Everton don’t often leave the south coast with history in their hands — but this was one of those days. A first-ever win away at Bournemouth, delivered with a quiet authority that now feels increasingly familiar under Moyes Mark II: measured, adaptable, and unmistakably ambitious.
This wasn’t smash-and-grab. This was Everton going toe-to-toe at a stadium where very few teams manage it. And it came from a manager showing exactly what the best managers always show: the courage to change, and the calm to make those changes work.
Moyes Mark II: the response is the message
What stood out most wasn’t simply the result — it was the pattern. Moyes has now repeatedly shown a valuable trait: when Everton take a setback, he doesn’t retreat into fear. He responds positively. He did it after Spurs. He did it after the Newcastle disappointment. And here, he did it again — not with slogans, but with selection, structure and belief.
Because the “safe” Everton choice at Bournemouth is obvious. Sit in. Protect. Hope. Previous Everton managers have arrived here with a negative mindset, trying to survive the occasion rather than impose themselves on it.
Moyes didn’t.
Control in the middle: the Moyes choice
The key positive change was bringing Alcaraz into the middle to give Everton greater control. That one decision changed the feel of the game: it signalled that Everton weren’t here to defend a point — they were here to compete for territory and tempo, to have the ball with purpose, and to play through Bournemouth rather than simply around them.
Instead of taking the most conservative route — Garner in midfield and a more rigid setup — Moyes moved the versatile Garner to right-back, trusted Iroegbunam, and stacked the centre with three ball-players. That isn’t cautious. That’s a manager backing his football, backing his athletes, and backing his structure.
It gave Everton a midfield profile fans have been craving: runners + ball-players, energy + control. Dewsbury-Hall: the surge that lifts the whole side
With that platform, Everton’s midfield wasn’t just functional — it was progressive. Dewsbury-Hall’s surging runs were particularly pleasing: the kind that stretch a team, break lines, force defenders to turn, and give Everton that priceless feeling of forward momentum.
It’s the exact kind of detail that changes how an Everton side “feels” — not just solid, but capable of threatening in waves.
Keane’s injury forces the change — O’Brien delivers
One unavoidable subplot was the disruption at the back: Michael Keane’s injury meant Everton had no choice but to bring O’Brien into the middle.
But what matters — and what reflects well on Moyes and the squad — is how smoothly Everton absorbed that change and how well O’Brien executed it.
O’Brien was tremendous at centre-back — composed when Bournemouth pressed, quick when space opened up, and calm in moments that often invite panic. Against an Iraola team that can swarm opponents and turn games into chaos, that composure matters.
And even with the change forced, there was still a clear knock-on effect: this looked like Tarkowski’s most assured performance in a while.
That isn’t coincidence — it’s balance.
When Tarkowski has a partner alongside him who can recover, cover and match runners, he looks like a different player: calmer in his decisions, more dominant in his duels, and freer to play his natural game. The pairing had pace when it was needed, composure when it mattered, and it gave Everton a platform to stay brave.
Everton matched a dangerous Bournemouth
This Bournemouth side, built by Iraola, are dangerous at home. They ask constant questions: intensity, movement, rotation, directness. Many teams come here and get pinned in, lose their nerve, lose their shape.
Everton didn’t.
Everton matched them. Everton competed. Everton stayed brave. Everton kept footballers on the pitch and asked Bournemouth problems of their own. That matters, because it shows a team growing into the identity Moyes is building: hard to break, but also willing to play.
The headline: real credit to David Moyes
This win should be celebrated as more than “three points.” It’s a marker of development — Everton doing something they’d never done here before, not through negativity or luck, but through planning, flexibility and trust.
Moyes created control in midfield. Moyes trusted Iroegbunam and placed three footballers in the middle. And even when forced into a defensive adjustment, Everton stayed composed and organised.
Everton leave Bournemouth with history, belief, and a clear message: under David Moyes, this team doesn’t just react to setbacks — it evolves.
Moyes Magic.
And Everton are starting to look like Everton again.
