Zatara
Player Valuation: £100m
The 7 games after villa look winnable
The 7 games after villa look winnable
JLW
Player Valuation: £70m
So did the 3 games before Villa
smileychap
Player Valuation: £10m
I try and group the areas where we need to improve in three groups:
Overall only around 1/3 of the squad is good quality NOW, with the right mentality ( picks, JB, Garner, JOB, illy, KDH, Jack [mostly],
The next 2/3 poses issues with any of the following consistency, concentration, progress, injury, ability, age ( experience, or too old!) , potential. Plot spoiler there are some brutal calls here re: age.
Rohl, Tim Iroegbunam, Dibling, Myko, McNeil, Charly, Keane, Gana, Coleman, Tarks, Adnan, Armstrong
Obviously, age and potential are big factors, Vs immediate priority this and next season.
Not good enough: B&B, Patterson
So area three: Mgt and Moyes.
Is he doing an OK job? Yes, but needs this window and the summer to be judged on building a stronger mentality with a more physical, attacking style with players good enough to do it, or clearly developing the potential to (Adnan, Armstrong, maybe rohl and dibling ).
His contrariness remains my biggest frustration with him. He makes bold decisions when joining, now he's falling over an 8ish game run from Brentford to end Jan that could on paper have added up to a tilt at the outer Europe spots. It may still!
But he and TFG have to own the readiness and quality of the squad for that opportunity, and at this moment it's at risk.
A decent draw at Villa would be a very healthy Moyes type response right now.
- Quality ( like overall, Beto is not good enough. Illy, Jack, James are. Others 'maybe' )
- Mentality ( concentration, confidence, comms on the pitch etc )
- Mgt ( tactics, organization , recruitment, player welfare ).
Overall only around 1/3 of the squad is good quality NOW, with the right mentality ( picks, JB, Garner, JOB, illy, KDH, Jack [mostly],
The next 2/3 poses issues with any of the following consistency, concentration, progress, injury, ability, age ( experience, or too old!) , potential. Plot spoiler there are some brutal calls here re: age.
Rohl, Tim Iroegbunam, Dibling, Myko, McNeil, Charly, Keane, Gana, Coleman, Tarks, Adnan, Armstrong
Obviously, age and potential are big factors, Vs immediate priority this and next season.
Not good enough: B&B, Patterson
So area three: Mgt and Moyes.
Is he doing an OK job? Yes, but needs this window and the summer to be judged on building a stronger mentality with a more physical, attacking style with players good enough to do it, or clearly developing the potential to (Adnan, Armstrong, maybe rohl and dibling ).
His contrariness remains my biggest frustration with him. He makes bold decisions when joining, now he's falling over an 8ish game run from Brentford to end Jan that could on paper have added up to a tilt at the outer Europe spots. It may still!
But he and TFG have to own the readiness and quality of the squad for that opportunity, and at this moment it's at risk.
A decent draw at Villa would be a very healthy Moyes type response right now.
Last edited:
In the summer?
A nice little holiday would be nice. Maybe a festival or two
Thomasc
Formerly known as By God I'm Blue
It’s easy to see why we are struggling to win games and will continue to struggle when we have the attacking options we have.
It must be bordering on having the worst striker options in the league.
Then losing all 3 players who played behind the striker has killed any momentum they might have had after the home win against Forest.
One player not suited to the PL (Beto) and another player in his first 6 months at the club who has so far found it difficult to adapt in the role he has been asked to play.
Until this is addressed I wouldn’t expect anything better than a 12-14th placed position from the situation we are in now.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
He's taking the piss now, 'full throttle ', my arse. 
Looking forward as well to the team 'going for the jugular.'
www.liverpoolecho.co.uk
Updated 06:14, 13 Jan 2026
David Moyes looks on during the warm up prior to the Premier League match between Everton and Brentford. Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images(Image: )
David Moyes is keen for Everton to push for Europe this season despite a difficult week of results. The Blues missed a golden opportunity to consolidate their position in the top half of the league after a home defeat to Brentford and a draw with bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The FA Cup defeat to Sunderland on Saturday rounded off a miserable six days for the club, leaving it at a crossroads for the rest of the campaign.
