- 7 minutes ago
Everton boss Moyes gives his thoughts on upcoming challenge against Spurs, gives an insight into managing squad size and the impact of Jack Grealish
Everton Training Centre
Liverpool UK
Everton Training Centre
Liverpool UK
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00:01I think he was tiny and he said he was the height of Tarkovs.
00:04Yeah.
00:05I know him is just voice noting me a question but I haven't listened.
00:09Probably about his height.
00:12How old was he?
00:14Two and a half.
00:15Is it?
00:15He's tiny.
00:16He's small, yeah.
00:17He went to nursery apparently and said,
00:20I'm six foot five.
00:22That's right.
00:27Good afternoon everyone, welcome to our press conference to preview our game against Tottenham.
00:31We'll start off with Anton from Sky.
00:34Hi Anton.
00:35I'm just wondering your assessment of the start of the season I suppose,
00:38because glass half full, you know, it's unbeaten and amazing comebacks,
00:42but glass half empty I suppose you've needed amazing comebacks and drama.
00:46Pleased in some aspects, I think we played quite well in some of the games.
00:53Yeah, I'm not unhappy and I'd like to get another win rather than a draw somewhere along the way,
00:58but nevertheless, the players have done a really good job at the moment and we hope they can continue.
01:05I think it's fair to say, excitement is building around Tyreek George.
01:10Would you urge sort of caution around that for not putting too much pressure and expectation on such a young
01:14player
01:14or are you okay to be excited about the young talent and his potential?
01:17Well I think there's some great young players around the world who are playing,
01:21who are younger than Tyreek and exciting everybody.
01:24I think Tyreek's started well.
01:27I think he's still got a lot to learn and he will in the time he's here.
01:31But he's come into the team, done very well for us and I hope it continues.
01:35Jack Greenish hasn't started again I think since January.
01:38Is he ready to start again?
01:40And what are the risks and considerations that you have to take into mind if you're going to do that
01:45decision?
01:45I think Jack's a special because I think Jack is ready to play, yeah.
01:50I think Jack's probably a boy who needs the football more than he needs the training.
01:54Sometimes I think playing game time helps Jack, but in ways that's him still building up to get to his
02:01best.
02:01But I've got to say he's had a good week's training and beginning to look ready to start.
02:07How exciting is that for you to be able to say that you could have him potentially in the start
02:11of that?
02:12Incredibly exciting if he gives us what he gave us at the start of last season.
02:15If we get that level from him then we'll be thrilled.
02:18I'm just wondering, this is the penultimate game before the international break, the elongated international break.
02:23You've got various players in the squad at various levels of match sharpness.
02:27How difficult is that going to be to manage when some players are going to be away for three weeks
02:31playing four games
02:32and some players are going to be knocking the ball?
02:35I think it is difficult, this window, but I think everybody was fully aware of it because after the World
02:40Cup
02:40we were going to have a, I think we've missed the month, what was it, September probably, in the international
02:47break there.
02:48So it's tightened up more games and the players are, there will be a lot of players who will end
02:54up playing a lot more minutes than others.
02:56So that will be something.
02:58But I'm sure all the clubs will be looking to play, you know, behind closed doors games or games at
03:03the training ground.
03:05Obviously there's a lot of games for the players to get away and obviously injuries could be a problem as
03:10well.
03:11So we've got to hope that our boys who do go away, I want them to play, but maybe not
03:17the four games.
03:18I mean, there's going to be a lot of talk around whether Jarrod Bramford should or shouldn't be in this
03:21England squad.
03:22If he is called up for example, would he be ready to be able to do that after everything that
03:26he's been through the last sort of years?
03:28Well, I think everybody now is looking to manage their players and look after them as best they can.
03:33We certainly are.
03:34And I'm sure if Jarrod was called up by England, England would look after them the best they can as
03:39well.
03:40Cheers.
03:41Thanks Anton, we'll go to Fraser at Premier League Studios.
03:44Hi David, just following on from that, obviously a lot has been made about the size of your squad.
03:49Is there anything you can do or look at or change or are you considering any of those things with
03:54regards to minimising the risk of injury to players?
03:58Well, we can't really do an awful lot to minimise the risk because obviously games, games come and that happens
04:04and players can get injured or players can get injured in training, that's part and parcel of it.
04:08But obviously having a bigger squad then helps, while you've got a smaller squad then you've got a concern if
04:14anything goes wrong.
04:16Obviously you're talking about probably are you looking in the free transfer market, are you looking for players out there?
04:22Of course we're looking to see if there's anything which could be any of use but I think to be
04:28at the level we're at, you know, to get something which would really make a big difference, it's not an
04:31easy thing to pluck from that free transfer group.
04:37And having the smaller squads, there seems to be a real sense of strength and resilience and unity about the
04:43players, are the two interlinked do you think?
04:46Does one come from the other?
04:48I think it is actually interlinked. I think that a small group, you know, together, the tightness which can happen,
04:55as I said, I think I mentioned Leicester City winning the league a few years ago and what it was
04:59like.
