Will Everton Ever Take Competing Seriously Again?
Everton endured a disastrous week but it's self-inflicted and so the excuses have to stop
Picture this. Rory McIlroy steps onto the green and is just one shot away from winning The Masters. He turns to his caddie before this giant career moment. However, he doesn’t have his putter.
Can you imagine? It would be absolutely absurd and yet this is exactly how Everton are electing to navigate a season at the top level of football.
Persevering without a specialist right-back is like Ronnie O’Sullivan rocking up to the crucible without his cue or Novak Djokovic arriving at Wimbledon with no rackets.
However, those two greats are champions. Everton used to be, but now prefer to be stuck in a loop of ‘trying’, ‘attempting’ and ‘hoping’. Every day is a battle in which the Blues’ hands are tied, apparently.
Except that’s not the case. You see, all of the issues are self-inflicted. Everton spent money this past summer but failed to sign a right-back and it’s bitten them. It’s a theme that’s carried on years now — a failure to replace captain Seamus Coleman which is now continuing under new ownership.
Jake O’Brien, the towering centre-back, has been deployed at full-back for twelve months now. The defender has put in commendable performances but he’s out of position and not a natural for the role.
The farce has ensured the Toffees continue to play in complete dysfunction.
Nathan Patterson, meanwhile, an actual right-back, was dropped a few seasons back after a clean sheet and win at West Ham and has struggled to get back in ever since. I didn’t understand it at the time and still don’t really understand it now.
Anyway, the Scotland international was handed a rare start due to injuries at Nottingham Forest recently and, alongside O’Brien who was at last given the nod at centre-back, helped the Blues earn a win and clean sheet. Everton had found a solution and fielded a balanced side where the play flowed at last.
In true Toffees style though, days later manager David Moyes benched Patterson and shifted O’Brien back. Everton lost and conceded four goals at home to Brentford before struggling to a 1-1 draw with bottom club Wolves. The momentum had been killed and issues arose again.
It was totally unnecessary and easily avoided but this is the Everton way, constantly dealing with problems of their own making.
However, while the struggles are so obvious and needless, it’s the mentality and noises that come out of the club which have you wondering will Everton ever take competing seriously again? Will the Blues ever just get their ducks in a row and do what they need to do? Not to win silverware, as nice as that would be, but to just compete and take on rivals while not being so hamstrung? To go toe-to-toe with other sides without bemoaning a myriad of challenges the team simply choose to endure for months on end? Every week just feels like a patch-up job. It’s not sustainable.
Moyes was asked about signings at a pre-match press conference earlier this week.
“I think it’s probably more unlikely than likely that we add to the squad,” he said. “I wouldn’t say that completely because obviously we’re looking out there to see what there is and we will see if we can get something. But I just wouldn’t want to get everybody’s hopes up.
“We’re looking at some players and we’re looking if we could add to it and if we can we will do, but we’ve been quite careful with it.”
In isolation, there’s nothing wrong with that take but when I listened, I felt my shoulders droop before I exhaled a big mass of despondent air.
Now if Moyes had said it was unlikely a new signing would be made the day before the window slammed shut, I’d get it, but there is just so much wrong with leaning towards expected failure to get anybody in weeks before a transfer deadline. If Patterson isn’t fancied and set to move on, signing a right-back isn’t a want but a need.
I also appreciate there may be a plan in place to keep the powder dry to avoid any PSR blocks in the future but this is a team that needs bolstering or the club will fall further behind still when there is a great opportunity to step forward.
We know January is a difficul period to make signings and that a right-back might not be signed. Moyes is one of the most experienced managers in the world and will know far more than me, a fan, about the lay of the land this month but please David, do get my hopes up. I can’t take this feeling of facing constant uphill battles and struggle much longer.
Fans need something to believe and back. You want your club to take you on a journey.
If the signing doesn’t come, the signing doesn’t come. But football is about confidence, belief and momentum. Tell the fans you’re going to give it your best and they might get to the stadium buoyed rather than flat. Show them the team might actually be heading somewhere rather than standing still.