For Moyes, the hope is that his team can use the success of the season so far as a platform to push for further progress given that the Premier League table is so congested, with his side still just four points from fifth despite recent tough results. He said: “I want us to be full-throttle all the time.”
That proximity to the upper echelons of the table follows an impressive 12 months for Moyes, who returned to Everton one year ago on Sunday. He took over a club just two points clear of the bottom three and destined for a fifth consecutive relegation fight but inspired a surge of form that carried the club to safety well before Easter.
One of the primary goals of his second stint is to ensure a trait he felt he inherited at the start of his first reign does not undermine the rest of a season he believes remains full of potential.
Reflecting on his first period as Everton boss last week, speaking before the Wolves game, he said he felt he arrived at a club that appeared to secure safety by Easter and then switch off for the rest of the campaign.
He said: “I remember it got my goat up when I was here and I had to fight to sort of change that. We were going right to the end, we were fighting right to end and we were going to keep going. I think in my second year, it probably nearly happened to me.. we got to Easter time and sort of turned off and we lost it. I don't want that here, I want us to be full-throttle all the time.
“Obviously, being full-throttle means that you're going to blow up sometimes, you're not always going to have it right and we're not always going to have all the players… but I want to try to push to get a higher league position and if I don't and we stay as a pretty safe, mid-table team, I don’t think it would be too bad a position.”
Moyes was able to do that last season - some of the best of the nine away wins he secured in 2025 came after the club’s safety was confirmed, including the feel-good successes at Fulham and Newcastle United. He also ensured Everton said goodbye to Goodison Park with a win, his team defeating Southampton 2-0 in the final senior men’s game at the club’s historic home.
Repeating that is now his ambition, with the hope that it could lead to a surprise charge for Europe. The foundation for a season devoid of jeopardy certainly appears to have been laid - Everton look set to avoid a survival fight already. The club started the year in eighth place and remained 15 points clear of the relegation zone even after last week.
There is an acceptance from Moyes that his squad still has its weaknesses and noises from the club so far this month suggest the approach to any transfer business will be cautious and opportunistic. His dressing room remains threadbare despite a busy summer and a concoction of injuries, suspensions and Africa Cup of Nations commitments has been the catalyst for the recent tough results - he was without nine senior players on Saturday including, in Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye, five of his most important.
The loss of Ndiaye and Gueye to Senegal’s bid for glory was always set to pose a challenge for the festive period and the injuries that have piled up around their absence has intensified an already difficult challenge.
Article continues below
Asked to reflect on where the defeat to Sunderland left his season on Saturday, he displayed an acceptance that what happens next will be defined by when, and with what success, his players return. He said: “What I want to do is to get back to the levels that we were playing at in recent months and recent weeks. I want to get the players back, but I couldn’t say that I was surprised with the results with what we were going to have available to us in certain games. A lot of it is by our own doing and we have to take responsibility for that, we had players sent off in the last game so that is our fault, but it is very difficult when we are picking up injuries and with the boys at AFCON it was always going to make this a really difficult month.”
But while those absences were painful and will, for the most part, continue into a tricky fixture at title-chasing Aston Villa on Sunday, Moyes appears determined to push the players as far as they can go this season in the hope they can get the European qualification he believes could turbocharge the club’s progression.
Asked ahead of the game with Wolves whether, if the week [including the FA Cup match] ended badly, he would prefer to go for the ‘jugular’ and maintain an assault on the higher reaches of the table or take stock and start exploring his squad with a view towards building for the summer and next season, he said: “I want to go for the jugular. I want to get Everton there as quick as I can. And while I've got a chance, I want to try and do it if I can.”
arse.
Looking forward as well to the team 'going for the jugular.'
