ThewolfSean Dyche said it was down to him to find the answers to the problems that have blighted the start of Everton’s season. The Blues boss acknowledged he had been surprised with the difficulty his side had endured in the opening four games and conceded that “massive challenges” lay ahead.
But he also stressed his belief that fine margins were proving costly for Everton and said he had never experienced as many individual errors as the ones that have struck across recent weeks and which are hard to “legislate” for but which need to be addressed.
The Blues fell to defeat at Villa Park on Saturday night, throwing away a two-goal lead for the second time in consecutive matches as they lost 3-2 to Aston Villa.
Asked for his explanation as to how that had happened so soon after defeat was snatched from the jaws of victory against Bournemouth, Dyche pointed to elements of misfortune – Dominic Calvert-Lewin missing a golden chance to put his team 3-1 up, a Jack Harrison clearance falling at the feet of Ollie Watkins and the issue that saw Vitalii Mykolenko withdrawn from an already patched up defence in the first half.
He then described Jhon Duran’s matchwinner as a “worldie” as he added: “That’s sometimes the way things are going, you know, and correcting that turnaround is difficult when someone smashes in from that far out. And lo and behold we go up the other end and smash one against the bar (Calvert-Lewin) and they are the margins, at the minute getting on the right side of them is a massive challenge.”
That is not the only challenge, he acknowledged. While he claimed he had overseen, in the first half at least, a “good tactical performance”, he questioned whether there may be an issue with the “psyche” of his squad after his players were complicit in their own downfall for yet another match.
Dyche said: “If there’s something in the psyche, I don’t know, but we were hoping for better. That’s quite obvious. The last two performances deserved more than we got. But you don’t always get it.
Asked whether he was concerned that psyche could be an issue given the length of time he had been working with the squad, and the battles it had already come through, Dyche sought to highlight his belief the Blues are a club that still faces significant challenges despite the ones that have been overcome.
He said: “It’s not about concerns, it is about realities. I try to build realities into my thinking. I wasn’t coming into this season thinking we’re just going to breeze through it. Absolutely not. I’ve been in the game a long time, around 320 games in the Premier League.
“I know where the challenges of our squad are. The obvious one has been the numbers, we’ve kind of added to that but people are not fully fit. We’ve lost players to injuries. These are all the challenges that come your way. So by no means were we expecting it to just be a walk in the park, but equally, did I have a lot of belief in this side to not get off to the start we have had? Yes, I certainly did.
Thewolf
BadboyMusty
Drkeem
