Michael Ball

FORMER BLUES DEFENDER TACKLES THE TALKING POINTS

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Everton bowed out of the Cup on penalties to Sunderland on Saturday

Everton bowed out of the FA Cup on penalties to Sunderland on Saturday

I’S been a bad week for David Moyes ~ his worst since he came back - and the football club, both on and off the pitch. It started with ‘Tannoygate’ after the issues with the public address system, continued with the double sending off against Wolves and ended with being dumped out of the FA Cup.

I said in my last column that this was a big week for Everton Football Club and David Moyes.

It was an opportunity to keep the momentum alive after a decent start to the first half of the season had given us the chance to push for Europe and a run in a cup competition.

Unfortunately, we've failed. As fans, we expect to win our home games, whoever we're playing.

As I left Hill Dickinson Stadium on Saturday, I was angry and frustrated about what I'd witnessed.

We had nine players missing from the squad and any football team will struggle with those kind of numbers of absentees, but what got my hopes up was watching Wrexham's game against Nottingham Forest the night before.

There was an FA Cup ‘buzz’ around the whole tie. There’s no way that Wrexham have got better players than even those who are on the fringes of Everton's squad, but they should the right attitude with grit and determination.

They threw their bodies on the line and were helping each other out. They were also full of energy, even though they play a lot more games than Premier League teams, especially ourselves who are not in Europe and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup early.

So, there’s no excuse, no matter what lineup David Moyes puts out or the tactics he wants to do, there was no intensity from the players and there seemed to be little enthusiasm either.