Carragher: Moyes Criticism from Everton Fans Too Harsh

Jamie Carragher believes Everton supporters are right to feel flat about how last season collapsed – but says some of the anger towards David Moyes has gone too far.

Everton were brushing shoulders with the Champions League places after hammering Chelsea in March. Seven games later, they had no European football and a fanbase wondering whether Moyes, now in the final year of his contract, is really the man to take them forward.

Carragher gets the concern. He also thinks the bigger picture is being lost.

Speaking on The Overlap Fan Debate with Sky Bet, the former Liverpool defender said he has long been an admirer of Moyes, both from his first spell at Goodison Park and since his return.

“I have always been a David Moyes fan, even when I played against his teams,” Carragher said. “The first time around as Everton manager, he was doing a brilliant job, and he’s done a brilliant job since he’s come back too.”

The leap in expectations, he argued, tells its own story. Everton had spent season after season staring over the cliff edge, changing managers mid-campaign just to stay alive. Suddenly, with seven or eight games left last season, they were being talked about as outsiders for a top-five, Champions League-chasing finish.

“The jump from where they’d been to… with seven games to go, you had an outside chance of a top five Champions League position,” Carragher said. “For Everton, it feels like every season they’re trying to fight relegation – they normally change the manager in the middle of the season and end up safe. Then his first full season, which was last season, with seven or eight games to go, you’re talking about having a chance for the Champions League.

“I understand it finished badly, I understand there was disappointment there, and I get it. But I almost feel it’s a little bit harsh, some of the stick he gets.”

The collapse was not just about form. Everton’s winless end to the campaign came with a string of setbacks. The Key Match Incidents Panel later ruled they should have been awarded penalties against both West Ham United and Manchester City. Injuries to Beto, Jarrad Branthwaite and Idrissa Gueye stripped Moyes of key players at the worst possible time.

Results dried up. Frustration didn’t.

Carragher senses a fanbase torn. Not fully behind Moyes, not fully against him either – waiting to see which way this season breaks.

He described supporters as “almost in between with him at the moment, waiting to see how it goes,” and pointed out that the very fact Evertonians are now raging about missing Europe shows how far the club has come from the days of weekly relegation calculations.

“I feel for David Moyes a little bit,” he said. “At the start of last season, everyone would have said, we just want a season where we don’t have to worry about relegation.”

For years, that was the cycle: panic, change the manager, scramble to safety. Carragher reeled off the names – Sam Allardyce, Marco Silva, Frank Lampard, Sean Dyche – as evidence of a club stuck in survival mode.

Last season broke that pattern. Everton stayed clear of danger and flirted with Europe. That, Carragher argued, should count for something.

“You were getting to a situation where you were going into a season – last season – saying, we just don’t want to ever worry about relegation. That was never there [before]. And then you had [a near miss on] European football.

“I get that disappointment. Everton supporters right – for so long – have had nothing to hang onto – there’s just that wanting so much… I’m not saying he should get a new contract, but the next thing this season is: can Everton get to a European position?”

The question now is simple and brutal. With expectation reset and Moyes’ deal running down, is stabilising the club enough anymore – or does this season have to end with Everton walking back through the door to Europe?