David Moyes has finally seen enough. The Scot did not want to venture to Everton’s new stadium until Premier League safety was secured, but now hopes to visit the state-of-the-art facility next week.
Moyes feels the job is almost done. Barring a remarkable turnaround, Everton will be a Premier League side next season.
“Mathematically, we are not safe yet but I am hoping to visit the stadium this week, which would indicate we are pretty close,” Moyes said after the 1-1 draw with Arsenal, before adding a final word of caution. “I’ve got a bit to do and hope I’m not speaking too soon.”
In truth, Moyes’ new stadium visit could probably have come sooner. At the start of this week, Everton were 17 points clear of trouble and coasting. The Arsenal point took them to 35 — Ipswich Town’s defeat against Wolverhampton Wanderers a couple of hours later means the gap to the bottom three is now 15 points with seven games to play.
It has given Everton’s recent games, even Wednesday’s derby, an end-of-season feel with over a month of the campaign to go. Basked in spring sunlight on Saturday, Goodison had the carefree air of a place that knows Everton’s safety has been secured.
There were moments in the second half when Arsenal pushed for a winner and the mind wandered to what it would have felt like had Moyes’ side needed something from the game. Yet the lack of jeopardy for both teams meant that a form of slow torture was avoided. The result mattered little.
As he acknowledged this week, the challenge for Moyes and his players is to try to stop the season from fizzling out.
Everton’s schedule is challenging. After facing first and second in Liverpool and Arsenal, they have Nottingham Forest, Manchester City and Chelsea to come before the end of April.
Some of Moyes’ public caution over Everton’s position may come from a desire to keep his squad on track. But with so many players out of contract at the end of the season, there should be motivation enough for the 15 in question playing for their futures.
There are others in the squad for whom the season finale will carry some weight. James Tarkowski, Vitalii Mykolenko and James Garner are all set to go into the final 12 months of their deals. And of those with contracts that have longer to run, Nathan Patterson, Youssef Chermiti and Tim Iroegbunam will be hoping to prove they deserve to be part of Moyes’ rebuild.
Patterson, normally a right-back, stood in for Mykolenko at left-back (Andy Buchanan/AFP via Getty Images)
Patterson and Iroegbunam were handed starts on Saturday as the Everton manager shuffled his pack. With some key players back from injury, others, including Mykolenko, succumbing to fitness issues and Wednesday’s Merseyside derby having taken its toll physically on the squad, the Everton manager ran the rule over some fringe players.
“It gave me a chance to change it and try and have a look at Tim after the game in midweek, and the injury to Mykolenko meant Patterson got a chance as well,” Moyes said. “We were always thinking about making a couple of changes but some of them were a bit enforced.
“I’m having to find out about all the players and see what they can do. I am looking forward to seeing how we compete (in the final games).”
Patterson and Iroegbunam had contrasting afternoons. The former, lining up in an unfamiliar left-back position, dealt admirably with Ethan Nwaneri and Bukayo Saka. But Iroegbubam, perhaps rusty, looked swamped in midfield before being substituted after the hour.
Moyes should now use this run to learn more about others in his squad.
The time surely has come for Carlos Alcaraz to be given a run in his favoured position behind the striker.
The Argentinian’s loan contains a mandatory purchase clause should he make nine league starts (he is on four) and Moyes admitted in the embargoed section of his pre-match press conference that the terms of the deal were coming into his thinking.
He knows Alcaraz needs more games to prove himself, but went for the relentless industry of Abdoulaye Doucoure against Arsenal and felt his decision was vindicated.
“We will see, we will talk about contracts another day,” Moyes when asked about Alcaraz’s future. “We just thought we had an opportunity to change things about and the best ones at the top end (for the game) were Doucoure and Beto. Doucoure proved that was the right choice.
Will Alcaraz get a chance at No 10 in the run-in? (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
“We have had two games where we were not going to have all the possession. Doucoure did an amazing job in the work he did, especially at the start of the second half with him and Beto.”
Moyes is still trying to strike the right balance between remaining competitive in difficult games, securing more prize money to help with Everton’s profit and sustainability rules position and planning for the future. Given the schedule, he is not quite ready to remove all the shackles just yet.
But the best way to learn about Alcaraz is to expose him in these games about high-quality opposition. Ditto Patterson, 20-year-old striker Chermiti and loan forward Armando Broja. There is also a case for giving Jake O’Brien, a potential successor to Jarrad Branthwaite in the centre of defence, the opportunity to put together a run of games in his preferred position rather than at right-back, where he has performed impressively.
With Everton as good as safe, these are the main points of intrigue between now and the end of the season.
Moyes knows what Doucoure and other regulars can bring. Before the summer, he should take the chance to find out what Alcaraz and others are made of, too.
(Top photo: Moyes after the draw with Arsenal. Carl Recine/Getty Images)