The return of David Moyes: How Everton have been revived by a familiar face back at the helm

It was a call David Moyes had long hoped would come, but not one he was expecting.

The Scot had been close to returning to Everton, the club where he spent 11 years as manager between 2002 and 2013, on three separate previous occasions but it had started to look like opportunity would not knock a fourth time.

Moyes, by his own admission, had not expected Sean Dyche — the manager he would eventually succeed at Goodison Park — to leave so soon. Even the club’s new owners, The Friedkin Group (TFG), had originally planned to keep Dyche until the end of this season, when his contract was due to expire.

Yet the picture changed dramatically in the days that followed a 1-0 defeat at high-flying Bournemouth in early January. Dyche did not resign, but he intimated to TFG and director of football Kevin Thelwell that he felt he had taken the team as far as he could.

The past couple of years at Everton had been turbulent in the extreme — they had overcome successive relegation battles, points deductions and intense speculation over the club’s financial plight — and taken their toll on everyone, including January 2023 appointment Dyche.

The sense he gave was that his methods were no longer having the desired effect. From that point on, an imminent departure became inevitable. TFG’s hand was forced and Moyes quickly became the club’s prime candidate to take over.

Dyche’s exit was formally agreed on Thursday, January 9 after days of protracted talks over his compensation package, and Moyes, who had been without a club since leaving West Ham at the end of last season, formally interviewed for the job on the Friday. The next day, he officially rejoined Everton on a two-and-a-half-year deal.

Moyes walked into a club at a miserably low ebb. Everton were down-at-heel and in urgent need of renewal.

In some areas, there had long been a desire for change.

The belief at Everton was that the team were underperforming; that a group of players who won 48 points before those points deductions last season should have been closer to mid-table rather than relegation in this one. Many viewed the 2024-25 squad as slightly stronger than the 2023-24 version, too.

But Moyes inherited a side seemingly embroiled in a fourth straight fight to avoid relegation, and he suggested early on that his sole focus was on keeping Everton in the Premier League and that results would take precedence over style.

Just over a month on however, lingering fears of a first relegation since the 1950s in Goodison’s final season have all but dissipated, even if Moyes has so far refused to admit as much.

Everton have taken 13 points from their six games under him. Only Arsenal have matched their tally in that time, and Opta now puts Everton’s chances of relegation this season at just 0.12 per cent.

Moyes has galvanised the club, lifting the mood both at their Finch Farm training base and in the stands on matchdays. He and his staff have looked to instil a more positive atmosphere during training sessions, while the reappointment of a largely popular, familiar face in the dugout has brought Goodison to life in its last season.

The latter may be just as significant as the former, as there had been a worry that dreary, tired performances under Dyche would negatively impact the club’s farewell at the old place.

Moyes celebrates victory over Tottenham at Goodison Park last month (Matt McNulty/Getty Images)

Moyes and his staff knew many of the people at the club from their first stint, and have forged positive relationships with others already. They have made an impression on players young and old with their detailed individual feedback and desire to get to know everyone in the squad. The clouds that hung over Finch Farm towards the end of Dyche’s tenure have started to lift.

There is a sense internally that Moyes is not too drastic a stylistic departure from his predecessor. Both place emphasis on defensive structure and solidity. But the general view is that he has already evolved the team and added elements to improve it.

Those changes did not happen overnight.

In Moyes’ first game, a narrow 1-0 defeat at home to Aston Villa, he largely chose to maintain Dyche’s setup and personnel with only minor tweaks to the approach. The more significant shifts came later, when he and his coaches were afforded more time on the training ground with the squad.

Moyes has routinely praised the foundations left by Dyche, particularly on the defensive end of things, but has encouraged the players to get on the ball more and have more freedom in possession. He wants them to have more control, greater variety in their attack and build up from the back more.

The biggest tactical tweak has involved the introduction of Jake O’Brien, the £17million ($21.4m) summer signing from Lyon, into the starting line-up as a hybrid right-back who shifts inside as a third central defender when Everton are building attacks.

The feeling at Everton was that the Irishman was under-utilised by Dyche and had the quality on the ball to help. Moyes’ early use of O’Brien will no doubt please the club’s recruitment team after they committed significant funds to sign the 6ft 5in (197cm) 23-year-old over the summer.

O’Brien has enjoyed greater involvement under Moyes (Carl Recine/Getty Images)

There have inevitably been some teething problems — both of Bournemouth’s goals in the recent 2-0 FA Cup defeat came from errors close to Everton’s goal — but, on the whole, it has given them more of a foothold in matches.

“We’ve always had the quality, but it’s about being more consistent,” O’Brien said after the 1-0 win at Brighton & Hove Albion last month. “There’s a lot more confidence now. Togetherness as well, knowing we’re not going to be a team that just sits back; we’re a team that is going to get after games and try to win.

“You’ve seen in the last few games, we’re starting to try and play a bit of football and get into teams.”

