Yahoo Sports 'A huge challenge' - Moyes warns he can't be Everton's 'magician'
On 31 December, the out-of-work David Moyes was collecting an OBE in the New Year Honours list for his services to football.
After receiving the gong, Moyes said in an interview with BBC Sport he did not want to be "at the bottom of the league and fighting relegation".
The football world moves fast and two weeks on, that is exactly what he has signed up for at Everton.
Former boss Sean Dyche was sacked in brutal fashion and though Moyes said he was not looking for a return to club management, he described Everton as a "different beast" and the chance to return to Goodison Park was "too big an opportunity to turn down".
Taking charge of his first Everton home match in 4,266 days, Moyes witnessed the monumental task he has on his hands following a 1-0 defeat by Aston Villa.
"It is a huge challenge at the moment, I can see that," said Moyes. "Sean has brought in a great group of players with their attitude and commitment but we are desperately needing to add some quality in some areas, mainly to create and to finish - we need to get those levels up.
"The club has probably not been able to go to a level of player in the market that can make the difference."
Everton firmly in battle for survival
Moyes had been without a job since leaving West Ham in the summer and said the move to appoint him happened "very quickly" after conversations with the Everton ownership group's chairman Dan Friedkin and club executive chairman Marc Watts.
With Watts flying in from the US to watch the game from the directors' box, Moyes may have felt he should have taken more time to consider the decision.
But sentiment had taken over and Moyes wrote in the matchday programme that "Everton Football Club means so much to me and my family".
The supporters were largely in favour of seeing Dyche replaced by the safe hands of Moyes, with the returning boss given a rousing reception as he emerged from the tunnel before kick-off.
The Blues faithful had been given hope and optimism by the managerial change, but were left taking in a dose of reality by full-time.
Striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin's miss in injury-time contributed to supporter fury, a gilt-edged chance from eight yards out which was scooped into the Gwladys Street End.
Moyes said of the miss: "If we come in and it is 1-1, I don't think many people would have said it is far off the mark but it is just that clinical action, that clinical moment to get us a goal.
"It is not just one game tonight, it is other games and I think it is there for everybody to see. I can't magician all that to change, I can't do it."
Southampton are cast adrift at the bottom and it seems two out of the four teams above them will join them in the Championship next season.
Everton and Moyes are now battling for survival alongside Wolves and Leicester, with the trio all losing on Wednesday. Ipswich, who play Brighton on Thursday, complete the quartet.
"It is a big job for David Moyes at Everton, as previous managers who have been at the helm of this club found out," Premier League winner Marc Albrighton said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
"It is a doable job [to save them from relegation]. There are a few teams down there that aren't playing as well as Everton.
"I think Moyes was the right appointment at this stage. It is early days in his reign but I only see them improving and gaining in confidence."
'We definitely need to do something'
Dyche had highlighted that goalscoring has been an issue at the club for "four or five years" - a "long time" before his arrival at the club and Moyes has taken the reigns with the same issue.
The Toffees have netted only 15 goals in 20 league games and now failed to score in nine of their last 11 top-flight matches.
Calvert-Lewin is on a run of 15 games without a goal after his latest blank, while Moyes suggested on-loan Armando Broja could be sent back to Chelsea after suffering an ankle injury which may keep him out for up to 12 weeks.
With two weeks remaining in the transfer window, the club will have been relieved to receive confirmation that no charges will be coming their way this time after complying with Profit and Sustainability Rules.
Moyes was asked about possible incomings to help the squad and said: "We will definitely need to do something and find ways to try and act in some way if we can.
"But in the same breath, if it is not going to improve it, there is no point wasting your money so we have to get and get that option of someone who is better than what we have got."