Inside Moyes' Everton plans with determined boss intent on going 'full-throttle'
The Blues boss is set to ensure standards remain high as he demands the best from his players over second half of season
Inside Moyes' Everton plans with determined boss intent on going 'full-throttle'
The Blues boss is set to ensure standards remain high as he demands the best from his players over second half of season
06:00, 13 Jan 2026Updated 06:14, 13 Jan 2026
David Moyes looks on during the warm up prior to the Premier League match between Everton and Brentford. Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images(Image: )
David Moyes is keen for Everton to push for Europe this season despite a difficult week of results. The Blues missed a golden opportunity to consolidate their position in the top half of the league after a home defeat to Brentford and a draw with bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The FA Cup defeat to Sunderland on Saturday rounded off a miserable six days for the club, leaving it at a crossroads for the rest of the campaign.
For Moyes, the hope is that his team can use the success of the season so far as a platform to push for further progress given that the Premier League table is so congested, with his side still just four points from fifth despite recent tough results. He said: “I want us to be full-throttle all the time.”
That proximity to the upper echelons of the table follows an impressive 12 months for Moyes, who returned to Everton one year ago on Sunday. He took over a club just two points clear of the bottom three and destined for a fifth consecutive relegation fight but inspired a surge of form that carried the club to safety well before Easter.
One of the primary goals of his second stint is to ensure a trait he felt he inherited at the start of his first reign does not undermine the rest of a season he believes remains full of potential.
Reflecting on his first period as Everton boss last week, speaking before the Wolves game, he said he felt he arrived at a club that appeared to secure safety by Easter and then switch off for the rest of the campaign.
He said: “I remember it got my goat up when I was here and I had to fight to sort of change that. We were going right to the end, we were fighting right to end and we were going to keep going. I think in my second year, it probably nearly happened to me.. we got to Easter time and sort of turned off and we lost it. I don't want that here, I want us to be full-throttle all the time.
“Obviously, being full-throttle means that you're going to blow up sometimes, you're not always going to have it right and we're not always going to have all the players… but I want to try to push to get a higher league position and if I don't and we stay as a pretty safe, mid-table team, I don’t think it would be too bad a position.”
Moyes was able to do that last season - some of the best of the nine away wins he secured in 2025 came after the club’s safety was confirmed, including the feel-good successes at Fulham and Newcastle United. He also ensured Everton said goodbye to Goodison Park with a win, his team defeating Southampton 2-0 in the final senior men’s game at the club’s historic home.
Repeating that is now his ambition, with the hope that it could lead to a surprise charge for Europe. The foundation for a season devoid of jeopardy certainly appears to have been laid - Everton look set to avoid a survival fight already. The club started the year in eighth place and remained 15 points clear of the relegation zone even after last week.
There is an acceptance from Moyes that his squad still has its weaknesses and noises from the club so far this month suggest the approach to any transfer business will be cautious and opportunistic. His dressing room remains threadbare despite a busy summer and a concoction of injuries, suspensions and Africa Cup of Nations commitments has been the catalyst for the recent tough results - he was without nine senior players on Saturday including, in Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye, five of his most important.
The loss of Ndiaye and Gueye to Senegal’s bid for glory was always set to pose a challenge for the festive period and the injuries that have piled up around their absence has intensified an already difficult challenge.
Article continues below
Asked to reflect on where the defeat to Sunderland left his season on Saturday, he displayed an acceptance that what happens next will be defined by when, and with what success, his players return. He said: “What I want to do is to get back to the levels that we were playing at in recent months and recent weeks. I want to get the players back, but I couldn’t say that I was surprised with the results with what we were going to have available to us in certain games. A lot of it is by our own doing and we have to take responsibility for that, we had players sent off in the last game so that is our fault, but it is very difficult when we are picking up injuries and with the boys at AFCON it was always going to make this a really difficult month.”
But while those absences were painful and will, for the most part, continue into a tricky fixture at title-chasing Aston Villa on Sunday, Moyes appears determined to push the players as far as they can go this season in the hope they can get the European qualification he believes could turbocharge the club’s progression.
Asked ahead of the game with Wolves whether, if the week [including the FA Cup match] ended badly, he would prefer to go for the ‘jugular’ and maintain an assault on the higher reaches of the table or take stock and start exploring his squad with a view towards building for the summer and next season, he said: “I want to go for the jugular. I want to get Everton there as quick as I can. And while I've got a chance, I want to try and do it if I can.”
arse.
davek
Player Valuation: £150m
One excuse after another.He's taking the piss now, 'full throttle ', my arse.
