2025/26 David Moyes

[Neiler]

It is fair to expect an Everton manager to field the best team he has, or as near as damn to it, in a domestic cup competition away to a Premier League team.

We've gone through seasons of dogging players because we have to - the inevitable happens we pick up injuries, suspensions and players get jaded once games come think and fast and limp through to February from Christmas. If Grealsih does a 10 week injury on his hamstring and we have lads sitting on the bench, fans or owners aren't happy hes not playing and we are paying him 200k a week.

As i said we had over 90 mill euro in talent starting last night in players under 22 - we dont know the goals the administration has given Moyes - on could be im giving you a £40 mill winger, a close to £30 mill striker - i want you to nurture and develop them and make me a profit on each in four years time.

On Howe exactly and he failed in the preceding three of those 67 years despite being backed by a sovereign wealth fund.........

Ultimately last night, in my opinion - the players got a chance and they all let themselves down.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

• Moyes: “We were coming to another Premier League team, so I don’t think you could say it’s a missed opportunity,”

I don't mind admitting that it winds me up no end. Any time we exit a cup competition is a massive missed opportunity to rectify the clubs biggest issue. Again, that attitude goes some way to explaining why he's never, and never will win a domestic trophy.

We have a manager shrugging/admitting he's not arsed about exiting a domestic cup competition.

And for what?

 

[efcste97]

I would describe it as prudent.

The weakened team showed how thin the squad is and the success of any team will be measured against their league position not how far they went in a low priority knockout competition...

What’s so ‘prudent’ about making seven changes in a cup competition that both the manager and players have talked up as being important? We don't play for another 6 days! The prudent thing to do last night would've been to make 2-3 changes, that's what I thought he would do. We took a poor Wolves side for granted.

 

[barneygumble]

We had over 30 minutes to get back into it. Wolves couldn't get near the ball. The players on the pitch had enough about them to win last night.

Barry or Beto is like being given the choice of a broken arm or broken leg. Don't want either. We got nothing out of RS and drew with Villa because of these 2.

Most annoying last night was Ndiaye thinking he can score from impossible positions. Lost count of his useless potshots.

Sorry, i cant agree with this, Mate.

It shouldn't be a case of having to grt back into it. We should just play it right.

30 minutes against a side who wasted time at 0-0 let alone when they led.

We set up in a way which let the weakest team in the league grow into it and build their confidence.

Im all for rotation, but that was suicide.

As for Beto & Barry, it doesnt take a genius to see how they're most effective. So why would you persist with hoofing it? Limited? Absolutely but at least use their limited ability.

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Champions League Stadium.

Two bob manager.

It's weird. Should have gone out and got the result last night. Instead he has put pressure on himself in match Monday where the opposition manager was most likely getting sacked if lost..

 

[ToffeeTim]

We've gone through seasons of dogging players because we have to - the inevitable happens we pick up injuries once games come think and fast and limp through to February from Christmas. If Grealsih does a 10 week injury on Hamstring and we have lads sitting on the bench, fans or owners aren't happy paying him 200k a week.

As i said we had over 90 mill euro in talent starting last night in players under 22 - we dont know the goals the administration has given Moyes - on could be im giving you a £40 mill winger, a close to £30 mill striker - i want you to nurture and develop them and make me a profit on each in four years time.

On Howe exactly and he failed in the preceding three of those 67 years despite being backed by a sovereign wealth fund.........

Ultimately last nigh tin my opinion, the players got a chance and they all let themselves down.

The injury argument is ridiculous to me. Players could get inured in any game or any day in training.

If injuries happen its frustrating, but its daft to then say the player should have been left out. Injuries and suspension are part of the game and that's when you use the squad. You don't voluntarily use the squad players and lose winnable games. These players are bench players for a reason- they are not good enough to play regularly.

 

[Lanolin]

But my point was that you will rightly be judged on the outcomes (not necessarily the result, but the way it works out). If we'd put that team out last night and won 3-0 then of course we wouldn't be moaning, because it would have proved itself to be good enough. If we'd put that team out and dominated the game but been denied by great goalkeeping, bad luck, poor refereeing decisions etc and lost 1-0 then there may have been some grumbles but in the main people would have accepted that the team we put out had probably deserved to win and so it wasn't an awful decision to pick it. As it is we lost quite comfortably and looked very poor for huge swathes of the game, so it's pretty much impossible to argue that it was the right team to pick. Of course we could have picked our strongest team and lost 5-0, we'll never know, but we do know that we didn't give ourselves the best opportunity to win the game with the side we put out and for a fan base that's desperate for success - or even just to feel happy and optimistic for a little bit for once - that was never going to go down well if we lost.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

We've gone through seasons of dogging players because we have to - the inevitable happens we pick up injuries, suspensions and players get jaded once games come think and fast and limp through to February from Christmas. If Grealsih does a 10 week injury on his hamstring and we have lads sitting on the bench, fans or owners aren't happy hes not playing and we are paying him 200k a week.

