“I used to always start seasons really well and not finish them that good, but the reverse isn’t ideal,” said the Everton manager. “But if you finish the season stronger, then you tend to have a better chance of winning things, although you can be knocked out earlier if you don’t get up and running. The key is to be consistent throughout the season, and we’ve shown ourselves capable of doing that in the last few years.
“The situation we are in, there is a danger that if we drop too many points at this stage we won’t be able to catch up later on in the season. But the tightness of the Premier League has meant we aren’t a million miles away. We know we aren’t at the standard that we want, but we aren’t a million miles away. But know we have to do better. We have to start winning games.”
“We know we have to get better. If Villa are going for the top four, and you’d have to say they have a chance as they are a good team, then on this evidence Everton are not that far behind. That was the case in the last couple of seasons. We are better than where we are at the moment, and hopefully we can move up the table.”
But the manager admits the availability of more players will leave him with a different kind of selection poser. He said: “If we get the squad fit then we’ll have some decisions to make.
“We don’t have that at the moment.
“The hardest part for us right now is that we are playing people out of position. Tim Cahill is not a wide player, but he has to play out there, or we have to put young Dan Gosling in again.
“We have tried to get a formation that gives us the best chance of winning games. We lined up in a way so not to concede, and we should have capitalised more in the first half before we got sloppy for Villa’s equaliser and they got stronger.”
Moyes had no qualms with Bilyaletdinov’s red card but admits Cuellar was unfortunate to be dismissed.
“I have seen challenges like Billy’s given a red so I have to accept it,” he said. “There is a possibility it was a red.
“I thought it was harsh on Aston Villa even though the boy had two or three fouls after his first booking but I think the refacted after the Billy challenge."
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Lets face it we should have a higher points total then we do now, we need a really good period between now and Xmas to get points on the board to be in with a shout of challenging for Europe. For me we need a mininmum of 25 points before xmas and have a really good second half to the season. All fit i thought we had a realistic chance of a top 4, i cant see it now with our points total and with some of the games we have lost and drew.
The top 6 is possible and many of our rivals have begun to hit the wall in terms of consistency: City have begun to win less games, Villa have shown inconsistency against the hard to break down sides, while Spurs are capable of winning but also looseing well and are facing into a central defender crisis. Sunderland are doing really well and have to be considered i think it may be a year to early for them though.
With room for play to improve where other teams have been playing at full tilt we have it in us to push on. If we can lessen the lead Spurs, Villa, City, Liverpool, and Sunderland have on us by the New Year to two or three points i will be happy - at the mo i think its the best we can hope for and to do it we will prob have to take a few scalps along the way between now and xmas. looking at the fixtures.
What do people think - are we still on for Top 6 - CL - or just a top 10 this season?
Personally ill go for top 6.
“The situation we are in, there is a danger that if we drop too many points at this stage we won’t be able to catch up later on in the season. But the tightness of the Premier League has meant we aren’t a million miles away. We know we aren’t at the standard that we want, but we aren’t a million miles away. But know we have to do better. We have to start winning games.”
“We know we have to get better. If Villa are going for the top four, and you’d have to say they have a chance as they are a good team, then on this evidence Everton are not that far behind. That was the case in the last couple of seasons. We are better than where we are at the moment, and hopefully we can move up the table.”
But the manager admits the availability of more players will leave him with a different kind of selection poser. He said: “If we get the squad fit then we’ll have some decisions to make.
“We don’t have that at the moment.
“The hardest part for us right now is that we are playing people out of position. Tim Cahill is not a wide player, but he has to play out there, or we have to put young Dan Gosling in again.
“We have tried to get a formation that gives us the best chance of winning games. We lined up in a way so not to concede, and we should have capitalised more in the first half before we got sloppy for Villa’s equaliser and they got stronger.”
Moyes had no qualms with Bilyaletdinov’s red card but admits Cuellar was unfortunate to be dismissed.
“I have seen challenges like Billy’s given a red so I have to accept it,” he said. “There is a possibility it was a red.
“I thought it was harsh on Aston Villa even though the boy had two or three fouls after his first booking but I think the refacted after the Billy challenge."
____________________________________________
Lets face it we should have a higher points total then we do now, we need a really good period between now and Xmas to get points on the board to be in with a shout of challenging for Europe. For me we need a mininmum of 25 points before xmas and have a really good second half to the season. All fit i thought we had a realistic chance of a top 4, i cant see it now with our points total and with some of the games we have lost and drew.
The top 6 is possible and many of our rivals have begun to hit the wall in terms of consistency: City have begun to win less games, Villa have shown inconsistency against the hard to break down sides, while Spurs are capable of winning but also looseing well and are facing into a central defender crisis. Sunderland are doing really well and have to be considered i think it may be a year to early for them though.
With room for play to improve where other teams have been playing at full tilt we have it in us to push on. If we can lessen the lead Spurs, Villa, City, Liverpool, and Sunderland have on us by the New Year to two or three points i will be happy - at the mo i think its the best we can hope for and to do it we will prob have to take a few scalps along the way between now and xmas. looking at the fixtures.
What do people think - are we still on for Top 6 - CL - or just a top 10 this season?
Personally ill go for top 6.
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