12 games into Everton’s new dawn, the team feels familiarly stale. The side that toiled and wilted under Sean Dyche has been updated with just two new starters, Jack Grealish and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, while the Toffees’ new youth contingent remains overlooked and underused. David Moyes has undermined his own attempts to turn the page at Everton.

This summer, Everton committed to spend around £100m on Merlin Röhl (23), Thierno Barry (22), Charly Alcaraz (22), Tyler Dibling (19), and Adam Aznou (19). A huge outlay but a considered gamble on youth. None were expected to immediately become starters, with the possible exception of Alcaraz, but given Everton’s squad is small and lacks quality, regular first team minutes seemed not only plausible but necessary. It hasn’t worked out like that. Moyes’ mistrust of youth has reared its head again.

Aznou got injured early on but has remained an unused sub eight times despite Vitaliy Mykolenko’s attacking limitations and the consistent containment tactic of doubling up on Jack Grealish. After overcoming his own injury, Röhl has been given three 20-minute outings, the last two at 2-0 down, before inexplicably being left on the bench at Sunderland. Barry hasn’t taken his chances, Christ, he hasn’t even had a shot on target, but he’s never played more than 64 minutes, and has been hooked at half-time on three occasions. 

Overlooking Dibling has been more understandable. He lacked a proper pre-season and the two players ahead of him, Jack Grealish and Iliman Ndiaye, are Everton’s top assister and top scorer respectively. But again: left on the bench four times, three appearances of nine minutes or less, and his own half-time hooking against Crystal Palace; it may well be that these players simply aren’t ready but it’s tough to argue Moyes is giving them every chance.

Alcaraz definitely is ready, however. He was Everton’s best player after joining on loan in January. This season, his only league starts have been facilitated by Grealish’s absences against Leeds and Manchester City. He didn’t even start when Dewsbury-Hall, currently floundering in his favoured number 10 position, was suspended. Of Alcaraz’s five sub appearances since scoring the winner and being named man of the match against Mansfield, only one has been longer than seven minutes. That was when he came on at half-time against Crystal Palace and transformed a likely defeat into an improbable end to their unbeaten run… but Moyes remains unconvinced.

In a decision that may hint beyond tactics, Moyes left Alcaraz on the bench at home to Aston Villa (0-0) and West Ham (1-1), two opportunities that were perfectly set up for Everton but ultimately squandered. Leaving Alcaraz on the bench is bad enough, but doing so when just two substitutes were used on each occasion is totally baffling. Moyes would be hard-pushed to explain those choices in strictly football terms. 

This highlights another flaw in Moyes’ developmental repertoire: the use of substitutes. This season, five years into the five-sub era, Moyes averages 3.6 subs per game, 3.3 if you exclude the Carabao Cup games which he treated like pre-season friendlies. Only Oliver Glasner (3.1) has made fewer. That’s actually up from 2023/24, his last year at West Ham, when he averaged 2.8 subs per game, second only to Pep Guardiola (2.7), and 66 minutes before his first sub, later than any other Premier League manager. He’s also used the fewest players in the top flight this season (19). Moyes reacts late and fails to utilise all of his options. As richer clubs clamour for a sixth substitute to help further leverage their advantage, you get the impression the Everton boss would prefer if it went back to three.

Moyes has always made small squads smaller. He sticks with his starting 11 for as long as possible. Fringe players and youngsters are essentially in service of the chosen ones, facilitating rest, providing defensive assistance, and offering a different threat. There’s logic to that. Familiarity generally breeds a better standard of football. Moyes’ career is testament to that, not least at Everton. Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar’s telepathic connection was developed over time. But in the short-term, Moyes’ approach leaves his new intake of youth lacking fitness, lacking confidence, and lacking opportunities.

More to the point, Everton are not currently brimming with players who warrant a starting spot. Other than Grealish and Ndiaye, only Michael Keane and James Tarkowski – one by default in Jarrad Branthwaite’s absence – and Jordan Pickford fit that bill. Every other position is up for grabs. Everton have full-backs that can’t cross, midfielders that can’t pass, and strikers that can’t score. They’re still playing low xG football and contesting dull encounters. Moyes has one of the league’s oldest squads and a whole host of young players he could be developing as they lighten the load. 

Moyes needs to break with old habits and trust his new players. Whether he thought he was signing them for the future or not no longer matters; circumstances dictate that he needs them now.

Click here to read Iain Macintosh’s ‘Football Manager 2026: Release version review’, here to read the latest episode of ‘FM Classic: Return to Goodison’ or here to start from the beginning.