- 1 week ago
Moyes on difficult Utd job, transfers and Wolves preview
06/01/2026
Finch Farm, Liverpool, UK
06/01/2026
Finch Farm, Liverpool, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon everyone, welcome to our pre-match press conference to preview our game against Wolves.
00:04We'll start off with Vinnie and Sky.
00:05David, just to start with team news, did Michael Keane come through OK against Brentford?
00:10He did, yeah. He came through fine.
00:12Obviously we've got to be careful because of three games in six days, but he came through fine.
00:18I was really pleased because I was worried that he wouldn't.
00:21Are you getting anyone back this week?
00:23No, we're not getting anybody back this week.
00:25Not even for the court game?
00:27I don't know yet.
00:28I just wondered then, how difficult is it to manage minutes of players, manage their workload?
00:35What kind of a job are you having to do to manage the workload, given we've spoken about the players that are missing as well?
00:41Well, you talk a lot about the minutes, but we don't have European football.
00:45So we're not as bad as several clubs who have to find the players who might play in Europe as well.
00:50So yeah, we're in the schedule.
00:53Our culture in this country means that we've got a lot of games around Christmas and New Year.
00:56I'm certainly used to it, and most of the players are.
01:01There might be a few of the new players not used to having so many games around this time of the year.
01:05But I think it's part of the job.
01:07You have to, you're saying, manage the minutes.
01:09I think we're having to play what players we think are right and put them out.
01:13But in the back of my mind, yes, we are conscious that we're quite light in the squad and we'll need to be careful.
01:20We're not overdoing the training at the moment, just trying to keep the players ticking over, really.
01:24I was just wondering as well for you, is there a balancing act of wanting league points?
01:27But obviously, I'd imagine you'd also like a cup run as well.
01:30You've got the FA Cup coming up at the weekend.
01:32All you can ever do is take one game at a time, really.
01:35So all we can do is focus on wheels and go from there, really.
01:40I appreciate it's repetitive asking about transfers.
01:43But again, how likely do you think you are to add to the squad during this window?
01:49Is the market even proven difficult?
01:51No, I think that we're probably more unlikely than likely.
01:56But I wouldn't say that completely because obviously we're looking out there to see what there is and we can see if we can get something.
02:03But I just wouldn't want to get everybody's hopes up that we're, if I say likely, then you might be thinking that that means that we're on with something.
02:11We're looking at some players and we're looking if we could add to it.
02:14We will do, but we've been quite careful with it.
02:17I suppose if it were to happen, you're thinking later in the window.
02:19Ideally, always.
02:22You'd want to early in the window.
02:23We're a bit of luck.
02:24We'll get a couple of boys back from AFCON midway through January.
02:29But I think if you look at it, I don't think there's many transfers going on, really, if I've been honest.
02:33I think you're asking the question because there's nothing else to talk about.
02:37And you keep asking the question about transfers because there just doesn't seem to be an awful lot of business at this moment going on.
02:43At the same time as well, I appreciate it was only a cameo, but how encouraged were you by what Harrison Armstrong produced when he came on against England?
02:49I thought Harrison looked like somebody who's been playing football regular.
02:54Looked as if he's up to speed.
02:56He's been playing against a good size in the championship and his own team, Preston, have been competitive near the top of the league there.
03:02So I thought he came on and done fine.
03:05At the game was probably about 70 minutes in and we had a little bit more of the ball at that time in the game, which with Brentford, we're sitting off the game a little bit.
03:17But pleased with how he's done.
03:19He's done really well.
03:20Is he someone you think is ready to start?
03:22I think he's probably ready to start because he's more ready to start games because of the amount he's played at Preston, really.
03:31The games he's had there and the good work they've done with him.
03:33So he's physically in a condition to play games, I've got no doubt about that.
03:39After getting their first win, how dangerous are Wolves as an opponent, do you feel?
03:43Well, I think every team in the Premier League is a dangerous opponent at the moment.
03:48I think when you look at the league, you can come up against any size and you can find yourself having a problem.
03:55But I think Wolves have picked up a little bit, certainly, since Rob's come in now and where they've started.
04:01So we'll treat every game the same and we know we're in for a difficult game.
04:05Just finally, from me and away from the game, can I get your thoughts on the change of a manager at Manchester United?
04:11It's obviously Darren Fletcher going in and it's in charge as well, but Ruben Amorim losing his job.
04:16Look, it's big talk, obviously.
04:17I thought you might have said whether you think of the change at Celtic or whether you think of the change at Aberdeen.
04:22But you mentioned Manchester United and I think it's a little bit unfair that we all have to,
04:26all us managers have to talk about other managers losing their jobs.
04:29So, look, Manchester United is a great job, difficult job, as I well know.
04:36And, you know, I'm sorry to see a manager lose his job.
04:39Thanks, David.
04:40Thanks, Vinny.
04:41We'll go to Simon at Premier League Productions.
04:43And talking to one of your players after the game who mentioned about a tired performance
04:48and then quickly sort of corrected himself that he wanted to use it as an excuse.
