Moyes puzzled by soft-centred Toffees

DAVID MOYES goes into the derby battle with in-form Liverpool still searching for the answers to the increasingly erratic form threatening Everton’s Premier League existence.

Everton finished fourth in the Premiership last season ahead of Liverpool and were a fearsome rival to anyone in the division with their strength, organisation and spirit.

But Moyes now claims they look "soft" and it is that dramatic change which is sending them plunging headlong towards the danger zone.

Moyes, who hopes to have veteran defender David Weir back to face the European champions after being rested for yesterday's 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa, said: "I'm not sure what the answers are to our current form.

"We just don't seem to know what sort of team is going to turn up.

"Some days we look as if we are really hard to beat and playing well, and it will probably sound a daft thing to say but I feel in the last two games we have played well.

"But we have made dire mistakes which have made the results look worse than they are.

"We have missed chances and that makes it even worse. Not scoring and conceding too many is a recipe for disaster.

"I have felt we were the better team in both matches for a long time, but it is goals we can't find.

"People may think 'he's off his head' but they can think that because that is how I see it."

Everton go into tomorrow's 202nd derby battle on the back of three straight defeats two of them 4-0 maulings by Bolton and now Villa.

Moyes has overseen disastrous exits from the Champions League and UEFA Cup in a campaign which has been littered with horror results.

Now they come face to face with their confident neighbours, who have won eight successive league games without conceding a league goal.

"We have done well against the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United, hopefully we can take some of that level of performance into this derby," Moyes conceded.

"We need to get back what we did in those games, that's for sure.

"We are clearly not a side who can win 4-3 at the moment so we can't afford to concede so many."

The last two games, in which Everton have shipped eight goals, have left Moyes at a loss to find reasons.

He explained: "We have shown this season we can stop goals going in, we went on a decent run recently when we let in very few.

"We have responded, but we have a soft centre and conceded late goals at Villa and it looked a lot worse in the end.

"We have had some stinking decisions which have gone against us but I won't blame referees, they are not the reason we are losing games.

"We know this is a tough game, but we are at home and it's a derby and we must make that count in our favour."