‘If I say likely, then you might be thinking that that means that we’re on with something,’ is another Moyes line from that recent presser.
I would hope the recruitment team is ‘on’ with something having watched the side struggle for consistency all season because the square peg in the round hole is affecting so much of the pitch.
Where is the urgency to fix a glaring issue? An issue that has been apparent for months, years in fact. In my mind, September through to December should be ample time to know who might be available and who could join the club? I feel it daft to be keeping an eye out in the month of January. Of course situations change, players become available but I just wish Everton and Moyes would at least change the narrative to be a little more hopeful.
You’re not hunting a treasure trove at the bottom of the sea. You’re identifying a specialist right-back. It’s a pool of hundreds. Other clubs just don’t seem to be stuck in this constant state of flux, of being out of answers, constantly, forever.
You want your manager to show a desire to get the job done, not be a carbon copy of that Larry David GIF where he’s so unsure and shows it all over his face.
The messaging is all wrong. Clubs know what we need. A quick look at the squad list tells you that so you don’t need to be coy. Be bold and tell us that everyone behind the scenes is working around the clock to ensure we have the best chance of getting what we need to enjoy a successful campaign.
Listening to the manager, as he shrugs and has the look of a tradesman who has been asked is there any chance he can get more parts at 4.30 on a Friday afternoon, it just leaves you feeling deflated. By the time you get to the ground on matchday, you’re already done because you’ve pretty much been told success isn’t possible anytime soon.
David Moyes has done a great deal of good in the last year but this has certainly been his worst week in the dugout since returning. Changing the team so needlessly completely flipped the feel and so by the time Sunderland came to visit in the FA Cup, the malaise had truly set in.
It was absolutely no surprise to see us limp out and the penalties were a simple metaphor for Everton, getting the build-up all wrong and being spurned. Another chance gone solely due to a lack of fortitude. Shite.
For years, growing up as a teenager, during Moyes’ first spell in charge, his apparent lack of belief and the supposed glass ceiling that pushed down on Everton, used to be excruciating to listen to as a fan who wants to dream. It was for that reason that when he came back in January 2025 and started talking so positively, with verve and drive about being determined to get back into Europe, that it was like listening to a band I’d grown bored of bringing out a fresh new tune. I loved it.
So, what’s changed? Why was Moyes so forthright twelve months ago but now appears sullen? It’s just no good for the feeling and morale around the club.
Excuses aren’t acceptable any longer. Yes, the team is without a number of key players, but being knocked out of both cups (and remember fielding a second string in the League Cup was a choice) before the third week in January has been a symptom of the season as a whole.
For instance, everybody knew AFCON was coming but Moyes has not managed the squad properly to deal with player absences. Tyler Dibling is still only 19 and was signed for £40m. The youngster has either been given minutes at the end of games or starts before being hooked at half-time. He’s not been settled in with sufficient game time so that he was ready for January. Twenty minute cameos in the hole would have given him the freedom and licence to show what he could do. Instead, he’s rusty and being judged.
Then there’s the signing of Jack Grealish. What a signing by the club and a whopping great big positive. But it’s negated by the lack of support the star man receives. Why, when he arrived, did the club not consider Vitalii Mykolenko might not be the man to support Grealish on the left?
The lack of game-time given to Adam Aznou, an overlapping wing-back we did bring in, has been woeful and makes the entire situation all the more galling. The Moroccan was signed in the summer and stuck in the reserves. On Saturday, he was thrown on - another telling factor about how the Cup is undervalued by the club - and made an instant impact, winning the penalty that got Everton back in the game. It proved once again that while the club gets cosy in struggle and strife, there are solutions at times they simply choose to ignore for way too long. It was exactly the case last season when Jake O’Brien wasn’t selected because he supposedly lacked Premier League experience. He was given a chance and swiftly proved that was simply a daft take which has hindered the team for months.
Look, Everton have made great progress under David Moyes this campaign and are four points off fifth. However, ‘off’ is the operative word having drawn and lost two winnable games at home as the team was stifled by bad touchline decisions. It’s so much better than before and yet, points have been needlessly dropped and it will no doubt prove costly come May.
