New Everton manager David Moyes rued his players’ performance in possession against Aston Villa — and reiterated his desire to help out-of-form striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin score again.
Twelve years after leaving the club following his 11-year first spell at Goodison Park, Moyes oversaw his first game less than a week after predecessor Sean Dyche’s sacking as the visiting Villans won a keenly-contested encounter 1-0.
“I’m under no illusions about the job I’ve got to do,” Moyes told TNT Sports after a result that kept the Toffees a point above the relegation zone as part of a run of one goal in six league matches.
“I hate to say it, I don’t think we’ve been at our best this season” 😤
Morgan Rogers says that Villa are building back to their best after their first away win in five games 🙌
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“We couldn’t score a goal tonight again. We’ve got to show an awful lot more quality on the ball and play better with the ball.
“I was disappointed with that part tonight; I’ve told the players that. We just didn’t play well enough and retain the ball as well as we should have done.”
Moyes on Calvert-Lewin
Moyes had challenged Calvert-Lewin to immediately start scoring on his first day at Everton’s Finch Farm training complex, and the former England international had a presentable chance during the first half before scooping a shot over the crossbar from close range during second-half added time.
The 27-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and has gone 16 games since his last goal, scoring at Aston Villa on September 14.
“It’s not really a great deal to do with David Moyes tonight, it’s a lot to do with the players”
An honest assessment from David Moyes on tonight’s defeat and the expectations that lie ahead for Everton 💬
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“I’ve said to Dom to see if he can get himself in scoring positions,” said Moyes. “He can show everyone that he’s a really hard-working centre-forward and he can work harder.
“He got a couple of chances tonight — he took one on the run in the first half and was a bit unlucky, it was a really good effort. He had a pretty big miss at the end, which was probably the big chance for him.”
Everton vs Tottenham
Moyes attributed Ollie Watkins’ 51st-minute winner to “a little bit of a mistake and being out of position”, adding praise for Dyche.
Only rock-bottom Southampton have won fewer games and scored fewer goals in the Premier League this season than Everton, who host struggling Tottenham on Sunday (2pm GMT).
“Sean got some great results early in the season — good draws, when we were hard to play against,” said Moyes.
“The character [of the players] always shone through when Sean was here. They tried [tonight] but just couldn’t get a result.”
