Moyes' Programme Notes For Man United Clash

Good evening and welcome back to Hill Dickinson Stadium, for yet another Monday night fixture!

Undoubtedly this season has presented difficulties with fixture scheduling for so many teams, especially those involved in European football.

The new European league formats has given all clubs more Premier League midweek fixtures than before and created problems trying to schedule so many fixtures in today’s crowded modern football calendar.

I really hope we find ourselves in that situation in the future here at Everton, but for the time being we find ourselves looking forward to another Monday night game, a fixture which is also incredibly important for both teams.

After our last game here we came away very frustrated following a defeat by Bournemouth. This was a game we could have won, and probably should have won.

But the Premier League is showing that this season it is very difficult to pick up results, and in order to do so you have to take your chances. We certainly had our chances on the night but didn’t take them.

We also have to remain focused for the whole 90 minutes, look to start games well and show sustained energy levels and intense concentration at all times, especially in key moments.

We are not yet at a level where we can switch off at any period of the game and we need to maintain focus for as long as a game lasts.

Our fine win at Fulham had put us in a really strong position to keep our challenge for the top half of the table alive and strengthen possible European aspirations. We need to keep fighting if we are going to maintain those ambitions.

At the start of the season I think we would have all been happy to accept a drama-free season here at Everton after recent stressful campaigns. We were coming out of a summer still impacted by PSR, with a big turnaround of players and unable to do everything we would have liked in one fell swoop.

Our results since then mean we have now become more ambitious, with a taste to fight for something even better. The players, myself, and all of you supporters would all like to be in the mix in the top half of the table come the end of the season.

Greater consistency from officials would help us in that aim. As football supporters we must always put our trust in referees as they attempt to make the correct decisions, and we also understand that sometimes they will get things wrong. This has been no different since football began. But I do believe that now, with VAR, we should be looking for a higher level of consistency and clarity.

Tonight we welcome Michael Carrick and his Manchester United team here for the first time.

Michael has done a great job since taking over. The visit of Manchester United is always a big occasion and during my tenure here at Everton we enjoyed some big nights and memorable games against some incredible United teams managed by Sir Alex Ferguson.

We always felt that Goodison usually rose to the challenge and was an enormous help to us going into any game, but none more so than in an evening games against United. We hope tonight can replicate some of those memorable nights.

We are looking to improve on our recent home form. I’ve always believed your home ground is where you get most of your points and it’s where we hope to show that in the remaining home games.

You can help us in that. Players react to your support and in difficult moments they need your backing. We want the players to feel comfortable here and feel supported.

Hopefully that will be the case tonight and we will see an upturn in the final months of the season here.

Enjoy the game.

David