Michael Ball tackles the big issues at Hill Dickinson Stadium following Everton's final game of the season at Tottenham Hotspur
It was the ultimate fixture of flattering to deceive as ‘Spursy’ came up against ‘Everton that’ but unfortunately all us Blues knew how it was going to pan out.
I went down on the train to watch the game and when I got to Euston station, there were sets of fans from various clubs and the ones who supported West Ham – and Arsenal – were saying: “can you do us a favour?”
It was a very hot day and I wondered whether Everton were going to show some bravery, loosen the reins and go for it, but unfortunately, we never did that.
Tottenham went into the fixture having not won a home game this calendar year yet walking away from the game afterwards when their fans were all relieved, I told them: “You were up against the best opponent you could have picked for this scenario.”
This is the question mark over David Moyes and his team. You’ve been brought to the football club to make us steady and the manager has done that, probably a lot better than plenty of fans think.
However, when we had a game where all the pressure was on our opponents, we were so passive, playing the ball backwards and sideways with no intent at all. We’ve been there ourselves when the burden has been on our shoulders, but when we have these opportunities to move forward, we always fail.
I don’t care about Tottenham. I don’t care about their team or their fans, I care about Everton and I want us to go out and be hard to beat and we’re not.
I want Everton to be nasty but we’re too nice. With the clientele and manager that we’ve got we should be difficult to come up against.
But instead, the opposition can just go out and enjoy themselves. That’s really frustrating from a fan’s point of view, never mind from an ex-player.
I went out to the concourse and it was bouncing, like it is at every Everton away game, they’ve travelled down to London at great cost and our supporters were in full voice, but as soon as the whistle went and the match started, all that enthusiasm evaporated and we just knew it was going to be one of those games.
Why can’t we be the guys to turn up, put them under pressure and pin them into the corner? Test the keeper and try to quieten the home fans down.
West Ham scored in their game, but it didn’t change the atmosphere at Tottenham because they knew it was comfortable. Everton weren’t doing anything, so they knew it was fine.
We never make it difficult. As Evertonians, we’ve been there, going into matches when our Premier League status has been on the line, but we had to fight and roll our sleeves up in such situations, and in 1994 and in the final home game in 2022, we had to come back from two goals down to survive.
Yet, when Spurs have got their version of that, the way the goal came about was also far too soft and we didn’t have a shot until the 99th minute.
You’ve got to read the room a little bit. Play Tyrique George from the start and put players in who want to show the manager and the fans what they’re capable of and express themselves.
I’m not saying put people in just because it’s the last day of the season but copy and paste is not working.
Before the Spurs match, Everton were one of only four Premier League teams to have won more games this season than the previous year, along with Arsenal, Manchester City and Manchester United. Afterwards there were six but it’s not all doom and gloom because the season has been a very strange one and a lot of teams are frustrated.
Is David Moyes the guy to get us where we want to be? That’s a huge question mark for the board.
Everything was rosy before the break after the Chelsea game, but the last seven weeks have left us wondering what is going to happen next season. There is another manager whose name is being widely circulated on social media, but could he survive an 11-game run without a win at Everton?
Look at those fans of West Ham, they’re telling us that they can’t believe they got rid of David Moyes – twice. He won them a European trophy and now they’ve been relegated.
Am I surprised by the level of criticism that the manager has received of late? That’s football and it’s a results-based industry.
When you win, you’re the best thing since sliced bread. Yes, we’ve had some huge VAR decisions go against us throughout this winless run, but it feels like we just put our heads down, feel sorry for ourselves and do nothing about it.
Moyes has got a better tune out of these players than some of his predecessors but then they just go back to reset and self-destruct.
Because of the way our season has panned out has made it more frustrating. If we’d been chasing the pack and then finished like we did, we’d probably have been feeling a bit better about it.
Sunderland have finished seventh and they went into their game at Hill Dickinson Stadium a week earlier, below Everton in the table. They’ve not just sneaked into Europe, they’ve bypassed the Conference League and made it into the Europa League.
I heard David Moyes after the game, saying how he doesn’t understand the frustration of Evertonians, but that’s the reason. We were there, we were in the mix, but we let it go.
That group of players should have been good enough to get over 50 points. Credit to Sunderland, they’ve done fantastically well, but it’s an even harder pill to swallow when they went into the penultimate game of the season below us and they didn’t even play that well against us, yet they came back with three points and have finished seventh.
Coleman signs off but others haven't taken their chance
It was brilliant to see Seamus Coleman come on again for his last Everton appearance. The first thing he did was an overlap.
Ndiaye had three opponents around him, and the fans were getting frustrated as he was losing the ball because he had no options. It’s almost like we go: “there’s the ball, now go win us the game,” but he’s out of form and struggling.
But Seamus comes on and gives him an option because he’s a natural full-back, that’s what you’re supposed to do. We’ve been beaten this season, especially at home, by teams who have had very progressive full-backs who overload and get forward, like Tottenham and Newcastle.
We don’t do that though. Whether it was Ndiaye, Jack Grealish or Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on form, we left it to them to try and win us the game while the rest just sit and watch.
While we have performed well in 20-30 minutes spells in various matches, we often haven’t taken advantage of such situations, and our game management and decision-making isn’t there. We’ve been playing better football at times and have come away from games thinking: “we should have got more from that.”
There have been times when the manager has trusted certain players to come on and they haven’t seized the moment, so from David Moyes’ point of view it will be a case of: ‘I’ve given you the opportunity and you haven’t taken it.’ But then on the flip side, players need rhythm to get into games, and they’re left playing catch-up, so coming on with just five minutes to go will not help them.
Finally, good luck to Everton’s players who are going to the World Cup and thanks to everyone for reading this column throughout this season – I hope you all have a great summer. Up the Toffees!