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Everton’s goalscoring has markedly improved under David Moyes despite his reputation for pragmatism - Getty Images/Chris Brunskill
“A different David Moyes joining a different Everton.”
So ran the opening pitch when the former manager made his emotional return to Goodison Park in January, with the club one point above the relegation zone having scored in only two of their preceding 10 fixtures.
“Maybe I’m not having to fight the world all the time now, which when you first come in you feel as if you need to,” Moyes would later elaborate.
“But don’t take my calmness as meaning I’m not passionate.”
That caveat will resonate with the Gwladys Street because for all the slight tweaks – not least to the popular fans chant which has replaced the reference about Moyes’ red hair to grey – a reassuring familiarity lies at the heart of a revival which Everton hope will absorb a Merseyside derby victory on Wednesday night.
Moyes simply fits the club better than the eight men who succeeded him in the 12 years since his exit in 2013.
They worked their way through just about every modern coaching profile, from Pep Guardiola disciple Roberto Martínez, ‘Hollywood’ manager Ronald Koeman, club builder Marco Silva, Real Madrid legend Carlo Ancelotti and old-school Charles Hughes devotees Sam Allardyce and Sean Dyche.
Whatever their preconceptions of what it would be like managing Everton, all of them needed a crash course to grasp it fully.
Moyes strode back in needing no such education. He is the embodiment of what the club aspires to be: tough, uncompromisingly hard-working, but ceaselessly striving to add those touches of flair and class to elevate the club to the highest level. Everton often thrive as an underdog, but there is no love for that reputation. In Moyes they have a manager desperate to shrug it off to make European qualification the norm.
Stylistically, those working closely with Moyes have long-considered him misunderstood, largely because of his resistance to be pigeon-holed according to coaching fashions.
Often pressed to define his preferred ‘philosophy’, Moyes greets that question with suspicion.
“My philosophy is to win football matches,” is a standard reply which has grown with authority.
It would have been easier for Moyes to embrace being perceived as Mourinho-esque, or to have more recently dropped in the occasional reference to hybrid full-backs and false nines to appease those who seem determined to present him as someone he has never wished to be. The most apt description in 2025 is a manager comfortable in his own skin, taking or leaving whatever approval is forthcoming without proactively seeking it.
The most successful Moyes teams are multi-dimensional. Some say he is more cautious than adventurous, yet in his first spell at Everton there was no more technically gifted or elegant left-sided attacking partnership in the Premier League than peak Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar. For every rough and ready Phil Jagielka there was an artist like Mikel Arteta, and the worker bees such as Phil Neville were balanced by the midfield goal threat of Tim Cahill.
The eye test alone underlines how clear the separation between Moyes’ Everton and Dyche’s. Everton have scored more in Moyes’ first 10 league games (17) as they had struck in their previous 19 under ultra-pragmatic Dyche (15).
An undefeated run of nine Premier League games suggests otherwise, but upon arrival Moyes was concerned about the quality he had inherited.
His immediate role meant being a psychologist as much as a coach, getting the senior players on board and brainstorming their perceptions of what needed fixing and how best to approach it.
One-to-one discussions across the club restored belief and confidence, establishing how to stop certain individuals playing with fear so that short-term solutions could be found for long-term problems, especially goalscoring.
Moyes’ first morning training sessions in January and early February were due to end at midday, but were extended by up to 90 minutes as the physical training evolved into deeper discussions about where each player ought to be positioned in different phases of play – more tactically tuned to getting higher up the pitch and thus correcting the pressing issue of a chronic shortage of goals and chances.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin, for example, felt he had spent over 18 months so isolated as a striker there were moments on the pitch it might have been quicker to contact team mates via Royal Mail.
Despite defeat by Aston Villa in Moyes’ first game, Calvert-Lewin’s chances that night at least hinted at improvement, confirmed when his goal drought ended against Spurs in the next match.
His subsequent injury away at Brighton was a crushing blow, but Moyes’ handling of Beto is one of many emblems of his man-management. Everton are now 17 points above the bottom three despite the lack of a fit Premier League-standard centre-forward.
Beto’s awkwardness with his back to goal is obvious, but when the passes are delivered beyond a backline to run on to, he can finish, as shown with his five goals since Moyes’ appointment, including the first in the Goodison Merseyside derby.
Jake O’Brien, signed last summer, could not get a start under Dyche. He has been introduced as a right-back since. Selected primarily for his defensive qualities, he too has added a goal threat, as demonstrated with equalisers against Brentford and West Ham. O’Brien’s displays have left spectators scratching their heads as to why he was hidden for so long.
Danish winger Jesper Lindstrom resembled a startled kitten before the change of manager. Since Moyes started him against Spurs in his second game in charge, there have been more glimpses of why he was so coveted by Premier League clubs when at Eintracht Frankfurt, albeit he still needs to produce far more.
Moyes’ constant public references to Jack Harrison’s professionalism are deliberate, too, the manager appealing to supporters to give each player a clean slate to eradicate the last traces of Goodison toxicity which preceded his appointment.
In praising Moyes’ early work, there is little appetite from within Goodison to cast aspersions on what Dyche did, even if there is universal agreement change was needed. When Dyche took over with the club in the same perilous position, he too restored the confidence of key players. Dwight McNeil and Abdoulaye Doucouré returned from exile and were critical to Everton remaining a Premier League club.
Nevertheless, Moyes has added another critical element which Dyche struggled with, namely the reconnection between the manager, players and supporters. That is fundamental to a successful Everton and the relationship has too often broken down over the past 12 years. It sounds abstract, but that power cannot be overstated.
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The full force of Goodison Park was felt after Everton’s stoppage-time equaliser against Liverpool - Getty Images/Alex Pantling
Moyes is enjoying a prolonged second honeymoon more than seemed possible given the circumstances in which he renewed those Goodison vows. The prospect of relegation has gone, although there are no illusions about what must happen next.
Another of Moyes’ critical opening statements was that he did not return to Everton for annual relegation battles.
No new manager bounce will sugar-coat how generally poor Everton’s recruitment has been for too long, albeit under various architects and – more recently – amid financial constraints.
Moyes’ ability to get a tune out of previously underperforming players on eye-watering salaries has already established him as the pivotal football figure for new owners, the Friedkin Group, to lean upon, even if he delegates more coaching and scouting responsibilities than 20 years ago.
He has temporarily made broken stones resemble diamonds, but will need help gathering gems to maintain an upward trajectory.
It has taken Moyes 11 weeks to rebuild hope and confidence. The question going into next season will be how soon he can construct a competitive team worthy of the stunning new arena in which they will play.
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