David Moyes delivers verdict on Everton’s attacking woes amid Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s 16-match goal drought
Everton boss David Moyes says there is a paucity of No 9s in top-level football – and hiring the perfect one is the toughest job in the game.
The new Toffees boss has his own nine difficulties with Dominic Calvert-Lewin scoring two goals in 20 games this season – now on a 16-match slump – and his back-up Armando Broja is injured and anticipated to be out for at least two months.
Everton invested £40million combined for attackers Beto and Youssef Chermiti in summer 2023 but they have scored four and zero league goals respectively, however the latter has been injured and labeled as one for the future.
And Moyes feels the job of a typical striker has altered.
‘It’s a position everyone is seeking for,’ he remarked ahead of Everton hosting Tottenham on Sunday, when they will welcome back one of their previous prolific attackers in Richarlison.
‘Quite frequently you’re having to take a risk on someone.
‘A tremendous risk early on to get them in and hope they could evolve into the genuine thing.
To go and purchase them, with all due deference to the regeneration of Chris Wood for example – there wouldn’t have been many people who saw that coming.
At one time it appeared like he wasn’t getting a game for Nottingham Forest. He’s got a chance, the team has turned up and it has been much better.
I suppose there is a major lack of No 9s. Even in the coaching world, all the players want to be No 10s because they receive more of the ball.
‘There’s fewer and less Alan Shearer type figures if you want to mention that name.’
Moyes has said he wants to acquire new players this month but finding someone who can assist Calvert-Lewin and contribute goals is difficult in reality than on paper.
Asked whether it is simple to sign a goal-scorer, he added: ‘No, I don’t believe it is.
‘If you are a team that produces tons of opportunities, I mean this with Manchester City, you may not need their center forward too much in certain actions.
They only need him to finish. They have the finest in the world (in Erling Haaland) who is the goalscorer supreme.
‘Teams like us certainly need center forwards who can do a little of everything – work, push, pursue and maybe they will have to play on their own a bit.
We are not the only team in that category but attempting to locate and select one out is not simple.
‘What I would say is that I believe Dom had three opportunities on Wednesday night, that could be three more than he’s had previously.
So it was a positive omen that he received them. Now, we wanted him to maybe take one of them. We simply need to finish them off.’
Reflecting on his first week in the job, Moyes said: ‘I believe they are a totally dedicated set of boys.
I believe that they’ve got an awful lot of excellent, good features to them, which is a positive omen as well.
‘I believe what we need to do is to have some more quality in areas, and that implies having to find some extra quality out of them.
That might simply be confidence, we need to bring that confidence back into them – that will play a big part in it.
‘But what I am also pointing to is that we could definitely do with obtaining a few of players with different traits to aid them.’
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