Inside Moyes' Everton plans with determined boss intent on going 'full-throttle'
The Blues boss is set to ensure standards remain high as he demands the best from his players over second half of season
Inside Moyes' Everton plans with determined boss intent on going 'full-throttle'
The Blues boss is set to ensure standards remain high as he demands the best from his players over second half of season
06:00, 13 Jan 2026
Updated 06:14, 13 Jan 2026
David Moyes looks on during the warm up prior to the Premier League match between Everton and Brentford. Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images(Image: )
David Moyes is keen for Everton to push for Europe this season despite a difficult week of results. The Blues missed a golden opportunity to consolidate their position in the top half of the league after a home defeat to Brentford and a draw with bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The FA Cup defeat to Sunderland on Saturday rounded off a miserable six days for the club, leaving it at a crossroads for the rest of the campaign.
For Moyes, the hope is that his team can use the success of the season so far as a platform to push for further progress given that the Premier League table is so congested, with his side still just four points from fifth despite recent tough results. He said: “I want us to be full-throttle all the time.”
That proximity to the upper echelons of the table follows an impressive 12 months for Moyes, who returned to Everton one year ago on Sunday. He took over a club just two points clear of the bottom three and destined for a fifth consecutive relegation fight but inspired a surge of form that carried the club to safety well before Easter.
One of the primary goals of his second stint is to ensure a trait he felt he inherited at the start of his first reign does not undermine the rest of a season he believes remains full of potential.
Reflecting on his first period as Everton boss last week, speaking before the Wolves game, he said he felt he arrived at a club that appeared to secure safety by Easter and then switch off for the rest of the campaign.
He said: “I remember it got my goat up when I was here and I had to fight to sort of change that. We were going right to the end, we were fighting right to end and we were going to keep going. I think in my second year, it probably nearly happened to me.. we got to Easter time and sort of turned off and we lost it. I don't want that here, I want us to be full-throttle all the time.
“Obviously, being full-throttle means that you're going to blow up sometimes, you're not always going to have it right and we're not always going to have all the players… but I want to try to push to get a higher league position and if I don't and we stay as a pretty safe, mid-table team, I don’t think it would be too bad a position.”
Moyes was able to do that last season - some of the best of the nine away wins he secured in 2025 came after the club’s safety was confirmed, including the feel-good successes at Fulham and Newcastle United. He also ensured Everton said goodbye to Goodison Park with a win, his team defeating Southampton 2-0 in the final senior men’s game at the club’s historic home.
Repeating that is now his ambition, with the hope that it could lead to a surprise charge for Europe. The foundation for a season devoid of jeopardy certainly appears to have been laid - Everton look set to avoid a survival fight already. The club started the year in eighth place and remained 15 points clear of the relegation zone even after last week.
There is an acceptance from Moyes that his squad still has its weaknesses and noises from the club so far this month suggest the approach to any transfer business will be cautious and opportunistic. His dressing room remains threadbare despite a busy summer and a concoction of injuries, suspensions and Africa Cup of Nations commitments has been the catalyst for the recent tough results - he was without nine senior players on Saturday including, in Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye, five of his most important.
The loss of Ndiaye and Gueye to Senegal’s bid for glory was always set to pose a challenge for the festive period and the injuries that have piled up around their absence has intensified an already difficult challenge.
Article continues below
Asked to reflect on where the defeat to Sunderland left his season on Saturday, he displayed an acceptance that what happens next will be defined by when, and with what success, his players return. He said: “What I want to do is to get back to the levels that we were playing at in recent months and recent weeks. I want to get the players back, but I couldn’t say that I was surprised with the results with what we were going to have available to us in certain games. A lot of it is by our own doing and we have to take responsibility for that, we had players sent off in the last game so that is our fault, but it is very difficult when we are picking up injuries and with the boys at AFCON it was always going to make this a really difficult month.”
But while those absences were painful and will, for the most part, continue into a tricky fixture at title-chasing Aston Villa on Sunday, Moyes appears determined to push the players as far as they can go this season in the hope they can get the European qualification he believes could turbocharge the club’s progression.
