Moyes On Highs & Lows From Everton Derby Display

David Moyes reflected on both the plus points and missed opportunities after Everton's 2-1 derby defeat at Anfield.

The Blues boss was unhappy with how his side started on Saturday, which contributed to the visitors falling 2-0 behind to early goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Hugo Ekitike.

But Everton showed impressive resolve to pick themselves up – and then added the quality to match – to leave their city rivals holding on when just three minutes of added time were signalled.

By that time, the Toffees had reduced the deficit courtesy of a quality team move finished off by Idrissa Gana Gueye.

And plenty of other chances arrived, too, for the likes of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Beto and Thierno Barry.

Once the dust had settled, Moyes felt his players deserved credit for a performance that underlines the progress being made under his management – while ruing the fine margins that left them empty-handed.

WATCH HIS POST-INTERVIEW INTERVIEW HERE OR BELOW.

He said: "I’m just disappointed we didn't maybe get something out of it. It was always going to be tough for us to get there after going two down. But we stuck at it, worked our way back into the game and finished the game relatively strong.

"The first half was poor, we accept that, and we probably tactically didn't get it as right as we should have done. We needed to get after them a bit more than we did do and we done it in the second half and it certainly showed.

"We've come here and had a goal and a few attempts in the first half. We missed the real clinical bit, which maybe they had when they got it. But we got back in the game, and deservedly so. I'm praising the players for their resilience and sticking at it. I thought they showed a bit more determination and commitment to try to show that in the second period."

On the encouraging steps being made by his team – highlighted by the quality of Gana's goal following fine work from Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye – Moyes also thanked Evertonians for their loyal support once more and the bond between them and his squad.

"There's a change in what we're doing and it's going to take a bit of time but as long as we keep pushing the top teams, it'll be showing the right steps," he added. "The crowd were brilliant. They'd have been disappointed in our first half but I think by the second half they would have been saying, "This is more like us, more like what we've seen during the season".

"I hope probably since I've come in that we have a committed and energetic team and we're trying to add quality so that we can score more goals. But we don't want to lose the resilience and the toughness which we've also got within the camp. So we're trying to marry them all together to get the best results and we just pulled up short today. A big thank you to all the supporters who came here."