Finding the right words under pressure is hard, even for managers who do it every week. PMR tracks how well they manage it in the minutes after a match.
I learned how much those words matter in places where lives were on the line. One of those moments came down to three seconds. I’ll tell you about it at the end.
Every post-match interview David Moyes has given in Premier Managers Revealed 2026/27, collected in one place: the quotes, the score out of 12, the Identity level and the analysis, matchweek by matchweek. For the latest standings, see the Premier Managers Revealed league tables.
Matchweek 1
Everton 2 – 0 Crystal Palace
Saturday 22 August, Hill Dickinson Stadium
David Moyes — Everton (home)
8/12 · Identity level fed: Capability
“Both teams had periods in the game. We could easily have been a couple of goals down. It was a worldie save [from Pickford to deny Nketiah]. It could have gone the other way.”
“Once we got the first goal, it settled us. That mattered. We had big moments, Kiernan’s goal was important. We managed the game well after that and contained Palace really well.”
“They done great, I’m really pleased. Harrison is earning his place in the team, he’s got an opportunity here, where at other clubs he might not have. He’s showed lots of good things.”
“With Hayden, sometimes boys from the Championship need time, but he’s done well. I have to give him praise for how quickly he’s picked things up.”
Moyes is honest about how close the game was, saying Everton could easily have been two down and that Pickford’s save changed it. He then praises individuals with some care. Harrison is earning his place and has an opportunity at Everton he might not get elsewhere. Hackney has picked things up faster than most players coming out of the Championship. Both are framed as qualities the players own. He never looks forward, though. There is no next step, no standard for the coming week, and nothing for the group to take into training.
Source: Sky Sports match report, Everton 2-0 Crystal Palace — skysports.com
Matchweek 2
AFC Bournemouth 1 – 1 Everton
Saturday 29 August, Vitality Stadium
David Moyes – Everton (away)
4/12 · Identity level fed: Safety
All in all I’m disappointed with the performance. I didn’t think a goal was coming. We stuck at it, resilient, we were good away from last season so hopefully we can keep it going. We needed somebody to come up with something.
We did some amazing blocks late in the game. Pleased with a point. Might want the transfer window left open so we can get a few more players in! It closes Tuesday, let’s see what happens.
I have said we could do with strengthening and hopefully we can do that. We have a good basis. Let’s hope we can build on it. I don’t think we can afford to lose any players, certainly not our better ones.
The club dictates a lot of that and we will see how the next few days go.
Moyes begins disappointed with the performance and ends pleased that Everton escaped with a point. The resilience and late blocks are mentioned in the context of avoiding defeat, rather than as lasting qualities that build confidence. His transfer comments make the problem wider. Everton need strengthening, cannot afford to lose their better players and must wait to see what the club does. The players receive little belief, no clear internal path and a strong suggestion that the squad is not good enough as it stands.
Source: BBC Match of the Day interview, via Yahoo Sports, source page
Matchweek 3
Everton 2–2 Manchester United
Hill Dickinson Stadium · George 83′, Maitland-Niles 90+6′; Mbeumo 46′, Šeško 88′
David Moyes (Everton)
Source: Sky Sports, Manchester Evening News; Liverpool Echo; The Guardian
Q: On the 2-2?
For periods we played well. I thought Man United played better than they have done in their other games. The first goal we concede is shabby. But I thought if anyone was going to go on and win the game after we equalises it would be us. I set out to win. For us, to give the crowd moments, it was a big moment. But I wanted to win and I thought we were capable of winning. I need to win my home games. You don’t plan as a manager to equalise in the last minute. But I thought the boys did amazing to keep running. We did well to ride their pressure and we got the great finish to end.
Q: Did you deserve to be behind?