Asked ahead of the game with Wolves whether, if the week [including the FA Cup match] ended badly, he would prefer to go for the ‘jugular’ and maintain an assault on the higher reaches of the table or take stock and start exploring his squad with a view towards building for the summer and next season, he said: “I want to go for the jugular. I want to get Everton there as quick as I can. And while I've got a chance, I want to try and do it if I can.”
arse.
You know you're in trouble when the Echo has to be called out to prop you up.
And by the way: Moyes said two weeks ago that other clubs had it worse than us because they also played midweek in Europe. The story changes to suit his demands. As always. It's all about Moyes not Everton.
Had to laugh at this by the hack though:
"...the hope is that his team can use the success of the season so far as a platform to push for further progress".
That's pure Josef Goebbels.
summerisle
The rain, it raineth every day
A lot of things he spouts makes me want shake him by the shoulders. His insistence on his belief that we were playing really well for long stretches of the season is one that really irks.One excuse after another.
You know you're in trouble when the Echo has to be called out to prop you up.
And by the way: Moyes said two weeks ago that other clubs had it worse than us because they also played midweek in Europe. The story changes to suit his demands. As always. It's all about Moyes not Everton.
Had to laugh at this by the hack though:
"...the hope is that his team can use the success of the season so far as a platform to push for further progress".
That's pure Josef Goebbels.
davek
Player Valuation: £150m
He's a chancer taking Everton for all they've got before he retires. Everton are going to pay for his massive nest egg and his family are in on the act too...and mates like Adam...and he'll give PNE our players also.
People need to wake up to just how 'kin toxic this feller is.
Saint Domingo
Player Valuation: £90m
A lot of concerning stuff there but the biggest one for me is that suddenly going full throttle every game is some new idea at Everton. This is like the bare minimum of any professional football club, wtf is going on at Finch Farm.He's taking the piss now, 'full throttle ', my arse.
Inside Moyes' Everton plans with determined boss intent on going 'full-throttle'
The Blues boss is set to ensure standards remain high as he demands the best from his players over second half of season
Inside Moyes' Everton plans with determined boss intent on going 'full-throttle'
The Blues boss is set to ensure standards remain high as he demands the best from his players over second half of season
06:00, 13 Jan 2026
Updated 06:14, 13 Jan 2026
David Moyes looks on during the warm up prior to the Premier League match between Everton and Brentford. Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images(Image: )
David Moyes is keen for Everton to push for Europe this season despite a difficult week of results. The Blues missed a golden opportunity to consolidate their position in the top half of the league after a home defeat to Brentford and a draw with bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The FA Cup defeat to Sunderland on Saturday rounded off a miserable six days for the club, leaving it at a crossroads for the rest of the campaign.
For Moyes, the hope is that his team can use the success of the season so far as a platform to push for further progress given that the Premier League table is so congested, with his side still just four points from fifth despite recent tough results. He said: “I want us to be full-throttle all the time.”
That proximity to the upper echelons of the table follows an impressive 12 months for Moyes, who returned to Everton one year ago on Sunday. He took over a club just two points clear of the bottom three and destined for a fifth consecutive relegation fight but inspired a surge of form that carried the club to safety well before Easter.
One of the primary goals of his second stint is to ensure a trait he felt he inherited at the start of his first reign does not undermine the rest of a season he believes remains full of potential.
Reflecting on his first period as Everton boss last week, speaking before the Wolves game, he said he felt he arrived at a club that appeared to secure safety by Easter and then switch off for the rest of the campaign.
He said: “I remember it got my goat up when I was here and I had to fight to sort of change that. We were going right to the end, we were fighting right to end and we were going to keep going. I think in my second year, it probably nearly happened to me.. we got to Easter time and sort of turned off and we lost it. I don't want that here, I want us to be full-throttle all the time.
“Obviously, being full-throttle means that you're going to blow up sometimes, you're not always going to have it right and we're not always going to have all the players… but I want to try to push to get a higher league position and if I don't and we stay as a pretty safe, mid-table team, I don’t think it would be too bad a position.”