05:01It looked like a small, small group of players who've done that. It's probably less and less likely because of
05:06the amount of games, the extra Champions League games there is, the extra, you know, international games we've just talked
05:12about makes it that you really need the extra players in your squad.
05:17So, we've not got European football this year so maybe, maybe we can find a way of getting through with
05:22what we've got at the moment.
05:24Thanks Fraser, we'll go to Julia at Radio Merse.
05:26Hi David.
05:27When you're talking about that squad, so 21 players in your squad, Illermann and I left, I was looking at
05:34the comparisons to your season where you finished fourth, your highest finish with Everton.
05:40It was a squad of 21, Rooney had left in the summer.
05:43What did you learn then that you might be able to use now about having that type of squad?
05:49Well, I think probably between then and now is it's probably the change of games and the amount of games
05:54which is more.
05:55Not necessarily for us, but I think if you look at all the squads, I think there's more substitutes on
05:59the bench than probably at that time.
06:03When you talk about 21 players we have at the moment, three of them are goalkeepers.
06:07So that's where you in some ways separate your goalkeepers from your outfield players, which takes it down to 18.
06:15But I do think that sometimes having a tight group can work.
06:18I'm not saying it will.
06:20I think if I had my choice I would have rather had more numbers, obviously.
06:23But I certainly wasn't somebody who needed 24 players or outfield players or 25 outfield players.
06:28It wasn't that I was looking for.
06:30I've tried to work mainly with 21 outfield players.
06:34That's the number I've tried to have.
06:36And sometimes you can maybe have 22, it can be a bit bigger, but around that number would have been
06:40my choice.
06:43But I think more just because of the way the Premier League has gone, the changes you need.
06:48We are seeing more managers now making five substitutes in lots of games than what we've done in the past.
06:58And I think that's the reason why the squads are much bigger.
07:03When you are looking at this squad, there are sort of areas, up front we spoke about it last week,
07:09that you're lacking in numbers there.
07:11But your midfield, you've got Harrison Armstrong, James Garner, Merlin Roll of course is a midfielder as well, Hayden Hackney.
07:17With that choice now, how do you set about selecting who plays there?
07:22Because that is where you've got that choice and how are you keeping them all happy?
07:25Well that's good, part of the job to have decisions to make and we've got some decisions to make.
07:32Hayden started well for us, Jimmy's just come back.
07:36I thought Jimmy was much better against Manchester United than he was against Bournemouth, you could see.
07:41But of all the players who get back from injury, Jimmy got himself back as quick as MD and tried
07:49to be ready to play.
07:50He was tremendous in getting himself back.
07:52And we had to use him, partly for different reasons as well in the game against Bournemouth, a bit sooner.
08:01But yeah, you're right, it's good.
08:02Ciaran Dewsbury Hall as well, we've got one or two.
08:04So we've got some competition there, but we're going to need it because we've just been talking about international games
08:11and the amount of football that a lot of the players might have to play.
08:14When you talk about the 18 outfield players, it's been 17 because Norgaard's been injured.
08:19So can I get a check on the current injuries and is he still unavailable?
08:23He's still unavailable.
08:26We're hoping we'd get him back maybe somewhere after the international break.
08:29That would be what we would hope.
08:31Was that always the case when you signed him?
08:34No, I don't think we thought we expected it to be as long as this.
08:37And look, he's hugely important for us.
08:41It was someone who we were looking forward to gaining his experience, his nose and getting to know him.
08:48And at the moment, no, we've not had him on the grass yet.
08:50So that's that's been the disappointing thing.
08:52But hopefully it won't be too long.
08:54I know we've spoken before about it took you a while in the summer to get over the end of
08:59last season.
09:00Obviously, it ended with with the game at Spurs.
09:03Yeah.
09:03When you look back now, obviously, they had so much rising on that game.
09:08And how do you assess that now?
09:09And how do you think it will differ from from this weekend?
09:13Well, I think assessing that one game on its own wouldn't be what I would think would be the right
09:17thing to do.
09:18When you think of what the crowd was like, the ferocity to get a result on the day.
09:23I think it was a different Spurs on that last day than maybe it is at the moment.
09:29But since then, Spurs have gone on and spent lots of money and brought in players to try and make
09:35sure they're not they're not in that position again.
09:38On that, I know I've just seen a quote today from somebody saying it's like a final for them.
09:41Do you expect that kind of atmosphere because they haven't scored a goal and and haven't won?
09:47Well, look, it wasn't too long ago at this club that we were in those sort of situations regular trying
09:51to to win games and and been put in a position of cup final,
09:56if you want to call it that. We can only look after ourselves.
10:00I'm not too sure about Spurs. We'll try and do the best we can.
10:04We didn't quite make it there a couple of months ago. Hopefully we can do it this time.
10:08Thank you. Good luck. Thank you.
10:10Thanks, Julia. Any further questions in the open section before we move on?
10:15No? OK. Thanks.
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