David Moyes was speaking after his Everton side went down 1-0 at Tottenham Hotspur to finish the Premier League campaign without a win in seven games
David Moyes conceded he was disappointed with the way Everton’s season had finished as a 1-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur left the club without a win in seven matches.
Joao Palhinha’s first-half goal was enough to give Spurs the win that sealed their Premier League survival and condemned Everton to a bottom-half finish.
For so long Europe had looked within reach for the Blues but instead they have finished 13th - the same position as last season and with just one extra point.
Asked how he felt about the way the campaign had drawn to an end, Moyes said: “I'm disappointed in the last six or seven weeks. For probably three quarters of the season we've been very good. In the last six or seven weeks we have been really disappointed, but not always.
OPINION
“And I'm saying it in every interview I do at the moment, you cannot forget the handball at West Ham, or the penalty kick at Man City. If we were coming here with two points more we'd have had a different mindset completely.
“We've got a group of players coming here, in a comfortable position in the league. We would have been coming here needing to get a win, probably, or a draw to be in Europe.
“So, there's been a lot of things that played a part, probably more so this season I've felt than ever before, certainly from my point of view.”
Everton struggled to deal with Tottenham until a late flurry of chances almost yielded a point - coming closest when substitute Tyrique George forced a stunning save from Antonin Kinsky.
Mathys Tel was a constant threat down the the Blues' right, where stand-in full back Jake O’Brien found it difficult to contain him.
With Idrissa Gueye and Jarrad Branthwaite injured and Nathan Patterson ill, Moyes’ scope for changes may have been limited and only the strikers were changed from the side that started the defeat to Sunderland - Thierno Barry starting ahead of Beto.
Asked by the ECHO why he did not make any further changes, the Everton boss said: “If I thought it was better I would have done it.”
Reflecting on the match, Moyes said: “I thought we didn't play well in the first half. I thought we were resilient enough not to let Tottenham go any further ahead.
“It always meant that we were in the game right to the end, and probably we were the better team in the last 20 minutes. But not for the other part of the game, so I couldn't put my hand up and admit to that.
“But we made sure Tottenham didn't get too much, but we didn't have any opportunities really until 10, 15 minutes to go when we brought in a couple of the younger boys who made a big difference, so we were pleased with that.”