David Moyes has never been one to sugar-coat a problem, and he isn’t starting now.
The Everton manager cut a realistic, if slightly frustrated, figure as he laid out the state of his squad, the fitness battles behind the scenes, and the looming challenge of Tottenham and the international break.
Injury frustration and a missing leader
Moyes admitted the club badly misjudged the recovery time of one of their senior signings, who is still nowhere near a return to full training.
“I don't think we expected his recovery to take this long when we signed him,” he said. “We are looking forward to gaining his experience, but we haven't even had him on the grass yet. It is disappointing - for us and for him - but hopefully it won't be too long.”
That gap in experience has been felt. Everton have started the season unbeaten, but the manager’s tone made it clear he sees room for more than just quiet satisfaction.
Grealish ready to be unleashed
If there was a spark in Moyes’ briefing, it came when the conversation turned to Jack Grealish.
Grealish, he said, is “a boy who needs football matches more than he needs training”, and that simple line tells the story. He is close. Very close. The playmaker is in line for his first start since January this weekend, a potential turning point both for the player and for Everton’s attacking edge.
“It will be incredibly exciting to have him in our starting line-up,” Moyes said. “If he gives us what he gave us at the start of last season, we will be thrilled.”
That early-season version of Grealish – sharp, brave on the ball, constantly demanding possession – is exactly what Everton have missed in the final third. Moyes knows it, and his players know it too.
Unbeaten, but not entirely satisfied
On paper, an unbeaten start always looks healthy. Moyes, though, drilled straight into the details.
Everton’s opening run is “pleasing in some aspects”, he conceded, but he did not hide his slight irritation at the dropped points. “I would have liked to get another win rather than a draw somewhere along the way,” he admitted, before making sure to credit the effort and application of his squad, who he said have done “a really good job”.
That blend of praise and demand is classic Moyes. Standards remain high, even when the table looks respectable.
A small squad, a tight bond
One of the themes of his early-season management has been the size of his squad. It is lean. Possibly too lean. But it has its upside.
Moyes drew a deliberate comparison with Leicester City’s title-winning group, a tight core that carried each other through a remarkable season.
“You only have to look at Leicester City's title-winning squad to see how their small group of players thrived,” he said. The message was clear: a smaller squad can build a stronger unity, a clearer identity.
But there is a catch. “It's the amount of games which means you need the extra players, but we don't have European football this year so maybe we can find a way of getting through with what we've got.”
Even so, if he had been given the choice, the numbers would look different. Moyes revealed his ideal figure would have been 21 outfield players. He has 18.
That gap matters. Over a long Premier League campaign, it can be the difference between stability and strain.
Scanning the free-agent market
Everton are not just accepting the situation. Moyes confirmed the club are active in the free-agent market, searching for reinforcements who can genuinely improve the side rather than simply make up the numbers.
He made no attempt to dress up the difficulty of that task. It “isn't easy to find a player who could make a difference” at Premier League level once the window has closed, but the club are looking, and the door is open for the right profile.
Tottenham test and a familiar struggle
Next up is Tottenham, still without a league goal or a win. On the surface, it looks like a meeting of opposites: an unbeaten Everton against a Spurs side stuck in neutral.
Moyes refused to be drawn into that narrative.
“It wasn't too long ago that we were in those situations as a club,” he pointed out. He knows how quickly a team can flip a bad run with one result, one moment, one break of the ball.
“We know we can only look after ourselves. We didn't quite make it over the line there a couple of months ago, so hopefully we do it this time.”
There’s a hint of unfinished business in that line. Everton have been here before, close but not ruthless enough in North London. Moyes clearly expects his side to correct that.
International break headache on the horizon
Lurking just beyond the Tottenham game is the international break – two weeks that every club manager watches with a mixture of pride and dread.
Moyes called it “difficult for everybody to manage” and outlined the concern that some players will be overloaded while others barely feature. “There will be a lot of players who will end up playing a lot more minutes than others and injuries could be a problem as well,” he warned.
His hope is simple and brutally honest: “We've got to hope that our boys do play a bit, but maybe not all of the games.”
For now, the focus is on what he can control: squeezing every drop from a thin but united squad, easing Grealish back into the spotlight, and turning an unbeaten start into something more convincing against a wounded Tottenham side desperate for a spark of their own.