I thought we played pretty well for periods. I thought Manchester United played better than they have in other games but I didn’t think we deserved to be behind in both cases, but we lost the first goal a minute into the second half, which was pretty shabby. And then we get back to one each and I felt that if anybody was probably going to be the team who would be on top and win it, it would be us. I thought that we never really got the ball back, never really controlled the game for the minutes after that which allowed them to go and get 2-1 up. I think it would be hard to say that we didn’t do enough to get something out of the game.
Q: On Maitland-Niles’ debut goal?
If nobody knew you that goal would get you plenty of headlines. It was a brilliant goal, brilliant technique. We have not had a chance to get to know Ainsley but it was a great start from him. It was a big moment to get back in the last minute. It didn’t feel as big for me because I wanted to win and I felt we were capable of winning. That meant I was happy to get the point but obviously a bit disappointed because I want to win my home games.
Q: On the transfer-window disruption and being a player down?
It was the exact opposite. I said to the players there would be no excuses from any of us and the players all agreed. The players hugely bought into it. It can hurt you being a player down but it can also have the opposite reaction. Sometimes when you have less players it means everybody has to be ready and you have to find a way of making it work.
10/12 · Identity level fed: Capability & Belonging
Moyes says Everton were capable of winning, praises the players for continuing to run and makes a shared no-excuses commitment explicit. Being a player short becomes a reason for everyone to be ready and find a way, while Maitland-Niles receives specific praise for his technique. Calling the play that conceded the first goal “shabby” is not balanced by language that makes it Other, Narrow or Fleeting, so it costs him a point.
Matchweek 4
Tottenham Hotspur 0–0 Everton
David Moyes, Everton: 11/12
“Great credit to the players, they stuck at it.”
Moyes explains how Everton earned their point through courage, blocks and the way they grew into the game. Those details help the players recognise the strengths they can use again.
The small squad is a difficulty outside the players’ ability. It gives context without taking away the credit they have earned. Moyes also keeps them focused on preparing and coping with the next match. The limitation is that squad size sounds like an ongoing problem, with less reassurance about how it will become manageable.
Breakdown: Towards 2 · SQAs 2 · Adversity 1 · Identity 2 · Path 2 · Draw Leadership 2
Source: BBC Match of the Day interview, carried by Yahoo Sports
Matchweek 5
Everton 1–0 Ipswich Town
David Moyes, Everton: 3/12
“We had some good moments and some not so good moments. I think we had the best chances in the game, which we didn’t take so well, but it was never going to be easy. I think Ipswich have done a really good job. The games they’ve played, they’ve won a couple, but they’ve also lost a couple, but the games they’ve lost, they’ve been in all the games. So no surprise the way the game went, but really pleased to get the three points.”
“I’m actually more disappointed that we’ve not scored more goals. I think today we had 21 shots, but only two on target.”
“I am ratting the players like you wouldn’t believe. Why are we not scoring more?”
Moyes is pleased with the points and gives Ipswich proper credit. The desire to score more is a Towards direction.
There is little language about player strengths, team Identity or how Everton will improve their finishing. The closing criticism dominates a winning interview that could have used the result to bank confidence and give constructive guidance.
Breakdown: Towards 1 · SQAs 0 · Adversity 1 · Identity 0 · Path 0 · Good Winner* 1
Source: BBC Sport post-match interview.
Matchweek 6
Hull City 2–2 Everton
Sunday 11 October 2026, MKM Stadium, Hull.
David Moyes, Everton: 6/12
Identity level: Capability.
I’m really disappointed that we didn’t come away with three points, I couldn’t see them getting a goal when we went 2-1 up – I thought if anything we would go on and finish it.
It looked really unlike us, the way we gave the goals away today, it was very, very poor. The overall performance from everyone was so far below our level, way below where we should be.
Hull have had some great results here against Manchester United and Villa, they’re not easy to beat and they weren’t (today) but I thought we should have gone on and won the game comfortably.
I’m not giving the players any room for excuses because of what’s going on, whether that be the transfer window or that be ownership.