04:52But how do you get out of that, maybe that mentality?
04:55Is there anything that you can do apart from rest?
04:57Yeah, look, I think that what happens is that the game sometimes changes that.
05:01You know, we'd started the game pretty well and we had a couple of chances, one off the line
05:06and the keeper made a good save, but then we gave one away and it just seemed to sort of change the whole feeling within the stadium
05:12and on the pitch, actually.
05:14We tried to alter it at half time to get that more energy and that and maybe a better feel about it.
05:20But I don't think it was absolute tiredness, physical tiredness.
05:24I think it was probably a bit of mental tiredness when they were saying, my goodness, here we've gone behind
05:28and probably in the opening 10 minutes we hadn't deserved to do that.
05:31But look, we go again.
05:32As I said, it's the culture, it's the challenges you have around this time of the year
05:36and we have to get ready for a sort of midweek Premier League game.
05:39Can you change that for sort of the mental aspect, I think?
05:44Well, if you look at how we played against Nottingham Forest, why did the mental side change to a defeat?
05:49You know, why did we change that mentality from how well we've done there?
05:55Have you looked at that?
05:56Yeah, I've looked at why we played very well away from home.
06:01At home, we need to start getting some more victories.
06:05We need to find a way of getting more victories.
06:06But I do believe that, small margins, I really think, if we got the first goal, it may have altered the outcome of the game.
06:15But obviously, the result would tell you that we were well beaten on the day and I don't disagree with that.
06:20So in terms of that then, in Hildikinson Stadium, after such a great start to life in that stadium,
06:27I think it's four defeats in the last six now.
06:30So has something changed?
06:32Is it because the stadium's so great, the welcome that the opposing team gets, actually, they get a buoyancy from it?
06:39Well, I always thought that everybody would enjoy coming.
06:41I think everybody enjoys going to play at a new stadium and the chance to see it.
06:44I don't think many people enjoy going to Goodison or playing at Goodison over the years.
06:49I think that was not something that they really liked.
06:53But that's our new stadium.
06:54But the other part of it, actually, we started well.
06:57Quite often when you go to a new stadium, you don't start well.
06:59Sometimes, you know, it's more difficult to get results.
07:02But we did start the season very well in the stadium.
07:05But I think it was always going to be the case that we were never going to get through it perfect, that was for sure.
07:11And we'd like to better than what we're doing at the moment.
07:15And just finally, if I may, as far as Wolves are concerned, I know you've mentioned the good job that he's done since he's gone in there.
07:20What do you look as the biggest danger tomorrow night?
07:24I think Wolves probably gaining in confidence and gaining a bit more self-belief.
07:30I think they've come away from Old Trafford where they were very unlucky at Anfield, I think so.
07:36I think maybe even away from home, they might be able to play with less pressure on them than maybe they do with their home support.
07:43So I think it's just, I don't think Wolves were ever as poorly as where they were earlier on.
07:50I think they've certainly picked up now and Rob Edwards seems to have got them going in the right direction.
07:58Thanks Simon, we'll go to Julia at Radio Mercer's side.
08:02Hiya.
08:03Just on that with the stadium, is there anything that you would like from the home fans that might be able to help?
08:09If you say it did feel that the atmosphere changed as soon as you went behind, is there anything you would want from that?
08:16No, I was saying that, I was suggesting that it was more to do with the team.
08:19No, we looked as if we sort of buckled a wee bit when we went a goal down, when we shouldn't have for the next 20-30 minutes.
08:26I didn't think we had a chance right on half-time, but they had a couple of chances as well.
08:33No, I think the stadium, the stadium's been magnificent, the support's been fantastic.
08:36As always, we're always saying, hey, keep your voices loud and keep supporting the team.
08:46I mean, considering where we've been in recent years, we should be right behind the team, they deserve it.
08:51The players deserve the support because of where they've been, but obviously we get support and we play well and we win.
08:57And we keep progressing, we're trying to progress all the time, we're trying to get better and we have to try and do that.
09:04But this is a little bit of a difficult period for us and I hope that the Everton supporters will understand that as well.
09:10A bit short of players, a couple we're at AFCON as well, it's just making life a little bit more awkward for us.
09:16On that, when you came in a year ago, obviously it was getting away from the bottom three as quickly as possible.
09:22That was the task and there was pressure around that.
09:24But is this a more difficult task, given it was a small squad anyway, as you say, there's a lot of people missing for a multitude of reasons.
09:32Is this the most difficult spell for you?
09:35No, I think the most difficult spell was when I took over, to be honest, because I thought, could we be good enough to stay up?
09:41How do we keep the group of players up?
09:43And we had quite a few injuries there and it's a similar time here, as you said, it's just about a year since I came back.
09:49We had quite a lot of injuries when I first came into the club as well.
09:52We've got a few injuries just now, but also with the amount of trading we had to do in the summer,
09:58I think with about 10 or 12 players out of contract, it was never going to be that we could bring in another 10 or 12 players.