After the win at the City Ground, Moyes had an open road to zoom into and set the season alight with a great chance of six points and a Cup run to be gained from three home games in a week but instead, he pulled in and put the hazards on for absolutely no reason at all.
The excuses simply have to stop and proactive action must be taken while the transfer window is open. Every individual with power at the club now has a decision to make. What type of club do they want Everton to be? The tired old club that perseveres with gaping holes in the squad and thinks being four points off fifth is ample progress? Or an Everton that sees fifth on the horizon and does all it can to grab it with both hands?
People insist ‘This squad will take three transfer windows to fix’. It’s a random figure plucked from thin air which I’ve never really bought into. Aston Villa, for example, went down, came back up, qualified for the Champions League and are in the title contender conversation. Anything is possible with the right personnel in place. Then there’s Sunderland; promoted in the summer, they bought a new squad to compete and have reaped the rewards. It’s been seamless. Everton apparently made some Herculean effort to build a side that’s still not fit for purpose but actually brought in fewer players than the Black Cats who were able to make changes at Hill Dickinson and walk through to the Fourth Round. Go figure.
It’s hard to bring in players but it’s made much easier if you make strong and savvy decisions in the transfer market. Everton though, do not and the hesitation of today just leads to issues for tomorrow.
Honestly, if the club thinks January is difficult to conduct transfer business, failure to bring some bodies in will make the summer a million times harder.
A dysfunctional team with missing parts will cost you millions in prize money, take the shine off new beginnings and continue the narrative that’s held the club back for three decades.
There is still a great chance to achieve something that can push the club forward this season but it depends if the desire is there to go for it rather than ambling through and focusing hard on the hurdles.
I wrote a piece around eight years ago now titled ‘Mediocrity is a disease at Everton’ and still, a cure hasn’t been found. So, so much of this refers to past ownership. However, this is a deep-rooted complex which affects every new player. No matter who comes in as manager or who is appointed at the top behind the scenes, it continues on and on and on.
This was a season of new beginnings and yet I am mired in such familiar Blues misery.
I’ve honestly not felt this frustrated as a Blue in a long while simply because this disastrous week, and it has been disastrous, was so unnecessary, so avoidable and yet, so so Everton.
I’m in no doubt Moyes’ Everton will get back to winning ways and give the fans some pride back. He’s really good at getting a response. However, a season punctuated by such insipid displays witnessed on the banks of the Mersey this week will forever curtail any chance of silverware. I know already any push for Europe, or the top ten, will end in disappointment. A nearly miss once again. You can tell a mile off.
The whole club needs some umph. We simply can’t let a giant opportunity, when the league is so tight, pass us by for the umpteenth time. There has to be a culture change that starts with being proactive, taking action and quitting the excuses. Then, some supporters, like me, might not be so glass half empty.
Right now though, I ask myself more and more ‘What’s the point?’ and each time, I gain more clarity that there is no point. Not while the club is so stuck on this path that leads nowhere.
I long for the day Everton strive to be competitive again.
An Everton season ticket holder and football writer, you can subscribe to all of Ell Bretland's work at https://ellbretland.substack.com
Reader Responses
Selected thoughts from readers11/01/2026 09:43:01
Great article, Ell.
You captured every aspect of the feeble mediocrity and sadly ground hog day that has eroded Everton for decades in Cup compeitions.
Yesterday, if it was a 3 p.m. KO. would have made it a proper old fashioned FAC tie.
The tournament has lost creedence which is rediculous, as it's the chance for all teams to dream, live their values and try for a day.
The lack of quaility in depth of this Everton squad is well known.
The reality of injuries, AFCON, some rediculous VAR and poor discipline in the case of Grealish, hit hard yesterday.
Credit to Sunderland who in fairness outplayed Everton.
A team with a playing style and pattern of play which is good to watch.
If.. Everton had their best players available yesterday I think it would have been a diffrent contest. But thats football, and every team faces the same challenges every season.
