David Moyes has insisted Everton cannot use off-field factors as excuses for their performances, speaking two days after owners The Friedkin Group put the club up for sale.
The Blues drew 2-2 at Hull City on Sunday to maintain their unbeaten record this season, but their manager was unhappy with the display.
No room for excuses
“I’m not giving the players any room for excuses because of what’s gone on, whether it be the transfer window or whether it be ownership,” Moyes said.
“I’m going to be the same as what I would be if we had all those things going well. I thought that we didn’t play well enough today.
“We might have ended up winning the game with not a great performance, but the goals we conceded were naive to say the least.”
Missed chances and frustration
Statistics suggested Everton missed six big chances in the game, and Moyes acknowledged that cannot be afforded.
“It’s a lot for us. I don’t think in the Premier League, you, you get allowed to get eight, 10, 12 great chances,” he said.
“When you do, then I think you need to be more clinical and the moment we’ve not been. But that’s not a full-on criticism of Thierno Barry, because he gets his goal.
“He’s keeping his ticker moving getting his goal so I’m pleased about that. But we’re going to have to do better to score the goals, and I thought we could have crossed the ball more often, quicker, faster and we didn’t do so in the first half.
“One goes through his legs, which, you know, when you’re saying, come on, it can’t happen. I think it’s frustration from the manager, I think he’s frustrated himself.
“You can tell by his body language is, he’s so disappointed with himself that he’s not doing as well, but, like as I said, he’s still getting it, those goals. He’s just ticking it over, but he missed one or two in the first half as well, which could have helped us greatly.”
Iroegbunam admission
Everton also came up against Tim Iroegbunam, who was a second-half substitute for the home side having made a £22million switch to Hull on September 1.
The ECHO understands Moyes did not have the final say on any of the Blues’ departures on transfer deadline day, and he said: “I certainly wasn’t in a hurry to let Tim go, that’s for sure. I think Hull have got a good player and they’ll see that in time.
“I know he’s coming back and he’s got some really good attributes. I liked him a lot, and more importantly, he was a brilliant boy as well, a great team-mate, the players all liked him. I could only speak really well about him.”
