Moyes stands by club decision on Grealish as Everton reach Carabao Cup quarter-finals without him

David Moyes has backed Everton’s decision to leave Jack Grealish out of the squad for their 3-1 Carabao Cup win over Newcastle, while refusing to go into detail over the reasons behind it.

Everton said Grealish was not available for selection “due to a breach of club discipline”.

And the Everton boss made clear the call was a club decision and directed further questions towards those above him.

“You probably know I’m not going to give any details and it’s a club decision,” Moyes said.

“I support the decision, but it’s a club decision.

“It’s not something I want to speak too much about. I think the club are who you should go to if you want more on it.”

Everton’s victory thanks to goals from James Garner, Hayden Hackney and Thierno Barry booked their place in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals, where they will face Fleetwood Town.

“I think the minute you hear quarter-finals, you think this is sounding quite nice and quite good,” he said.

“Fleetwood beat one of the biggest, if not the biggest team, so we have to respect that when it comes to that game.

“But overall, the job to beat Newcastle tonight was a big task and we did well.”

Moyes was also pleased with the way his players handled Grealish’s absence and praised the standards within the squad.

“Everton has real good values,” he said.

“All the players stand up to those values, what we want from them on the pitch and off the pitch, and from that point of view I think the players did a brilliant job tonight.”