But playing players out of position, never works in football.
His hand of cards not his best yesterday but Moyes, could have at least set up with a game plan to counter, using Armstrong as a runner down the middle, with strikers spinning off, to make space.. but Jimmy was covering the midfield holes yesterday, and offensively there was no momentum.
It was numbing and draining to watch and a bright light to see Aznou, force the issue and get a penalty.
Surely the foul on Beto in their box was a stonewall penalty?
In my view with or without VAR, the game is no longer a fair contest.
Extra time and I seriously wonder how Beto and Barry ever made the grade in Portugal and France.
Alan Biley, Mike Feguson, Stuart BarloW, Brett Angel, Rod Belfit, Sandro Ramerez, etc you've been eclipsed by these two.
So who scouted and recommended signing these players, who have no balance, awareness and can barely trap the ball, have no positonal movenent or nous in the box?
Every Evertonian in the ground feared and forbode the worst, when it was penalty shoot out time.
Pathetic...Could say far worse, but how can this team have any consistency and hope when genuine good chances in open play get spurned from with in 6 yards, this and last season?
If... Memories of epic home defeats in recent decades in the FAC, came back- Bradford City. Tranmere,Wigan, amongst others. Playing for the shirt. and why do a stunt of wesring a new kit? Money and more money?
Yesterday I sensed an air of defeat and acceptance that the players didnt see a way to beat Sunderland.
A stinking week, results wise. The Hill Dickinson hoodoo contrives yet again.
Bar a miracle Europe potential now looks miles away, and squad depth is poor.
What goes on on in training to improve the squad, who knows?
Beto, and Barry surely must be replaced and perhaps a way out is trading them in at Roma?
Regardless I don't see them being Everton players next season, theyre no good enough, Beto tries has nuisance value to the opposition and his own team, and for me Barry looks lost.
I know theyve got no reliable service from the wings or down the middle, but their general play is rank poor, and means at times playing with a player or two players down.
David Moyes, has his work cut out,to lift the squad.
Praying for Brainthwaites return, and some stabilty in central defence.
In Summer I hope Evertons scouts have started plans, for panning for some golden nuggets, it will be very tough to tempt the very best players, to Everton, and I hope that they have a transfer plan.
At Everton. "Things will get better?"
11/01/2026 10:06:16
Ell, fantastic article. Sums the situation well...
11/01/2026 10:08:04
I agree with your general theme Ell, and yesterday was yet another downer, following a few days when we have been outplayed by three Clubs at home. However, I feel we have generally 'managed' the right back situation but it's a centre forward where our short comings are really clear and embarrassing.
The centre forward position also highlights just how poor our recruitment has been given that the two who played yesterday were both comparatively recent signings.
Whilst the New Owners have had many matters to contend with it's not clear to me who now is the driver behind our player recruitment, it's certainly not the Manager. The signings last summer of Barry and Dibling look to be expensive disasters, and just who is responsible ?
So yes this season is now effectively over, and the planning for next season can begin which means whoever is in charge and responsible has plenty of time and we just might see those right back and centre forward positions filled by competent footballers.
11/01/2026 10:47:41
Thirty-one years and counting.
But is the malaise getting worse?
In our last ten attempts at the FA Cup, only twice have we gone further than the fourth round.
And then we progressed no further than the quarter-finals.
This has been under seven managers.
11/01/2026 11:20:40
I was already feeling fed up after enduring the last week Ell but your excellent article has allowed the malaise to properly set in!
When we were bumbling along earlier in the season I was of the opinion that Moyes would be sent on his way in the summer and a younger, innovative manager would be brought in and bring some younger, faster, hungrier players with him.
Now I think Moyes will stay and another season will drift by.
When results are going well we tend to accept things, or at least I do, but the continued absence of the owner or his son (even for a fleeting visit) seems strange as does the fairly naff 4th kit.
Can’t say I’m looking forward to the season ticket prices for next season as I’m sure they will suffer another hike.
11/01/2026 11:39:51
I think any team missing 8 of its best players including its 4 most creative players is going to struggle. We do need a little perspective.
