Everton boss David Moyes on Jarrad Branthwaite suffering an injury setback as they prepare to face Tottenham and the challenge posed by Thomas Frank’s side Finch Farm, Liverpool, UK
00:00Good afternoon everyone, welcome to our pre-match press conference to preview our game against
00:04Tottenham. We'll start off with Vinny from Sky. David, first of all can I ask you about
00:07Jarrod Branthwaite, is it a recurrence of the injury that forced him to have surgery
00:11and how disappointing is it for him and yourself obviously? Yeah, it was but nobody felt as
00:16if after that that we had him back, he was back in full training, we expected him to
00:21be very close for Man City but he just didn't feel quite right so we got it checked and
00:26we got some work done on it. Have you got time scales to win? No and we wouldn't put a
00:30time scale on it anyway Vinny, we'll give him a chance to heal and take his time.
00:35Nathan Pattson? Yeah well Pattson had a plantar fascia tear in his foot which he
00:40picked up in the game against under 21s. Bradford, sorry slipped my head there when it was. So he's got
00:55a plantar fascia tear, we're probably going to keep him out for a couple of weeks so in that
00:59period he's a problem, a little bit of an issue with his hernia so we're going to get it tidied up
01:03while he's out with his plantar fascia. Obviously this weekend we know you got Jack Grealish back and
01:08we highlighted just what an influence he's been but at the same time how reassuring was it for you
01:12the chances that you were able to create against Manchester City in his absence? Well I hope that we can continue to do that, I mean I think at the end of last season without Jack we were creating chances and we were scoring a few goals as well.
01:24Hopefully the players who have been here before are used to it, we had some brilliant performances on the day but obviously our levels are still below Manchester City but I hope we can continue to make chances, it's really important for us.
01:39Three points separate yourself and Spurs, what tests do you feel that you're facing against them particularly under Thomas Frank?
01:46Well three points at the moment don't sound that much but in truth it is quite a lot because it's so difficult to gain points in the Premier League at the moment and it's tight in lots of areas so Tottenham have always had a good side wherever I've known, always good teams. I think Thomas had a brilliant start, started his management career at Tottenham in a good fashion. So it's a tough game, they've got a great away record at the moment but we've also got a pretty good home record.
02:14Thanks David.
02:16Max Finney will go to Fraser at Premier League Productions.
02:18Just moving on from that David, knowing Thomas as you do, obviously it's a pretty high pressure job at Spurs given the expectations that that club has. Did you always think that he was the kind of character that would be able to handle the expectations that a club like Spurs has?
02:32Well his work he'd done at Brentford was hugely going to get him another job because of how well he'd done at Brentford. He'd done a great job over the years helping bring them forward and building a great side which they had at Brentford. So it was no surprise that he was going to get one of the big jobs somewhere along the line. I think he would have probably been spoken to by other big clubs I'm sure somewhere before as well.
02:56But I think Tottenham probably works for them well, keeps them in London and it's been a good start to the season for them.
03:03And you mentioned that the home record, this will be your sixth game at home now in the new stadium. How has the transition been for you overall so far? Is it feeling like it's home?
03:12Yeah, I think we're all pretty comfortable. I think like Ed Nell said, I don't think you, I think if we'd been losing the games you might have said how this is difficult, what's happening here. But we've won the games and it's a bit easier to speak well about it.
03:28But generally, I think it's something we've been sort of waiting on, we've been hoping for for so many years at Everton. I think now we're there, we're so glad we've got it. And, you know, thankfully, we've got off to a good start. But look, whether it was a new stadium or whether it was Goodison, we had to get off to a good start because we need to pick up points at home and we've done okay. We've been fine at home.
03:52Thanks, Fraser. We'll go to Julia at Reddy on Merseyside.
03:57Hi there.
03:59With Jared's injury, does this give you a chance to now maybe look at things? I know Jake has always said he still sees himself as a centre-back and he's been in the right-back position. Could you give him a run at centre-back now?
04:10Yeah, absolutely. We gave him a run at the end of last season. I think he played at centre-back. Certainly played at Newcastle. Might have been Crystal Palace we played centre-back. No, it wasn't Crystal Palace. I don't think he played.
04:20So he's had a couple of games and he's done very well. Might have been Fulham, actually, what I'm thinking of, possibly. So he's, oh no, he is a centre-back. But he's doing a really good job for us at right-back in the main. And he needs to keep his levels up like we all do.
04:38Do you like working with those players like him and probably James Garner as well that are so versatile and that, you know, if you need them, you have that conversation and they just say, yeah, I'll play where you want?
