Analysis from the final day defeat at Tottenham Hotspur as Everton's end of season tumble down the table ends in 13th place
Everton’s end of season collapse will bring back painful memories for David Moyes of when a similar run started rather than finished against Tottenham Hotspur.
Back in 2004, before some of the current Blues squad were even born, Moyes’ men enjoyed a 3-1 win against Spurs at Goodison Park on Good Friday and then promptly drew the next two games before losing the final four.
The upshot of it all was that despite not being in any kind of realistic relegation battle all season, Everton – who wrapped things up with a 5-1 thrashing at Manchester City (still several years before they became petrodollar billionaires) - finished 17th on just 39 points. There was clamour for the Glaswegian gaffer to go with that old chestnut that he had supposedly lost the dressing room even being trotted out.
Thankfully that was still an age before widespread social media and Moyes rode the storm, the club’s owners were rewarded for their patience and the Blues’ highest-ever Premier League position was achieved just 12 months later. Ultimately, there would be no fewer than nine top-eight finishes on his watch.
This year, second time around, there could, and perhaps should have been another one. Instead, Everton finish 13th for the second consecutive year and just one point better off than last year when the Scot returned at the halfway point with just 17 points on the board.
Whatever you think of David Moyes and his tactics, he’s shown himself to be the Blues’ most consistent manager of the Premier League era and arguably the ONLY man in modern times to lead the club effectively on a long-term basis. As Pep Guardiola departs Manchester City, the 63-year-old who dubbed Everton ‘The People’s Club’ is the only manager in the competition’s history to have accumulated over a thousand points after serial title winners Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United and Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.
But Moyes, like all those beleaguered Blues, his hurting badly over the way this campaign has petered out. With one more year to run on his current contract, having already overhauled Howard Kendall in terms of matches managed, he’s due to overtake Harry Catterick as the longest-serving Everton boss of all-time next season, but if he is still there then both he and the club’s supporters will be demanding much better than this.
Running on empty
When asked in his pre-match press conference to preview this fixture if he thought Everton’s end-of-season slump was down to fatigue, manager David Moyes was pretty emphatic that he felt that wasn’t the case. The Blues boss said: “Well, we’ve not played 50 or 60 games like the Aston Villa players or the others. If you’re asking me, that doesn’t stack up one bit at all.
“I don’t see where that can even be part of it, players are playing 60 or 70 games and what not, and getting on with it. For us to have 38 games, 40 maybe, I can’t see that at all.”
Whether you agree with his selection policies or not, he has a point, so just what was it down to because there was a distinct drop off in form, particularly when it came to some of the team’s star men. Iliman Ndiaye and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall have been shining lights for Everton for prolonged periods this term but the form of the pair slumped badly in May.
With Jack Grealish having already been sidelined since January, the downturn from the most creative pair in the team who are both usually assured finishes too, with Ndiaye not showing his usual coolness in front of goal and Dewsbury-Hall dallying with chances caused a significant slump in fortunes with the squad’s lesser lights unable to fill the void. While the pair were guilty of profligacy in recent times, this showing was perhaps even worse as neither of them had a sniff and we can only hope they come back fresh come August.
When a late opportunity failed to fall for him, Everton substitute Tyrique George stood before the advertising hoardings in the North Stand and was goaded by the fans of Tottenham Hotspur, a local rival of this Londoner’s parent club Chelsea. Whether he ultimately ends up back at Stamford Bridge this summer or the Blues take up their option on the 20-year-old prospect remains to be seen.
George, who was Everton’s brightest performer on a day of huge disappointment – despite only featuring in the final quarter of the contest – kept on plugging away and it was only a spectacular save from Antonin Kinsky in stoppage time that denied him his first goal for the club.
While an equaliser would not have prevented the hosts from staying up, it would have certainly cranked up the pressure inside the stadium in the latter changes and more importantly for the substitute, would have been a huge boost to his own confidence.
Arriving on the final day of the winter window, George has shown in patches just how much promise he offers. This correspondent might have used the phrase “fits and starts,” but there has only been one of the latter.
The ball is in the Blues’ court when it comes to the prospect of doing a permanent deal but when asked in his pre-match press conference, Moyes said: “We’ve enjoyed having Tyrique here, he’s been an excellent boy and he’s work rate and everything has been excellent, so we’re happy with him.” He also added a line about both George and Grealish going back to their parent clubs.
There’s certainly a player in there, and we’ve seen more minutes and more promise in the second half of the campaign from George than from £35million signing Tyler Dibling, but for now his prospects of moving to Merseyside on a permanent basis appear to be in the balance.