Having said that, it does bring up all the old Moyes criticisms. He does 80-90% of the job really well. Behind the scenes the club is disciplined, organised, together and players make the effort. We took that for granted for most of his previous spell but have seen in some of the managers since that it can disappear. However, Moyes will always focus on the negative, choose the cautious option and hold back young and exciting players. He’s currently ruining Dibling, Aznou and Patterson. Alcaraz is injured but he’s also been stifled this season. We’re currently paying the price of Moyes not giving these lads regular game time earlier in the season as they are not up to speed. He will always be limited and ‘about 7th’ with no cup runs is all we’ll ever get from him.
Moyes has already achieved what he was hired to do. We’re safe, settled and stable. Now it is beginning to feel like we’re limited by him. With that in mind, my dream scenario would be to keep him at the club as an experienced head ensuring that all of those behind the scenes foundations remain in place, but giving someone more progressive the chance to be adventurous and inspiring with the actual team. If Moyes does manage his usual strong finish and get us into Europe with all the returning players, then it makes sense to let him complete the final year of his contract. But if not, then we should look to appoint a fresh, progressive coach this summer. Ideally someone who could work alongside Moyes, who has real expertise at all those ‘unseen’ elements of running a football squad.
My first choice would be Lee Carsley. I think he’s an excellent coach, knows the club and all his shortcomings in club management experience would be picked up by keeping Moyes around.
11/01/2026 11:47:00
Fans need something to believe and to be given something back. You want your club to take you on a journey. Simple words, very true words, and that’s why I have serious reservations with regards TFG, and why I’m now going to start calling them TSF, which is short for - THE SILENT FRIEDKIN’S.
I’m not stupid, I know we need clever businesspeople, I’m not stupid, I know that football is now an enormous business, but the reason that every single person in the world who loves football, was attracted to football in the first place, was because of the glory that is attached to the beautiful game.
Evertonians are very loyal, too loyal, and have been easily kidded, in the not too distant past because of this, but for our club to succeed, we have got to find owners, who are also in it for the glory, just as much as they are in it for the American dollar, or the pound note.
I’ve been assured that TSF, have got people at most games, my father’s mate, who is the dad, of a very successful scouse innovator, told him that the people his son knows seem to be very interested in our club.
I’m torn on why they haven’t spent any money in January, when it was obvious to everyone that our manager needed a natural right back. Or maybe it wasn’t as obvious to them after watching us win at Forest, whilst playing with a natural right back?
One thing I am absolutely certain about is that TSF need to attach themselves to people with real ambition, real belief and people with the ability to innovate, otherwise their investment will do nothing much more than stagnate, because I can sense a real change in the mood of a lot of match going Evertonians, now we have moved away from Goodison Pk.
Peter@6, how many people do you think will be prepared to take another ticket hike, while the football on offer is mediocre and the logistics make it a real struggle for a lot of people to attend? Especially those night games, that are taken up for the television companies and are an absolute killer for the match goer.
11/01/2026 13:32:16
I do agree with the article Ell in that we seem to have such stagnation around the club but its been like that for years even during the Kenwright, Moshiri and now TFG days. The club seems like its too much effort to dig itself out of the situation its currently in. We signed 9 players in the summer but those players were brought in to replace the players we released at the end of last season. We haven't bought savvy for the last 5 years and signing Dibling and Rohl (on loan) seems a sign of that.
Our recruitment still remains poor compared to other teams (Brighton, Brentford, Bournemouth, Sunderland etc.) and we seem to waste money on players that don't offer much. There are players that don't deserve to wear the shirt this season such as Mykolenko, Beto, McNeil and to some extent Tarks, but Moyes is willing to keep them on rather than entertain offers for them.
After every poor result against lesser clubs, it does make me feel angry but after yesterday's performance, I looked back and just accepted that nearly everything about the club (team, manager, board) is so poor. I would like us to return to the golden days (even competing for the League Cup or FA Cup) but those days seem generations ago, and we seem a million miles away from challenging again either through the league and/or the Cup competitions.
