Euro trip to blame for Stoke stalemate, says Moyes

Everton manager David Moyes admitted his side’s uninspiring 1-1 draw against Stoke was due to their midweek Europa League travels.

A fine strike from Leon Osman salvaged a point for Everton after Robert Huth’s header had looked like helping Stoke to their first away win of the season at Goodison Park on Sunday.

But it was a poor display from the hosts and Moyes pointed the finger at Everton’s trip to Minsk to play BATE Borisov on Thursday as a reason why they failed to fire.

Eight of Sunday’s starting XI also featured in the 2-1 win in Belarus.

“I think seven or eight of them played on Thursday,” Moyes said before insisting that it should not be allowed to become an excuse.

“But that is going to happen if we want to be successful. I think more importantly we have lost a little bit of flair.”

Despite creating precious few opportunities, the Everton manager was satisfied with his side’s persistence against a side keen to do little but neutralise their threat.

“We kept knocking on the door and kept trying to go forward,” Moyes added.

“It certainly was not for lack of effort or commitment and I think at times we played as well as we have done all season.

“I didn’t expect Stoke to come here and make it easy and it was tough to try and break them down but they have done that at a few clubs away from home.

“I thought we created good opportunities in good areas and though we did what we could with finishing it off.”

Stoke regularly got all their men behind the ball on Sunday.

It was in stark contrast to last season when they lost 3-1 at the same venue and indicates that although they will never be one of the Premier League’s more entertaining sides, they are becoming increasingly difficult to beat.

“I thought we did well,” Stoke manager Tony Pulis said. “I think Everton are a good team and mix it up very well and they test you as well.

“It was a much better performance than it was last week against Manchester United.

“The players were more committed and we defended very well when we had to.”

Stoke provided very little offensive threat and although this result moves them up to 11th in the Premier League, they will need to start offering more up front if they are to reach their stated aim of avoiding relegation.

“We have to improve on our passes,” Pulis added. “There were four or five opportunities when we could have passed someone in.”