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Despite only minimal, cut-price additions to the squad, plus the departure of playmaker Mikel Arteta, Everton have started the season brightly. And the Life’s A Pitch panel believes the credit for this must go to manager David Moyes.

Martin Lipton of the Daily Mirror regards Moyes as “the glue that holds the whole thing together” at Everton and cites the respect the players have for him as key to their success. “The thing you notice about him and his players is the remarkable tribal loyalty that they all have for him,” he explains. It isn’t about ‘we let the fans down, we let the club down’, it’s ‘we let the manager down’. And that’s a constant refrain from lots of players. And you don’t say that unless you mean it. And I genuinely believe they do.”

One player who epitomises this loyalty to the manager at Everton is Phil Neville, whose career has flourished under the management of Moyes, says Tom Hopkinson of The People. “He’s a complete professional, always has been,” says Tom. “He’s really re-invented his career at Goodison, as well. You think back to some of the stick Phil Neville got when he was a peripheral Manchester United player and when he was playing for England. I don’t think you’ll hear anyone say a bad word about Phil Neville now.”

Royston Drenthe, a summer loan signing from Real Madrid, is already showing signs of being another shrewd Moyes addition: a talented player available on the cheap, with something to prove. “[Drenthe] did go [to Real Madrid] with an awful lot of promise and it didn’t really work out and people are thinking he’s not all he’s cracked up to be,” says John Cross, also of the Daily Mirror. “And that is the point: Everton sign a lot of players with a bit to prove and a bit to come back from and Drenthe certainly fits into that category.”

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Man City v Everton, live 12:30pm, 24 September, Sky Sports 2
Everton v Liverpool, live midday, 1 October, Sky Sports 2

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