11/01/2026 15:09:55
I think most of them Antony @8 myself included because it’s ingrained in us. And any that do stop going will be replaced by those on the waiting list.
I understood that moving into a new stadium would mean higher prices but my seat has cost me 60% more than goodison.
What I have noticed is it’s a lot quieter where I sit and there seems to be more ticket re-sales every game.
I sit close to the corporate seats in the lower east stand and one row is empty most games. I also see the same gaps in the west stand each week.
In my own case, I was looking forward to coming to the new stadium as it meant I didn’t have to drive anymore and could catch the train and then walk into the city centre afterwards for a few drinks with mates and family.
In reality, catching a train is much more difficult than it should be (8 carriage trains for a couple of hours before and an hour and a half afterwards would solve that problem), and as you say Antony, the constant changing of kick off times is a nightmare thanks to Sky’s increased coverage.
Having said all that, win three or four games on the bounce and the mood changes and a lot of Ell’s points will not be forgotten but will fade into the background until the next poor run.
11/01/2026 17:02:05
The bounce that went thud.
11/01/2026 17:31:30
I have found getting to the stadium, just as easy as getting to Goodison, Peter, but the reality is that I’ve been slowly getting more and more bored with football in the EPL, since Covid, and I’m not sure that I’d even miss going to the match, anymore.
I never went yesterday, I took my son to play a football game in Preston, and if I’m being honest I was reading the live forum on Toffeeweb, on the way to his match and it put me in a terrible mood at a time when I should have been getting to his game and offering the kids encouragement.
You are my Everton - my only Everton - you make me happy when the skies are grey. I honestly don’t think this really happens that much anymore, and if it wasn’t ingrained into so many of our souls, we would probably be happier people🙈
11/01/2026 20:30:51
Tony (13), you are so right. I’m bored with the EPL but I’m not sure if that would be the case if Everton were doing well. But they’re not and continue to play the most dire football imaginable.
I think a lot of us are coming to a point in which we want to walk away from EFC after decades of under achievement and disappointments. Problem is, as Tony suggests, it is too engrained in us to be able to walk away. Although, to be honest, I’ve tried. It was under Walter Smith’s, ‘That was a disappointing performance’ era, I made the decision. I decided to support a more successful team in order to get away from our continued abysmal performances and results. It was madness of course and lasted for about ten minutes as I kept straining for Everton’s results.
But back to the main point of Everton taking competitions seriously. I think it’s still a few years way if TFG continue with their snail like progress and commitment to Everton football club.
11/01/2026 20:40:27
Tony, hurts doesn't it? I catch up with friends once a week, usually Monday and we never talk about football, I mean, their Kiwis with absolutely zero interest in football, anyway.. the other week one commented that I seemed pretty fed up, only for another to laugh and comment " She supports Everton and they lost, again!" Much laughter but when I commented they said " You can always tell what mood your in by how Everton got on"
Yes, it really hurts, depresses and upsets me and I'm at the other end of the world!
I deleted a post I had written earlier this morning which came from Google when I search Everton v Sunderland, it was a few years old from the Daily Mail about Moyes, calling him "The Vampire who sucked the life out of the club" it makes all too familiar, uncomfortable reading.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/article-4460892/David-Moyes-vampire-sucked-life-Sunderland.html
It's not just Moyes though, As tainted as he is from his association with Kenwright, it's the Premier League. The Touch football, no contact sport. The only thing that hasn't changed is the pitch.
11/01/2026 20:54:23
Following on from my last bit, I am convinced TFG would have had zero interest in purchasing the club if the fans of this club were like a Brighton or a Bournemouth etc, with all the passion of a wet fish. But at the time Everton fans were shown across the world, filling streets, stadium heaving, protests etc..they dragged the club back from the brink in a way unheard of, or unseen before. The yanks must have thought, "wow if we can bottle that we can make a fortune!"
TFG may be commercial good at selling cars, but have the communication skills of a brick. They have a passionate fanbase who are kept in the dark. Do we even have a Communication team anymore? Do we still have FAB? It's killing me softly...
