Season › 2011-12 › News

McNulty hints at Moyes's tactical blunder

Portions of Phil McNulty's blog at the BBC Sport website barely hint at the Manager's poor decison to try and 'contain' Liverpool rather than cashing in on a tremendous opportunity to pay back the misery Everton have suffered at their neighbour's hands on big Wembley occasions in the past.

Excerpts relating to Everton (The rest of his blog is about Liverpool):

For Everton, and manager David Moyes, there was only obvious desolation at yet another defeat to Liverpool when stakes were high, an opportunity missed in a timid tactical fashion that will frustrate them for a very long time.

Everton manager Moyes cut a dejected figure in his post-match briefing, perhaps knowing he and his team had squandered one of the best opportunities they will ever have to pay back the misery they have suffered at their neighbour's hands on big Wembley occasions in the past.

And for Moyes himself, there was the painful knowledge that even in this troubled Liverpool season, he has failed to fashion a derby victory in three attempts.

This was a scenario Everton's fans have witnessed before, a team — and maybe its manager — simply not having the confidence and belief that Liverpool could be beaten.

After Everton took the lead when Nikica Jelavic, a striker of finesse and threat with an ice-cold mind in front of goal, profited from a calamitous lack of communication between Jamie Carragher and Daniel Agger to score, they seemed happy to contain.

With a lead to encourage them, Everton failed to get the job done and recent results suggest they struggle psychologically to convince themselves they can overcome Liverpool.

Moyes now completes a decade at Everton without a trophy and, for all his widely acknowledged work in that time, it is still a statistic that will wound him. He has said he will discuss Everton's future direction with chairman Bill Kenwright at the end of the season - it promises to be an interesting, and potentially pivotal, meeting.

Quotes or other material sourced from BBC Sport

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