Moyes bemused as senior men go missing

SPARE a thought for the players on Merseyside this past week.

Liverpool boss Kenny Dalglish read the riot act to his players after their loss to Bolton, and Everton boss David Moyes also clearly believes his players are just not performing.

The Toffees went ahead against Blackburn on Saturday after 24 minutes, albeit in controversial fashion as Marouane Fellaini appeared to handle the ball in setting up Cahill for a tap-in. Cahill ended a run of 13 months without a goal.

Rovers pushed hard and deservedly made it 1-1 through David Goodwillie’s bundled effort.

The visitors deserved to be level but they rode their luck in the closing stages, with Shane Duffy heading against the bar and Rovers somehow surviving a stoppage-time goalmouth scramble.

Moyes was downbeat and felt his senior players had failed to rise to the occasion as the Toffees made it four league games without a win.

He said: “I think we needed our better players to make things happen for us. Young Shane Duffy had a terrific game, he was arguably our best player and he’s a young boy. We just needed a little bit more in every department.”

Meanwhile, Blackburn boss Steve Kean expects captain Christopher Samba to return for their next Premier League game against Newcastle on February 1.

The defender was left out of the squad at Goodison Park after Kean deemed he was not in the right frame of mind.

Samba submitted a transfer request after Rovers turned down two bids from QPR but the club have insisted he will not be sold in January.

Explaining his decision, Kean said: “It was a tough week. We’ve had a couple of bids for Chris from one club. We put out a strong statement, he handed in a transfer request so all those things put together, I thought it was best he wasn’t involved.

“He’ll be back in next week and we can move on, get him back in for the next game and get him back playing.”

Bolton’s shock win over Liverpool meant a point was not enough to keep Blackburn out of the bottom three, and fans’ protests against the club’s owners Venky’s will resume on the final day of the transfer window.

Supporters are unhappy that promised funds have not been invested in the playing squad, with striker Anthony Modeste, a loan signing from Bordeaux, the only recruit so far this month.

The 23-year-old made an appearance at Goodison Park as a late substitute, and Kean is confident he will prove to be a valuable addition.

The Rovers boss said: “Now we’ve got all different types of strikers.”