Source: Liverpool_Echo
David Moyes: ‘This is Everton's strongest squad in a decade’
'This is our strongest squad in a decade'[LNB]DAVID Moyes readily admits that in theory he has the strongest squad at Everton in 10 years ahead of today's North-West show-down with Manchester United.[LNB]But the Everton boss continues to feel like he is banging his head on a brick wall, as injuries pile-up to the point of complete exasperation.[LNB]With Tim Cahill adding his name to the list of casualties, having returned from international duty with an injured groin, the Everton boss is even running out of square pegs to fit in round holes.[LNB]Slight hopes that Steven Pienaar, Phil Neville and Leon Osman may have made a late re-entry into the squad to play the champions have also been dashed.[LNB]So as he attempts to plot Everton's first win at Old Trafford for 17 years, the Scot must contend with so many selection headaches he could be forgiven for seeking a darkened room to go and lie down in.[LNB]Questioned by one journalist about Everton having suffered ' a few' injuries he raised an eye-brow.[LNB]'Just a few?' said the Scot with the faintest hint of a smile. 'We've had injuries since last February so we've had to deal with this situation for nearly a year. There is a lot more made of other clubs' injuries than ours.[LNB]'I believe we have got a real strong squad and good players and what we need is to get them back, but at the moment we're just not.[LNB]'If other clubs lose one or two really key players it makes it hard for them to get results. We've been in that situation for too long.[LNB]'I though the break after the West Ham game might have given us time to get some of the lads back but it hasn't.[LNB]'We are trying to find a team out of what we've got and we're having to play people out of position and people who are not in good form. Equally people we would like to give a rest to.[LNB]'The hardest thing is that if people aren't performing well they are getting rewarded with a place in the next game which normally we wouldn't. We're trying to find a winning formula with maybe 12 or 13 players.'[LNB]But it has been far from all doom and gloom around Everton's Finch Farm training ground in the run-up to the game.[LNB]While Moyes admits Diniyar Bilyaletdinov returned deeply crestfallen at Russia's last-ditch failure to qualify for the World Cup, Joseph Yobo and Ayegbeni Yakubu are quite the opposite.[LNB]'I think it looks as if they've come back really pleased to have qualified,' he said.
