Everton: 'Aggression, energy, desire' - how David Moyes is motivating Toffees, again
2025-01-20
Category: sports

Some of the hallmarks of the best Everton teams I played in under David Moyes were aggression, energy, intensity and desire.He would get us so fired up that we believed we could beat anyone, and I could see elements of all of that when I watched Everton beat Tottenham on Sunday.It was a huge result for Moyes, the players and the fans - everyone at the club - for him to get his first win in his second game back, but the way they got it was even more important, especially for the manager.The way they started the game was pretty much everything you could ask for from this Everton team. They were on the front foot and took the game to Tottenham, scored two goals from open play when they have been so hard to come by, and could have had even more if things had fallen their way.Yes, it was a typically nervy finish when Spurs got a couple of late goals back, but the first half was probably the most exciting we have seen at Goodison Park all season, and you could absolutely see this team can do what Moyes asks of them.
Of course this is just the start, and he still has a huge task on his hands to steer them away from relegation trouble, but he is up and running now - and he knows he has something to work with - especially up front.Goals, and an attacking threat, are the things that Everton have been lacking the most this season and that was one of the biggest differences we saw against Spurs.They created chances, and took them too, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin worked his socks off for the entire game.In my time playing for him, Moyes always liked a centre-forward with a presence -well, in fact he always wanted a striker who could do everything - compete physically, run the channels, hold the ball up and also get on the end of crosses and fly in behind defences with pace.I look at Calvert-Lewin and he has got all of those attributes. He is on a run where he is staying fit at the moment, and you can see how much he can help the team when he is injury-free.Maybe ending his wait for a goal and scoring for his new manager will bring him some of the confidence he needs.
'Dig in and work hard, without expecting plaudits'
I played more than 200 Premier League games under Moyes. The way he asks you to play can be an enjoyable style, but it is also a very demanding one.Against Spurs, I thought some Everton players had harder roles than others.Jesper Lindstrom, in particular, was almost asked to do two jobs on the right - a winger when they had possession, a right-back without it - but that freed up Iliman Ndiaye to stay higher up the pitch on the left, which certainly benefited Everton in the final third.If you are going to play regularly for Moyes, that's exactly what you have to do. Like Lindstrom, I found out pretty quickly that some days you will just have to dig in and work hard in games and you won't get any of the individual plaudits.That's the way it should be, though. Under Moyes we were at our best when everyone bought into his approach and believed in the end product that the team was striving for.He was brilliant at getting us up for a game, whoever the opposition were. He'd get the tactical information across, wind us up and send us out - we'd be in the tunnel yelling 'let's go'.Part of that confidence comes through hard work on the training ground and the time you spend together as a squad, building together.Moyes has only just taken charge, so that process is only just beginning, but there is another area where he has a head start, which is understanding Goodison Park.He has managed more Premier League games there than any other Everton manager so he understands what the crowd are like, what they expect and what they respond to, and also in which moments they can help the team the best.If you come out of the traps fast, aggressively press the opposition and force them into making mistakes then the crowd react to that. That's exactly what happened against Spurs, and it brought more out of the players.Everton won the tactical battle early on, but they also over-ran Tottenham. It was only when they tired towards the end that Spurs were able to find any momentum.
Experience is as important as emotion
It is not just the crowd's excitement that lifts players. When I played under Moyes he had a special energy and determination about him, which rubbed off on us too.He's a bit older now than when he first took charge in 2002 but his enthusiasm is clearly still there and is going to help the current players too.His experience will also be key. As well as being older, he is also wiser in terms of knowing when to let his emotions affect the team.Moyes always wore his heart on his sleeve when he was our manager and while there were many times when it worked positively for us, there were others when we probably would have been better off staying calm.I look at Moyes' know-how as being a huge positive and of course he already has this connection with Everton too. He described getting the job again as being like coming home, which of course the fans appreciated.Of course there were a few Evertonians who didn't necessarily buy into his return as being a good thing, but right now they might be thinking they were wrong.The kind of first-half performance we saw against Spurs was what saw Everton take to Moyes in the first place but, knowing him, he will not be getting carried away.I wasn't in the dressing room this time so I couldn't tell you what he said after the game but I know exactly the kind of message he will try to get across.He always likes to keep his players hungry, even after a big win like this one, so although there will have been plenty of praise he will also have told people what they can do better - it is his way of getting you to strive for more.Leon Osman was speaking to BBC Sport's Chris Bevan.