Moyes masters defensive art (0)
- 25 Jan 09, 07:03 PM
Everton's resurgence in reduced circumstances has gone almost unnoticed amid the switches of fortune in the title race and the managerial spats across Stanley Park - but two displays at Liverpool sum up the renaissance fashioned by manager David Moyes.
Moyes took Everton to Anfield for a Premier League game on Monday stripped of virtually all of his attacking resources and without suspended £15m midfield man Marouane Fellaini.
Everton earned a draw at Anfield courtesy of Tim Cahill's late header, and returned for Sunday's FA Cup fourth round tie still without Fellaini but further depleted by the loss of influential midfield orchestrator Mikel Arteta.
No-one would suggest Everton did anything other than mount a rearguard action to earn a replay at Goodison Park, but equally no-one should diminish the standard of their defensive excellence.
For a team with no strikers, Everton have found a way of - for now at least - avoiding defeat.
