Match Preview: West Ham United vs Everton

The lack of signings and the lack of quality with the ones we have made with regards to significantly improving the first team is concerning. Moyes needs to be a magician at this point. For a pre-season and transfer market that looked to be so promising, this has only brought disappointment so far.

Dramatic new ideas within the club's internal recruiting strategy required immediately; only 1 month left to prevent this season from being a disaster. We need more to offer other than the lure of a new stadium, this isn't enough.

Still, I'm saying an Everton win with Barry getting a brace.

"The one thing I'll do is I'll tell the fans straight, and I'm telling it straight at the moment, we're having a bit of a struggle getting ones in quickly," said Moyes.

"My first thought is yes, I'm surprised, because I think Everton's such a big club, with great traditions and the new stadium's an exciting move for us.

"But when you think again about it, we've been in or around the relegation positions for the last 5 years, not far off the bottom, so maybe there's been reasons for it."

The one thing he failed to say, is that 9 Premier League teams are in European competitions this season and that is not really helping.

The Moyesiah will be keeping his fingers crossed, that Keane is fit for the West Ham game – who would have thought we'd be hearing that this pre-season?

I'm off to consult Mystic Wendy, a good friend of Mortimer and Whitehouse. She uses 1970s footballer cards, ( remember them ), to predict the future. She's a hen by the way and very good at what she does.

Let's not downplay the club's achievements!

I don't actually believe that Moyes is surprised that he can't get deals like Fofana, Luiz and Grealish over the line this summer. Who thought we would be able to sign these players with a month to go on the window? Nobody.

In the last few hours of the window, maybe, when options become clear. So why is he saying this? It's all guesswork, but I think he is aware of the danger of Angus whispering into the ear of the Friedkins "We are trying for the players, but they don't want to come… it may be the manager".

Cos I never expected us to be outside the balcony of Fofana and Luiz, I was expecting young players to be coming in who I'd never heard of, who would get us comfortably mid-table and with youth on their side. I didn't think we'd be going for players insisting on Champions League footy.

The danger for us as a club is tha the Friedkins make the same mistake Moshiri did: 'We need a name to attract the players. Someone like Ronald Koeman'.

We've had to learn a harsh lesson on how footy works in the last 10 years, significantly the Friedkins weren't here for that.

And I don't think it's going to get any easier tonight, West Ham have a lot of good kids coming through again, and will probably do the same thing Bournemouth did, bring on their proper players in the second half when we are dying on our feet again.

Some interesting comments. I thought hard about his comments. Maybe he's being straight, but my gut feeling is that this is the Moyes we know and getting the lowering expectation and self-protection out of the way.

If that is how he feels, I have no issue. But air that view behind closed doors not in public. I've said it before, it's a risky strategy.

It won't please the owners and it is damaging to the club's chances of actually signing some of the supposed transfer targets. How are prospective signings going to read into that?

A brace for Barry would do nicely. Imagine what that will do for his confidence.

And one that is no doubt shared by the rest of the Everton recruitment team and our new owners.

Not too fussed about the result, more the performance, fitness and minutes on the pitch.

If that predicted line-up materialises, I see a similar set-up and formation to what we saw against Bournemouth.

3 at the back with only one recognised centre-back.

4 across midfield in McNeil, Garner, Gana and Iroegbunam.

2 in front of them, Alcaraz and Ndiaye.

Striker (whoever) upfront.

Let's just see the subs made earlier to give them a more realistic and meaningful run-out. That's what these matches are for.

How is he lowering expectations? In fact, quite the opposite – he is saying what every fan is asking.

As for airing his views inside the club, do you really believe he hasn't aired these views to the powers that be?

We have had 9 weeks since the season finished and, although he did a great job in getting us to safety as early as he did, he knew this squad wasn't good enough and we have lost 3 regulars in Calvert-Lewin, Doucoure and Young.

Had he said nothing about the lack of transfer activity, the same people moaning about him lowering expectation would be saying "How come we haven't heard from Moyes?"

I want my manager to be honest with us fans and that's exactly what he is doing, and if that puts the Friedkins' noses out of joint, then for me, it's a price worth paying.

