EXCLUSIVE: David Moyes wants to get the fundamentals right but he also wants to play open, attacking football says Kevin Kilbane

Manager David Moyes remains committed to creating an Everton side that is both successful and attractive to watch reckons one of his former players.

During his first spell in charged, Moyes steered the Blues to nine top-eight finishes, including their highest ever Premier League placing of fourth. However, he retains something of a reputation for being a safety-first manager which one of his Goodison Parksignings believes is unfair.

Kevin Kilbane, who made 121 appearances for Everton, scoring five goals, after being snapped up by Moyes in 2003. Although he was eventually usurped by Steven Pienaar on the Blues’ left wing, he reckons the South Africa international’s combination with Scouser Leighton Baines – who now serves as Moyes’ first team coach – proves the Scot’s ultimate desire to play swashbuckling football and that’s something he believes his former manager retains.

Speaking courtesy of BetBrain, Kilbane told the ECHO: “David is tough, very tough at times. I always had a great relationship with him because I knew him from when I was 15 or 16, so I was a boy and he helped nurture me through my career to an extent as well.

“He was always on the end of the phone for me, even when I was at West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland prior to coming back to work under him. So, I knew what sort of person he was as I kind of knew him personally before he became my manager anyway and that was something unique and I have so much respect for him.

“He can be tough, but you’ve also got a manager that is willing and open to sit down and have a hard conversation with someone. If you’ve got something that you need to express to him and it is something that he doesn’t agree with, he’ll take things on board and will listen to the person himself that sat there in front of him.

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“I just found him very honest all the time. I probably wouldn’t have had a better man-manager than him in my career. But I think on the coaching field was where he excelled from my perspective. Everyone can see Everton, how well organised they are at times and how difficult they are to play against.

“However, I always remember, during my time at Everton and when I left, the team that he built up. Watching Leighton Baines and Steven Pienaar down the left and Seamus Coleman on the other side, the class that he’d constructed from having these strong fundamentals and the mentality of do not lose.

“That’s pretty much what he’s always had. But he ended up building a team over a period of time that was as good to watch as any Premier League side during the couple of seasons that he had those players.

“So, I hear it said about David Moyes, that he’s a coach that is very organised, which he is, very methodical, which he is, but can he go on to the next level and produce a side that’s open and attacking? I believe he can because I’ve seen it with my own eyes, and I’ve watched and marvelled at the relationship that Baines and Pienaar had.

“It’s as good as Everton have had down the left-hand side since the days of Kevin Sheedy and Pat Van Den Hauwe that were winning League Championships. So that that side that he created was a joy to watch.”

Moyes has gone from being the Premier League’s youngest manager when he first arrived at Goodison Park as a 38-year-old in 2002 to the division’s elder statesman now as he is in charge at Hill Dickinson Stadium and Kilbane believes working effectively with players of a different generation than when you started is no mean feat.

He said: “I think the flair going forwards is an often-overlooked quality of David Moyes as a manager. I think he has always probably gone into a situation where he’s been doing a little bit of firefighting: don’t lose games, stay in matches, get results, which he is as good as anybody at getting a job done in that respect.

“But as I said before, over time, he’s always been able to manage a way where he can get flair players because essentially, that’s what he likes, that type of football. He’s got the fundamentals, right, which he knows that you need, but ultimately David Moyes is a manager that likes the players that can go and open up games.

“He’s had to adapt and that has been the greatest thing. You need certain members of your coaching staff around you and he has Leighton Baines with him now and others that can embrace the younger players.

“Sometimes there can be a generation gap that some players and some people find it hard to get through. He recognises what’s needed to get the best out of himself and you know what, he is so secure in himself that he has real talent around him that is not going to affect him because he feels as though that they’ll get the best out of him as well.

“He’ll know this himself, the respect that I have for him, not just because he signed me for Everton and brought me to one of the greatest clubs in the world, in my opinion. But it’s the respect I have for him as a person because I’ve known him such a long time.”

When it comes to Premier League games managed, Moyes (764) sits third on the all-time list. Although his current contract at Everton expires at the end of this season, he is just 46 matches behind catching fellow Glaswegian Alex Ferguson in second spot and 64 behind leader Arsene Wenger. It’s a situation that the Blues boss is acutely aware of and he referenced it when speaking as the guest of honour at the Football Writers’ Association Northern Managers’ Awards Dinner in Manchester on October 25.

Kilbane thinks his old mentor is far from finished and he’d like to see him carry on, continuing in charge on the banks of the Mersey. He said: “I don’t think he is ready to leave the dugout for a while yet and I think he’s got too much to give. Look where we’ve been over the last 10 years and the rollercoaster ride that it has been following Everton.

“At times it has been a tough watch and he’s stabilised. He has done that and you have to give him credit for doing that.

“I believe he’s ready to start now to create a team that could be a little bit more expansive over the next few years. I believe that’s what his aim is and I’m sure he would say that.

“I’ve not heard him saying it person, but knowing him, I know that’s what he would want to do. He wants to create a side that is obviously competitive, it has to be competitive under him because that’s what he demands but I also believe he wants a team that reflects his mentality of playing open, attacking football.”