I definitely understand why you took affront to the comments as it appears to lend to the old plucky underdog Everton narrative, but there's further context to his comments where In my opinion it doesn't sound as bad. As he highlighting the advantage that clubs participating in European tournaments have over others
"The club are trying really hard to get the players I want and I’ve found it really difficult because in my last few years (in his previous job at West Ham United), I’ve been involved in European competition. It’s a bit easier when you’re a club in Europe. You get a better chance of attracting a lot of players. We’ve been in for a lot of really good players. Unfortunately, a lot them have said no at the moment.”
“We’re up against it,” Moyes says. “If we’re going for players, we’re not going for bad players. Our attraction is maybe to some younger ones who are up and coming, or also those from lower leagues. In those cases, it is not a problem. But if you’re trying to take players who have had European experience or playing at the top end, they’re the ones where the ones we will find it harder to attract.
“We need them to want to come. They have to come and buy in a wee bit to what Everton have got, the culture here. There’s a strong, hard-working ethic and we want to build on it and bring in more quality.