Danny, I understand he wouldn't have been your choice as manager, but so far he has done a good job, and now he is letting owners and fans know that, if we aren't going to become a club regularly fighting relegation, he needs some quality players and quickly.

By all accounts, Harrison Armstrong has been the stand-out player when on the pitch. He must be given at least one half to help establish if he is truly a serious contender to be in a starting line-up (or to at least be on the bench).

I suspect that he and Tim Iroegbunam are currently in direct competition although Armstrong appears more flexible as to where he can play and be effective. I suspect also, that age and a little more experience will lead Moyes to favour Tim.

Given the paucity of choice, it would be criminal if Armstrong is not given proper game time. He may yet help the club save a lot of money and redirect finances towards securing a top right-winger and an effective and reliable right-back.

But I do think he's a best-of-the-rest manager, and not a manager to deliver trophies or Champions League football. I know he won the best of the rest European Conference League but that to me is his ceiling. I want the best Football Club to be Everton.

I look forward to your posts each week and will be looking out for them come August. As someone who can longer get to games, they give me real insight from a true supporter's point of view and experiences on match day.

Likewise, I'm equally well documented in saying how well he did since arriving in January. I've praised and respected him for it many times.

My point here, is that if that is how he feels, fine if he is doing that with the board and owners, but don't say it in public.

Players don't want to come to Everton? Whether we agree or not, what outward impression does that give? A lot of players reading that will move on elsewhere.

And my genuine concern for him, not that I dislike him, is that he doesn't have his safety blanket looking over him now. TFG, if they get irritated, won't mess around.

I have no issue with what he's saying and most of us understand it. I just don't think it's what he should be saying in public on global media. Let's call it a Freudian slip.

Other than reading about players we are in for on the internet, we don't know much, including who we have bid for and how much we are prepared to spend.

Moyes wasn't good enough to take over a club that had dominated English football for a good decade when he got the Man Utd job.

It was clear that, although they were Champions, Man Utd needed a massive overall, and when for whatever reason they recruited both poorly and also very slowly that summer, then I suppose the writing was already on the wall for David Moyes.

Moyes is a much more experienced manager now so will definitely be a lot more aware that you're only as good as your recruitment, especially when you consider how threadbare his squad currently is.

The reason I have asked you to elaborate, Brendan, is because, like Kevin, I don't think the now, vastly experienced David Moyes would be expecting the better players to just sign, and I think he's already said as much when he said he found things easier at West Ham because they had qualified for Europe.

He's already indicated the new left-back is not likely to figure much in the near future. What a downer for the kid that must be.

In most situations, honesty and truth are best, but the bare facts here do risk showing a weak underbelly.

Sadly, the truth is we aren't a big draw, and the practicality is we are going to go to the line again, hoping to get enough to get by at the end of the window.

Anyone's guess how this ends up.

I came to realise that he was best for the job in January. He still is for the here and now.

I just hope he doesn't get himself into bother with the CEO and owners; otherwise, we're potentially looking at a quick change again.

I agree with everything you say, though. At some point, if we want to step up, we will have to part ways again.

Another genuine thought: I would like nothing more than Moyes to leave us with a trophy — and I don't really care what flavour it is.

I want us to be successful and win things and would personally be delighted if that happened under Moyes, just as I would have been delighted if it had happened under any of our last 7 or 8 managers.

I don't have a problem with the manager (whoever they are) putting a bit of pressure on the ownership and executives to pull their finger out and get some signings done.

I am also pretty sure we will make quite a few more signings before the window "slams shut", but I also wouldn't be surprised if a few of those were pretty last-minute loans.

Enjoy the ride, Blues, and be kind to each other!

I agree, you have said from the start he wasn't your choice, but equally, as you say, you have praised him for the job he has done so far. Were I disagree with you is in saying he shouldn't have aired these views in public.

But, if we don't get the players he wants and I respect that in our current position we may not be able to get all of the manager's first-choice players. But, if he follows your line and says nothing publicly, then fans will automatically think whatever players we do get in are players Moyes wanted.

