David Moyes has suggested defensive reinforcements could be on the agenda as Everton consider further business before next week’s transfer deadline.
Injuries to Jarrad Branthwaite, Nathan Patterson, Seamus Coleman and Vitalii Mykolenko have limited Moyes’ options in the opening weeks of the new season.
Veteran captain Coleman and Mykolenko were eased back into action with starts in Wednesday’s comfortable 2-0 Carabao Cup defeat of League One Mansfield at the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
Moyes, however, still feels short in the department and decided he could not afford to rest senior centre-backs James Tarkowski and Michael Keane for what was a straightforward assignment against lower-division opposition.
The Toffees manager said: “We wanted to try and give as many players (as possible) a game. I’ve not got any defenders. I’m very limited to what I can choose defensive-wise.
“It already has changed a lot of my plans because, obviously, we’re without Jarrad and we have been without Myko for, certainly, the first couple of games.
“We had this at the end of last season as well, we’ve had it all through the summer. It’s not as if we’ve necessarily got it better.
“We’ve got people back, but others are injured. We’ve just got to make sure that we’re not short again if we can help it – and certainly we were short for the first two games in the Premier League.”
Everton were rarely stretched by the Stags but needed to wait until the 51st minute to take the lead with a fine strike from Charly Alcaraz. Substitute Beto sealed the result with a late tap-in.
Both goals were created by 18-year-old midfielder Harrison Armstrong, whose performance may have given Moyes extra thinking to do.
The club have been considering loaning out the youngster for a second time to further aid his development after a successful stint at Derby last season but his composed display could force a change of plan.
Moyes said: “We’ll see. I thought Harrison played well. There’s a couple of options we’ve got for Harrison, so we’ll decide over the next few days what we’re going to do.”