As i said we had over 90 mill euro in talent starting last night in players under 22 - we dont know the goals the administration has given Moyes - on could be im giving you a £40 mill winger, a close to £30 mill striker - i want you to nurture and develop them and make me a profit on each in four years time.

On Howe exactly and he failed in the preceding three of those 67 years despite being backed by a sovereign wealth fund.........

Ultimately last night, in my opinion - the players got a chance and they all let themselves down.

In another 30 years without a trophy mate, you can cling on to the comfort of the time we didn't risk injuries that season we finished 11th.

 

[Neiler]

The injury argument is ridiculous to me. Players could get inured in any game or any day in training.

If injuries happen its frustrating, but its daft to then say the player should have been left out. Injuries and suspension are part of the game and that's when you use the squad. You don't voluntarily use the squad players and lose winnable games. These players are bench players for a reason- they are not good enough to play regularly.

That's not not how modern sports science works mate, there is a measure of injury that is subjective, but these days sports sciences teams know when players are at a greater risk of injury - the red zone.

Its quite fascinating actually.

Injury can still be subjective but not as subjective, there can be a strong measure of predictability to it. Its why players are managed differently.

 

[tonyhorne]

I'm approaching 40 and can't remember Everton winning a trophy.

The Kendall years were magnificent. It was, though, very dark before the dawn. That the reasons it all ended are regularly ignored by modern football journalists, is a scandal.

We need to start owning that, rather than making daft excuses for exiting cup competitions on a whim.

I'm not making excuses. It was a huge disappointment. I'm just saying that I understand the decision to field a "weakened" team last night. However, our "weakened" team needs to be a lot better than we have currently and it didn't go as well as hoped.

We get the team we deserve when we start talking up exiting a cup competition as a good thing.

I will never talk up a defeat, against any side in any competition. There was not a lot of good to come out of last night. There is, clearly, still a lot of work still to do generally to improve the team. I'm not sure that last night will help one bit other than to underline how much we will rely on a small nucleus of players. I think Moyes has inadvertently given himself a bit of pressure for the next game. I really hope he gets it right then ...

 

[Mickey]

It's weird. Should have gone out and got the result last night. Instead he has put pressure on himself in match Monday where the opposition manager was most likely getting sacked if lost..

Exactly. There was a positive energy and vibe around Everton for the first time in years and he's just flushed it down the bog. Put unnecessary pressure on the West Ham game whereas we could've went into the game with our tails up. I'm baffled by his decisions last night. Truely baffled.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

The Kendall years were magnificent. It was, though, very dark before the dawn. That the reasons it all ended are regularly ignored by modern football journalists, is a scandal.


I'm not making excuses. It was a huge disappointment. I'm just saying that I understand the decision to field a "weakened" team last night. However, our "weakened" team needs to be a lot better than we have currently and it didn't go as well as hoped.


I will never talk up a defeat, against any side in any competition. There was not a lot of good to come out of last night. There is, clearly, still a lot of work still to do generally to improve the team. I'm not sure that last night will help one bit other than to underline how much we will rely on a small nucleus of players. I think Moyes has inadvertently given himself a bit of pressure for the next game. I really hope he gets it right then ...

So you think Moyes should continue to field weakened teams in every cup competition?

And the issue will only improve when we have a better, weakened team?

 

[Neiler]

In another 30 years without a trophy mate, you can cling on to the comfort of the time we didn't risk injuries that season we finished 11th.

Or if we win one within three years with Diblinhg and Barry combining for the winner mate, we can all talk about the time we wanted them banished for not beating Wolves a few weeks after we signed them.

 

[ToffeeTim]

That's not not how modern sports science works mate, there is a measure of injury that is subjective, but these days sports sciences teams know when players are at a greater risk of injury.

Its quite fascinating actually.

Of course there is a risk of injuries in football. No one is arguing that point.

The point I'm arguing is this nonsensical argument that players are more likely to get hurt in cup ties than league games. Or that if you leave a player out of a cup tie then they will avoid injury in the league.

You deal with injuries when they occur. You don't leave players out because there is a risk of injury. It could happen at any time.

 

[MikeH72]

Has anyone asked him why he thought Jordan Pickford needed a rest?