The two things that would put players off signing for us is where we have finished in the last 5 years, and even more important, the wages they will get. Now Moyes can't change history and, yes, he can say "Look, under me, we won't be fighting relegation…" but, given that we have only signed 2 squad players as well as making Alcaraz our player, then potential signings are looking and thinking "How is that going to change the expectations of this club?"

And where are our Under-21 centre-backs???

Name them. Specifically name each player that thinks they're too good to sign for us.

One – it will reassure the supporters of the kind of planning that the club are attempting to do;

Two – It will give the players and supporters additional motivation to prove such players wrong.

But he's not the man to rebuild us. We can't compete with the clubs who are in Europe for the brightest stars so we've got to find and blood promising youngsters. And for the life of me, I can't see Moyes doing that.

Even when I was backing Moyes last season, I was also hoping for his replacement in the summer. We should have made Iraola our first and main target. I'm amazed Spurs went for Frank instead of him.

The problem is that we have tried different types of manager (too many, in my view) in the last decade or so since Moyes was last in post. We have had up-and-coming managers (Martinez, Silva, Lampard), we have had superstar managers (Koeman, Ancelotti), we have had "pragmatic" managers to save us from relegation (Allardyce, Dyche), and none of them have achieved anything.

I think we just need to get behind the manager (who happens to be Moyes at this moment) for the duration of his contract. If he happens to get us qualified for Europe and/or wins a trophy, then he will have earned an extension.

If not, I am pretty certain that he will have at least helped to stabilise the club and that would be the time to try something different. Changing managers every year is a recipe for disaster and we are living proof of that.

Delap and Tete are two he has acknowledged as us trying to sign and who have said No. Tete stays where he is, settled on better money and terms. Delap gets (possibly) Champions League football, and more money.

There may be other personal reasons for them not moving: family settled in the area they are in, not wanting to move to the area, or wanting to go to another area (London for example).

In the harsh cold light of day, we don't have a good recent record for playing good football, or having realistically been in the fight for European football.

If I had to pick a new company to work for, I'd pick the one which is best for me and my family, with minimum disruption and the best potential for success and advancement.

The new owners and new stadium offer real hope for a bright future, but it's going to take time to rebuild our reputation as a great footballing club to potential players. The School of Science has to teach modern studies as well as history...

Not sure what "elaboration" exactly you are looking for but I'll give it a go.

No I don't think Moyes would be expecting the better players to simply sign.

I also, however, don't think Moyes... given that we are a Premier League club with history, about to begin a new chapter in a fabulous new stadium, with new owners and money to spend... thought it would be this difficult.

So he's surmising the absolute shit show that Everton have been during Moshiri's tenure has damaged our appeal to players looking for a move much more than he had considered.

I also think that's a view likely to be shared by the rest of Everton's new recruitment team and our new owners.

Am I "warm"? I mean am I elaborating the specific point(s) you asked me to address?

I feel deflated and it's not even August – I doubt I'll be staying up late tonight for this one.

Without centre-backs, we will concede goals… and we don't look like scoring.

The recruitment team should be looking for these gems instead of wasting time chasing players who obviously want European football.

We won't be a top team again unless we have a squad that's close or on par with the usual top teams, how we can manage that is the difficult bit.

I can understand both sides of the argument with regard to Moyes, I'm 70/30 in favour of him at the moment. The damage to the club was done before he came to us and, for my money, he has done well with the players he had to choose from.

As far as new signings are concerned, you can't make players sign if they don't want to.

I wouldn't be surprised if Iraola moves on from Bournemouth. If not in January, then likely next summer.

Peter @24, we all want to see Moyes succeed. Everton succeeding is more important to me than any manager. But I can't see an extension. At best, he will see the existing contract out providing it goes well.

The difference for him now, and any Everton manager for that matter, is that will be expectation.

The type of expectation that fools like me expect. I won't quote Sir John Moores, but his statement epitomises what the very loyal fanbase expects and transcends generations. Sadly, for the younger ones, it has become hope and living off scraps rather than expectation.

I'll watch tonight. I wouldn't be surprised to see Pickford start again and it would be great to see Tarkowski on the pitch. But if we are preserving him for the Roma match and the start of the season, then that's fine with me.

