David Moyes revealed his decision to not speak to the media after Everton's Carling Cup defeat to Tottenham was the only way he could make his feelings clear about fixture congestion.

Moyes did not attend the press conference at White Hart Lane after Everton's 2-0 defeat there on Tuesday, a fixture which was the team's third away match - and defeat - in six days.

With the Toffees having played at Bolton on Sunday, Moyes felt it was unfair that his players were not allowed the same recovery period as their opponents, who played Stoke on Saturday.

"It would have given us an opportunity to recover the players," said Moyes.

"That's the normal sort of thing you might do, play Saturday then Tuesday or Sunday then Wednesday.

"That would be the normal recovery time for most teams to make it relatively fair - and it wasn't fair.

"Tottenham had the chance to play on Saturday and we had to play on Sunday and then Tuesday.

"People have said that I'm whingeing about it - I hope I'm not.

"When I tried not to talk about it, it wasn't to affect the media in any way.

"It was my only chance to put over a point which wasn't getting heard by the people who were organising the tournament."

Moyes admitted he was worried he might have given the club's supporters the wrong impression by his actions.

"The hardest part was that I would have liked to have given the Everton supporters some information about the team and my feedback on the game after it, so I hope I have in no way offended them," he said.

"But some way we had to try and get heard - or not heard in this case - and I thought the best way to do it was to give the competition no credit by speaking about it.

"We are trying to battle on all fronts and get an English club through in Europe, but the authorities decided it was not worth putting us on a Wednesday night."

After suffering a 5-0 thrashing to Benfica in the Europa League and a last-gasp 3-2 loss at Bolton, Tuesday's result completed a bad week for Moyes and his depleted squad.

Prior to that Everton had been held by Wolves and Stoke in consecutive home fixtures and they are currently 14th in the table after nine games.

The manager is also suffering one of the biggest injury crises of his tenure, but he insisted spirits remained high in the camp and said the players available to him would be looking to turn a corner when they host Aston Villa in the Barclays Premier League on Saturday.

"We're okay - obviously we're sore and disappointed that we didn't do better in the games," Moyes said.

"I think there were some mitigating circumstances in it, but we don't hide behind excuses here.

"We take it on the chin and we get on with it. It's not been the best week but we'll do something about it.

"We're always looking for a good result and if it can turn your fortune, then that is what we would like it to do.

"This week has not been particularly good and we were disappointed, but probably the bigger disappointment was that we didn't take full points against Wolves and Stoke at home.

"I think we have lost one out of five Premier League games, so its not as if we are doing terribly bad.

"But obviously, we want to get in a much healthier position and I believe the players will respond."

Villa have returned to the form that saw them jostling for a Champions League position for much of last season, something Everton achieved themselves in 2005.

Breaking the big four looks like a big ask for the Toffees this time around, but Moyes believes that his team will still be in contention, along with with Villa, Manchester City and Tottenham.

"We've already done it so it is up to the others to do it," Moyes said.

"We are the one club in about nine or 10 years who have done it and that sometimes goes unmentioned.

"We didn't do it with a great deal of cash and if we are going to do it, it will be the same again this year.

"But what we do have here is a great heart and a great spirit. We would like to have more people available, and if we get that I think we can challenge them.

"But Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa undoubtedly will all have a chance this year of being in the top four."