Anjishnu Roy 02/04/2025 10comments  |  Jump to last

"We might be further away from Liverpool than we have ever been at the moment,” said David Moyes leading up to the second episode of the Merseyside derby this season and, on the basis of numbers alone, this was no April Fool’s joke. With him as Everton manager, this is the biggest points gap there has ever been before a clash between the two sides.

Of course, Moyes is hardly to share the blame for this. Before his arrival, the club was close to getting dragged into a relegation battle in the final months of Sean Dyche’s lacklustre tenure. In fact, had it not been for Moyes and a nine-game unbeaten run in the league, the present 36-point gap with Liverpool could’ve well been bigger.

The Scot, who managed The Blues for over a decade in his first spell in charge from 2012-13, said he’s found the club in a worse state than he’d left it in. "I think by the time we left here 12 years ago, I think we were much closer to Liverpool. We were competing in the same areas of the league at the time. I think at the moment it's probably the biggest gulf between the two clubs."

Prior to this season, the biggest gap between Everton and Liverpool under Moyes had been 18 points before the Merseyside derby in March 2006 and only on five occasions, the points difference had been in double figures. With Moyes in charge, Everton have actually been ahead of Liverpool in eight derbies and both sides went into this mega clash level on points in 2010-11. 

Before Wednesday’s derby, Everton have trailed Liverpool by a bigger margin in the Premier League on two occasions: by 47 points in April 2022 and by 45 in June 2020. Everton also trailed Liverpool by the same 36-point margin in April last season.

For the small trip to Anfield, also under the scanner is David Moyes’ terrible record at the stadium. In 21 attempts (19 in the Premier League) across his managerial career with Everton, Man United, Sunderland, and West Ham, Moyes is yet to collect a win there. He has suffered 14 losses and has conceded 36 goals. A dozen of those games came under his first spell at Goodison Park with the Toffees losing five times and drawing on seven occasions.

"Yeah. I don't want it,” Moyes acknowledged the hoodoo in the pre-match buildup. “I want to win and I want to make sure I get rid of it if I can. Every time we go there, it presents another chance to do so. Am I sick of it? I would be lying if I said I look forward to going to it all the time because it has been such a hard place to get results. It has nothing to do with the surroundings or the pitch, they have always produced good teams. ”

Despite the ghosts of the past, Everton have reason to believe that they can secure their first Anfield win since 2021. Having only lost twice in 11 matches in Moyes’ second spell, the Toffees have picked up more points (16) than the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Tottenham. 

Their nine-game unbeaten run in the league is also the best since 2017 and if Everton players need inspiration ahead of the derby, they would be well advised to catch the highlights following James Tarkowski’s 97th-minute equaliser in the reverse fixture at Goodison Park exactly 50 days ago.

 

Reader Comments (10)

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Jerome Shields
1 Posted 02/04/2025 at 22:08:08
Typical Moyes. Negative and was not prepared to play a offensive formation, going defensive. He did not believe that Everton could win that game before the game started. He has the same stats against the traditional top teams he always had.

Knife to the gunfight.

Rob Dolby
2 Posted 02/04/2025 at 22:37:35
It wasn't long before the dour Davey we endured for 11 years reared his head.

The usual lowering and managing of expectations on the eve of a derby match is not what I wanted to hear — no matter how true it is.

Top level football is as much about psychology as ability. Moyes has made a fantastic living out of being a top coach. He must be a good motivator of players but he's a pretty dire motivator of fans.

Shaun McGough
3 Posted 03/04/2025 at 00:55:12
Jim calls it the way it exactly is, this hurts to disuional Blues. In Moyes for 4-5 years we now must trust through thick and thin cos that's not that long before we overtake them.

The RS have won a poor league this season, so let's start catching them from next season; stick by Moyes and the team is what's needed now.

Steve Brown
4 Posted 03/04/2025 at 01:08:33
Even when David Moyes had Everton finishing higher than Liverpool in the league for a couple of seasons, he still never won at Anfield.

His main thought at Everton and West Ham has always been “How can I get out of here without a beating?”

Tonight was the usual — KITAP1 and a hardworking defeat. Nothing to see here, move along now, folks,

Jerome Shields
5 Posted 03/04/2025 at 07:39:29
Davey, when you were not here, Everton beat Liverpool. The gulf you talk about is your own affirmation that becomes fact.

Stabilise things with Moyes but build a structure that the Stagen2 Manager who will win competitions can fit into and carry on with. He handed a poor Liverpool side the Premier League title. He deserves to get taken apart by Arsenal this weekend for that. The signs that Moyes was resorting to type were there since the Man Utd game.

The team may have worked hard but selection, organisation and subs was subservient to Moyes not getting the heavy defeat he feared. Back to a form of Dycheball.

We can't let Moyes get away with the excuses of quality and gulf. Davey, words are a reflection of your soul.

Rob Dolby
6 Posted 03/04/2025 at 08:33:34
Shaun @3,

Delusional Bblues? Does that include the thousands that watched and aged for 11 years whilst Moyes didn't win against the top 4?

I just hope TFG don't fall for his bullshit.

Football is a sporting contest no matter how rigged it is. Both teams should be in with a chance of winning. The common denominator is Moyes, he can't win against the big boys – no matter which team he manages. There is a reason he didn't last long at Man Utd, isn't there?

4 or 5 years of Moyes will not bring any form of success to the club.

Steve Brown
7 Posted 03/04/2025 at 10:38:03
I would bet the last 100 quid in my bank account that David Moyes will never win a derby at Anfield as Everton manager.

Joe McMahon
8 Posted 03/04/2025 at 10:46:45
Exactly why he should have been given until the end of season with a large bank transfer we are stuck with now.

I can't take more years of defensive and sitting back, we've had decades of it watching our lovely neighbours win trophy after trophy.

Mark Murphy
9 Posted 03/04/2025 at 11:09:47
Moyes may not be the future, I personally would like to see Iraola come in, but if Dyche had been in that dug out last night, we'd be circling the drain now.

We're not getting relegated and we narrowly lost to the champions elect. Give the man some credit for turning this team around and get real. The gulf is evident and we got beat narrowly by a better team.

But the gulf isn't as big, from what I saw in that first half, as the gobshites think and with replacements for Harrison and Doucoure in last night's eleven, replacements who can actually play Premier League standard football, we could've won that.
The past is the past. Moyes might not be the man to take us forward but the new stadium and some shrewd business in the transfer window will see that “gulf” close sooner than it would've if we had gone down with Dyche.
He may not be the man to”Moysiah” but he's earned my respect and gratitude.
UTFT

Nigel Scowen
10 Posted 03/04/2025 at 11:53:09
Mark@9

Exactly right Mark, 100%.

The difference between us and the unfortunately champions elect in the best league in the world over two games is exactly 1 goal and with a bit of fortune it could have been even better for us.

We don’t like where The Shite are at the moment but that’s hardly Moyes fault. To accuse him of handing The Shite the league is ridiculous bearing in mind they were 9 points clear with a game in hand before we even kicked off last night.

Yes, I didn’t like his presser to be honest, but we gave them a real game both home and away imho.

Moyes getting ripped a new one for losing 1-0 away to the team at the top of the league with the squad we currently have? Come on lets keep some perspective here.

I hate losing to The Shite like any other blue but let’s face facts a lot of our team are not good enough and I’m confident that will change over the next couple of transfer windows.

Lots to be positive about going forward. 4 new decent players and we will be very competitive imo.

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