Moyes warns his players: If you keep making mistakes you will be axed

24 October 2009 14:15
David Moyes has a chilling warning for his Everton stars - 'keep making mistakes and you will be axed'. The Everton boss admits he cannot afford to take such action at the moment, with the Toffees suffering a serious injury crisis. They could be missing nine first-teamers for Sunday's Premier League trip to Bolton, and Moyes needs every available player. But he warns that when he is able to choose from a full-strength squad, some players will be punished for their mistakes. Everton suffered a shattering 5-0 Europa League defeat at Benfica on Thursday, their worst-ever European result. Moyes said: 'We must make sure we do not have any loss of confidence after what happened against Benfica. We did pretty well in the first half - we did not "park the bus" and just defend. 'I told them after the game that they must learn from their mistakes. But they kept going - and even when we were 4-0 down, we were trying to get forward to score. 'But in truth, if you keep making mistakes you won't be in the team. You cannot play for Everton and make mistakes. 'Maybe at the moment, when we do not have too many to choose from, you will stay in the side even if you are making mistakes. 'But when we do get our squad strength back, we will not be tolerating mistakes. We will be a lot tougher on that than we can be now.' There is mitigation for Everton's current troubles on the pitch. 'Injuries hurt everyone,' Moyes notes. 'All clubs have them, but even Liverpool have shown that you will lose matches without your best players. 'We have been without some of our best players since half-way through last season. Eventually that takes a toll in terms of results and performances. 'Everton do not do defeats. We don't lose twice on the trot. That is our attitude, to be tough and bounce back. 'But we are introducing too many new players all at once. There are not too many who know yet the way we do things and the way we work. 'I hope it gets through to them that we do not do defeats too often. I hope they understand that. 'The players gave everything on the night (in Lisbon). We were against a very good team, and I would like to face them when we have a full side out. That will happen in a couple of weeks when Benfica come to us. 'We had a lot of youngsters, and they will learn from facing top players. But I cannot fault the effort. 'I do not really know yet who may be back from injury - that is up to the medical department. I will just have to wait and try to find 11 players to face Bolton.' Everton were missing 11 players in Lisbon, but two -John Heitinga and Lucas Neill - who were ineligible for the match, will both play at the Reebok. Russian winger Diniyar Bilyaletdinov has had a precautionary scan on a groin strain, and may be fit to face Bolton. But Leighton Baines, Joseph Yobo, Leon Osman, Steven Pienaar, Mikel Arteta, Phil Jagielka, Phil Neville, Victor Anichebe and James Vaughan are all likely to still be unavailable.

Source: Daily_Mail