Everton’s dividend for faith in Moyes

Support for the Everton manager has remained steadfast in the boardroom, even when it has shown signs of wavering in the stands, and chairman Bill Kenwright hardly needs to argue the case for being so resistant to change.

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The facts speak for themselves. After making it into Europe for the second time since Moyes replaced Walter Smith in March 2002, Everton are now casting their sights towards another crack at the Champions League, rather than UEFA Cup.

In Moyes' eyes, though, there is another side to continuity. Never one for standing still, he is intent on at least maintaining the momentum that has brought them level on points with fourth-placed neighbours Liverpool, even if it does require another expensive recruitment drive.

Kenwright's consistent knack of plucking transfer funds from threadbare resources has always been gratefully acknowledged by Moyes and was evident as recently as last summer when Aiyegbeni Yakubu arrived for a club record £11million, just 12 months after budget limits were scrapped to bring Andy Johnson and Joleon Lescott on board.

There can be no letting up, though, if Everton are to be taken seriously as top-four material.

Lescott continues to look one of the bargain buys of recent years, but Moyes is adamant that scouring the lower leagues for hidden gems at knockdown prices is no formula for lasting success.

It will take more hefty investment and Moyes suggested as much as he reflected on the way Everton were left hanging on grimly in the face of sustained second-half pressure from Manchester City. "It was good to have Mikel Arteta back and you could see how he makes things happen whenever he's on the ball," he said. "But he needs people around him who can do the same and we really missed the flair of Steven Pienaar and Leon Osman.

"That was a big miss for us, as was losing Yak to the African Nations Cup and Johnson to injury. It left us with a patched-up side and it was a case of grinding out a result rather than playing as we know we can.

"Simply finishing in the top half would be viewed as failure by a lot of our fans. Europe is the expectation, maybe even a Champions League place. That's great, because it's an indication of how far we have come, but you only have to look at the form of clubs around us to know we have to keep it going."

After seeing his side slip behind to Lescott's close-range finish, from a low, driven cross by Arteta, Sven Goran Eriksson could only look on in growing dismay at his side's failure to fashion scarcely a single clear-cut chance from a monopoly of second-half possession.

It might have been made easier had Lee Carsley been sent off for a high tackle on Vedran Corluka.

The City manager had already issued a dire warning about the future to his players at half-time and was no more inclined to leave owner Thaksin Shinawatra's vast fortune untouched after seeing Tim Howard remain untroubled until smothering an angled drive from Martin Petrov in injury-time.

"There were a few words at halftime," he said. "You don't have to be harsh, but I told them that if they carried on the same way, half of them would have to be sold. We have a way of playing that suits these players, but it does not involve a succession of long balls.

"It was good to see a positive reaction from them in the second half but still a big disappointment that we did not create more. I will speak to them again tomorrow because I am sure they are not happy with themselves for falling into the trap and not doing what they are good at, for the first half anyway."