- Moyes has confirmed Everton will not field a weakened team against Tottenham.
- Says Everton also played a part with James Garner missing the World Cup squad.
- The futures of Jack Grealish and Tyrique George will be decided in the summer.
David Moyes addressed the media ahead of Everton’s final game of the season against Tottenham. The Scot touched upon several topics.
The manager talked at length, including James Garner’s World Cup omission, Idrissa Gana Gueye’s fitness, the futures of loan players and his own feelings about Everton’s season.
Here are the best bits from David Moyes’s press conference.
Garner disappointment and Everton’s season
James Garner was not selected for England’s World Cup squad despite having a wonderful season, despite winning individual end season awards and a good debut for England ahead of the World Cup. However, Moyes was honest about the reasons and saw it different.
“Well I am disappointed for Jimmy, but I’ve got to say I’m not surprised because I think the form in the last five or six weeks haven’t really encouraged players for selection. I think your team, your players, need to be in form to attract England managers, so we have to take a bit of the disappointment with Jimmy as well that we have not been able to get him to the World Cup.”
On the season overall for Everton, David Moyes acknowledged the positives but admitted frustration with the finish. “I think we would all accept that we’ve had a pretty drama free season. We’ve done a lot of really good things – we’ve still been competitive for the top end rather than the bottom end, we’ve not got a relegation play-off game at the end of the season.
“We haven’t got to win one of the games to stay up, we’ve not got that situation, so lots of good things. I think there’s a cloud hanging over me at the moment. We’ve not finished the last six games well enough.”
He added, “I don’t think we’ve played particularly bad in any of the games. I just think sometimes goals change the way you feel. When you get a result you think much better about it, when you don’t get it then you start to look on the negative side. I don’t think that we’ve played badly, just not quite good enough to win and that’s shown in the results.”
Gana fitness, loan players and West Ham
On Idrissa Gana Gueye, who has missed the last three matches, Moyes said, “He’s on the grass, I would say 50-50 chance that he could be involved. We will know a bit more once he’s trained.”
Regarding loan duo Tyrique George and Jack Grealish, the manager was non-committal. “We like Tyrique, we like Jack a lot. We’ve not got an answer. As the summer goes on, we’ll decide what path we take with both of them.”
He also confirmed Everton have looked after Grealish during his injury, adding: “Normally a player would go back to the parent club and be looked after there but we will continue doing our best for Jack.”
On Vitalii Mykolenko, Moyes revealed, “I think we’re very close to something with Myko, yes.”
Asked about his old club West Ham facing relegation, David Moyes was clear about his priorities. “I’d love to keep West Ham in the league if I can do but it’s more important that I get Everton a top-half finish.”
On the summer transfer focus, he said: “[Both youth and experience]. We’ve got a few different options and plans in place. Finances play a big part in it, so we’ll need to navigate around it the best we can.”
David Moyes: ‘We’re going to go there and try to win it’
Moyes confirmed he will not field a weakened side at Tottenham. “Whether it will only be a top-half finish or whether it be something else you never know, we’re going to go there and try to win it. I don’t see it any other way. I’m not turning up with a team of kids to see what they can do. They’ve had that opportunity to show me if I think they’re ready or not.”
Everton’s season ends on Sunday. Moyes wants to finish with three points and a top‑half finish to show for a campaign of genuine progress despite missing Europe.
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