2025/26 David Moyes

PROGRESSION

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Jebus_lives said:
That’s broadly the point though, whether the recruitment was good or bad is impossible to properly judge when the players haven’t really been trusted or integrated into the first team. Moreover, I'd say the style of player we have recruited is not the style of player Moyes would typically buy (which is why I struggle with believing he signed them all off).

If Moyes had us comfortably pushing Europe, performing better in the cups and with exciting performances, I could forgive prioritising continuity and experience.

But we’ve drifted badly in the second half of the season (particularly in the last month), exited cups with a whimper (despite some of the younger players showing promise in those games), while still relying on the same core players every week regardless of form or fatigue.

The frustration for me isn’t even that every young signing should be starting, it’s that there seems to be no pathway or adaptation of the team at all. We already look to have written off a good number of last summers signings.

I think, you may disagree, Dibling, Aznou, George, Rohl were recruited with a different type of football and longer term profile in mind, but the manager defaults back to safety every time. That creates a disconnect between recruitment strategy and coaching philosophy that I mentioned in my earlier post.

At times when we've had opportunity to do something different we’ve barely explored any alternatives. The team has been predictable for a lot of the year and where we have seen performances dip from the core group, the response is usually more conservatism.

That’s why I said the club feels uncertain about what it wants to be. If the ambition is genuinely to grow into a progressive, attacking side competing for Europe - recruitment and management have to align around that. Otherwise you end up spending heavily on young technical players only to treat them like developmental risks while depending on ageing “trusted” options to push for Europe, but eventually grind out midtable.

Again, some might say midtable stability after recent seasons isn’t meaningless progress, but if the project rhetoric is about building towards something better, there has to eventually be evidence of that transition on the pitch too.

I'm not certain it's achievable with Moyes current mindset- so either the strategy changes or the manager needs to (however that might be).
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Yeah it looks like we may finish 14th, and were out of the cups straight away. If we were gonna do that, we had to answer if any of the below were viable options for next season;

Rohl in centre mid
Armstrong in centre mid
Jake at centre back
Dibling at right mid
Aznou anywhere on the pitch

We won’t know any of that now until it’s too late to do anything about it.
 
I'd take a step backwards to start taking 2 steps forward
I won't accept standing still

Own your errors, don't blame your errors.

Their is another 25 letters in the Alphabet, Not just 'A' strangely 'A' is the letter that starts the words we need to see in our manager, Adaptation and Ambition.

Get me off my seat, if you can't do that, than it's time to leave yours.

Actions speak louder than words. though for me, Words have spoken louder then actions this season. And that is saying something ( No pun intended )

I have to believe that things will only be better going forwards though, so don't fail it with decisions off the field.
 
Jebus_lives said:
I think this season has exposed a fundamental uncertainty about what Everton wants to be.

For all the talk of progression, there still appears to be no clear alignment between the leadership, manager and supporter expectations.

A month ago there were genuine conversations about whether Everton could push towards the Champions League places; now there is a realistic chance the season ends in 14th.

All the internal narrative has been about pushing onwards and a Moyes has talked up (somewhat reluctantly) the possibility of Europe and it's been within reach for a good portion of the year (it still was yesterday despite a month of poor results). The manager has voiced his frustration about recent results. So european football must have been be the expectation at some stage this year and certainly should be for next year, even if it wasn't at the beginning of this season.

The media narrative around the club has been that Moyes has done a great job moving us from relegation candidates to mid table. Ultimately though, this season should be looked on as a series of wasted opportunities in results and squad management.

Players we spent months courting for high fees have been poorly integrated, publicly talked down and pushed down the pecking order in favour of players playing out of their natural positions and in McNeills case, a player we were actively trying to sell.

Understandable if the plan is to use a year of development to mould youngersters into 1st team ready players - but the emphasis appears to be that the skills and attributes that made the club spend heavily on them last summer, are now considered liabilities to a manager with a tactical system that requires discipline and collective effort over individual skill and attacking intent.

Dibling, Aznou, George, Rohl, all bought with exciting profiles, have barely featured in a team that, despite being within touching distance of European football for months, may well finish 14th. Some may look at midtable as progress, but 14th where we have underutilised younger players feels like underwhelming stability at the expense of long term planning.

That reflects poorly against the manager and, if that is unaddressed, is a failure of the club leadership, because we are approaching a summer where we must get recruitment right, we cannot afford expensive signings recruited without a clear plan for how they fit the manager’s system.

If, as is reported, Moyes has final say and signs off on all these players, then he should shoulder responsibility for poor recruitment last summer and if he's allowed more money this summer, the club needs stronger recruitment oversight and clearer alignment between recruitment and manager.

Because among fans, ambitious rhetoric will not tolerate conservative execution.

There is little point in the club recruiting exciting young talent if the manager neither trusts their profiles or plays a style that suits them and if the club wants to talk like an ambitious project, it cannot have a manager who manages like survival is still the primary objective.
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Bravo.
 
Moyes is a coaster. It's the reason he hasn't ever made it to the top of the game despite his many positive attitributes. Someone who is happy just to scrape by. Don't expect anything because I'm not going to deliver it. It's why he United binned him off so quickly. It's why West Ham decided to part with him. It's why we don't want him anymore now. He has no edge, the thing that all the very best in any industry have. That obsession with rooting out weakness and driving things upwards.

He instilled that exact culture last time and he's brought it back with him. And people won't have it, not now with that new stadium. The days of being Kenwright's train set in a decrepid old ground in L4 over. Anyone who doesn't want to be the best shouldn't be welcome.

Kinnear's comments were very concerning. They read as buzz words from someone trying to sound ambitious rather than a clear-eyed executive who knows exactly what he wants and how he's going to deliver it. Either he goes or the manager does after this season, possibly both. The numbers are absolutely not acceptable and there needs to be serious consequences otherwise nothing at the club has changed.
 
danny=) said:
https://www.football365.com/news/moyes-sack-obvious-everton-stupid-clamour-iraola-glasner

great article
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Yes. And it's what's needed, I think part of the problem for us is that the media constantly go on about what a great job he's doing so he doesn't have anywhere near as much pressure on him as he should.

Most of the media is such an old boys club that they'll never criticise him. To take the reverse on the famous Allardyce quote, if his name was Davide Moyesio then he'd be getting all kinds of criticism from them and hopefully be on his way out
 
I would have been happy with one of three outcomes this season to show we are progressing
- European spot (potentially 9 teams remember)
OR
- significant uplift on points haul from Dyches last full season
OR
- New / Younger players getting integrated into the first 11 and a clear sign we are impacting the future.

Doesn’t look like any of these will happen, which is a huge missed opportunity. Please don’t serve up more of the same next season
 

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