David Moyes wants a reaction against Manchester United

The curtains are ready to be drawn on Everton’s Premier League Summer Series campaign following the game against Manchester United scheduled on Sunday night. Ahead of that encounter, David Moyes is expecting a “reaction” out of his side following back-to-back defeats against Premier League opponents on US soil.

The Toffees began the Summer Series with a 3-0 defeat to Andoni Iraola’s Bournemouth, conceding three goals in the space of 15 minutes in the second half. Against West Ham United, they took the lead through Idrissa Gana Gueye but slipped up just four minutes ahead of the break before Niclas Fullkrug secured a 2-1 win for the Hammers in the second 45.

Everton have won only one of their five pre-season contests so far, beating Port Vale 2-1 at their new home at Bramley-Moore Dock. While there’s not a lot to read into the results at this stage of the season, the performances are worrying. 

They struggled against lower league sides Accrington Stanley and Blackburn Rovers and needed a wonderful free-kick goal from James Garner to beat Port Vale. The Blues have scored just four goals during the pre-season so far, with only two coming from open play.

Up next is Manchester United. Ruben Amorim’s side have won both their matches in the Summer Series, beating West Ham 2-1 before brushing past Bournemouth 4-1.

“We’re hoping for a reaction against Manchester United. We’re looking to play a bit better than we’ve done,” Moyes told Liverpool Echo’s Chris Beesley ahead of his side’s final assignment in the United States. 

In the last meeting between the two sides in the Premier League, Moyes’ side led 2-0 going into the break before squandering the lead and accepting a 2-2 draw.

“We had a good couple of games against United last year and I certainly had one game against them which was a really good game. We played well and probably should have done it at the end.

“We’re in a different stage at the moment. We’re preparing, so it’s not quite the same.

“We’ve come here with a really small squad. We can change one or two players around, but we don’t have huge numbers and that makes it quite difficult for us to make too many changes.

“We have to accept that we have to start building and almost start again from the beginning. I think the excitement of how we finished last year, you’ve got to remember we finished above United, we finished above West Ham, we finished above Tottenham.

“We’ve not forgotten that and we’ve not lost the thought of that, but we knew it was a difficult summer with the amount of players who were coming to the end of their contract or people leaving.

“It’s just taken us a little bit more time than I’d have thought and I thought we’d have been a little bit further down the line than we are, but we all know we’ve got a new stadium to go into and we’re excited for that. We’re looking forward to it, but we also want to give the supporters something to shout about.

“We want to go to the new stadium knowing that we’re going to have a side that is going to be competitive.”

The upcoming season is going to be one for the history books as Everton are set to play at the Hill Dickinson Stadium for the first time in their history. The club’s men’s team had spent the last 133 years playing at the iconic Goodison Park.

Optimism and hope are natural for fans given the excitement around the new stadium. Evertonians are also looking forward to a new dawn after several struggles in recent seasons.

“We see ourselves coming out of a bad situation at the club. I think all Evertonians are looking to the future now, they don’t want to look back in the past,” Moyes continued.

“We want to believe there’s something better ahead of us and I think it will be better ahead of us. I think there’s going to be teething, whether it’s the stadium, new owners or all sorts of things.

“But I’m really positive about the opportunity that we have to move. It’s something that all the Evertonians in Liverpool have been waiting upon for a long time.

“We’ll pack it out every week, which we do. My job now is to give them a team now to enjoy coming to watch as well.”

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