It looked really unlike us is the best thing in here. Moyes has a level, it belongs to the group, and he treats the afternoon as a one-off. He turns down the two excuses sitting in front of him as well, the transfer window and the ownership. Raising the pressure was fair enough. What’s missing is the other side of it. The overall performance from everyone was so far below our level, and in the whole interview nobody hears what they’re good at and nobody hears what to work on. Brutal honesty is his Achilles heel. He won’t go looking for a way to say the hard thing that also leaves his players believing in themselves.
Breakdown: Towards 1 · SQAs 1 · Adversity 1 · Identity 1 · Path 1 · Draw Leadership 1 · 6/12
Source: Press Association, via The Irish News.
Matchweek 7
Everton 0 – 2 Chelsea
Saturday 17 October 2026, 12.30pm, Hill Dickinson Stadium.
David Moyes, Everton
2/12. Identity level: None reached.
“We have got referees who we want to be the best in Europe because they let things go but I thought it looked a half-decent tackle (by Armstrong).”
“Someone might tell me different. I wasn’t sure it was the right decision. I was disappointed with the decision at the time. I’ve had a wee look at the Morgan Rogers tackle on Jimmy which some might have said something different, which would have made it a second yellow and that wasn’t the case.”
“I just felt that Chelsea had that little bit more flair and ability which we didn’t possess at the right moments today.”
Almost everything Moyes says is about officiating. He’s measured about it, and he may well be right on the Rogers tackle, though a referee is the one thing his players can never influence, so the whole answer points them somewhere they can’t act. Nothing in it names a strength, a standard or a next step. Chelsea had that little bit more flair and ability which we didn’t possess is the only verdict his players get on themselves, and it’s a deficit. He keeps a mark for taking the result. The rest is 0. The published sample is narrow as well as short.
Sources: Sky Sports and AFP, via Al Jazeera.
Matchweek 8
Arsenal 2 – 0 Everton
Saturday 24 October 2026, 3.00pm, Emirates Stadium.
David Moyes, Everton
Score: 6/12. Identity level: Belonging.
It did, aye. It made it hard, and we just couldn’t really get ourselves back in the game after that. Huffed and puffed a little bit, stuck at it for long parts of the game, which was good. We never gave them anything easy, but in the end, we just didn’t have enough.
yeah it was and it ended up you know they probably got first contact I’ve not seen it again so I need to see it but I know it was a little bit scruffy at the back post we didn’t quite clear it or we didn’t get a touch on it but you’re right we defended that apart from that we defended pretty well for most of them
I thought they both done well today they did I thought they both played well I thought a lot of the players done a really good job today we didn’t do enough in the attacking sense but we certainly done a really good job defensively you know tried to make it difficult but we really wanted to try and score some goals we had a couple of chances I think the first half and then we were a bit unlucky late in the game when Kiernan had a header which maybe could have gone in as well so we need to do that better than we’ve done certainly today
I don’t know. I felt for him today because I thought he was really poor. So I felt for him.
Moyes protects the people in front of him. O’Brien and George came in and did well, the defending was good, and nobody is singled out for the scruffy goal. The trouble is the sentence he keeps returning to. In the end they just did not have enough, and they did not do enough in the attacking sense. He may well be right about that, but saying it tells the players they are not good enough, and that sounds like a Lasting verdict from their manager. The only line looking forward is that they need to do it better, with no sign of what changes.
Source: BBC Sport match report.
What links this league table to a life-or-death negotiation?
A young mother. Her children asleep in the back of the car. A hosepipe connected to the exhaust. A police negotiator with three seconds to find the words that might save their lives.
That call is where The 7 Skills to impress™ began.
When I listen to a manager after a match, I listen for the message beneath the words. A manager can be talking about a win or a loss, but the way they frame it can lift or chip away at a player’s belief before anyone even realises it.
Read Three Seconds to Save Their Lives: Jacqui’s Story and find out what he said.