Moyes calm amid Everton slump

David Moyes has refused to make excuses to explain Everton’s worrying dip in form ahead of their FA Cup fifth-round replay against Oldham.

David Moyes has refused to make excuses to explain Everton’s worrying dip in form ahead of their FA Cup fifth-round replay against Oldham.

The Scot dismissed suggestions that a lack of transfer activity in January or the uncertainty over his future has a part to play in the poor run of results for the Merseyside club.

Instead, the 49-year-old would rather look forward to Tuesday’s clash with the League One outfit and the possibility of improving on sixth place in the Premier League.

“I don’t want it to be seen as us making any excuses here over my contract or the transfer window,” he told The Daily Mirror.

“We have no excuses here; we try and take it as men if we can. Yeah, we have a moan at the referees, but we try and take what we get on the chin and move on and try to use it to make us better.

“You know it would be easy to make those excuses, that the transfer window has had an effect on our performances, it would be very easy to say it has got anything to do with my contract.

“But at the end of the day it’s not had an effect. Look at our record from January to January – I don’t know how many defeats we’ve had in the past year, but it’s not many and, you know something, I think there’ll be very few teams with a record similar to us, and very few teams who have done as well as us.”

The Everton boss claims that most sides are envious of Everton’s current position, with the club still having a lot to play for in the final third of the season.

“As soon as we get a negative result, people are trying to write off our season,” he continued.

“But I’d say, look at our situation – how many clubs don’t have anything to play for at this stage of the season?”