11/01/2026 21:31:51
Killing us softly without a song!
I was talking to a Liverpudlian, the other day and he told me him and his little firm of match going diehards, were also very bored and disillusioned with football nowadays, and this was exactly what another Liverpool supporter, told me a few weeks ago, and when I was speaking to my brother the other night at the Wolves game, he said quite a few of his little gang are feeling the same way.
I enjoy watching my stepson play more in the lower leagues, away from the circus, away from the chaos, and away from VA- fucking- argh!
Be careful TSF, because although Christine, has probably called it correctly (she usually does) once the legacy fans start dropping off, then I’m not sure the Johnny come lately’s, will be able to sustain the love and the passion, to the same extent as to the people who were born into it? We will see.
11/01/2026 23:15:14
I am hoping the relatively new regime with its chief executive, Angus Kinnear, and the directors of this, that and the other, will now have a firmer grasp of what is required to improve the squad than they did last summer when some of them had yet to take up their positions. Given that Kinnear has already made it clear they will likely keep their powder dry until the summer unless something falls into their laps, any incomings seem improbable this month. The cup exit possibly reinforces that position.
On a couple of the specific points in Ell’s article:
- aside from never being able to convince anyone he has what it takes to perform consistently at this level Patterson has a really poor injury record and was clearly struggling long before he was substituted after 72 minutes at Forest. It was no surprise he was not selected for the following match.
- the Forest win was achieved with only 30% possession and quick counterattacks. We looked quite comfortable allowing the opposition to have the ball while ensuring we kept them in front of a well marshalled defence. I was surprised Moyes opted not to continue with that approach against Brentford who, the league table suggests, are a much stronger team than Forest.
- while I too would have liked to have seen some players, especially Dibling, given more time on the pitch there have been very few matches in which we have enjoyed comfortable leads, the 3-0 home win against Forest being a notable exception. Our other victories have been close run affairs allowing little or no margin for experimentation or risk taking.
In terms of the here and now the players cannot be allowed to drift through the final 17 games of the season. Moyes will not permit that to happen but he faces a dilemma in terms of how best to use the next four months to build for the future. Should he focus on picking up as many points as possible in order to qualify for European competition? If so, I suspect he will choose to rely principally on the experience and quality of the players who delivered points in the opening months of the season. Probably that means restoring the trio of Grealish, Dewsbury-Hall and Ndiaye to the team with Gana behind them and continuing with Tarkowski in defence alongside Branthwaite or Keane or O’Brien. In other words the manager continues to make do and mend.
An alternative approach would be to use the remaining games to experiment with personnel and systems. For example we might learn about the potential for employing three centre backs, two wing backs, one of them Aznou, the other possibly Patterson or Garner/Röhl, KDH as a number 8 with Armstrong/Röhl in attacking midfield and Iroegbunam behind them. Up front would be Ndiaye and one of the Beto/Barry duo. The obvious risks of experimentation are that results fail to pick up, Moyes comes under pressure and we lose out not only on the money which comes with league places but also the possibility of European football.
My guess is Moyes will make do and mend, learning little about the true potential of players like Armstrong, Röhl and Iroegbunam or their suitability for alternative formations or styles. I will be surprised if Armstrong does not return to Preston. Dibling, devoid of confidence and probably weighed down by the huge fee paid for him, might also be loaned out to a Championship club. Among the plethora of other issues are the contractual positions of several players. If key players, especially Garner and Ndiaye, refuse extensions we face the prospect of managing their sales in the summer while also needing to address the continuing major deficiencies at right back and up front.
There’s plenty for the decision makers to ponder in the weeks and months ahead.
12/01/2026 01:42:51
A statement like this is needed from the owners ' We bought EFC with the sole intention of winning trophies for this Great and loyal fanbase! Over the next 5 years we will be going all out to repay your support by winning silverware and make this club a winning club after so many lean years. If we do not achieve our target we will sell the club to other ambitious owners who can take the club forward.'
Simple communication!!
12/01/2026 09:31:17
Slowly slowly catch a monkey..
