David Moyes Reflects on Everton's European Chase and Injury Updates
David Moyes still feels Monday night.
The Everton manager walked into Finch Farm with the 2-2 draw against Manchester City clinging to him. “Monday’s stuck quite badly,” he admitted. You could tell. Three games, three stoppage-time hammer blows – City, Liverpool, West Ham – and a European push that keeps stumbling just as it gathers pace.
Now comes Crystal Palace away, and the margins are even thinner.
Idrissa out, Tim fine, and a contract cloud
The first key update was blunt. Idrissa Gueye is out for the weekend.
He has not been in training, though Moyes stressed the injury is “not serious” and that they hope to have him back soon. With just three games left and his contract running down – Everton hold an option to extend by a month – the silence around his future felt deliberate. Asked about the situation, Moyes shut the door: “When we have something to tell you we will let you know.”
Tim Iroegbunam, by contrast, is expected to be available. The midfielder went off with cramp on Monday but Moyes suggested he will be fine for Sunday. His performance, along with that of Merlin Rohl, has been a recurring theme in the manager’s thoughts.
“Iroegbunam and Rohl have given me something to think about all season,” he said. Their displays against City only underlined that, rather than altered the picture.
Stoppage-time scars
If there is a thread running through Everton’s recent weeks, it is late-game chaos.
Moyes still cannot quite let it go. He does not believe Everton should have lost to West Ham. The Liverpool defeat hurt. City’s equaliser from Jeremy Doku was brutal in its timing and its symbolism. Those stoppage-time concessions have cost points and, potentially, Europe.
Asked whether such scenarios can be replicated on the training ground, Moyes went straight to his own responsibility. He starts, he said, by asking what he could do differently. But he also turned the spotlight on his players’ decision-making.
He dislikes making substitutions late on because of the extra time added. On Monday, he insisted, he had no choice – Iroegbunam was injured. The referee, he accepted, was within his rights to play the additional minutes. The issue, for him, lay elsewhere.
He pointed to one late clearance from Everton and questioned why three players chased the ball up the pitch. The message was clear: more concentration, more control, fewer rushes of blood.
“Quite often as the manager you are hoping they get more decisions right on the pitch than wrong,” he said. Recently, too many have gone the wrong way.
Rotation, expectations and a “terrific” Merlin
The questions then moved to rotation and man-management. Giulia Bould of the BBC asked how he balances the need to change his team with players’ expectations.
Moyes called it a big part of management – handling disappointment, delivering bad news, making sure players understand the reasoning. He singled out Tim and Merlin as “terrific boys” and suggested supporters are only just beginning to see what Merlin can do.
Everton, he admitted, are still working out how to use Rohl most effectively. That, in itself, is a tantalising prospect for next season.
He also hinted that he wants more academy players pushing towards the first team. The U21s were training at Finch Farm as he spoke, and Moyes made it clear the pathway needs to be stronger.
Chasing Europe, demanding more
Despite the setbacks, Everton remain in the hunt for European football. The permutations are tangled, but a win at Selhurst Park would drag them right back into the conversation.
Moyes’ target for the final three games sounded simple but carried an edge. He wants Everton to play well. He knows they are “a long way off” Manchester City, but he believes this has been a progressive season and he wants to keep moving towards a more exciting style.
He also wants wins. He stressed that repeatedly.
He is pleased to have three players on eight Premier League goals – the first time Everton have achieved that in a single top-flight season – but it is not enough for him. He wants more goals, more threat, more ruthlessness.
On the Barry v Beto debate, he pointed to Beto’s recent form but admitted his strikers have given him something to think about all year. Could they start together? “Maybe,” he said, though it would require “quite a few bits and pieces” to change tactically. If it becomes a must-win situation, he will look to cram as many attacking players on the pitch as he can.
The message: caution has its limits in the run-in.
Moyes’ European dream and a nod to Palace
The success of Aston Villa and Crystal Palace in Europe has not gone unnoticed. Asked how much that fuels his desire to bring continental football back to Everton, Moyes did not hesitate.
He spoke about his time at West Ham, where he led them into Europe, and called it “amazing for everyone at the club.” He said he has been “dreaming all year” of doing the same for Everton. Last season ended on a high; he wants that feeling again, wants to keep the momentum rolling into the summer.
Those summer plans are, he said, largely set. The next three games will not change his approach dramatically, though European qualification would tweak the details. The broader vision remains in place.
There was also a brief mention of Jack Grealish. Moyes said there is no news, but added: “Jack is loved everywhere he goes and he is certainly loved here.” No more, no less.
Palace’s big night and the Selhurst test
While Everton were picking through the wreckage of Monday night, Palace were celebrating a momentous evening of their own, securing a place in the UEFA Conference League final. The players earned a day off. The manager did not.
Oliver Glasner made it clear his side will not roll over against Everton. He gave his squad Friday off after learning from a flat training session following their first leg against Shakhtar, hoping a break in London will sharpen them up before they reconvene on Saturday.
“I said to the players that we won’t wave the white flag against Everton,” Glasner warned. He wants them to enjoy themselves, rest, then reset. Palace, he insisted, will be ready.
Moyes congratulated Glasner on Palace’s achievement and praised the Eagles’ run. Asked whether their European exploits might offer Everton an opportunity on Sunday, he refused to treat it as a simple advantage, though he did admit he is “hoping that CP are finding they have some effects” from their midweek exertions.
Two halves, one demand
Alan Myers opened the football questions by going back to that second half against City. Moyes was very pleased with it, but he cut through the praise with a reminder.
Games are about two halves. Everton have to do both well. “I probably still am disappointed we didn’t see the game out,” he said.
That disappointment hangs over everything now: selection, tactics, mentality, the late goals, the European chase. Three games remain, starting at Selhurst Park. The margins are tight, the stakes high, the dreams very clear.
Everton have been progressive. At times they have been exciting. They have also been fragile when it mattered most.
Moyes has been dreaming all year about Europe. Over the next week, he finds out whether his players can stay awake long enough in stoppage time to make that dream real.
