David Moyes has insisted he will do all he can to ensure Dominic Calvert-Lewin recaptures his best form at Everton – but needs goals from the striker.
Moyes has returned to the Goodison Park hot seat following the sacking of Sean Dyche. Having enjoyed 11 successful years at Blues boss between 2002-2013, he inherits a team that is one point above the Premier League relegation zone. Moyes’ first task is to ensure a dogfight is avoided and Everton’s attacking prowess needs to improve having netted just 15 league goals in 19 fixtures.
The ex-England international has bagged only twice this season – with his last goal netted exactly four months ago in a 3-2 loss at Aston Villa. With Armando Broja sidelined again, along with Youssef Chermiti, Calvert-Lewin is expected to spearhead the attack for Moyes’ first game in charge for the reverse encounter against Villa at Goodison Park on Wednesday night.
Speaking at his first press conference, the Scot revealed that he has already held talks with Calvert-Lewin, who is out of contract in the summer. He admitted that the 27-year-old has to ‘start to deliver’ but will be aided by Moyes and his Everton coaching staff.
Asked how to get the best out of Calvert-Lewin by LiverpoolWorld, Moyes replied: “I have probably only got around the players today but we all feel he could make a big difference, get his goalscoring boots back on and be a big help to Evertonians and the manager as well.
“We’ll give him as much confidence as we can and as much practice as we can but then there’s a bit where you need the players to stand up and do his bit as well. I’m just in and hopefully will get them working but I have told him I am needing goals off him right away and he has to start deliver.”
Everton’s forward have struggled this campaign and it’s a chief reason why they’re hovering above the bottom three. Dwight McNeil, who has missed the past five games, is the four-goal joint top-scorer along with Iliman Ndiaye.
Jack Harrison, Jesper Lindstrom and Abdoulaye Doucoure have all failed to find the target. Moyes revealed he will put pressure on the Blues’ attacking players to put the ball away but others will have to chip in.
Moyes added: “I think if we all knew the answer then we would have done it, or the past manager would have done it as well. We have to find a way of scoring goals. Sometimes you can get streaky and score goals, we need to do it whether through set-pieces or open play, but of course you need all the players to chip in with goals. We will put more pressure on the forwards to be the ones to try to do it and we might look to strengthen in those areas if we can’t get results ourselves.”
