New Everton manager David Moyes played down 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 his predecessor Sean Dyche was sacked as the visitors to Villans. won a hard-fought match 1-0.
“I’m under no illusions about the job I have to do,” Moyes told TNT Sports after a result that kept the Toffees a point above the relegation zone as part of a six-game league goal streak.
“I hate to say it, I don’t think we’ve been at our best this season” 😤
Morgan Rogers says Villa are building back to their best after first away win in five games 🙌
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— Soccer on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 15, 2025
“We couldn’t score tonight again. We need to show a lot more quality on the ball and play better with the ball.
“I was disappointed with that piece tonight. I have told the players. We just didn’t play well enough and keep the ball as well as we should have.”
Moyes to Calvert-Lewin
Moyes had challenged Calvert-Lewin to start scoring straight away on his first day at Everton’s Finch Farm training complex and the former England international had a notable chance during the first half before curling a shot over the crossbar from close to 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, netting at Aston Villa on September 14.
“It’s not really much 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 expectations for Everton 💬
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— Soccer on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 15, 2025
“I told Dom to see if he can get into scoring positions,” Moyes said. “He can show everyone that he’s a really hard-working centre-forward and he can work harder.
“He had a couple of chances tonight – he got one on the run in the first half and he was a bit unlucky, it was a really good effort. He had a really 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 bit of a mistake and being out of position”, adding praise for Dyche.
Southampton rock alone have won fewer games and scored fewer Premier League goals this season than Everton, who host struggling Tottenham on Sunday (2pm GMT).
“Sean had some great results early in the season – good draws when we were tough to play against,” Moyes said.
“The character (of the players) always shone through when Sean was here. They tried (tonight) but couldn’t get a result.”