I assume that due process when recruiting means you check out whether a deal is feasible (with negotiation), and the player wants to join you.

Sometimes feels like we do neither, and particularly the latter. If a player prefers to be somewhere else (bigger club, European football) then he's not for us. Move on.

We knew we had a big Summer of recruitment, we needed a comprehensive plan. I'd be frustrated if I were David Moyes.
We'll get players, yes, but prepare for Harrison, Coufal, Brownhill etc — is that taking us forwards…?

Or maybe he's afraid that if he names them, they'll give their own perspective.

And what it may reveal is that they do not want to work with him. Or have made their decision following him being unable to sell the proposition to them.

I am of your generation, Danny - I have seen the lows and highs. I was at our lowest ever post-war attendance game against Chesterfield in the Milk Cup (8,068 in a cavernous, nearly empty Goodison) and at the Bayern Munich Semi-final. I don't get to go much nowadays, being London-based, but managed a final match at Goodison v Man Utd this year year and will be at the Roma match with my family (long-suffering Londoner wife and 2 mid 20's lads who have seen nothing but pain, growing up surrounded by Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea fans, but still True Everton Blue). I say this so you know how high my expectations have been in the past and aspire to be again in the future.

Well despite being the oldest manager in the Premier League and with all that experience he doesn't seem to know how the transfer system works in this day and age — if he didn't know how difficult it would be, then Thelwell would have been a very handy man to put him straight.<

Then, according to some fans, he didn't want to work with Thelwell.

Perhaps Moyes was convinced to put his faith in the new recruitment team approach and is only now realising that he's better off alone.

As to the Thelwell thing, I have no idea if he would have helped or not, but I am not particularly convinced about his (Thelwell's) track record for us. Our better recent buys (Branthwaite and Alcaraz) have had nothing to do with him, as I understand it, so what exactly were his successes? Jack Harrison?

All players that have moved for not very much money this summer who would have been achievable.

Look at the business Atletico have done. They've signed a bunch of players I guarantee most people will know nothing about and they'll all be challenging for titles and playing Champions League football.

He would only have remained if he was going to be a permanent fixture.

Maybe Moyes is finding it difficult not being Lord and Master as previously.

We are fortunate that Barry signed but, with no left-back available other than Patterson, Moyes has said that the 19-year-old left-back Aznou is unlikely to start.

All fans have ever asked, is be honest with us on transfers, and when we lose be honest in the assessment as to why.

We've all had our fill on bullshit transfer bids, and managers telling us we've played great when we've stunk. The hard going in the market is clearly impacted by relegation fights, threats of administration and points. For non Everton folk, thats a pretty toxic combination that is going to take years of perception change to overcome, particularly when youve increased competition from clubs in Saudi, Champions League clubs and club World Cup teams.

The mythical super Kev reference again. Each passing day his reputation gets better. Somewhere between St Francis & God on the current ToffeeWeb scale.

Delivered fuck all, but super Kev was the finest director of football we ever seen (not hard, I grant you). Perhaps worthy of a statue outside the new club shop to increase the footfall or, for 10p more, you could have the real thing stuffed & mounted.

Perhaps he could do a stadium tour and talk about his great signings – Garner, McNeil, Maupay, Beto, Young, Harrison. Halcyon days.

He's not fucking here. He's signed for Rangers. Forget him, he was part of a history that the new owners concluded had failed. He signed invariably bang average players that most would have on the bench or through the door. He would be faced with the same issues as Moyes when asking a quality player to come to a club that's been through the ringer in the last 5 years.

I think and read that most who praise say Thelwell did a good job in the circumstances.

No godlike fawning.

Peter @35, the manager is being backed by the supporters. You only have to be at Goodison and the stadiums around the country to hear ir. Loudly.

Yes, we've seen the highs and lows. More the latter for over 30 years. My son was 5 months old when we last won a trophy, so has never seen anything.

Having experienced it, foolishly or unrealistic as some may label me, I know the benchmark, and I won't have my expectation lowered. And I certainly wont have anyone try to talk them down.

I too live in London, for now. I have done for years. I regularly make the trip home to see Everton and go to as many away matches as I can.

