Everton 0-1 Aston Villa: David Moyes’ comeback falls flat as Ollie Watkins strikes to raise relegation fears at Goodison Park

When the great Sir Alex Ferguson was replaced by the man called The Chosen One in 2013, there was a song often sung at Old Trafford. “Come on David Moyes, play like Fergie’s boys,” the terraces urged – until things turned sour, anyway.

When Moyes came full circle and returned to his old stomping grounds of Goodison Park more than a decade later, the mantra would have been more like: ‘Come on David Moyes, do anything but play like the Dychey boys.’

The man he replaced, Sean Dyche, was given his marching orders last week after a run in which they failed to score in eight of his last 10 league games. So Moyes, almost 23 years after his first debut here, had the opportunity to get the fanbase on side early by letting go of his team.

The problem was this: they looked no different in some of those turgid performances under the old boss and when Ollie Watkins fired Aston Villa to victory, the task for Moyes suddenly looked a tad more difficult than it might have said on the tin. .

Moyes is not to blame for Everton’s shortcomings given the lack of time he has had on the training pitch. And he will of course understand the aforementioned magnitude of the task ahead of him in leading the Toffees to their swanky new stadium as a Premier League club.

But with them just one point clear of the drop zone before the visit of Tottenham on Sunday and a trip to Brighton the next game, he also knows change must come with urgency – or they will head towards the relegation trap again. .

It was by no means a bad performance, but those expecting the so-called ‘new manager bounce’ to deliver an immediate upturn in form were left disappointed as Moyes discovered similar problems that have dogged Everton’s last eighteen months: solid on the one hand, but a toothless lack of creativity on the other.

The new manager’s return was rather subdued, with a gentle gesture to all four corners of Goodison Park. You felt it was a truly moving moment for Moyes, who loves this club, as he in turn was warmly received – but that was where the pleasantries ended.

Villa were here to ruin every homecoming and look for the new manager’s second scalp in a week after knocking Graham Potter out of the FA Cup with his West Ham bow. Unai Emery’s attacks played well and secured three wins on the spin.

However, their best early chances came from Everton mistakes. The usually immaculate Jarrad Branthwaite carelessly lost the ball and needed partner James Tarkowski to save it, before a disastrous back pass from Ashley Young put Watkins through and he fired a shot wide.

Everton’s start was almost guaranteed to be slower than in the first game of Moyes’ last stint, with David Unsworth opening the scoring inside the first minute in a 2-1 win over Fulham. The Scot was 38 and then the youngest boss in the competition, but now he is the oldest at 61.

Instead of 27 seconds, as Everton had to score on that first Moyes debut, it took 38 minutes for Emi Martinez to take action. Abdoulaye Doucoure’s tame effort was easily saved after a nice cross from Vitalii Mykolenko.

Villa took the lead not long into the second half, again Branthwaite was the culprit as he gave away possession and Morgan Rogers fed Watkins.

The striker charged at his England teammate Pickford and confidently moved home.

From that moment on, Everton saw a lot of the ball in Villa’s half, but did virtually nothing with it. Aimless crosses into the box and goes back and forth without urgency.

Orel Mangala saw one saved by Martinez in stoppage time – only their third shot on target – and Dominic Calvert-Lewin also skied one over.

Emery’s side were far from their best but put in an efficient performance and that, combined with Everton’s usual poor finishing, was enough to spoil Moyes’ homecoming. Work to do.