Source: Liverpool_Echo
Everton FC boss David Moyes urges his Blues to toughen-up fast
MANY different adjectives have been used to describe Everton during David Moyes' reign - but 'soft' has never been one of them.[LNB]From the days of condescension when it was all about their work ethic, or bravery, and at best their spirit - it evolved to the stage last season when the words glowed in illustration of their aesthetically pleasing football.[LNB]It is an evolution which has pleased the Goodison boss, and yet he fears now that something may have been lost in the process.[LNB]For Moyes, immersed in the teak-tough background of Glaswegian amateur football, before the no-holds-barred maelstrom of Old Firm rivalry, shirking confrontation has never been an option.[LNB] The Blues boss had the self-discipline to prevent himself decking Roberto Mancini at Eastlands last season, but he didn't take a single backwards step.[LNB]Soft is not an option for him, or for his teams.[LNB]Yet now, it is the one quality he fears has crept into his squad during their sluggish start to the season, when oppositions have tried to unsettle them with rough stuff.[LNB]'I've told them that I've been disappointed with the physical side of their game,' he says. 'Especially against Newcastle, I don't think we've competed as well as we can.[LNB]'The one thing you always used to get when you played against Everton was that you would find it very hard to out fight them, to out strength them in any way.[LNB]'If you wanted a scrap against us, then we'd be standing there waiting for you, not a problem.[LNB]'I just thought that didn't happen in the Newcastle game.[LNB]'The biggest concern for me is that we have lost our competitive edge in the last few games. The one thing you could never do was beat Everton up.'[LNB]It is such a concern for the Everton boss, given the increasing direct approach of more Premier League rivals, that he could yet sacrifice style for points on the board. But Moyes insists he will not suddenly send them out as Merseyside's answer to Stoke City.[LNB]'I want to put more stiffness into their play, I want them to be more competitive than they've been, but the football we are playing, I don't want that to change, I don't want to lose that style, because there's not an awful lot wrong with it.