Moyes was able to do that last season - some of the best of the nine away wins he secured in 2025 came after the club’s safety was confirmed, including the feel-good successes at Fulham and Newcastle United. He also ensured Everton said goodbye to Goodison Park with a win, his team defeating Southampton 2-0 in the final senior men’s game at the club’s historic home.
Repeating that is now his ambition, with the hope that it could lead to a surprise charge for Europe. The foundation for a season devoid of jeopardy certainly appears to have been laid - Everton look set to avoid a survival fight already. The club started the year in eighth place and remained 15 points clear of the relegation zone even after last week.
There is an acceptance from Moyes that his squad still has its weaknesses and noises from the club so far this month suggest the approach to any transfer business will be cautious and opportunistic. His dressing room remains threadbare despite a busy summer and a concoction of injuries, suspensions and Africa Cup of Nations commitments has been the catalyst for the recent tough results - he was without nine senior players on Saturday including, in Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye, five of his most important.
The loss of Ndiaye and Gueye to Senegal’s bid for glory was always set to pose a challenge for the festive period and the injuries that have piled up around their absence has intensified an already difficult challenge.
Article continues below
Asked to reflect on where the defeat to Sunderland left his season on Saturday, he displayed an acceptance that what happens next will be defined by when, and with what success, his players return. He said: “What I want to do is to get back to the levels that we were playing at in recent months and recent weeks. I want to get the players back, but I couldn’t say that I was surprised with the results with what we were going to have available to us in certain games. A lot of it is by our own doing and we have to take responsibility for that, we had players sent off in the last game so that is our fault, but it is very difficult when we are picking up injuries and with the boys at AFCON it was always going to make this a really difficult month.”
But while those absences were painful and will, for the most part, continue into a tricky fixture at title-chasing Aston Villa on Sunday, Moyes appears determined to push the players as far as they can go this season in the hope they can get the European qualification he believes could turbocharge the club’s progression.
Asked ahead of the game with Wolves whether, if the week [including the FA Cup match] ended badly, he would prefer to go for the ‘jugular’ and maintain an assault on the higher reaches of the table or take stock and start exploring his squad with a view towards building for the summer and next season, he said: “I want to go for the jugular. I want to get Everton there as quick as I can. And while I've got a chance, I want to try and do it if I can.”
arse.
‘but I couldn’t say that I was surprised with the results with what we were going to have available to us in certain games’ - you don’t need to say this bit in public, just giving the players a ready made excuse
‘if I don't and we stay as a pretty safe, mid-table team, I don’t think it would be too bad a position.” - another one that didn’t need to be made public. These players will just default to the lowest possible expectation and they know that in reality it’s this.
He's taking the piss now, 'full throttle ', my arse.
Inside Moyes' Everton plans with determined boss intent on going 'full-throttle'
The Blues boss is set to ensure standards remain high as he demands the best from his players over second half of season
Inside Moyes' Everton plans with determined boss intent on going 'full-throttle'
The Blues boss is set to ensure standards remain high as he demands the best from his players over second half of season
06:00, 13 Jan 2026
Updated 06:14, 13 Jan 2026
David Moyes looks on during the warm up prior to the Premier League match between Everton and Brentford. Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images(Image: )
David Moyes is keen for Everton to push for Europe this season despite a difficult week of results. The Blues missed a golden opportunity to consolidate their position in the top half of the league after a home defeat to Brentford and a draw with bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The FA Cup defeat to Sunderland on Saturday rounded off a miserable six days for the club, leaving it at a crossroads for the rest of the campaign.
For Moyes, the hope is that his team can use the success of the season so far as a platform to push for further progress given that the Premier League table is so congested, with his side still just four points from fifth despite recent tough results. He said: “I want us to be full-throttle all the time.”
That proximity to the upper echelons of the table follows an impressive 12 months for Moyes, who returned to Everton one year ago on Sunday. He took over a club just two points clear of the bottom three and destined for a fifth consecutive relegation fight but inspired a surge of form that carried the club to safety well before Easter.
One of the primary goals of his second stint is to ensure a trait he felt he inherited at the start of his first reign does not undermine the rest of a season he believes remains full of potential.
