Players will take the easy way out

DURING a chastening 37 days, David Unsworth has maintained his dignity, even as Everton have scrabbled to find theirs.

With Unsworth’s difficult stint as caretaker-manager drawing to a close, perhaps now is the time for the club to make a fresh start.

That will be no easy task, with memories of the recent past hanging so heavily over Goodison Park this evening.

Tonight’s opponents West Ham will be led by David Moyes, the manager who led Everton with such success for 11 years and has struggled everywhere he has been since.

Yet Unsworth has made clear that things need to change in Merseyside’s blue corner. He spoke to the media with candour for more than 20 minutes yesterday, discussing how much Everton’s poor results have hurt him, warning how difficult their plight is and questioning whether some of their players have shown the commitment required.

“I think when you are in a tough moment, in this day and age, the mentality of players isn’t what it used to be,” he said. “Sometimes players will take the easy way out and shirk the responsibility.

“We have had numerous sessions where I have come off the pitch and been really impressed. But anyone who has been in football knows you don’t want trainingground players, you want post of caretaker-manager. In March 2002, it was he who scored the first goal of the Moyes reign, 27 seconds into a 2-1 win over Fulham.

Now Moyes has suggested that Unsworth should leave Goodison Park to gain some managerial experience elsewhere.

“I don’t know, is the honest answer,” said Unsworth in response to that suggestion. “I don’t know what the future will hold.”

Moyes, on the other hand, is trying to shape his future on his Everton template and forge another 11-year managerial reign.

Moyes only signed a shortterm contract to take charge at the London Stadium until the end of the season after replacing Slaven Bilic earlier this month.

But he said: “If I can get good stability and strength, then it could easily be 11 years.

“West Ham has unbelievable potential to be up there. They have got the infrastructure now.

“I’d love to think football clubs would always go longterm and think that way. I hope it’ll turn full circle.

“At the moment managers are now down to probably 16 months in the job, maybe less in some cases.

“What it means is there’s always a change of staff and a change of players. It doesn’t get to be settled and bedded down.

“Sometimes you need the directors to say, ‘OK we have to go with it, we have to put things in place for the long- term’.”