10:03It wasn't ever going to be as easy as that.
10:08But I think in the main up to now, we've done pretty good.
10:10And we've only really just started to feel the pinch a little bit.
10:14In the main, we went to Nottingham Forest with a lot of the players out, got a brilliant, brilliant result.
10:20I remember going to Newcastle, the last game of last season with players out.
10:25So it's not as if we haven't done it before.
10:28But there comes a point where you can only keep doing it for so long,
10:31where you need to get your better players back and you need to have enough depth in the squad
10:35to cover suspensions and all the different aspects.
10:39So I think this year, I think for the Everton Football Club, I think it's been a good year.
10:45I think they've done a lot of good things, certainly since January to January.
10:49There was Beto and Barry who played together in the game a couple of days ago.
10:54Is there a plan ever to start them together?
10:57Because it looked like it was working quite well.
10:59Have they both got a goal each?
11:00Yeah, maybe, maybe.
11:02I wouldn't say it's the first thing in my agenda.
11:05I felt as if I needed to try something.
11:07It needed relatively drastic treatment, I felt, at half-time to see if I could shake us out of it.
11:12It didn't work that way, it went the opposite way.
11:16But both of them got a goal, which I hope both have confidence.
11:20I think that's Tien, I've got two and two, two games.
11:25Beto getting a goal, got a good goal.
11:27He's just beginning to look a bit much more like himself.
11:30So hopefully they're going to find a better form in the second half of the season.
11:34With Harrison back, I know you've said you were really pleased with how he looked and he's had that experience at Preston.
11:41Is there a plan?
11:41Can you see him staying?
11:43Has there been any discussions?
11:44Is it he'll stay now with you or could he go back to Preston or go somewhere else?
11:48No, we're having regular discussions with Preston because they really like him and they really want him back.
11:53And my regular discussions with him are how we need him.
11:57If we get players back from injury suspension, from the AFCON, etc.
12:01It might mean that we're not quite in need of him when we get these players back.
12:08But he had a good contribution, he had a great contribution, he will in the future have a big contribution.
12:13So we'll see how it goes in the next two or three weeks.
12:16We'll be asking about injuries more than we will.
12:20Thanks, Julia.
12:21We'll go to Carl at the Press Association.
12:24Hi, David.
12:24Hi, Carol.
12:24Just a quick one.
12:26You said transfers this month are unlikely.
12:29And we know you've been operating with quite a small squad anyway.
12:33And this month has obviously particularly tested it.
12:35You'll get some back by the end of the month.
12:37Is that a situation where you're almost going to have to be lucky in the second half of the season
12:43to get through the second half of the season with no reinforcements because you're halfway through the season,
12:49injuries start to bite, suspension start to bite.
12:52You've only got a small squad.
12:53You've got to make sure everyone's available.
12:57Yeah, well, that's what we've had in the front half.
12:59And in the main, we've been able to cope with it quite well with that group.
13:02So my feeling is that we might have to cope again.
13:05Hey, as I said, I said the word unlikely, but it could be likely.
13:09You know, so I'm trying to be right with it.
13:12It's not as if we're not looking.
13:13It's not as if we're trying to add to the squad we are.
13:17Adding to the squad might help, might not help.
13:20It only helps if we think we're getting players who can really contribute right away.
13:25So we'll keep looking.
13:27And, you know, yeah, we have got a small, smallish squad, but we knew that at the start.
13:32But that's why, you know, the boys are going to wait until the AFCON make it look.
13:37But it's the same for a lot of clubs.
13:39For example, I think Sunderland will be five or six away, something like that.
13:42So we're not too bad with only two away.
13:46But when your squad is relatively tight, then it starts to have an effect on you.
13:50And then we picked up, Seamus Coleman picked up an injury.
13:53You know, Kieran Dewsbury Hall picked up an injury at the time.
13:56Charlie Alcaraz picked up an injury.
13:58And before, you know, you look as if you're pretty threadbare.
14:01But for most of the time, we had enough squad, we had enough players.
14:05You know, most of the time we've had plenty of players.
14:09They'll come a few times in the season where quite often you're a little shot.
14:13I guess with the summer market usually offering more opportunities than in January,
14:18it's almost a risk you have to balance.
14:20If you don't spend in January, you've got something to come in the summer,
14:25which when you've got better opportunities.
14:26Yeah, I think our ownership as well wants us to be sort of, you know,
14:29really clean and tidy with everything we do regarding, you know,
14:34they don't want us, I think Angus puts it in his programme notes,
14:37suggesting that, you know, we wouldn't be doing any sort of quick fixes type things.
14:44So I think that we'll, you know, we'll still look to see if we need something.
14:49And we are doing that.
14:50But if we don't get in, then we'll try and stick to the plan and try and keep building.
14:55We had a decent build in the summer, which has moved us up from where we were.
15:00I think, as I said many times, I think the jumps and the improvement will come more gradually at Everton
15:08rather than be big, sort of big deals really.
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