Reflecting on his first period as Everton boss last week, speaking before the Wolves game, he said he felt he arrived at a club that appeared to secure safety by Easter and then switch off for the rest of the campaign.
He said: “I remember it got my goat up when I was here and I had to fight to sort of change that. We were going right to the end, we were fighting right to end and we were going to keep going. I think in my second year, it probably nearly happened to me.. we got to Easter time and sort of turned off and we lost it. I don't want that here, I want us to be full-throttle all the time.
“Obviously, being full-throttle means that you're going to blow up sometimes, you're not always going to have it right and we're not always going to have all the players… but I want to try to push to get a higher league position and if I don't and we stay as a pretty safe, mid-table team, I don’t think it would be too bad a position.”
Moyes was able to do that last season - some of the best of the nine away wins he secured in 2025 came after the club’s safety was confirmed, including the feel-good successes at Fulham and Newcastle United. He also ensured Everton said goodbye to Goodison Park with a win, his team defeating Southampton 2-0 in the final senior men’s game at the club’s historic home.
Repeating that is now his ambition, with the hope that it could lead to a surprise charge for Europe. The foundation for a season devoid of jeopardy certainly appears to have been laid - Everton look set to avoid a survival fight already. The club started the year in eighth place and remained 15 points clear of the relegation zone even after last week.
There is an acceptance from Moyes that his squad still has its weaknesses and noises from the club so far this month suggest the approach to any transfer business will be cautious and opportunistic. His dressing room remains threadbare despite a busy summer and a concoction of injuries, suspensions and Africa Cup of Nations commitments has been the catalyst for the recent tough results - he was without nine senior players on Saturday including, in Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye, five of his most important.
The loss of Ndiaye and Gueye to Senegal’s bid for glory was always set to pose a challenge for the festive period and the injuries that have piled up around their absence has intensified an already difficult challenge.
Article continues below
Asked to reflect on where the defeat to Sunderland left his season on Saturday, he displayed an acceptance that what happens next will be defined by when, and with what success, his players return. He said: “What I want to do is to get back to the levels that we were playing at in recent months and recent weeks. I want to get the players back, but I couldn’t say that I was surprised with the results with what we were going to have available to us in certain games. A lot of it is by our own doing and we have to take responsibility for that, we had players sent off in the last game so that is our fault, but it is very difficult when we are picking up injuries and with the boys at AFCON it was always going to make this a really difficult month.”
But while those absences were painful and will, for the most part, continue into a tricky fixture at title-chasing Aston Villa on Sunday, Moyes appears determined to push the players as far as they can go this season in the hope they can get the European qualification he believes could turbocharge the club’s progression.
Asked ahead of the game with Wolves whether, if the week [including the FA Cup match] ended badly, he would prefer to go for the ‘jugular’ and maintain an assault on the higher reaches of the table or take stock and start exploring his squad with a view towards building for the summer and next season, he said: “I want to go for the jugular. I want to get Everton there as quick as I can. And while I've got a chance, I want to try and do it if I can.”
arse.
Typical Joe Thomas article, full of fluff and praise and that we're halfway through a "successful" season. He wouldn't know success if it slapped him bang in the face. Halfway through the season, out of both cups, in 12th, squad down to the bare bones. Yep, sure sounds like success.
He's a constant "be careful what you wish for" writer who doesn't want to ever get on the wrong side of any Everton manager.
Buzzwords, soundbites, horse manure.
Rooney_Tunes
Player Valuation: £50m
Success of the season so far?He's taking the piss now, 'full throttle ', my arse.
Inside Moyes' Everton plans with determined boss intent on going 'full-throttle'
The Blues boss is set to ensure standards remain high as he demands the best from his players over second half of season
Inside Moyes' Everton plans with determined boss intent on going 'full-throttle'
The Blues boss is set to ensure standards remain high as he demands the best from his players over second half of season
06:00, 13 Jan 2026
Updated 06:14, 13 Jan 2026
David Moyes looks on during the warm up prior to the Premier League match between Everton and Brentford. Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images(Image: )
David Moyes is keen for Everton to push for Europe this season despite a difficult week of results. The Blues missed a golden opportunity to consolidate their position in the top half of the league after a home defeat to Brentford and a draw with bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers.
