MusaDavid Moyes praised Everton’s determination and commitment after his team secured consecutive victories over Newcastle United with a hard-fought 1-0 Premier League win at St James’ Park.
The Toffees travelled to Tyneside just four days after defeating the Magpies 3-1 in the Carabao Cup fourth round, and they once again came away with a positive result against the same opposition.
Monday night’s encounter was a much tighter affair, with both teams struggling to create clear-cut opportunities during a largely uneventful first half.
However, Everton found the breakthrough just four minutes after the restart when Tyrique George’s low effort slipped underneath Newcastle goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek.
Thierno Barry reacted quickest to the loose ball, getting ahead of the Newcastle defenders to turn it into the net from close range and register his fourth Premier League goal of the campaign.
The goal proved decisive as Everton held on to claim all three points, completing an impressive double over Newcastle within the space of five days.
Speaking after the final whistle, Moyes acknowledged how difficult it was to defeat the same opponent twice in such a short period, but he was delighted with the effort his players produced.
“They are so good in what they do as they give everything they’ve got,” the Everton manager said.
He also praised the character of his squad, recognising that his players had faced difficult moments but continued to demonstrate a strong desire to compete and collect victories.
“They’re a brilliant group of players and they’ve had it tough as well. They want to keep winning and they’ve found it difficult with the way things have gone, but they’re pulling it out and doing their best to be in all the games.”
Moyes was particularly impressed by his team’s ability to follow up their Carabao Cup success with another victory against a Newcastle side playing at home.
“It’s never easy… we beat Newcastle on Thursday night and to beat them again today is not an easy thing to do for any club at this level.”
The Everton boss concluded by describing the result as an important achievement for his team.
“To come here and get a good win tonight was a great result for us.”
Everton End Premier League Winless Run With First Away Victory
The victory was significant for Everton beyond simply completing a double over Newcastle.
It ended their three-match winless run in the Premier League and lifted them to seventh place in the standings, giving the Toffees another boost as they look to maintain their progress under Moyes.
It was also their first away victory in the league this season, something the manager had been eager to achieve after seeing his team collect draws in several difficult away fixtures.
Moyes admitted that Everton had performed reasonably well on the road in previous matches but had struggled to turn those performances into maximum points.
“We’ve actually done quite well in some of the games getting draws in difficult away games, but we’ve not picked up a victory and last season we had a great run of results away from home,” he explained.
The Scottish manager had hoped his players could rediscover that impressive away form, and he was delighted that they finally delivered the result he had been waiting for.
“So I was hoping to pick it up tonight and thankfully we did, clean sheet and got the goal that counted.”
Keeping a clean sheet was another positive for Everton, who showed the defensive discipline required to protect their narrow advantage during the closing stages.
Jaissle Admits Newcastle Must Improve After Disappointing Defeat
Meanwhile, Newcastle manager Matthias Jaissle accepted that his team had fallen below expectations and insisted that significant improvements were needed.
The Magpies struggled to trouble Everton throughout the contest, with their attacking play lacking the creativity and effectiveness required to break down the visitors.
Their evening became even more frustrating late on when Jacob Ramsey received two yellow cards in quick succession and was sent off, leaving Newcastle to finish the match with ten men.
The defeat left the Tyneside club 13th in the Premier League table and increased the pressure on Jaissle following another disappointing result.
Asked how Newcastle could address their problems, the German manager admitted that a detailed assessment of the performance was necessary.
“We need to analyse that now in detail,” he said.
Jaissle also accepted that responsibility ultimately rested with him as the team’s manager and promised that Newcastle needed to find a way to perform at a higher level.
“It’s also clear that I have the responsibility and I also take that as the manager of this club, and we need to do things better.”
The Newcastle boss was unhappy with several aspects of his team’s display, particularly their performance in possession and their inability to carry out the tactical instructions given before kick-off.
“There were many things there, not only in possession, which was not on the level we expected to see.”
He also explained that Newcastle had intended to press Everton aggressively, stretch their defensive structure and remain compact whenever their opponents managed to bypass the initial pressure.
However, he felt those plans were rarely visible during the match.
“Also out of possession, we wanted to press them high, we wanted to stretch them as soon as possible and make also a clear distinction if that was overplayed from their position that we defend in a compact block, but nothing between.”
Jaissle admitted that Newcastle failed to deliver the performance he had expected, concluding: “Again, it was not much seen today on the pitch.”
While Newcastle were left searching for answers after another setback, Everton had every reason to celebrate. Moyes’ side secured a valuable away victory, ended their league winless run and moved into seventh place after an impressive five-day period against the Magpies.
Musa