04:47Well, I think versatility is a big part of football now where a lot of players are playing in different positions. I think quite often being, and I'm calling Jake a young centre-back, he's maybe not that young now, but to be a sort of young centre-back, quite often you might have had to make your debut and get started being a full-back.
05:05I certainly did as a player as well. But I think that's part of it. As it is, we've, you know, having Jared and Tarkey here is a hard two to nudge away. Keno's played very well in the game. So, you know, he'll need to keep fighting for his own position where he's playing at the moment.
05:24And, but if we have any problems at centre-back, then we know, we know we've got them.
05:29You mentioned that there was three points between the two teams going into this game. When you arrived in January, the pressure was incredibly different. Is it a different type of pressure now? Because everyone's looking up and saying, how many points to those European places?
05:41Yeah, it is different because I think when I came in, certainly, you know, there was a feeling of, you know, anything we can do would be anything better than what's going on would be good because if we could stay in the league, that would be hugely important.
05:55Our most important thing, moving to a new stadium, how are we going to do that if we weren't a Premier League team? So I think it's changed a little bit. I actually think the supporters have changed as well.
06:04I think they're more, certainly more optimistic, but I do think it's part of the manager's job to do that as well. I think you want to try and build a little bit of expectations, but on the same breath, you know, you mustn't forget where we've been for quite a few years and we're, we're just coming out of difficult financial times.
06:22You know, there's a lot of things going to need to change for us to get back to the levels we know who we all hope we get to. But I've been really pleased with how the players have done. I think they've been great.
06:31There's been a couple of games we could have done a bit better, but in the main, I think they've, they've started very well.
06:36Hillam and NDI's performances have been praised and against City, although it wasn't the result that anyone wanted, especially in the first half, his performance has been singled out. How good could he become?
06:48Well, Ellie, Ellie's hugely impressed me by how he's played. And he's, you know, he's gone from the left side to the right side. He can play on either side. So I think he's been better there.
07:00I think we played him as a number 10 in one of the games recently, and I didn't think it quite suited him as much as playing off the sides.
07:06But, like, he's been so good because his goals as well, nobody getting goals from him, which to get goals from your wide players, obviously you want your goals from your number nines normally.
07:16But after that, then it becomes your wide players and your midfield players. So Ellie's goal return has been, has been good for his, his role he plays.
07:25He's a great lad to work with. He showed some brilliant moments, especially in the first half against Man City, but we just want him to be that in all the games.
07:35And I think he has been, since I've come in, I've been, I've been hugely impressed.
07:40Thank you, good luck.
07:41Thanks, Julia. We'll go to Carl at the press association.
07:47Hi, Carl.
07:49You've said you've been happy with most of the performances earlier. I guess for you now, consistency becomes the key, isn't it?
07:55Again, you need momentum of back-to-back results to kick you on.
07:59Yeah, it's for us to keep, keep away from the wrong end of the table. That's what we don't want. We want to keep up there.
08:06And let's be fair, for the opening, I don't know what, eight games in now. So the best part of the seven or eight games, maybe not the eighth one, but the seventh game will be in amongst the, you know, the top end and the bottom end.
08:16So that's the, that's the fight we've got, you know, to make sure that that's where we, where we are.
08:21So, again, I want, I want the expectations to be risen, which I think they have, but in the same breath, I need some time, you know, just to say, hey, wait a minute here, just don't forget the way we've come from.
08:33So, so there'll be times we're not going to win all the games. We're not going to always be great all the time.
08:38But I think after the turnaround, the players we had last year, you know, the, the finish we had last year, we've come into this year, we knew players, but confident because we, we finished last season so well.
08:51Is that balance of remembering where you, you've come from and where you wanted to go, is that a difficult one to, to, to sort of establish and, and are the players ready to be, you know, pushed on thinking that now we should be looking, you know, top?
09:05Well, well, I think, I think the players are all, all quite clued in. They know, they know what I expect and know what I'm looking for and where we want to be.
09:14And I think I can speak to Evertonians because they'll understand I've been here long enough and they'll understand what we're saying.
09:19Look, we're getting much, much better, but we've got, we've got a long journey to go to get to the levels.
09:23And the first time I was here, it took 11 years to probably get, maybe getting there a bit sooner, but, but it wasn't, it wasn't a journey which we could easily just turn up and say,
09:33we're going to switch the light on here and everything's going to change. It's not, but we're, we're doing a big job in trying to get it turned around as quick as we can.
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