• ‘We have treated the competition with respect,’ insists Moyes
• Teenagers Bidwell and Forshaw part of inexperienced squad
David Moyes has denied he will be doing “a Mick McCarthy” against BATE Borisov tonight despite seeking Uefa’s permission to field an unrecognisable Everton team in the final Europa League group game.
The Everton manager has taken the unusual step of announcing his full starting XI against the Belarusians in the hope of avoiding accusations of short-changing the crowd at Goodison Park, many of whom have already paid £25 for a ticket. Moyes, whose side have qualified for the knockout phase and cannot be dislodged from second place in Group I, has received dispensation from Uefa to promote several untried lads from his European “B-list” into tonight’s team, including the 16-year-old left-back Jake Bidwell and 18-year-old midfielder Adam Forshaw.
There will be three other teenagers in the Everton starting line-up while fellow inclusions Seamus Coleman and Kieran Agard, 21 and 20 respectively, have made a total of seven first-team appearances.
Everton have been beset by injury all year and currently lie 15th in the Premier League. Their makeshift central defence at Chelsea on Saturday, Lucas Neill and John Heitinga, are also ineligible for the Europa League group stage.
“What Mick [McCarthy] did was totally understandable,” said Moyes, “but what we are doing is totally different. We have treated the competition with respect by playing the strongest teams we had available in previous games and by winning away at AEK Athens and BATE we qualified. We have earned the right to make these changes and with the amount of injuries we’ve got I have to protect my players for the Premier League. I think the Everton supporters would expect us to change the team for this game. I’m sure they would be questioning the wisdom of putting out a full team in this game.”
Everton entertain in-form Birmingham City on Sunday and Moyes admits he felt duty-bound to announce his plans for BATE Borisov before kick off. “It is only right that people know what team we are playing,” he added. “It is an expensive time of year but I think there will be some supporters who will be excited at coming to see the youngsters play.”
The Everton manager conceded, however, there is a risk to the youngsters’ confidence and the team’s momentum with the amount of changes he has planned. Moyes added: “I am concerned with the age of the team and there are names in there who will be unknown to a lot of people. I would have wanted Dan Gosling, James Vaughan and Victor Anichebe to play in this game but they are all injured or unavailable. BATE are a good team. They were in the Champions League last season and have just won their league.”
Everton (4-4-2): Nash; Coleman, Hibbert, Duffy, Bidwell; Baxter, Osman, Rodwell, Forshaw; Yakubu, Agard.
BATE Borisov (4-4-2): Veremko; Yurevich, Shitov, Sosnovskiy, Bordacho, Pavlov, Likhtarovich, Goaryan, Krivets, Rodionov, Nekhaychik.
EvertonDavid MoyesBATE BorisovUefa Europa LeagueAndy Hunterguardian.co.uk
