EVERTON

V CRYSTAL PALACE

SUNDAY 5 OCTOBER 2025 | 2:00PM

MEMBERS' DIGITAL PROGRAMME

SUNDAY 5 OCTOBER 2025 | 2:00PM

MEMBERS' DIGITAL PROGRAMME

MANAGER'S NOTES

DAVID MOYES

Good afternoon and welcome back to Hill Dickinson Stadium.

It’s only six days since we were all last here, for a home match we felt we could have taken all three points from.

On the night against West Ham, one point was all we could get, but there were lots of positives we could take from the game – as well as lots of things we need to try to build on.

For long periods of the match, we looked comfortable but we also knew we were up against a side containing players of real quality who could cause us problems at any given moment. In the event, that is what happened.

Once again on Monday we found it difficult to accept a decision to show a yellow card to one of our players, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall. We didn’t see any reason why a card should have been shown for that incident, which was exactly how we felt after the game at Anfield. Unfortunately those decisions by the referees will see Kiernan sit out today’s game through suspension.

It’s disappointing for us all and especially tough for Kiernan to accept.

Monday night’s game was also made more difficult for us because West Ham changed their manager on Saturday, with Nuno Espirito Santo coming in and offering a different style of play.

That made our preparations that little bit more challenging.

The change was unexpected because Graham Potter had fulfilled all of his media duties the day before, only to then be told he’d lost his job.

Managers fully understand the consequences of not winning regularly. We all come into the job knowing we could lose our job at any time and we fully appreciate the expectations that are put on anyone who chooses to become a football manager or coach.

But I don’t think that means you should treat football managers differently to the way you would treat managers in other industries.

In football, we frequently see managers losing their jobs, with other people keen to encourage that decision and to talk about it with little or no thought for the effects on the manager himself, and the impact on his family or the people connected to him.

I strongly believe this whole process can be conducted with far more dignity. In life we often have to receive bad news at different times, but bad news should be delivered in the best way possible.

I’ve been in the game long enough to have experienced these situations myself. I am now the oldest manager in the Premier League, a fact which doesn’t exactly thrill me(!), so I know how these situations can affect managers and their families. I hope in the future, managers can be treated with a little more respect, by clubs and the media.

Today we welcome Crystal Palace and a manager who is currently doing very well. Oliver Glasner’s side are FA Cup winners and have started the season in really good fashion. They will have been disappointed to drop from the Europa League to the Conference League but from my experience that is still a great tournament to be in. I hope here at Everton, we can also get closer to trying to qualify for these competitions in the future.

Today is another hugely important home game for us. We’ve drawn our past two and we want to try to get another three points on the board.

Our league position at this stage of the campaign has improved on recent seasons but we know it could be even better.

In football, we generally don’t start looking at the table properly until 10 games in, but we are getting closer to that stage and we know we could be even higher than we are. No doubt every other team would say the same but we want to try to challenge at the top end of the league. The players are aware of this aim and we go into today’s game with the intention of trying to win it.

Finally, I’d like to congratulate two players on reaching significant milestones recently. Idrissa Gana Gueye made his 200th Premier League appearance for Everton against West Ham on Monday, and today, Jordan Pickford reaches the 300 Premier League-game mark. They are two hugely experienced and valuable players and two leaders. They are two players who have certainly helped me since I returned to the Club and I hope they are celebrating at the end of the match today.

Enjoy the game.

David

PRESS CONFERENCE

CAPTAIN'S NOTES

SEAMUS COLEMAN

Good afternoon and welcome back to Hill Dickinson Stadium.

This is our second home fixture in six days and we want to make our new home something of a fortress. We’ve certainly brought the atmosphere here from Goodison Park – the pre-match before the West Ham game was incredible. The result wasn’t what we wanted but I had stressed in my notes for that game that I was expecting a tough night against West Ham.

There are no easy games in the Premier League. In all honesty, I doubt any football fan would have predicted that Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Sunderland would occupy three of the top six places at the end of September. Or that Manchester United, Newcastle United and Aston Villa would all be in the bottom seven.

This is shaping up to be the most competitive of Premier League seasons and it’s over the next couple of months when the table really starts to take shape and, sometimes, to spread out a bit.

The challenge for us at the moment is to make sure we are nearer the top places than the lower ones. And the signs are promising. We’ve got a very good squad of players and we’ve already picked up some good results.

We know we’ll need to be really at it to get something today. Crystal Palace have made an excellent start to the season and they have shown they are more than capable of sustaining their current form to stay in and around the European qualification places. To lose, arguably, your best player but still keep moving forward shows Palace are doing something very right.

This game will be a good marker for us and we’re all looking forward to it.

The West Ham game was made a bit trickier for us when they changed their manager two days before. There is always a reaction when that happens. Players want to make an instant impression on the new guy and anyone watching on Monday night would doubtless wonder why West Ham started the game second from bottom.

They came here and had a right good go. I felt we controlled large parts of the game but after taking the lead, we just couldn’t push on and finish them off. I was delighted for Michael Keane to get his first goal of the season. Keano has the great knack of being in the right place at precisely the right time when the ball is delivered into the penalty area and his goal was just reward for the terrific start he has made to the season.

Thanks as always for your magnificent support, home and away, and I hope we can give you another Sunday afternoon to enjoy.

 All the best.

Seamus

 

YOUR PASSION REWARDED

FOREVER BLUE COMPETITIONS

ENTER NOW
ENTER NOW

NDIAYE DISCUSSES NEW

ROLE AND RESPONSIBILITY

There is a particularly interesting contradiction when it comes to Iliman Ndiaye.

