Russian takes parting shot at Everton

New Spartak Moscow midfielder Diniyar Bilyaletdinov said Everton have failed to play attractive football and create enough chances.

The Russian has returned to his native country after two-and-a-half-years in Liverpool without holding down a place in the first team and scoring just nine goals at Goodison Park.

The midfielder is believed to have cost Spartak somewhere in the region of four million pounds, a fee that sees Everton lose about 5m pounds, but the former Lokomotiv Moscow man is pleased to be moving to a club that plays expansive, open football.

“Naturally, it (the open football) attracts me. This is exactly what Everton have been missing lately,” he said.

“The team has problems with creating scoring chances, and converting them.”

“There was a whole set of circumstances against me. It is not so easy to be a foreign player in England.”

“But on the whole I am satisfied with the English stage of my career. I got invaluable experience from playing in the Premier League.”

“And off the pitch, there were positives: during this time I learnt the language, got married, met many interesting people.”

Bilyaletdinov’s father was also critical of Moyes’ tactics, claiming the Scot is the reason for his more creative players stagnating over the past few years, an effect of his apparently over negative decisions.

Bilyaletdinov senior said: “If he (Moyes) had got more out of his defensive players, then his creative players wouldn’t have dropped off so much in recent years.”

The new Spartak signing is in line to make his competitive debut for the club when the Russian season starts on March 4 as Rubin Kazan visit the Luzhniki.