Everton in danger of false start in new home

By his own admission, David Moyes is not immediately drawn to Snoop Dogg's music.

But there is a sentence in one of the best-selling and influential rap artists of all time's most famous songs that probably sums up Moyes' mood at the moment.

Halfway through Drop It Like It's Hot, Snoop declares "I can't fake it".

Moyes saw Snoop perform at the Super Bowl on his previous visit to Atlanta in 2019. The event was memorable - the game, according to the Scot, was not, as the New England Patriots beat the Los Angeles Rams, Snoop's team, 13-3.

On Sunday, at the magnificent Mercedes Benz Stadium, a 2-2 draw with Manchester United was better as far as Moyes' Everton side were concerned.

It meant they finished with one point, and bottom of the Premier League Summer Series table. Having lost their previous three pre-season matches, the results are starting to be a concern - Moyes can't fake it.

It certainly is not what most Evertonians felt the situation would be as they prepare for their eagerly awaited final test event in their new home against Roma on Saturday.

With a new stadium, ambitious new owners and a manager who understood them, this was meant to be the start of a new era.

Yet Moyes' final press conference at the Premier League Summer Series centred on a familiar theme.

"I think there'll be deals next week," he said. "I think we're getting much closer. But I felt that four or five weeks ago as well.

"Obviously, we're getting near the tickly bits and we've got to get some things done."

Lack of movement on the transfer front has been a running commentary in Moyes' engagement with the media throughout Everton's 12-day trip.

From saying he needed up to nine new players - he has got three so now it is down to six - to expressing concern that when they do eventually arrive it will be too late for a proper integration before the opening Premier League game at Leeds on 18 August.

There has been movement. Thierno Barry has joined from Villarreal for £27m and Adam Aznou, 19, completed his switch from Bayern Munich for about £8m last week.

But both are new to the Premier League. Moyes privately feels it is asking a lot for either to make an immediate impact.

Southampton's exciting talent Tyler Dibling is one of those Moyes expects Everton to land this week. Dibling clearly has Premier League experience and his arrival would be a positive, yet, at 19, he is also one for the future.

It was impossible not to see Moyes in animated conversation with Tomas Soucek, someone he knows so well from his time at West Ham, at Chicago's Soldier Field last Wednesday, and think that is exactly the kind of player Everton need; solid, experienced, dependable.

Soucek is not a target but Moyes will be on the lookout for a player with similar attributes to the Czech Republic skipper, who he signed permanently for West Ham in 2020 for £19.1m.

When he was introduced into the second half of the West Ham game after recovering from injury, centre-half James Tarkowski made an immediate impact by covering a dangerous attack and simply shrugging Jarrod Bowen off the ball to win possession for his team.

Tarkowski is another of those players Moyes can trust, albeit he gave a penalty away in the final game of the US trip by sticking his arm into Manchester United's Amad Diallo - even if the actual contact was minimum.

Moyes believes Jarrad Branthwaite might be fit enough to join the main group for training this week after the 23-year-old missed the US trip with a minor niggle.

Having Branthwaite and Tarkowski back in defence will make Everton more solid. But Moyes knows it is not enough, which is why all the talk of Jack Grealish heading to the club might be premature.

Grealish would undoubtedly be an exciting addition, albeit with significant caveats around his form - he has not been the same player since Manchester City's 2023 Treble season and Moyes is not one to easily dismiss Pep Guardiola's assessment of the 29-year-old - and cost, even of a loan.

However, if it is to happen, it will be much later in the window. Everton have far more fundamental issues to address just now.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

Getting Farhad Moshiri out was felt by many supporters to have come at the perfect time, with ideas of new investment to coincide with the long-anticipated move to the magnificent Hill Dickinson Stadium.

Yet Moyes wonders whether the vision has got in the way of reality.

"There could be teething problems at the start," he said. "Whether it be the stadium, whether it be with new owners, whether it be all sorts of things coming in.

"All Evertonians are looking to the future now. They don't want to look back on the past. We want to believe that something better is ahead of us.

"I think it will be better. My job is to give them a team to enjoy coming to watch. I thought we might have been a bit further down the line by now, but we're not."