On Moyes' comments, I'll maintain that he can rightfully express those concerns to the board, but inappropriate to say it in public.

I'm in a senior position and regularly involved in winning new business contracts and retaining existing ones. If I went public before "closed-won" (done deal), I would be hauled over the coals for jeopardising business interests and putting deals at risk.

However, all the kits are rubbish until we win something in them and then they become legendary must haves, so you never know, maybe this will be reissued in 20 years time to great fanfare.

But probably not.

And with respect, your senior position isn't in the football industry, where millions of customers demand to know what is going on a daily basis. Radio stations and newspapers have been established for it. Regular businesses don't have that same situation.

If Moyes doesn't fill that space, others will. Stefan Borson is a prime example of the damage done from club silence.

"If I went public..."

Unlike Moyes I"m guessing you're not in a public facing entertainment business.

The club have obviously given Moyes their blessing to do these interviews and given the need for new players this line of questioning was to be expected. He's merely being as open and as honest as he can.

I don't think Moyes is upsetting anyone other than those ToffeeWebbers who are thriving on the subliminal messages emanating from Moyes comments.

It seemed clear the owners and CEO had their own plans he would and did move on.

Its just curiosity as to what he might have done under the new structure.

He's gone, it's the past, but it doesn't stop discussion. We still talk about selling Alan Ball.

Millions can demand, but they wont be told until there is something to tell.

As for me, I'm talking global companies with billions in annual turnover.

I don't think he's upset supporters. I'll just reiterate. What he said wasn't wrong. He just shouldn't go public.

We may crave it, but we're not going to get a daily running commentary. Nor should we expect it. It's not how most clubs do business.

In our position every man and his dog knew how threadbare the squad is and especially Moyes when he joined.

Moyes going on about recruitment now is a bit rich isn't it, he knew our situation and is only now bleating about it.

It's a self preservation and lowering of expectation tactic he has used for the last 20 years.
This is his usual behavior.

We could have gone out and recruited experienced heads on frees and then concentrated on young talent but that would be too much like forward planning.

Instead of wooing the next precocious egotist like Onana we should just be down at a muddy pitches in the East End or Preston looking for rough diamonds like Cahill
and Howard Kendall. Then DCL and Duke can slowly find their way to play for pennies on Bondi Beach with Jack Rodwell and Craig Johnston, the arrogant 18 year old "star potential" French and Belgians can try their luck in the Chelsea reserves, and we can all move on.

As for recruitment, we recruited new staff to hit our targets and they have failed. Don’t reward them for failure, sack them.

If TFG are even half as professional they are claimed to be they would have required an end of season report on the failures and successes of the team, and a future forecast of how to progress.

That would include recruitment input from the manager, certainly specific positions and maybe specific players, and feasibility input from the recruitment team.

With that they make a budget and tell the team, here's what you can spend, go make the best of it.

Now not all first choice players might be within that budget but it's then up to the stakeholders (I hate that word!) to get together and decide what pieces of the jigsaw they can put in place.

It's how it works in the real world, and I would hope that TFG are putting their real world experience into practice.

Edit: and they would certainly require monthly, if not weekly progress reports on what is happening.

Otherwise, he could be poking the wasps nest.

The outcome could go either way. He gets his way or his P45.

Agree with everything else you say.

If they set out to recruit the absolute best to enable future growth and it required a couple of months wait to get them in, then that's surely good.

In the meantime it's 'make do and mend' with an experienced manager and a support team.

Hope I am wrong and wouldnt it be lovely to get off to a decent start and not be on one point after 5 games as per usual?

Publicly announcing players don't want to come to us does not help the cause.

Good players want to play alongside equally good or better players than themselves. That is the main attraction.

Then the club history and standing has to come into it but after thirty years of struggling who the hell outside of supporters think Everton is a big club anymore.

Sad to say the Premiership which we were the instigators of has killed us.

Andrew #30, so you seriously believe that our recruitment team isn't looking for such players???

Danny #53, gotta disagree. I like the more open approach. I don't think he's giving us running commentary, just appropriate updates and a realistic look at the challenges. And if his new bosses didn't want him making such comments, I'm sure they'd tell him to stop.

