David Moyes has had too many ups and downs in his managerial career to suggest he is a magician but he would have had to have been one to transform the mis-firing, confidence-shorn group of players he took charge of on Saturday into a potent, creative team in the space of just one and a half training sessions.

The problems that the Scot has inherited from Sean Dyche run deep and it’s unlikely he’ll be able to resolve many of them without the addition of some key signings before the end of this month’s transfer window, even if he was surely dreaming of a repeat of his first match in charge at Goodison Park 23 years go.

That day, his new charges leapt out to a lead after just 27 seconds, doubled it later in the first half and then weathered an attempted comeback from Fulham after Thomas Gravesen was sent off to claim all three points. This time though he came up against a wily opposite number in Unai Emery and a well-organised Aston Villa side who repelled almost everything Everton threw at them. And when they didn’t they were spared by the Blues’ infamous failings in front of goal or inaction by the match officials who, on another day, might well have awarded the hosts a penalty for either of two apparent infringements in the box at a second-half corner.

This was always going to be a tough game for Moyes to try and repeat the highs and the drama of that first match in 2002. Even though Villa had been beaten in each of their last five away games, they’re infused with defensive grit and blessed with quality in forward areas. Though Everton rode their luck, particularly in the first half, it’s possible they might have eked out another goalless draw had that fortune not run out early in the second period when Jarrad Branthwaite’s sloppy pass led to Ollie Watkins being put into the clear to score the only goal of the contest.

There again, the Blues still managed to carve out a chance to salvage a hard-earned point at the death when Dominic Calvert-Lewin, set up for a redemptory equaliser by Jesper Lindstrøm, somehow shovelled his shot over the crossbar from close range. Quality in the final third, so often the problem at Goodison Park of late, proved to be the difference on the day.

That short lead time before his first match was probably reflected in Moyes’s team selection, which was unchanged from Dyche’s preferred starting XI from the players available. Abdoulaye Doucouré was deployed behind Calvert-Lewin, Iliman Ndiaye was left out on the left flank, Jack Harrison was selected in right midfield in front of Ashley Young, while Idrissa Gueye partnered Orel Mangala as Nathan Patterson and Harrison Armstrong dropped back to the bench despite their encouraging displays against Peterborough in the cup on Thursday evening.

The start Everton made was underwhelming, however, and were it not for a Jordan Pickford save to deny Morgan Rogers, an impressive block by James Tarkowski to deny Youri Tielemans after Jarrad Branthwaite had given the ball away in the centre-circle, or Watkins’s profligacy when inexplicably handed the ball by Ashley Young with a woeful back-pass, the Blues would have been a goal down before 20 minutes had elapsed.

Thankfully, with Pickford already well off his line, the England striker swept the ball past the far post and with a quarter of the game done, Everton finally threatened at the other end when Vitalii Mykolenko found Calvert-Lewin with a nice ball down the left channel. Driving towards the box, the striker let fly with a left-foot shot but whipped it across goal and narrowly wide.

A few minutes later, the Toffees finally fashioned a shot on target having not managed a single one in Dyche’s last game against Bournemouth 11 days ago but though Doucouré arrived well to meet Mykolenko’s low centre, his poked finish was too close to the keeper.

As it would at the end of the second half, the best chance for Everton fell to Calvert-Lewin but as he held off his marker and waited for the ball to drop kindly for him, what little power he was able to get on his shot was diminished by a deflection off Martinez and Boubacar Kamara was able to clear off his goal line.

Back at the Gwladys Street End, Jacob Ramsey probably should have put Villa ahead on the stoke of half-time but he lashed wide when it seemed nailed on that it would ripple the net.

Where Dyche had been criticised for an over-reliance on lumping the ball forward, Everton showed evidence on the night that Moyes had instructed them to try and play the ball through the lines a bit more. Unfortunately, after Rogers had hooked an early effort over the crossbar, it was to be messing around with the ball in tight areas in the middle of the park that would be the Blues’ undoing.

Once again it was an errant ball by Branthwaite which he gifted to Rogers who then spotted the run from Watkins and, with a slide-rule ball, he put the striker into the kind of positions where he rarely misses. True to form, he slipped his shot under Pickford’s despairing leg to make it 1-0 with 50 minutes gone.

What followed was a mostly painful and futile exercise in trying to break down a Villa side that had Everton where they wanted them — chasing the game but having to find the creativity and penetration to make a breakthrough. A diminished threat from set-pieces of late, there was at least hope that the Toffees might profit from one of the eight corners they forced but, more often than not, they found the head of Tyrone Mings.

And on the one occasion the delivery cleared the centre-half, it appeared as though Calvert-Lewin had been dragged down by his neck before Lindstrøm was pushed in the back as he tried jumping for the ball. Referee Sam Barrott, who had was fussy and inconsistent all evening, ignored the clamour for a spot-kick, though, and there was no help for the home side from the VAR.

Still, Everton forced Villa to clear their lines from a couple of goalmouth meleés, the second of which saw a Branthwaite shot blocked from point-blank range, before two stoppage-time chances went begging. First, Martinez stretched to catch Orel Mangala’s shot from the angle; then Lindstrøm, on as a second-half sub for the ineffective Harrison, delivered a volleyed cross to Calvert-Lewin’s feet in front of goal but, agonisingly, he fluffed his lines.

Rome wasn’t built in a day but Moyes is, no doubt, quickly finding out that the rebuild job he has a head of him at Everton is a huge one and that the requisite quality of materials isn’t there in the squad he has inherited from Sean Dyche. Failing to score in nine of the last 11 Premier League games is proof enough. As such, the onus on his and Kevin Thelwell’s shoulders to not only identify but then sign the players who can make a significant difference is a heavy one.

The manager will be confident in his own abilities to drag more out of the existing squad, both through coaching and experimenting with personnel, but the signs have been there all season that the real answers must lie in the transfer market, particularly while the likes of Armando Broja and Dwight McNeil remain sidelined through injury.


Reader Responses

Selected thoughts from readers

Frank Sheppard
1 Posted 16/01/2025 at 09:12:39

We need our relegation rivals to keep losing as they did last night, to give DM the time to change things.
The need to change things includes changing our name back to Everton, as let’s face it, we are now called EvertonNil.

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