“We only have ourselves to blame.”
A visibly frustrated David Moyes did not offer all that much in a press conference which lasted just two-and-a-half minutes after Everton’s 2-1 defeat by Bournemouth on Tuesday.
But pressed on a range of subjects, from the reasons for their increasingly abject home record to their bizarre eight-minute implosion against Andoni Iraola’s side, there was at least an acknowledgement that this latest setback at Hill Dickinson Stadium had been entirely avoidable.
Only ourselves to blame. It may well be worth coming back to those words if Everton cannot capitalise on their strong away form and the opportunity of Europe goes begging this season. If that does indeed happen, as appears likely right now, then nights like this one will have cost them dearly.
Everything about the manner of Tuesday’s defeat will irk Moyes. The profligacy, for sure, with Everton contriving to surrender a 1-0 lead in the space of eight remarkable second-half minutes in which defender Jake O’Brien was also sent off. But the fragility, too, given how quickly things unravelled from a position of relative strength and dominance. They had the opportunities to put the game to bed but could not take them.
Moyes is a proud type and he surely would not have expected his Everton side to lose to this Bournemouth team in quite this way. They were undone by crosses into the box twice against a team hardly renowned for their aerial prowess.
Even Iraola could hardly believe it. “We haven’t scored a lot of headers,” he noted in his post-match press conference. “Probably today more than the rest of the season.”
Bournemouth, he revealed, had worked hard in training to find ways of negating Everton’s own threat from set pieces. At that stage, they could scarcely have imagined the joy they would get at the other end.
Sometimes football throws up surprising statistics. Here is one for Everton. Only West Ham United (11) have conceded more goals from crosses (10) so far this season.
It is a curiously poor record for a squad that includes the height of James Tarkowski, O’Brien and Michael Keane. The 6ft 4in (193cm) Jarrad Branthwaite missed the opening half of the campaign but also featured on Tuesday.
Moyes’ assistant manager Billy McKinlay and first-team coach Leighton Baines are usually tasked with poring over footage from the most recent game before sitting down with the Scot to discuss their findings. For Rayan’s equaliser, they will no doubt note the lack of pressure applied by winger Iliman Ndiaye on the crosser Adrien Truffert and the ease with which the Brazilian jumped above full-back Vitalii Mykolenko from the subsequent ball into the box. Mykolenko may not have been the favourite for the ball, but he barely left the ground and made no obvious attempt to stop Rayan making clean contact.
Rayan heads in Bournemouth’s equaliser (Carl Recine/Getty Images)
For Amine Adli’s winner, both Tarkowski and young midfielder Harrison Armstrong lost their men in the box. Replays showed Bournemouth striker Enes Unal appearing to make an attempt for the ball from an offside poition, but a VAR check deemed he had not been impacting play.
Everton had seen O’Brien’s header chalked off against Aston Villa for a similar incident, but Moyes chose not to criticise the decision, instead focusing on the sloppy manner of the goals conceded.
Moyes was asked afterwards if this latest home defeat made it feel like Groundhog Day. “It was a bit like that, yeah,” he replied bluntly. Certainly, Everton’s limitations were again laid bare in this latest home defeat.
Rayan gave Mykolenko a torrid time, beating him with trickery, pace and brute force. Pushed high, Moyes’ back line was susceptible against speed, with O’Brien’s foul on Adli as last man leading to his dismissal.
In Alex Jimenez and Truffert, Bournemouth had mobile, modern full-backs, while O’Brien and Mykolenko struggled both in defence and attack. Truffert, ironically, was passed over on shortlists after Moyes’ January 2025 arrival.
If there is one blessing from O’Brien’s ensuing suspension, it is that Everton may now be forced into playing a round peg in a round hole at right-back.
Rayan’s success did something else — it highlighted Everton’s own lack of dynamism in wide areas. On the left, loanee Tyrique George delivered a mixed performance on his first start. Rather than being a silver bullet, he looks like a work in progress, albeit with obvious talent.
Later, with Everton pushing for an equaliser, £40million ($55m) winger Tyler Dibling remained on the bench, with central midfielder Armstrong instead brought on in a makeshift role wide on the left. It was a decision that spoke volumes.
Everton have not been creative enough this season. But in striker Thierno Barry, they lacked someone with the ability to capitalise on chances and kill the game while they were on top. The Frenchman fluffed his lines in the first half, skewing wide on his left foot when well placed in front of goal, and also saw an almost apologetic effort blocked shortly before Bournemouth’s equaliser.
Footage later showed Barry with his head in his hands on the bench following his substitution, and again shortly after O’Brien’s dismissal.
In midfield, Everton have lacked balance since Idrissa Gueye’s return from Africa Cup of Nations duty last month. The Senegalese, 36, was often caught behind play, leaving partner James Garner with vast gaps to cover. There, too, the formula does not quite seem right.
There is a sorriness about match days at Hill Dickinson Stadium right now. That was typified by the seas of empty seats before full time as fans rushed to beat the evening traffic, and the chorus of boos at the final whistle. Concerningly, supporters are starting to come in trepidation rather than expectation.
Prompted afterwards to explain the slump in home form, Moyes remained non-committal.
Turning the tide at the waterfront arena will not be easy, especially with answers seemingly thin on the ground and Everton so prone to self-sabotage there.