Moyes didn't say we would have to wait until the end of the season because he felt that with some money to spend, new owners and a new stadium... Everton could have brought some of our targets in early.

But if he had said that you can be sure people would have been busy overanalysing those very words.

The difficulty I have is that whatever statement Moyes issues... it's dissected to the nth degree and people attach significance to casual comments thrown out in what is essentially a PR exercise.

I'm not suggesting managers don't from time to time use these type of events to push a certain narrative and you may even be right on this occasion. Like a lot of the speculation on ToffeeWeb, however, on the back of Moyes's various statements... I don't expect this one will, in anyway, be regarded as a significant statement in even a few weeks time.

One thing that might also be holding things back is that I believe we have now got owners, who will definitely be wanting to pay a lot less, rather than pay a lot more, and if this is the case, I don't think that many of us will have any arguments?

I wouldn't hold this against them anyway, although the fact of the matter is, that we do need to get our coats on and get moving, but, keep up the good work Brendan, because it definitely helps debate!!

It's a jittery time until we get the deals done.

With new owners, new stadium and Moyes having done a great job since taking over, I'm still hopeful he'll get better players in.

I wasn't a Moyes fan with him coming back, but for me, he's a lot more experienced manager and deserves to lead us forward after the great job he's done.

He's telling us the facts about how tough it is to sign players; I don't see a problem with him saying that, it'll put extra pressure on the owners to back him.

Tony mentioned how things didn't work out for him at Man Utd, but he was on a hiding to nothing, Fergie left a team on the way down, and his DoF had left also, so no matter who took over, he had no chance.

Turner, Gosling, Kissock, Baxter, Wallace, Agard, Jutkiewicz.

After which we brought in Fellaini, Saha, Jacobson, Castillo oh and Carlo Nash.

I wouldn't have minded us signing Xhaka for £17M, a good solid pro who has a ferocious shot on him, experienced and would have done a job for a few years.

I'm a bit concerned that the first month or so of the season is going to be a struggle while we cobble a side together.

I don't think the 3 teams that came up will be as bad as the ones who came up last year. Let's hope we can get a few quality additions through the door ASAP.

They could well play some really good stuff but will probably, like Ipswich, just concede too many goals to stay up.

If we play as well as we did in the first half against Bournemouth, I will be happy.

As long we play well, the result should not matter because, win or lose, the Everton that takes the field today will look nothing like the Everton that takes the field against Leeds for our opening match.

Hope I'm not spoiling it, but he told them not to buy Tosun and Alli. Kenwright was an Unsworth fan, and it was Dunc who brought Rooney.

I thought Moyes was his own man and did things his own way and if he needed convincing to go with the new recruitment team who haven't arrived yet, then he's been a bit slow off the mark and wasted a few weeks.

Peter (38)

Moyes has just stated we've been in the mire and fighting relegation for the last few years, so he might have had the tiniest notion that players were not queueing up to join Everton, especially those with a few clubs interested in them.

As for Thelwell, it is a matter of opinion whether he's done a good job or not and possibly his reputation of being a former representative of Liverpool might have clouded some fans point of view. I thought he had done very well myself.

On Thelwell, like you I thought he did alright. But the the bigger thing is he said himself some time back that we were planning two or three windows ahead on transfers.

Therefore, if things move on that glacial scale these days, I thought it a bit weird to get rid of him just before a major window of rebuilding. Didn't leave much time for his replacements to determine whether his plans were any good or indeed come up with new ones.

Haven't read the book but I am always cautious with people's memories. I remember a documentary on the 1990 World Cup. Bobby Robson explaining how in the middle of the night he had an epiphany and decided to play Mark Wright as a sweeper. Then it cut to Don Howe recalling how one day in training he said "Bobby, I reckon we should use Wright as a sweeper."

Another scene change and we had Lineker explaining how he and Waddle came up with the idea of Wright as a sweeper. Lastly, the injured Bryan Robbo said before he went off to hospital he had a brilliant idea he shared with Bobby Robson: "Use Wright as a sweeper."

I've been out most of the day so won't be watching the game, with a 11:30 pm kick off, I will get myself to sleep reading a good book.