Attackers have been granted more “freedom”, according to winger Jesper Lindstrom, while star forward Iliman Ndiaye also spoke of “being closer to the goal and to each other”. A consistent complaint from the time under Dyche was how isolated the team’s lone striker became in his system and how much defensive responsibility those immediately behind the front man had.

Ndiaye, now out injured after sustaining knee ligament damage against Liverpool last week, had also been told to carry the ball more by his new manager.

Everton had scored just 16 times in 19 matches this season under Dyche but have managed 12 goals in six league games since Moyes returned. They may be having fewer shots (10 per game versus an average of 11.4 with Dyche) but they are taking them from better areas, and putting far more of them on target (44 per cent to 29).

It is still early days in his second stint, and these are small sample sizes, but their xG (expected goals) per shot figure has risen from a lowly 0.09 under Dyche to 0.13, too.

“We had that defensive resilience, the structure, and I think he’s (Moyes) maybe brought in the bit of attacking flair, attacking knowledge and structure,” defender Jarrad Branthwaite told Everton’s official website. “Everyone knows the positions to be in and we’re creating loads more chances. I think you can see that throughout the games that he’s been in charge.

“We’re working on different positions for the attackers and different runs to make to open the defence and I think you can see it’s working.”

The Goodison Park crowd has thrilled at Moyes’ reappointment (Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)

Another aim has been to instil more confidence in the group and create a more upbeat environment.

“The first thing he said was he had a lot of faith in me and that he would put his trust in me,” January signing Carlos Alcaraz said of Moyes. “Immediately that really calmed me, relaxed me. Gave me confidence as well. I am really happy here.”

Striker Beto is one of those to have thrived most so far under Moyes. He was granted his chance after Dominic Calvert-Lewin picked up a long-term hamstring injury in that January win against Brighton, and has since scored four goals in as many starts.

“All the new staff and my team-mates have given me the confidence to play my game,” he said after the 2-1 win against Crystal Palace on Saturday, in which he netted the opener. “I do special training with the coaching staff — holding the ball, finishing.

“He (Moyes) just said, ‘Play your game and play tidy and you’re going to help us a lot’. He’s really tactical as a manager. He’s passionate and he loves to speak to the players. He gave us confidence and said we have the quality to play.”

Players have responded well to more detailed individual feedback and thorough analysis sessions under the new coaching team.

It is common for Moyes and his staff — which includes assistants Billy McKinlay and Alan Irvine, first-team coach Leighton Baines and set-piece coach Charlie Adam — to stop sessions so they can discuss individual elements of what’s required with specific players. The same is also evident on matchdays during breaks in play.

Moyes has also changed the players’ usual day off from Wednesday to Tuesday, so as to have a longer, three-day lead in to weekend games. The manager’s pre-match press conferences have moved too, from Thursday afternoon to Fridays, another slight tweak in the weekly schedule.

“We’re training really well and the manager has changed some things,” midfielder Idrissa Gueye told the Everton channel recently. “We are watching more individual videos, and doing more tactical (work) to play shorter passes.”

Moyes instructs Beto on the touchline (James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Images)

The common view among those with knowledge of the setup is that the players are benefiting from this extra guidance.

McKinlay has been present at youth games. Irvine comes from a development background while Baines, a former Everton player who worked under Moyes during his first spell at the club, already had strong relationships with some in the squad. After a spell as the club’s under-18 manager, there was a sense Baines was ready to make the step up. He is seen as being tactically smart and is already leading sessions at times. Moyes was looking to add younger blood to his backroom team and consulted club staff on the 40-year-old’s appointment.

The decision to promote academy goalkeeping coach Dave Lucas to the first-team setup came following consultation with Everton’s England No 1 Jordan Pickford, while Adam, another former Premier League player, was hired as the club’s first dedicated set-piece coach. The role is now commonplace in the Premier League, but Dyche and his staff were keen to handle everything in-house.

Again, these are still early days for Moyes, and there is an acknowledgement there is much work to do if Everton are to start properly competing again. He met TFG representatives, including new executive-chair Marc Watts, after the draw with league leaders Liverpool last week to discuss plans to take the club forward. Yet his focus for now is still on securing Premier League football for next season.

There will inevitably be bumps in the road. But Moyes’ opening gambit in this second stint at Goodison has been overwhelmingly positive and better than perhaps anyone could have expected.

He has the demeanour of someone happy to be back, taking a relaxed, personable approach into meetings and press conferences and rekindling the connection between the team and the fanbase.

Plenty has happened in the 12 years Moyes was away. He returns as the oldest manager in the league at 61; older, wiser and, in some ways, having mellowed.

The ultimate aim will be to do what he did first time round at Goodison and in recent years at West Ham: use his considerable experience to turn a side towards the bottom of the Premier League into one competing regularly for European qualification.

For now, Everton are a club seemingly more comfortable in their own skin after his reappointment — and one who finally seem to be moving in the right direction again.

(Top photo: Richard Martin-Roberts – CameraSport via Getty Images)