Everton coach defends under-fire boss Moyes
Moyes suffered abuse on radio phone-ins after the Merseyside derby defeat by Liverpool which saw Everton finish with nine men after Phil Neville and Mikel Arteta were sent off.
With those two suspended and serious injury doubts over Simon Davies, Per Kroldrup and Nuno Valente, Moyes is facing up to a crisis which has now started to include fans’ disquiet over his own position.
In one phone-in, former Everton star Derek Mountfield even suggested Moyes should consider his position after the 3-1 mauling by Liverpool.
But Irvine said: “I find it surprising that David’s ability is being doubted. And that’s not just because I am working with him.
“You cannot be manager of the year twice in three years and not know what you are doing.
“I think David has shown he is a tremendous manager and I know he is not under any pressure from the board.”
He added: “It is up to us to lift the players, that has been hard at times, but we are finding that the treatment room is not so full. Sometimes when a team is doing badly there seems to be a lot of injuries.
“But we have people coming back, people trying hard to get fit.
“People are entitled to their opinions, but David has achieved a great amount at this club, in recent times. And he does not just become a bad manager.”
Moyes has once again expressed the belief that his players can fight their way out of a nightmare run that has seen them lose four on the trot and concede 13 goals.
Both Moyes and Irvine believe their players have performed well and suffered a succession of poor refereeing decisions.
Moyes said: “We have got to stop conceding goals. We went into the game against Liverpool determined to make it harder for them to score against us but they got two early on and the plan went out of the window.
“But the players never let their heads drop and I have told them it’s a start. Effort is the least we can give people.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
