David Moyes issues new Everton transfer window update and explains Jake O’Brien decision
Everton moved four points above the Premier League relegation zone with a 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
David Moyes has insisted Everton still need to bolster their attacking options in the January transfer window – despite finding their scoring boots.
The Toffees earned a 3-2 win over Tottenham Hotspur as Moyes got a first triumph under his belt since returning as manager. He succeeded Sean Dyche with Everton scoring just 15 goals in their opening 19 Premier League games. Their troubles in the final third continued in a 1-0 loss against Aston Villa but were much more potent when Tottenham visited Goodison Park yesterday.
The Blues led 3-0 at half-time, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin netting for the first time since September, while Iliman Ndiaye bagged and Spurs’ Archie Gray scored an own goal. Everton had more chances and although Ange Postecoglou’s side rallied late, with Dejan Kulusevski and Richarlison on target, the hosts held on for a deserved triumph.
Calvert-Lewin look much more of a threat, while Jesper Lindstrom enjoyed his best game as an Everton player since arriving from Napoli in the summer transfer window. After taking the hot seat, Moyes insisted that reinforcements will be needed for the Toffees to ensure a Premier League relegation battle is avoided. Although improvements have been made, that remains the case.
The Scot said: “We definitely need to try to keep adding. We’ve only got one win so I’m not in here celebrating in any way, far from it. I’m in here knowing we had a brilliant win today against Tottenham and, to be fair, I’m backing it up by saying we didn’t do bad against Aston Villa. We might not have had quite enough but we’ve played against a couple of good teams. We ran one close and today, we got a good victory.”
Moyes made the decision to hand Jake O’Brien his full Premier League debut against Tottenham. The Republic of Ireland international moved to Goodison Park from Lyon last summer for a fee of £16 million but had limited chances under Dyche.
Despite being a centre-back, O’Brien was deployed on the right-hand side of defence and delivered a strong performance. Moyes wanted to get the 23-year-old into the starting XI to help Everton’s build-up play with the ball. He added: “I was trying to find a way… most people here, you will know better than me, have seen most of the players we have got. Nothing is probably going to surprise you, maybe Jake is the one you’ve not seen really that much.
“We have got two very good central defenders, experienced central defenders and I wanted to find a way of fitting him in. It’s quite often that young centre-backs make their debuts playing at full-back. I did as a young player and a lot of them do. He has to find his way a little bit and we tried to use him with his ability on the ball to build a bit better. At times, there’d be four at the back, at times be three at the back. Jesper, to be fair to him, did a really good job in the early part.”
