IF only David Moyes had the luxury of ‘playing for nothing’ like Ronald Koeman, the Dutchman occupying the manager’s office at Goodison Park, where the Sunderland boss spent 11 years reviving the club’s fortunes.

Moyes, after being subjected to the 17th defeat of his first frustrating Premier League season as the Black Cats manager, reflected with a smile how money had been spent at his former home when he entered the media suite after 5pm on Saturday.

These days, managers conduct the post-match interviews with the written press in a more modern ground-floor room to when he was in charge, when they would have to walk up flights of stairs to take a seat in a more compact and dated place.

Much has changed for Moyes since then too. Rather than concentrating on trying to lead Everton into Europe, just as Koeman is now, he would settle for lifting Sunderland to fourth from bottom by the end of the season.

On the evidence of Saturday’s performance that is going to be hard, just as the majority of the displays that have preceded it this season have highlighted too. If nothing else it is shaping up to be another exciting end to the season as Sunderland fight for their top-flight future.

Moyes’ former club remain seventh after beating Sunderland courtesy of Idrissa Gueye and Romelu Lukaku goals towards the end of each half, some four points shy of Manchester United and a further point behind neighbours Liverpool.

Everton are also four ahead of West Brom, with no fear of a relegation fight, so there was an intriguing question posed to Koeman afterwards about how he will motivate a set of players with effectively ‘nothing to play for’ in the remaining 12 matches.

The Dutchman responded: “The worst thing for a footballer is to play for nothing. I would like to play for something until the end of the season. Above us is still a gap. Even if it is five or six points it is possible to reach them. Everything is possible.”

Moyes must be thinking ‘if only’. Sunderland are three points adrift of safety and he thinks a further five wins – they have only won five times all season – will be required in the remaining games to stay up.

The question is how will Sunderland suddenly come up with those in such a short space of time?

There is an over-reliance on Jermain Defoe’s goals. Apart from the three scored by the injured Victor Anichebe, there are only three other players in the squad to have found the net in the league –and only once.

The team look organised enough and the players appear to be playing for Moyes. The problem is that while they are not scoring goals, they are conceding plenty, a recipe for relegation.

Adnan Januzaj, the Belgian forward, said: “If you concede goals as we did at the end of the first half it’s harder for us.

“If you don’t concede we have more chances to win the game. That’s the most important thing for us. If we stop conceding goals it makes the task much easier for us up front because if we score one and don’t concede, we win the game. We have to fight and try to get draws and wins. That’s it.”

Sunderland looked reasonably solid at times. The effective Seamus Coleman peppered the Sunderland box with crosses, but more often than not though they were dealt with effectively.

Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, preferred between the posts to Vito Mannone, showed a few signs of rustiness after a couple of months out of action yet still made a number of strong saves to keep Sunderland in it.

However, Pickford could do nothing about the opener five minutes before half-time. Tom Davies’ clever pass out to the right flank was perfect for Coleman to run on to and send in a low cross. Gueye’s run was well timed and he applied a stunning first-time right-foot finish with the sort of power Lukaku and Defoe would have been proud of.

After the restart Sunderland improved, with Lukaku unable to get a look in against a defence well marshalled by John O’Shea, but there was still no breakthrough at the other end.

Defoe crashed his own power-drive off the underside of the bar with the ball bouncing the wrong side of the line and going out for a corner.

But when the flag-kick was cleared, Everton counter attacked and Lukaku shrugged off the attentions of Bryan Oviedo, who was at fault for the breakdown of Sunderland’s move, before finding the inside of Pickford’s near post.

Losing to Everton is no disgrace, nor will it be if Sunderland suffer another reversal at home to Manchester City on Sunday.

The problem Moyes and his men have, however, is the games are running out to climb away from danger after spending 177 days in the bottom three this season.