Everton toiled through another flat pre-season outing and eventually lost 2–1 to West Ham as Niclas Füllkrug came off the bench to fire a second-half winner.

Once again, the Blues showed flashes of promise in the first half at Soldier Field in Chicago and went ahead with their first goal scored from open play of pre-season after 16 minutes.

Harrison Armstrong intercepted a loose pass in the centre-circle and cantered forward with Iliman Ndiaye and Idriss Gueye either side of him, eventually selecting a lay-off to the latter who cut a shot back across goal that keeper couldn't keep out.

However, as Michael Keane had demonstrated with an awful back-pass in the very early going, defensive lapses were never too far away and it was a howler from new goalkeeping signing Mark Travers that gifted the Hammers an equaliser.

The former Bournemouth keeper shouted to claim a deep cross into his penalty box but opted not to catch it, made a mess of his attempted punch and when it dropped in front of Lucas Paqueta off his head, the Brazilian had the simple task of prodding into an empty net.

Chances for David Moyes's side were depressingly few and far between with Beto heading well over while his half-time replacement, Thiero Barry barely got a sniff. The Frenchman might have opened his account had been more alive to Jake O'Brien's excellent cross but the Irishman's arrowed centre eluded everyone in the six-yard box.

Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz smashed a shot over the bar, following a neat interchange with Barry.

Despite the odd distribution error as they tried to play out from the back, West Ham looked more composed and assured of the two teams and a well-struck striker's finish from Füllkrug won it for them.

For Everton, Armstrong played the full 90, James Tarkowski got his first minutes and young Isaac Heath showed some welcome spirit in his cameo down the right flank. Otherwise, it was another stark reminder of the need to add genuine quality and depth to Moyes's squad. 

Everton: Travers, Patterson (Garner 46'), O'Brien, Keane, Mykolenko, Gueye (Tarkowski 69'), Iroegbunam (Alcaraz 46'),  Armstrong, McNeil (Heath 79'), Ndiaye (Chermiti 69'), Beto (Barry 46').

Subs not used:  Tyrer, Thomas, Onyango, Clarke 

Reader Responses

Selected thoughts from readers
Certain off-topic comments may be removed to keep the discussion on track

1  Peter Fancy
31/07/2025    12:59:41

I was concerned that this tour would be potentially embarrassing / damaging given the holes in our squad. What I did not expect was all of the tantrums from Moyes. Not sure how repeatedly telling the world’s media how rubbish we are and how no one wants to sign for us and how ill-prepared we are for the new season helps anyone. Also not sure it makes us attractive to potential new signings… All is not well…

2  John Raftery
31/07/2025    19:09:11

Most certainly all is not well. Unsurprisingly, given the recruitment gap, the two matches in the USA have revealed little or no progress in the development of our possession play or ability to sustain pressure on opposing defences.

We must assume the fitness work has gone according to plan so that the players who have been in full training are on track for the start of the league season. Given our heavy dependency on a solid defensive shape we can only pray Tarkowski and Branthwaite will be fully recovered and ready sooner rather than later.

The squad reshaping so far has majored on the acquisition of comparatively cheap, younger, unproven talent with the potential to develop. I include Alcaraz in that group. If we add Chermiti and Armstrong it is obvious the attacking side of the squad is heavily weighted towards youth and the inexperience which comes with it.

We now urgently need to add two or three seasoned professionals, to bolster the front of the team. Failure to do so will almost certainly leave us struggling to put any points on the board in the early stages of the season.

3  Chris Jenkins
31/07/2025    22:41:00

With regard to the back up goalkeeper situation and the signing of Mark Travers, I was rather surprised that both Asmir Begovic and Joao Virginia left on the expiry of their respective contracts.

Re Virginia, on the limited occasions he had first team exposure, I was very impressed with his performances. It may of course be that he requested that the club did not exercise its option to extend his contract for a further year. He had been understudy to Jordan Pickford for some time and, at the age of 25, may have felt that it was imperative, from the career development point of view, to try and establish himself as first choice at another leading club.

I see that Joao has now rejoined Sporting CP and hopefully he will achieve his objectives there. However, if the transfer budget at David Moyes' disposal is as limited as we have been led to believe, ie £100m to £150m, it is difficult to comprehend why Travers was signed for £4m with potential add ons of £2m dependent on first team appearances. I wonder whether it would have been more sensible to have at least offered Virginia a considerably more attractive salary in an attempt to persuade him to stay for a further 6-12 months.

4  Christine Foster
01/08/2025    20:42:18

It's hard to compare last seasons dreadful pre-season but of the few positives I can take from the observations are we actually do look fitter and better organized than then. Indeed out football quality has been markedly better but the mistakes.. dear me, individual errors, lack of concentration, lack of quality, all combine to make a poor outlook with the squad we have.

Enter Moyes telling it the way it is, as if we don't already know or need reminding. One could put this down to his frustration, as a one off, but it's followed up with another set of comments in the same vein. Veiled criticism of the failure to land targets or just disappointment in our success rate? Probably a bit of both. Either way it's a kick up the backside to the recruitment team. What we don't know is what their brief is, how much they have to play with and who is making the calls as to pursue or walk away.

What is worrying is the likely effect on players already in the team being made aware that half of them would be dropped if Moyes had his way! Brittle as the squad is, surely it sends the wrong messages to prospective recruits?

West Ham were poor, Bournemouth not very good but both had strength in depth and in the end that's what killed those games for us, we just didn't have anywhere near the numbers or quality those two "poor" teams had.

I have no doubt we will see more additions to the squad but like Moyes, privately or publicly, I am concerned of our failure to land players for whatever the reasons on which we can only speculate. Clearly we are not a destination of choice.

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