David Moyes observes Everton improvement after Fulham win | OneFootball

David Moyes appreciated Everton’s sustained spell of dominance over their rival as the Blues beat Fulham 2-0 at Hill Dickinson Stadium to return to winning ways.

It was the Toffees’ first win in the Premier League since their stunning 2-1 comeback win over Crystal Palace at home over a month ago. Sandwiched in between those two wins were defeats to Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur before registering a 1-1 draw with Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.

Goals from Idrissa Gana Gueye and Michael Keane helped Everton climb to 11th in the league table after picking up 15 points in 11 games. The display against Fulham was also especially positive, given Everton’s dominance over the visitors for extended periods.

Bar a brief lull in the middle of the second half, the hosts were by far the better side over 90 minutes and Moyes appreciated the improvement.

"I thought we [played well for longer periods than previous matches] better. They still had a period, midway through the second half but I thought we played well today again. I have to say, I think we've been playing well. We've not been maybe getting the goals to go with it,” he said after the game.

Having praised the performances of summer signings Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Thierno Barry, Moyes added: "Look, we've wanted to try to become a much better footballing team and the players we've brought in have helped us to do that.

"We don't want to lose what we've had – desire, heart, commitment – but I think we had to try to find a way of getting a little bit better at certain things and I think we have to build. Look, I trust the owners will help us in all the windows as we go forward and we'll try to make things better as we go along.

"We need to get people believing in Everton like we do, like the supporters here do, and what we want us to be in the future. To do that, we need to keep picking up the wins and attracting top players like Kiernan and Jack Grealish and players of that ilk. We need to keep attracting that level of players to come to the club."

Gana Gueye was one of the standout players for the Blues, along with Dewsbury-Hall, and he was at the right place at the right time to finish off the move after James Tarkowski’s header hit the crossbar and came back to Tim Iroegbunam, who miscued his initial attempt.

Keane then nodded home the insurance goal nine minutes before time. It was his second goal of the season and he’s been playing at a very high level during this campaign after coming in to replace the injured Jarrad Branthwaite.

Speaking of the loyal Toffees servants, who both penned new deals this summer, getting on the scoresheet, Moyes said: "I was really pleased for them. Gana is actually beginning to become a goalscoring midfield player. I think everybody knows Keano's got the ability to score. But for me, the biggest thing was scoring from a set piece. I talk about it every day. And I think about it every day to try to find ways, how are we going to score? Why are we not scoring? What can we do better to get it?

"But today we got one, thankfully."

Reader Comments (17)

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Mike Powell 3 Posted 09/11/2025 at 09:48:05

Another significant difference is Spurs are a much better side than Fulham.

Neil Lawson 4 Posted 09/11/2025 at 10:01:44

And a third significant difference is that nothing ludicrous occurred.

Mal van Schaick 5 Posted 09/11/2025 at 10:07:38

And yet there are no comments regarding the game, just critical comments of others opinion?

Rob Hooton 6 Posted 09/11/2025 at 10:16:37

I thought Spurs were crap and got two lucky set-piece goals against the run of play; I saw us as the better team on the day... but what do I know!

Yesterday, we finally got the result our play deserved, and could have had plenty more goals.

Like Moyes, I was wondering why we weren't scoring from set-pieces? I was so happy to see Keane get one yesterday. We played well for a much longer, sustained period and I'm happy with the win.

Tony Abrahams 7 Posted 09/11/2025 at 10:20:09

I never watched any of yesterday's game, Mal, except the 3-minute highlights, but one thing which is very noticeable about the modern game is that the only real way to be aggressive is by running harder than your opponent nowadays.

Everton were way too aggressive for Sunderland in the first 30 minutes the other night. That's why it was so disappointing, the way we just suddenly stopped denying them the space that they needed.

My guess is that Garner, will have wanted to push forward a lot more than O'Brien, and this will have also helped the dynamics of how we want to play.

Andrew Merrick 9 Posted 09/11/2025 at 11:26:46

Picking up on comments above, I just felt that whilst our energy levels were good, and sustained, the transitions moments going forward were massively better, Garner in particular.

And player movement improved, front foot, using spaces well, showing for the ball, there were some great moments of progressive football, and delight, a joy to watch our team show what they have in their locker.

Another day, that's a 4-nil walloping.

Comparing the Sunderland game with yesterday is really the only thing to do.

In the Sunderland game, we dominated for half an hour or so and were rewarded with the lead. After that, they stepped up a gear and we relaxed. That was where it went wrong.

Yesterday was different and we kept going at a relativley high intensity. It was good to see and we were rewarded with the points.

Moyes probably realised that he had to do something to get a better performance out of the team or his neck could have been on the line. He managed it and we all should be happy with the performance and look to see that intensity maintained going forward because that will provide reasonable results for the remainder of the season.

Yes there willl be hiccups. It happens to every team. But the standard has been set now and it is now up to everyone to find a way of maintaining it.

One last word. It was good to see Barry have a decent match. I think, although he didn't score apart from the one that was chalked off for offside, he will take encouragement from his performance and he will continue to improve. He should continue to be the starter in matches as he is much more proficient than Beto with the ball.

Ryan Holroyd 13 Posted 09/11/2025 at 14:37:29

Everton have taken 11 Premier League games to reach 4 wins this season -- 10 fewer than last season.

Just saying

Kunal Desai 14 Posted 09/11/2025 at 14:39:41

My opinion is that those who are not football fans and so call 'govern' the game are just out of touch with the sport.

30 years ago, we win yesterday 5-0, and O'Brien's goal stands against Spurs.

The game really has gone to pot.

The offside rule should be clear cut, none of this nuanced stuff which has pretty much ruined the game.

Si Cooper 17 Posted 09/11/2025 at 23:58:39

Rob and Ed (6 and 8), I agree.

Recently I said I thought our problem this season was a general patchiness of performance rather than an obvious overall decline and the manager has being saying the same.

It is an unforgiving league at the moment with most teams capable of making you suffer if you do give them opportunities. Our current lack of a confident attacking focal point obviously exacerbates it.