David Moyes on Everton’s European hopes, starting Beto and beating Newcastle | OneFootball

David Moyes says he believed Everton could qualify for Europe this season at the start of the campaign.

Moyes’ side strengthened their hopes of making Europe after a 3-2 win away at Newcastle thanks to goals from Jarrad Branthwaite, Beto and Thierno Barry.

But the Everton boss was wary of talking too much about Europe after the victory.

“Every time I say it we fluff our lines, so I’m just going to say we can keep challenging in the top half of the league and see where it goes from there,” he joked.

“I’m honestly saying to you, I told the players that I wanted to get us into Europe.

“At West Ham, we nearly got relegated and the following season we made Europe so I didn’t think it was impossible to be done, but every time I get back to Hill Dickinson I feel like it’s getting harder and harder.

“But we’ve done really well away from home, we’ve got a great record away from home and long may that continue.”

Moyes opted to start with Beto up top against Newcastle over Thierno Barry, revealing he had been disappointed with the latter of late.

“Maybe more so what I’ve seen from Barry,” Moyes said when asked about the decision.

“You have to play and do well. We accept that you don’t always score goals but you need to do really well for the team, play, hold the ball up, join in, be creative.

“We just thought there’s been a couple of games where he’s been a little bit off it so we went with Beto.”