Everton boss David Moyes speaks after his first match back in charge ended in a 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa
Everton manager David Moyes admits that his team need to take chances when they come their way after Dominic Calvert-Lewin squandered an inviting opportunity to grab a stoppage time equaliser in the 1-0 defeat to Aston Villa at Goodison Park. The Blues striker has now failed to find the net in his last 16 matches – since scoring in the corresponding fixture at Villa Park in September, with Everton having drawn a blank in nine of their last 11 Premier League matches.
Moyes said: “You do need those chances to go in. If that goal goes in and we go in one each, I don’t think many people would say it was far off the mark.
“It’s just that clinical action, that clinical moment to get us a goal. It’s not just this one game, it’s been other games that it’s been the case, I think it’s there for everyone to see, it’s not just that I’ve come in and said we’re not quite good enough at finishing.
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“By the way, I can’t magician all that to change, I can’t do it.
“We talked to them and encouraged them to get more people in the box more often and get more shots and crosses if we could. I thought we had a couple of crosses and Doucs had a chance from a cross in the first half but obviously we need to double those numbers: double the shots, double the crosses, the actions in and around the box, that we’re getting at the moment.”
Although the 61-year-old has only had limited time to work with the squad so far, he spoke about how he and his staff have been trying to solve Everton’s long-standing scoring issue. Moyes said: “I didn’t think we played that well, but if you look at it, I think there was very little in the game and they took a good chance and had a couple in the first half. We maybe had one and in the second half had a couple of bigger chances, and I don’t think Aston Villa really offered a lot.
“I thought we were right in the game but ultimately we couldn’t quite score that goal that was required.”
The Blues boss added: “All you boys in here, everyone who writes about it and people who watch will probably know more than me. I’ve had a day and a bit maybe with the players but obviously I could see signs that we’re lacking people to score and sometimes the players to create the chances.
“We probably had two or three good chances or half-chances. I thought Jesper had a great chance to score with his head and I thought Dom had a chance at the end as well.
“We need to create even more than that. What you do need when the games are really tight, and there’s very little between the teams on the night, you might need to take your moment and we didn’t quite take the moment.”
