Brighton were left fuming but David Moyes says the win over the Seagulls was no smash and grab
David Moyes wants his Everton team to be able to assert more control over matches to help protect an already impressive defence. The Blues boss watched his side battle to a hard-fought win at Brighton and Hove Albion, one built on the resilience of the backline.
His hope is to develop the team so that it is not as reliant on impressive rear-guard displays in the future.
Speaking after the 1-0 win at Brighton and Hove Albion, Moyes said: “I’m absolutely delighted. It was a bit of a rear-guard action for long periods, but one that they’ve done really, really well. Getting points in our position is the most important thing and the players fought unbelievably hard to get through.”
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While Brighton dominated this match, the hosts only had one shot on target and Moyes agreed this win was more than just a ‘smash and grab’.
He said: “I’m getting told they had one shot on target, but that’s not doing Brighton a disservice. Brighton are a really good side and play well and really good football.
“I think there was probably a bit more credit in how well we defended balls in the box, round the box, the goalkeeper, – we defended the corners in the main really well when we were under pressure. So, again, just big credit to the players for their performance.
“It’s the first back-to-back win I think we’ve had all season. We’re in a position where we need to get points, whereas Brighton are just off three wins in a row and nine unbeaten. So, to come to Brighton today and get a result for us is some result.”
Asked how significant it was to oversee just a second away win of the season for Everton, he responded by stressing he inherited a side with a good clean sheet record and that had picked up useful results away from home as recently as December, when Everton drew at Arsenal and Manchester City under his predecessor Sean Dyche.
Given what he had already seen from the club, the courage that underpinned the win on the south coast did not come as a surprise, he said. But he expressed a desire to aid his backline by adding more control of possession – and more goals.
Asked what he had learned of his squad on the south coast, Moyes said: “I don’t think I’ve learned a great deal except that I know I was coming into a group who were hard to beat. I think, with respect, they had maybe the second best clean sheet record in the Premier League, something like that.
“So, today was another one to add to that and that’s a great habit to have, you know, not to concede goals. But what we need to do, what we want to in the future, is we’re hoping to get better play, more goals.
“I thought there were bits of our play in the first half that were OK. We tried to get a bit of control of the game. But Brighton are the team who are in form at the moment.”
