finish out of the top ten, having been eliminated from the only two competitions we stand a chance winning (or at least reaching Wembley in), and on the back of a season with two more derby defeats and home form that's little short of a disgrace, then how can anyone say this has been anything other than a massively disappointing first full season of Moyes being back here?

To declare such a scenario as anything other than failure is absurd.

For me, only European qualification can change the perception of viewing this season from one of failure to one of progress. Certainly, if we fall out of the top half to where we've been is a sackable offence.

Of course, that's why right now and for the last week or so we've seen Moyes mates and media flutters out in force trying to strongarm him over the line for a new contract...they know it's far from impressive and he needs their pressure on the board to keep him in situ of we dont get Europe.

A lot of what you say here, I agree with. I could vault you, but your opinion (which mirrored mine) was that about 10th and 55-ish points would represent an acceptable season. I'm not flip-flopping from that and I don't see any reason why anyone should - the league is played over 38 games.

If we drop a place or two from 10th, I'd be a bit disappointed, but it wouldn't constitute anything like a sackable offence. Equally I don't think we should be throwing new contracts about if he gets 8th.

Europe was not a minimum requirement this season and just because we are close to it now shouldn't mean a rewriting of history to suggest it was always the standard that was the lowest acceptable outcome this season.

With 5 games to go, we are more or less where a lot of us thought we'd be - midtable with a chance of Europe if things go well and within reach of 12th-13th if we have a poor finish to the season.

The only thing I think is potentially unacceptable about the season is the use of the young players - if we get Europe, you can justify it by saying he's fast-tracked us slightly and done that by relying on more proven players. If we were to finish in the region of 12th or so, I'd consider the lack of minutes for Dibling and Rohl in particular to be a fairly major negative for the season.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

A lot of what you say here, I agree with. I could vault you, but your opinion (which mirrored mine) was that about 10th and 55-ish points would represent an acceptable season. I'm not flip-flopping from that and I don't see any reason why anyone should - the league is played over 38 games.

If we drop a place or two from 10th, I'd be a bit disappointed, but it wouldn't constitute anything like a sackable offence. Equally I don't think we should be throwing new contracts about if he gets 8th.

Europe was not a minimum requirement this season and just because we are close to it now shouldn't mean a rewriting of history to suggest it was always the standard that was the lowest acceptable outcome this season.

With 5 games to go, we are more or less where a lot of us thought we'd be - midtable with a chance of Europe if things go well and within reach of 12th-13th if we have a poor finish to the season.

The only thing I think is potentially unacceptable about the season is the use of the young players - if we get Europe, you can justify it by saying he's fast-tracked us slightly and done that by relying on more proven players. If we were to finish in the region of 12th or so, I'd consider the lack of minutes for Dibling and Rohl in particular to be a fairly major negative for the season.

A lot of sense there.

Such small margins, and Europe would paint over the 'major negative' there.