David Moyes speaks after the Premier League match between Everton and Tottenham Hotspur
David Moyes said he could take heart from Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s display after the forward “played like a proper number nine”. The Blues boss inherited an Everton side bereft of attacking confidence, having scored just 15 league goals this season. Calvert-Lewin’s struggles were symptomatic of that, the forward not having scored since September.
A last minute miss in the narrow defeat to Aston Villa in midweek could have set him back even further. But after Moyes spent the following days preaching the need for patience in one of his most important players, he was repaid handsomely against Tottenham Hotspur.
The highlight of Calvert-Lewin’s display was his goal, the 27-year-old twisting on the ball to evade three Tottenham Hotspur defenders before slotting coolly past Antonin Kinsky.
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Other opportunities went begging but there was so much more to his display for Moyes to take confidence from.
After purring over “a real calm piece of play” for the goal, Moyes pointed to Calvert-Lewin’s workrate and willingness to help his teammates by fighting for the ball at the top of the pitch.
His final act was to draw the foul in stoppage time that relieved the pressure on his side as Spurs fought to find an undeserved equaliser.
With goals hard to come by, injuries to his rivals and constraints on what can be done in the January transfer window, Moyes needs Calvert-Lewin to hit form.
This felt like a major step forward, with Moyes explaining: “The big thing for him is that people tell me he hadn’t been getting many chances. Well he has got a few in these games and he has got a goal.
“The biggest thing is that he played like a proper number nine, he made the centre halves worry, he left a bit on one, he was a threat, he was challenging, he won, I would say, a good percentage of his aerial duels, he came out, took the ball into him and switched the play a couple of times, so I thought he did a lot of really good things today.”
