“The first chance, we’re studs away from a goal” - David Moyes after defeat to Man City

David Moyes highlighted the positives in Everton’s performance, especially with the way they went toe-to-toe with Manchester City in the first half, before suffering a 2-0 defeat at Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

The Blues were proactive in their approach right from the off and took the game to Man City’s half early on. They also managed to carve out a few big openings thanks to Iliman Ndiaye’s magic from the wings, but failed to break the deadlock.

The in-form Erling Haaland then took over the contest and scored a quick brace to wrap up the result for the hosts, who arrived into the game on the back of a seven-game unbeaten run.

Speaking to BBC’s Match of the Day after the game, David Moyes said, "I was quite pleased with lots of the performance. Not pleased with the result. We've come here and put on a good show, up until the first goal certainly. Created a couple of chances in the first half. I wanted to try and challenge the likes of City and Arsenal where we can. We've challenged them today but we've come up a bit short.”

Haaland has been playing at a very high level this season and has grabbed 11 goals in eight Premier League games already. He was also on target for his national side during the international break and gave the Everton defenders a tough time, especially in the second half.

Asked about the difficulty of facing a striker like Haaland, Moyes said, “They've got a number nine who knows how to find the back of the net. One occasion where just as we were changing over from attacking to defensive phase we got caught up with a pass. It was a terrific ball by Nico O'Reilly for Haaland to score but if you give that level opportunities you give them the chance to score. A bit of a scruffy goal the second one. He scuffs it through James' [Tarkowski] legs, they won't be bothered about that but not a great finish from our point of view. That puts us in danger at 2-0 but I was impressed with how well we defended after that because they had more chances.”

Of course, Everton missed chances of their own in the first half. Iliman Ndiaye intercepted a sloppy pass from Nathan Ake to weave his way towards the box and then laid off a sublime low cross for Beto. Despite stretching towards the ball, the Everton number nine failed to get enough contact to divert the ball into an open net and give his side the lead.

The Guinea-Bissau international had another golden opportunity just after the half-hour mark. Played in behind by Ndiaye once again, Beto dragged his shot wide off the post. The Toffees’ wastefulness was duly punished with City capitalising on their chances in the second half of the contest.

"I think the one he doesn't get to, he should get to. The one that was given offside was onside I think and ultimately we get a VAR decision if it goes in. The first chance we're studs away from getting a goal,” said the Everton manager.

"We missed a couple of big chances in the first half, which might have altered things the way we were playing. We needed any opportunities we got to go in or to certainly get us something more positive than we did. So, look, no real problems with the performance overall – most of it. We've done a pretty good job."

Iliman Ndiaye was the best player on the pitch in the first half. The Senegalese forward weaved his way out of danger with excellent touches and dribbles and created big openings for Beto. On another day, he would’ve ended the game with two assists.

"I thought Ili's performance in the first half was outstanding," he added. "I thought he was a standout player at that time in the game. I just saw signs that he had fatigue during the game because of [recent internationals], and even the [first] goal, we just get it a yard wrong from stopping the pass going through.

"Ili is playing really, really well but I just don't know if maybe the two games for his international team just took a bit more out of him and the travel as well. But he played very well, just unfortunately he couldn't get us a goal.