Everton Having a Tough Time on American Tour
Published 7/31/2008 11:25:40 AM by staff from soccermogul
Everton are having a difficult time on their US tour as they face not only losses on the pitch, but also in the transfer market as well as front office. The club seems to be in crisis on both sides of the Atlantic after a disastrous week in which chief executive Keith Wyness quit and manager David Moyes had to read the riot act after another sorry pre-season performance. With the shock of Wyness' departure still evident at Goodison Park, hours later Everton lost 2-0 to Chicago Fire in the States and had teenager James Vaughan sent off for a terrible tackle.
That was the third defeat Everton have suffered in their worrying preseason preparation and the club have only one win in five matches. Moyes slammed Vaughan and his under-performing players before claiming that the club were making no progress in the transfer market. The Chicago defeat ended with striker Vaughan being dismissed for a shocking tackle on Daniel Woolard. Moyes pulled no punches, saying: 'It was a terrible tackle from James Vaughan.
'I have told him and I just will not have that. He has apologised but it is the player he made the tackle on he should be apologising to.'
Boss Moyes is touring the States with a paper-thin squad, and faces another game with Colorado Rapids on Sunday before returning to the UK with the new season by then just two weeks away. And Moyes underlined the lack of success in the transfer market - the club have still to sign a new player this summer.
He told evertonTV: 'We cannot hide the fact that we need new players at Everton. "Everybody knows it, I know it, the players know it - we have to get five or six players in before the season starts. It is okay getting fit, but you have got to be able to play better. At the moment there is not enough competition for the players to realise that if they play poorly they will not be selected.'
Injuries, plus players left at home to recover from long-term problems, have not helped Moyes on the Everton's US tour. He said: 'We are a long way away from where we think we are going to be but that is due to several different circumstances.
'We are having to use some of the lads more than we would like to but some of them are just not playing well. Some of them are going to have to start looking at their own performances because we do not have any competition just now. Maybe it is a little bit easy for them. We do not have enough players to cope with what we have got just now. It is a big concern.'
On the transfer front, Moyes alarmingly added: 'We are in a poor, poor situation regarding going forward.'
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