The FA Cup defeat to Sunderland on Saturday rounded off a miserable six days for the club, leaving it at a crossroads for the rest of the campaign.
For Moyes, the hope is that his team can use the success of the season so far as a platform to push for further progress given that the Premier League table is so congested, with his side still just four points from fifth despite recent tough results. He said: “I want us to be full-throttle all the time.”
That proximity to the upper echelons of the table follows an impressive 12 months for Moyes, who returned to Everton one year ago on Sunday. He took over a club just two points clear of the bottom three and destined for a fifth consecutive relegation fight but inspired a surge of form that carried the club to safety well before Easter.
One of the primary goals of his second stint is to ensure a trait he felt he inherited at the start of his first reign does not undermine the rest of a season he believes remains full of potential.
Reflecting on his first period as Everton boss last week, speaking before the Wolves game, he said he felt he arrived at a club that appeared to secure safety by Easter and then switch off for the rest of the campaign.
He said: “I remember it got my goat up when I was here and I had to fight to sort of change that. We were going right to the end, we were fighting right to end and we were going to keep going. I think in my second year, it probably nearly happened to me.. we got to Easter time and sort of turned off and we lost it. I don't want that here, I want us to be full-throttle all the time.
“Obviously, being full-throttle means that you're going to blow up sometimes, you're not always going to have it right and we're not always going to have all the players… but I want to try to push to get a higher league position and if I don't and we stay as a pretty safe, mid-table team, I don’t think it would be too bad a position.”
Moyes was able to do that last season - some of the best of the nine away wins he secured in 2025 came after the club’s safety was confirmed, including the feel-good successes at Fulham and Newcastle United. He also ensured Everton said goodbye to Goodison Park with a win, his team defeating Southampton 2-0 in the final senior men’s game at the club’s historic home.
Repeating that is now his ambition, with the hope that it could lead to a surprise charge for Europe. The foundation for a season devoid of jeopardy certainly appears to have been laid - Everton look set to avoid a survival fight already. The club started the year in eighth place and remained 15 points clear of the relegation zone even after last week.
There is an acceptance from Moyes that his squad still has its weaknesses and noises from the club so far this month suggest the approach to any transfer business will be cautious and opportunistic. His dressing room remains threadbare despite a busy summer and a concoction of injuries, suspensions and Africa Cup of Nations commitments has been the catalyst for the recent tough results - he was without nine senior players on Saturday including, in Jack Grealish, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Jarrad Branthwaite, Iliman Ndiaye and Idrissa Gueye, five of his most important.
The loss of Ndiaye and Gueye to Senegal’s bid for glory was always set to pose a challenge for the festive period and the injuries that have piled up around their absence has intensified an already difficult challenge.
Article continues below
Asked to reflect on where the defeat to Sunderland left his season on Saturday, he displayed an acceptance that what happens next will be defined by when, and with what success, his players return. He said: “What I want to do is to get back to the levels that we were playing at in recent months and recent weeks. I want to get the players back, but I couldn’t say that I was surprised with the results with what we were going to have available to us in certain games. A lot of it is by our own doing and we have to take responsibility for that, we had players sent off in the last game so that is our fault, but it is very difficult when we are picking up injuries and with the boys at AFCON it was always going to make this a really difficult month.”
But while those absences were painful and will, for the most part, continue into a tricky fixture at title-chasing Aston Villa on Sunday, Moyes appears determined to push the players as far as they can go this season in the hope they can get the European qualification he believes could turbocharge the club’s progression.
Asked ahead of the game with Wolves whether, if the week [including the FA Cup match] ended badly, he would prefer to go for the ‘jugular’ and maintain an assault on the higher reaches of the table or take stock and start exploring his squad with a view towards building for the summer and next season, he said: “I want to go for the jugular. I want to get Everton there as quick as I can. And while I've got a chance, I want to try and do it if I can.”
arse.
Are we supporting Arsenal?
orchard
Player Valuation: £60m
A success by Moyes' standards, and his Everton as he perceives us.