An extrovert on the pitch – famously influenced by his father’s dance techniques and freestyle footballers – yet unassuming off it.

A star without an ego. It’s at least partly a factor as to why Ndiaye has not only fitted in but become a key figure for Everton, a club that has long valued humility alongside technical excellence as the ultimate combination.

After arriving from Marseille in the summer of 2024, the Blues’ No.10 enjoyed an impressive first season in royal blue, scoring 11 goals in all competitions. This time around, there are new challenges – a new position, a new standard and now an expectancy to deliver.

“I don’t go into a game thinking about the responsibility, I go into a game thinking that I know who I am, I know what I can do and I go out there to enjoy it,” explains a typically laid-back Ndiaye, who has notched two goals and one assist in the opening six Premier League games of the new campaign. 

“I have to be aware of the responsibility and carry it, but the manager puts me on the pitch for a reason and I try my best to, at least, give everything and produce what people expect of me.

“I think my teammates know what I’m capable of and the fans expect things from me – and I enjoy it, because they feel I can do something that will help the team.

“As an attacking player, I need to produce goals and assists but it’s not on my mind to the point where I obsess over it. It’s more making sure I give 100 per cent because when I do that, everything else will follow. I’ve grown up being told to play that way, to work hard, give everything and the rest will come easily. It’s how I still approach it now.”

A busy summer transfer window saw a host of incomings and outgoings for Everton and, as a result, Ndiaye has been deployed primarily on the right flank so far this term, having spent the majority of his maiden campaign on Merseyside operating off the left side.

"I’m working on different situations I’ll find myself in on the right side and trying to get better and better. I’m working on my positioning, where and when I can attack space, where I can dribble and things like that."

It’s a role that has asked new questions – and he is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to finding the best answers.

“I’m still getting used to it and finding my best ways,” he reveals. “The way I’m playing on the left is different from the way I’m playing on the right, but it’s good. I’ve scored two goals playing on the right, coming in at the back post and being alive in there.

“I feel like I can still do more – score more goals, create goals – but I’m still learning the role. It’s new to me because, generally, in the past, I’ve tended to play more off the left or down the middle. I’ve played on the right a few times but not as much. I’ve played on the right for Senegal recently, too.

“I say it a lot – as a forward player, you want to be able to play in those different positions across the line. It’s not necessarily easy because you don’t have the same actions and spaces on one side compared to the other but it’s about getting used to all of that as quickly as possible.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work on it, in training and through analysis sessions with the backroom team.

“I’m working on different situations I’ll find myself in on the right side and trying to get better and better. I’m working on my positioning, where and when I can attack space, where I can dribble and things like that. Obviously, the more you work on it, the better you will be.”

There is a particularly interesting contradiction when it comes to Iliman Ndiaye.

An extrovert on the pitch – famously influenced by his father’s dance techniques and freestyle footballers – yet unassuming off it.

A star without an ego. It’s at least partly a factor as to why Ndiaye has not only fitted in but become a key figure for Everton, a club that has long valued humility alongside technical excellence as the ultimate combination.

After arriving from Marseille in the summer of 2024, the Blues’ No.10 enjoyed an impressive first season in royal blue, scoring 11 goals in all competitions. This time around, there are new challenges – a new position, a new standard and now an expectancy to deliver.

“I don’t go into a game thinking about the responsibility, I go into a game thinking that I know who I am, I know what I can do and I go out there to enjoy it,” explains a typically laid-back Ndiaye, who has notched two goals and one assist in the opening six Premier League games of the new campaign. 

“I have to be aware of the responsibility and carry it, but the manager puts me on the pitch for a reason and I try my best to, at least, give everything and produce what people expect of me.

“I think my teammates know what I’m capable of and the fans expect things from me – and I enjoy it, because they feel I can do something that will help the team.

“As an attacking player, I need to produce goals and assists but it’s not on my mind to the point where I obsess over it. It’s more making sure I give 100 per cent because when I do that, everything else will follow. I’ve grown up being told to play that way, to work hard, give everything and the rest will come easily. It’s how I still approach it now.”

A busy summer transfer window saw a host of incomings and outgoings for Everton and, as a result, Ndiaye has been deployed primarily on the right flank so far this term, having spent the majority of his maiden campaign on Merseyside operating off the left side.

"I’m working on different situations I’ll find myself in on the right side and trying to get better and better. I’m working on my positioning, where and when I can attack space, where I can dribble and things like that."

It’s a role that has asked new questions – and he is leaving no stone unturned when it comes to finding the best answers.

“I’m still getting used to it and finding my best ways,” he reveals. “The way I’m playing on the left is different from the way I’m playing on the right, but it’s good. I’ve scored two goals playing on the right, coming in at the back post and being alive in there.

“I feel like I can still do more – score more goals, create goals – but I’m still learning the role. It’s new to me because, generally, in the past, I’ve tended to play more off the left or down the middle. I’ve played on the right a few times but not as much. I’ve played on the right for Senegal recently, too.

“I say it a lot – as a forward player, you want to be able to play in those different positions across the line. It’s not necessarily easy because you don’t have the same actions and spaces on one side compared to the other but it’s about getting used to all of that as quickly as possible.

“I’ve been doing a lot of work on it, in training and through analysis sessions with the backroom team.

“I’m working on different situations I’ll find myself in on the right side and trying to get better and better. I’m working on my positioning, where and when I can attack space, where I can dribble and things like that. Obviously, the more you work on it, the better you will be.”

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