The progress has been slow but undeniable under Moyes’ winning mentality and steady stewardship. Moyes is a serial winner who just doesn’t know it, close to unearthing his unparalleled success only for it to disappear into the shadows once more when another club sacks him prematurely.
A modern Brian Clough without the Glamour.
You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.
12/01/2026 09:35:54
Brilliant Harry, just pave paradise and put up a parking lot!
15/01/2026 15:49:59
Strange article, strange comments.
The manager should be talking up (i.e. lying) about the transfer situation to give us false hope and the owners should be issuing ultra positive statements of intent to a fanbase who literally won’t believe it until they see it?
The owners are deliberately passing on golden opportunities to improve the squad?
Shonky metaphor. The manager has a choice of ‘putter’ (just poor quality ones) not a complete absence of ‘putters’.
But the manager simply obstinately refuses to use his best ‘putter’ (in the estimation of the OP writer)?
Which is it? He has no putter or he just refuses to use the perfectly good one he has?
Why do people insist on assuming they know the root causes of the obvious weaknesses in the squad / inadequate match-day performances when they can’t possibly know all the facts?
I’ve actually found this season quite relaxing compared to the previous couple at least. Yes, we are not looking like we will gate-crash the party at the top of the table but did people really expect we would after one transfer window to replenish a denuded squad?
Our performance has been distinctly patchy all season. I think some people were too excited by some of our victories and so are now seeing some sort of terrible ‘slump’ with the recent results. Truth is we are, overall, just kind of spluttering on this season and the results and performances are all over the place because of it.
Still expect it will take a few more transfer windows (and good luck and good judgement) to get the squad to where it needs to be. As long as the wheels don’t come off I’m happy to wait and see what will ensue over the next 12 months or so.
16/01/2026 17:11:09
I think it is obvious that the perennial failure to be in a Cup competition beyond February is down to a backroom not fit for purpose.It is also obvious that a Club that cannot progress in more than one domestic competition is unlikely to progress in second competition in Europe.The infrastructure at coaching and training level is not there to start with.
So if everybody in Football operations is getting the same yearly income is it not built into the system to be out of the Cups at February and to be in summer Holidays mode, in the crucial period when a European Competition is up for grabs.
As a refinanced Club With a new Stadium is it acceptable that being in League Competition which has a winner and at least 6 Clubs that get the reward of extra competitions
, extra money and attracts better players that Everton should finish mid table with 8 Clubs better than them.
Everton did spend substantial money on the Summer on up and coming players, where is the development in coaching and system to bring them on.
The problem with Moyes is that he maintains the status quo and this structure results in the failure it has always resulted in.
Until Finch Farm is radically changed to perform in multi competitions this will continue.Moyes has to go as he is a stalwart of Finch Farm, so that TFG new system of management and it's accountability can be bear fruit.
Unfortunately Moyes will leave nothing to build on and a new Manager will have to start on square one.Moyes initial stabilization has run out of legs, and the familiar end of season Premiership survival will emerge as the true and only objective of the football operation side of Everton.
We can argue about individual player performance and the need for new players day and night, but it won't make any difference under the existing objective.
03/02/2026 14:14:31
I'm probably putting two and two together here and getting 25 but...
Ireola holidayed at the Grace Hotel on Santorini, a hotel owned by the Auberge Resorts Group. He has also been invited to the posh grand opening of the Cambridge Hotel in London, flight booked from Bournemouth to Biggin Hill. Again this hotel is part of the Auberge Group.
The Auberge Group is owned by Dan Friedkin, Ireola is out of contract in the summer and, so far, has ignored two approaches from Bournemouth to extend his contract.
I'm wondering whether Freidkin is flying him personally and if he wants him for Roma or Everton? I doubt it's simply to discuss tapas recipies.
03/02/2026 17:31:25
I love those little investigative theories Iain, so I’ll give you a six, out of two and two, rather than 25 mate!
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11/01/2026 08:08:52
The management team incl Moyes are all in their 60s, why not get some young Spanish or Italian talent into the coaching team.