2025/26 David Moyes

[Zatara]

You do know that not every signing is made with the intention of them being immediate first choices? And if they're not first choice, then they're gonna get less minutes than the people who are first choice. It's not a difficult concept to understand. Notice how Alcaraz got more minutes before KDH came in? It's what happens, a squad player has shuffled down the pecking order because better players have been brought in - it's no big deal.

It's not even like we have Europe, so rotation is not something we really need to use that much.

You DO know that signing 5 players and barely giving any of them game time...

...during AFCON

...when there are injuries

...after they perform

Isnt the same as them starting games as first choice?

You DO know that right?

 

[John from Bootle]

Whatever you say chief. But Moyes picked Neville +hibbert over Coleman right until their legs fell off. Whether it's favouritism, or lack of trust Coleman never played full back for us until Moyes last season.

Neville moved to midfield about 2 years before we bought Coleman. So he did play full back for us then? Under Moyes? I don't recall saying it was before his last season, as that's largely irrelevant. He signed a five and a half year deal 6 months before Moyes left and was being played at right back when Moyes left. Rewrite history if you want, but he was defo groomed to fill that right back spot.

 

[John from Bootle]

You DO know that signing 5 players and barely giving any of them game time...

...during AFCON

...when there are injuries

...after they perform

Isnt the same as them starting games as first choice?

You DO know that right?

Err why would they start games if they're not first choice?

 

[nevsonlymate]

You best go and sign that Diouf lad from West Ham in the summer. Get Ndiaye and Gueye on the blower to him. A trio of Senegalese athletes. Just no more Africans after that otherwise we'll lose half a starting XI each ACON.

Next Afcon is next year but June to July

 

[EFC_FRANCIS]

Neville moved to midfield about 2 years before we bought Coleman. So he did play full back for us then? Under Moyes? I don't recall saying it was before his last season, as that's largely irrelevant. He signed a five and a half year deal 6 months before Moyes left and was being played at right back when Moyes left. Rewrite history if you want, but he was defo groomed to fill that right back spot.

Firstly I didn't say he never played right back, not that it matters, I said he came good under Martinez and Moyes mainly used him as a winger. Moyes had Coleman for 4 years and used him as a rightback for about 6 months. Pretending that he was always a right back and had the trust of Moyes is just tosh.

Secondly Neville didn't move into midfield in 2007. Either you're rewriting history yourself or just suffering from a distorted memory.

 

[MikeH72]

You need them to be working in harmony Mike. If we're buying younger players for the future then we need a manager who has faith in them. Otherwise we'll have what we have this season with players kicking their heels with their development stunted

As someone who generally thinks Moyes has done a very good job across two spells here, it pains me to say that all roads appear to be pointing in one direction here sadly.

 

[Zatara]

Twas slightly tongue in cheek, partly due to the fact that the poster I was replying to has at least a ten year history of demanding every youngster who gets anywhere near the bench be given minutes, only for most of them to end up drifting off in to lower league obscurity.

I think Rohl is a squad player who will probably end up moving on if we can improve year on year. Aznou and Dibling have ability, but clearly need to work on certain things, so could go either way. Alcaraz is in the Rohl bracket, and George is a loan who's probably gonna have to do more if he wants to make it permanent.

Why cant you just say you think Moyes has wasted the money on 5 players?

if we lost was it 9 players last season which depleted the squad and we only really had 1 to step up who we loaned out you would expect the players brought in would be expected to play more than the 5 have done this season especially with Afcon taking 2 players out for 5-6 games or again is that bad recruitment i know we have to plan for the future but if you are playing players out of position week in week out there's something a miss

im not saying there bad signings it was more about the comment that we shouldnt expect them to play i think it was more that we had/have a limit squad to start the season so why buy 4 players then bring one in on loan if you are not going to play them or at least give them more game time i think thats what people are thinking that he/the committee should/may have brought in players that he trusted obviously a right back and not have to play Obrien or Garner every other week there just my thoughts.

Thing is as well, times have changed since his first spell here. At that time 23 was still genuinely a young player, and to see a teenager playing in the top flight was a lot more rare than it is now.

Was having this conversation with a friend the other day speaking more generally about the premier league, talking about how the average age that players peak has probably become more like 23-26.

Saka is 24 and played 222 PL games. Arguably the best player in the world is 18 and has been playing since 16. Dowman now making headlines at 16, Mateus Mané Wolves best player this season at 18. These are mostly pretty special players that you could say aren't representative of the majority, but I would still say this is where Moyes shows his age.

If we had Mané for example I don't think any of us would know how good he is as I don't think he would have gotten the chance to play.

