How have Everton changed under Moyes?

It’s a new era at Everton Football Club, both figuratively and literally.

After 133 years at Goodison Park, Everton are now plying their trade at Hill Dickinson Stadium. And after several years of narrowly staving off relegation, they’re now vying to finish in the top half and potentially even challenge for European football.

The Toffees avoided relegation by just four points in 2021-22, whilst the 2022-23 season would see them finish two points above the drop under Sean Dyche, who replaced Frank Lampard midway through the campaign.

Everton would then place 15th in 2023-24, 14 points away from the drop, but they found themselves in yet another relegation dogfight in 2024-25.

It’s why they decided to part ways with Dyche and bring in David Moyes, who had presided over Everton from 2002 to 2013 before moving to Manchester United. In January 2025, with Moyes at the helm, Everton were able to find their identity and click on all cylinders during the home stretch, placing 13th in the table.

“They’re a combative Premier League side, and I think David Moyes went back to basics,” stated ex-Premier League striker Gordon Watson.

"You won’t see Everton often passing around the back and inviting pressure – they’ll often get it up to Beto and get their competitive athletes in midfield to win second balls. I don’t think they’ll score many goals, but I think they’ll finish around 12th to 14th. No one liked going to Goodison Park, so now they’ve got to make their new place a fortress. If they can do that, they’ll be very tough to beat."

Whereas Dyche emphasised resilient defending and counter-attacking, resulting in fewer goals but greater stability at the back, Moyes has constantly focused on attacking play, possession, and creativity, leading to more goals and quality chances.

Moyes's teams are more offensively adventurous and aim to control matches, whereas Dyche had focused on hitting on the break. This style has been reflected in his signings with Everton, prioritising courageous, technically gifted profiles like Tyler Dibling, Jack Grealish, and Carlos Alcaraz.

There is a greater focus on possession and creating a greater volume of high-quality chances, with far more emphasis on attacking flair and dynamic play in the final third. It’s no surprise that Everton have been able to increase their goal threat substantially under Moyes, whose style has allowed for a higher degree of risk for greater offensive reward, while Dyche minimised risk to achieve stability.

It’s no longer about getting stuck in, battling hard to win challenges, and making the defence difficult to break down. It’s no longer about being rigid tactically and going long; it’s about creating a high quantity of golden opportunities.

“They’re two very different coaches for sure,” stated ex-Everton goalkeeper Joao Virginia.

“Sean Dyche did very well when he was here at Everton and kept us up in the league for 2 years. His style of football is very direct, a lot of running and fighting which is good to see, and I think Everton supporters like that. Every Everton player needs to have that fighting spirit and go out with that fire in his heart… it’s worked really well for 2 years and Everton, and now we have Mr David Moyes.”

“He’s such a legend at the club, he came in and managed the players really well, he came in with a bit more detail about his tactics and the way he wants to approach the game. He wants to have a bit more possession and a few more passing lines… it’s less direct than what we were used to, but it’s been such a great spell under him.”

Everton have enjoyed an impressive start to the 2025-26 campaign under Moyes, bouncing back from their opening day defeat at Leeds by beating Brighton 2-0 before beating Mansfield Town 2-0 in the EFL Cup. And on 30 August, they managed to prevail with a 3-2 victory at Wolves, climbing to 5th in the Premier League table.

Can Everton continue their winning streak on 13 September at home to Aston Villa?

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