(Reuters) - Everton must rebuild their reputation as a tough team to beat at home and aim to develop strong leaders on the pitch, according to their former manager David Moyes.
The Merseyside club have struggled for consistency in recent seasons despite significant investment in players by majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri.
Everton sit ninth in the Premier League table with 36 points ahead of Sunday's derby clash with leaders Liverpool and Moyes suggested Marco Silva's side must return to their roots to become competitive again.
"Goodison was always a tough place to come. The crowd were incredibly supportive and got right behind the team. I'm not sure that's quite the way it's been," Moyes, who had 11 years in charge at Everton from 2002, told the Times.
"But you couldn't say that's because a lack of funding. I don't think Everton are a million miles off it. They need to get a bit more leadership on the field. Maybe they have to go back to a little of the basics of where they were before."
Moyes, who endured an unsuccessful year at Manchester United before managing Real Sociedad, Sunderland and West Ham United, suggested Everton should resist changing their style drastically.
"Everyone wants a change in some way but, for me, Everton's best teams were sides with Peter Reid and going back to Alan Ball, Colin Harvey and Howard Kendall," the 55-year-old added.
"They were tough, really committed, great players. You are trying to be modern and you are trying to take Everton forward into a new era, but you have to watch that you don't forget what you were actually very good at."
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ed Osmond)