David Moyes has given a typically blunt response when asked how important the Carabao Cup is to Everton this season.
The Blues travel to Preston North End on Wednesday night for their second-round tie, with Everton still searching for a first major trophy since winning the FA Cup in 1995.
Chief executive Angus Kinnear has already spoken about the club wanting to challenge for silverware this season.
Moyes wants the same.
What he doesn’t particularly like is being asked whether managers really care about cup competitions.
“I think it’s a question every journalist asks every manager,” Moyes said, before describing the suggestion that managers might not want to win cups as “stupid”.
“Of course we all want to win the cups,” he added. “Yes, the cups are hugely important.”
Moyes turns question back on reporter
Moyes then had a question of his own.
Would winning a cup, he asked, be more important than remaining in the Premier League?
“Of course we want to do well in the cups,” he said. “I can’t think of any manager who wouldn’t want a good run in the cups.”
There is some history behind the questioning.
Everton made significant changes when they travelled to Wolves in the third round last season and were knocked out by a side struggling badly in the Premier League.
Moyes acknowledged that result when discussing whether he might rotate at Preston.
This time, Michael Keane, Jake O’Brien and Tyler Dibling are among those pushing for minutes, although Preston represent what Moyes described as a “much, much tougher game” than last season’s second-round tie against Mansfield.
Moyes wants a cup run.
Just don’t ask him whether he wants one.
