The fifth most successful club in the history of the Premier League behind Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City, Everton is a sleeping giant of English football with 9 national titles, the last of which in 1987. Accustomed to playing at the top of the table until a few years ago with 12 top 8s in 15 years between 2005 and 2019, the Liverpool-based club is coming out of several rather complicated seasons like three seasons of playing for maintenance. (16th in 2022, 17th in 2023 and 15th in 2024). Quiet thirteenth last season with Sean Dyche then David Moyes, Everton reached a milestone this summer. Currently eighth in the Premier League, the Toffees are in the race for European qualification and are only 5 points from the qualifying places in the Champions League as they face Liverpool, who are fifth, this Sunday.
Without achieving a major revolution this summer, Everton got rid of certain undesirables like Youssef Chermiti (Glasgow Rangers), Neal Maupay (Olympique de Marseille), Mason Holgate (Al-Gharafa) or João Virginia (Sporting CP) as well as elements at the end of the race like Abdoulaye Doucouré (Neom SC), Ashley Young (Ipswich Town) or even Asmir Begovic (Leicester). And to strengthen themselves, Everton was smart with short-term reinforcements like Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Chelsea), Thierno Barry (Villarreal) and Jack Grealish (Manchester City) but also long-term bets like Merlin Röhl (Fribourg), Tyler Dibling (Southampton) and Adam Aznou (Bayern Munich). A tasty mixture that took well. Only fourteenth attack in the Premier League, tied with Leeds United which is 15th in the championship, Everton has a lot of solidity with only 37 goals conceded in 32 matches. Thus, only Arsenal, Manchester City and Sunderland do better.
A solid and efficient team
It must be said that Everton’s rearguard is one of the strongest in the Kingdom with Jordan Pickford, the team’s starting goalkeeper in goal, and with renowned players like Jake O’Brien, James Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite and Vitaliy Mykolenko in front of him. Solid profiles that allow you to have a certain base. In front, it’s not necessarily flamboyant but it’s effective. In the middle, the tandem composed of James Garner and Idrissa Gueye is very complementary. Between the Senegalese’s experience and the passing quality of his young teammate (6 assists), this offers a great launching pad. Jack Grealish was important for a long time (2 goals and 6 assists in 20 matches) but he was injured until the end of the season. Dwight McNeil replaced him numerically, but seems a step below the other two players behind the striker, namely Iliman Ndiaye (6 goals and 3 assists) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (7 goals and 5 assists). The first confirmed his previous season while the second has well digested his failed stint with Chelsea.
In front, Thierno Barry should have been the starter, but he disappointed for a long time (six goals scored) and Beto (7 goals) took his place in front in the final sprint. Nevertheless, these beautiful individual productions and the collective rendering are the hallmark of David Moyes. Returned after a first victorious spell between 2002 and 2013 where he took the Toffees to the preliminary round of the Champions League and regularly in the Europa League. During a meeting with Jamie Carragher for The Telegraphthe Scottish coach spoke about this special season where he was able to transfigure the group: “ we have suffered too much and we have been too disappointed in recent years. I told the guys at the start of the season that when I came to West Ham and avoided relegation, I looked at the players and saw no reason why they shouldn’t qualify for Europe. I told our players that they could do the same thing this season. You could say it was just a little motivation to try to generate the fighting spirit we needed. I challenged the players, asking them: “Can we really do this? »
The European dream
Currently eighth in the Premier League, Everton is not yet European with six rounds remaining. However, the European results of English clubs or a victory for Manchester City or Chelsea in the FA Cup would make this qualifying position in the Europa Conference League. In addition, Everton is only five points from the top 5 qualifiers in the Champions League, one point from Chelsea (6th) currently qualified in the Europa League and level with Brentford (7th) but with a worse goal difference (+2 against +4). The schedule, however, is not simple with matches against Liverpool and Manchester City but also West Ham and Tottenham who are playing for the remainder. “ We have seven (six, editor’s note) games left, difficult games, but we gave ourselves a chance. If we don’t succeed, we will all be disappointed, although I know I will be able to say that this season will not have been bad, given our track record and the expectations raised by it. Now that we’ve got to this stage, it feels like we could have spent £200 million last summer and not been in such a favorable position. You have to take your chance when it presents itself. I want some players to think that they may never get a better opportunity to play for Everton in Europe », Adds David Moyes.
The former Manchester United and West Ham coach highlighted the many past failures to highlight the exceptional nature of this season: “ A year ago, the boys were asking themselves: “Are we going to keep up?”, and were being insulted by the supporters. Now, they feel much better walking in the streets (…) Many good coaches have passed through here without managing to rectify the situation. My main asset was my knowledge of the club, the expectations and needs of the supporters. On the other hand, I didn’t know if we had the necessary infrastructure (…) I saw in these players a team capable of surpassing itself, not only to overcome the difficulties of last season, but also to build on these foundations this season. But if you ask me to name someone who has allowed Everton to maintain its identity in recent years, it’s Seamus (Coleman editor’s note). »
For David Moyes, this new season must be the start of a long-term project to put the club back in the English top 10 and thus become competitive again over time and not in an exceptional way like this season: “ a lot of managers have come and gone and a lot of money has been spent, but I still feel like Everton are something different. For me, it is a club that lends itself better to a gradual reconstruction. We are not Chelsea, Manchester City or Liverpool, with unlimited financial resources. Moving forward step by step is the best solution for us. This could mean one good season, a less good season the next, and then moving on again. It’s important not to feel like you’re starting from scratch after a setback. We managed to do it for several years (during Moyes’ first spell). For 11 years we constantly fought for European places, or to be in the top four or five. What would the club give for such a level of consistency in recent years? » Like making something new with something old can work and David Moyes is the embodiment of this for Everton.