I look at the way we are playing at home to away and yes he set up away have proved mostly successful this season but we cant seem to get a tune out of basically the same 11 each and every week weather thats the transfer to being offensive , the tactics of Moyes and the opposition or flogging the same team week in week out and may be trying one or 2 players it freshen it up a bit, will he start George on Saturday or stick with McNeil , will Obrien get pushed back to Right back if both centre halves are fit again or do we lose Garner to Right back

Spot on with the points...

Even if it wasnt his parent club next game theres no chance George plays.

Mate come on let’s be real here, he hasn’t done that with O’Brien at all he’s only played him at CB when there’s been absolutely no other options in that position. Clearly he thinks O’Brien is a right back that can cover centre back in the event of an emergency, not the other way around.

Spot on.

 

[Marcus Kendall]

As someone who generally thinks Moyes has done a very good job across two spells here, it pains me to say that all roads appear to be pointing in one direction here sadly.

Agreed Mike. Moyes as you say has done a very good job for us especially in his first spell. Unfortunately his mindset means we'll always wonder 'what if' as we all wonder with a bit more ambition and less of an inferiority complex how much further could he take us past his self imposed 'ceiling' It's the same with his judgement on players preferring solid dependable pro's rather than players with a potentially higher ceiling than that but arent dependable enough or disciplined enough for his in the main pragmatic way of setting a team up

 

[John from Bootle]

Firstly I didn't say he never played right back, not that it matters, I said he came good under Martinez and Moyes mainly used him as a winger. Moyes had Coleman for 4 years and used him as a rightback for about 6 months. Pretending that he was always a right back and had the trust of Moyes is just tosh.

Secondly Neville didn't move into midfield in 2007. Either you're rewriting history yourself or just suffering from a distorted memory.

We were talking about profile of players. He probably didn't trust him as a right back at first. That's probably because he had a lot to learn, not because he wasn't a 6 foot plus centre back. As time moved on, he was ushered in to that right back spot, so whilst he might not have trusted him at first he certainly gravitated towards using him there, despite the fact he wasn't an out and out defender.

As for the Neville thing, yeah, my memory might be off, it just seems to me that he played full back for 2-3 seasons then moved in to midfield. Happy to admit I might be wrong by a year or two though.

 

[Eggs]

….more praise from those that matter;

 

[John from Bootle]

Why cant you just say you think Moyes has wasted the money on 5 players?

Because it's not an opinion I share Zat.

Let's look at these 5 players he's supposedly 'wasted' money on...

Dibling - He's the one I have concerns about. He certainly looks like he could be wasted money, but is only 19 so could turn things around.

Rohl - brought in as a squad player, has been used sparingly, but hasn't let anybody down when called upon as a squad player. It's not like we've been playing centre backs or strikers in midfield whilst he's been sat on the bench. It's fine. We also got him on 'tick' for a year.

Aznou - cost peanuts in the big scheme of things.

Alcaraz - Cost £12 million. Good buy, not getting in ahead of KDH, Garner or Gueye, for starters.

George - We haven't even bought him, nor are we obliged to.

 

[Marcus Kendall]

….more praise from those that matter;

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He was hardly going to criticise him now was he Eggs

 

[blueboy72]

Which is weird seeing as his two first choice full backs used to be Coleman and Baines. There's very little evidence to suggest that's the profile of full back he prefers.

Maybe the way the league has changed with, set pieces. He wants big physical full backs. And he only had Coleman for his last 2/3yrs also Baines became a regular in 08, Moyes had been at the club 6 yrs.

 

[davek]

….more praise from those that matter;

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That's another way of saying "he doesn't know what to say about coaching me to do stuff that I cant do, so he just stands aside and lets me do my own stuff".

 

[JobForTheMoyes]

Listen mate, I’ve watched Everton for years. I can’t tell you the number of times I am convinced Everton are going to lose unless we change something and I have been wrong on the vast majority of occasions. If you are the team in the ascendancy in terms of possession etc. and you have a very strong bench then it makes sense to make attacking subs to freshen things up if you are struggling to score. Especially if you have a strong bench. In our situation when we have a good shape, are sitting back but not giving up chances and looking comfortable most managers wouldn’t change anything except maybe fresh legs up front which is what Moyes did. We should have drawn that game, we just dropped off for a second and were punished. Ironically after subs had been made. Against Utd we did exactly the same thing, with 10 men and it worked perfectly. We actually gave away more chances against Utd and most people on here would have made subs mid way through the second half but Moyes held his nerve and we won the game. Managers don’t make subs if the structure is working well.

People tend to biased toward the benefit of a change without considering the downside risks.