BBC Sports: ‘Aggression, energy, desire’ – how yMoyes is motivating Everton, again.
Some of the hallmarks of the best Everton teams I played in under David Moyes were aggression, energy, intensity and desire.
He would get us so pumped up that we thought we could beat anyone, and I saw echoes of all of that when I watched Everton defeat Tottenham on Sunday. It was a huge result for Moyes, the players, and the fans – everyone at the club – to achieve his first win in his second game back, but the manner in which they did so was even more crucial, particularly for the manager. The way they started the game was pretty much everything you could want from Everton team. They were on the front foot and took the game to Tottenham, scored two goals from open play when they have been so hard to come by, and could have had even more if things had fallen their way.
Yes, it was a typically nerve-racking finale when Spurs scored two late goals, but the first half was perhaps the most exciting we’ve seen at Goodison Park all season, and you could tell this players could do whatever Moyes asked of them.
During my time playing for him, Moyes always preferred a centre-forward with presence – in fact, he preferred a striker who could compete physically, run the channels, hold the ball up, be on the end of crosses, and rocket in behind defences with pace. Calvert-Lewin possesses all of these qualities. He is currently on a run to stay fit, and it is clear how much he can contribute to the squad once he is injury-free. Perhaps ending his goal drought and scoring for his new management would boost his confidence.
‘Dig in and work hard, without expecting plaudits’
I played over 200 Premier League games for Moyes. He asks you to play in a way that is both entertaining and demanding. Against Tottenham, I thought some Everton players had more difficult jobs than others. Jesper Lindstrom, in example, was virtually required to play two roles on the right – winger when in possession, right-back otherwise – but this allowed Iliman Ndiaye to stay higher up the pitch on the left, which aided Everton in the final third. If you want to play for Moyes on a regular basis, you must do just that. Like Lindstrom, I found out pretty quickly that some days you will just have to dig in and work hard in games and you won’t get any of the individual plaudits.
That’s how it should be, however. Under Moyes, we were at our best when everyone bought into his strategy and believed in the eventual result. He was fantastic at getting us ready for a game, no matter who the opponents were. He’d deliver the tactical intelligence, wind us up, then send us out; we’d be in the tunnel, saying ‘let’s go’. Part of that confidence stems from hard effort on the practice pitch and the time you spend as a squad, building together. Moyes has only recently taken over, so the process is still in its early stages, but he does have an advantage in another area: understanding Goodison Park.
He has handled more Premier League games at Everton than any other manager, so he knows what the fans expect and respond to, as well as when they can best aid the team. If you come out of the traps quickly, aggressively press the opposition, and compel them to make mistakes, the audience will react. That’s exactly what happened against Tottenham, and it drew more from the players. Everton dominated the tactical fight early on, but they also outpaced Tottenham. Spurs were only able to gain momentum when they exhausted towards the end.
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