Back in the autumn, the squad talked about taking the cups seriously this season, partly because the league picture felt different. No scramble for survival, no weekly stomach-knot of “how many points to safety?” Instead, the talk was about building, competing, and treating knockout football as more than a distraction. David Moyes hasn’t wavered on that.
“Absolutely,” he said when asked if that mindset still stands now. Everton’s Carabao Cup run ended earlier than he wanted, and Moyes admitted they “didn’t do well enough” in that competition. He also pointed to the reality of the draw, referencing Wolverhampton Wanderers as a difficult assignment at that stage. The message was clear: no excuses, but no self-flagellation either. Learn it, park it, move on.
Now comes an FA Cup tie that feels properly old-fashioned in the best ways. A sold-out stadium, an early kick-off, and an away following that is expected to turn the volume up to festival levels. Moyes noted Sunderland’s allocation, believing around 7,000 travelling supporters will make it “as noisy as maybe we’ve had it,” and he’s not wrong. Cup football does that. It turns the ordinary into a small event and the big into something that rattles your ribs.
Everton’s manager has been consistent on one theme since returning: the supporters matter, and in this competition they can become a tactical advantage. He spoke about how strong Everton’s away backing has been and how, in England, travelling fans often help set the tone wherever you go. This weekend, he wants the home crowd to meet that energy head-on, especially with the unusual feel an early kick-off can bring. “Hope you’re all ready for it,” he smiled, with the sort of grin that suggests he already knows nobody will be.
The bigger picture is the one Moyes keeps returning to, even when the questions tug him elsewhere. Everton are still at the beginning of a rebuild, and he isn’t pretending otherwise. Options are limited, the process is ongoing, and progress needs protecting as much as it needs pushing. But cup runs have their own strange physics: win a couple, and suddenly confidence has a pulse, the crowd is leaning in, and the second half of the season feels like a runway instead of a treadmill.
“It would be great if we could get on it,” Moyes said, talking about building momentum, before reminding everyone of the obvious: the draw is tough. That doesn’t dilute Everton’s intent, though. “It’s not that we don’t want to get through in the cup. Of course we do.” The aim is straightforward: do everything possible to make it happen.
There’s also a human thread running through this tie, the kind the FA Cup quietly collects like ticket stubs in an old coat pocket. Moyes joked about a landlord at his local being a Sunderland fan, and the story spun into something warmly familiar: the banter, the mutual ribbing, the knowing laughs that only arrive when football is stitched into ordinary life. The landlord, Steve, is a season-ticket holder who follows Sunderland everywhere, and Moyes even mentioned Steve sits just behind the dugout at their place. Cup weekends thrive on these little connections, the idea that rivalry can live alongside respect and routine, and that football can still be about people, not just “narratives”.
If Everton are searching for the perfect mood music for this tie, it’s probably the last 12 months. Moyes reflected on the anniversary of his return, describing it as a “brilliant year” and admitting he was anxious at the very start. One early defeat had him fearing the worst, but from that moment onward, the track has been upward. He spoke about the personal reception he’s had and, more importantly, about trying to restore something he felt had slipped away: an Everton that looks and feels like Everton.
He also offered a dose of realism that supporters will recognise as classic Moyes. Climbing from where the club has been in recent seasons is one thing; making the next leap is another. Moving from mid-table into the elite bracket is brutally hard in the modern game, and he framed it as the kind of step that takes time, smart work, and patience, not just a quick burst of optimism and a couple of shiny new signings. Everton, he suggested, are getting back onto the road, even if it’s a road with roadworks and the occasional detour sign.
That patience has been tested this week in a different way, with Moyes dragged into a wider conversation about VAR and its growing influence. He was candid, thoughtful, and, at points, visibly frustrated. In his view, VAR has improved some parts of the game, particularly offside, where decisions are now presented as near-certain. But he argued it’s also straying into smaller incidents and re-refereeing matches from a studio, detached from the feel of the stadium and the rhythm of the game.
Moyes spoke about a recent incident involving Michael Keane that led to a major decision after intervention. He questioned whether it met the threshold of violent conduct, and he criticised the pressure placed on a young referee being sent to the monitor late in a match. His point wasn’t simply about Everton’s misfortune; it was about a sport that sometimes feels like it’s handing the steering wheel to someone watching a screen rather than the official in the arena. He even suggested that, in previous years, some incidents would have been reviewed after the game by the relevant authorities, rather than interrupting live play and forcing a match official into an almost predetermined “monitor moment”.
Why does that matter on the eve of an FA Cup tie? Because cup football is supposed to be visceral. It’s supposed to have sweat, noise, and a faint taste of chaos. It’s the competition where momentum can be born in a single afternoon, where a crowd can carry a team through a rough patch, where the match should belong to the pitch and the people in it.
Everton’s job now is simple to describe and hard to execute: match Sunderland’s hunger, handle the occasion, and turn a sold-out, roaring cup day into something that feeds the bigger rebuild rather than distracting from it. Moyes wants progress with steel in it, not progress that melts the moment pressure rises. A convincing cup performance won’t solve everything, but it can add belief to the work and a spark to the season’s second act.
And if the stadium is as loud as Moyes expects, with thousands in red and white arriving in full voice, then Everton will need to make sure the noise becomes a wind at their backs, not a storm in their faces. That’s the cup bargain: bring your nerve, bring your intensity, and the day might just give you something back.
