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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Mal van Schaick
1 Posted
09/11/2025 at
09:07:41
We do have threats with Ndaiye and Grealish and, if they continue to perform well, the goals will come for the forwards. I also liked Rohl’s attitude when he came on as a sub.
Robert Tressell
2 Posted
09/11/2025 at
09:34:10
Another significant difference with the Spurs defeat is that Spurs have much better players than Fulham.
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
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
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.
Edward Rogers
8 Posted
09/11/2025 at
10:50:15
0-3 totally flattered Spurs, they were nothing special. (Miles better than Fulham mind you!)
Andrew Merrick
9 Posted
09/11/2025 at
11:26:46
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.
Peter Hodgson
10 Posted
09/11/2025 at
11:48:43
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.
Clive Rogers
11 Posted
09/11/2025 at
12:03:29
Dewsbury-Hall played a little further back, more box-to-box, and was much better for it. I was surprised Moyes stuck with Barry but he showed he has ability and desire and should have a run in the team now.
Sean Mitchell
12 Posted
09/11/2025 at
13:03:41
With more luck its 5-0.
COYB
Ryan Holroyd
13 Posted
09/11/2025 at
14:37:29
Just saying
Kunal Desai
14 Posted
09/11/2025 at
14:39:41
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.
Jerome Shields
15 Posted
09/11/2025 at
16:12:20
An interesting comparison. Good result and needed. Everton did play a lot better in this game.
Grant Rorrison
16 Posted
09/11/2025 at
18:53:49
Four points off a Champions League spot.
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.
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