Sean Dyche speaks after Everton’s Premier League clash with Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium
Sean Dyche said he could provide no reassurances to Everton supporters or the club’s new owners over the Blues’ plight after his side lost to Bournemouth.
Everton survived a host of scares to make it to the break level and Dyche acknowledged the first half display was “a long way off”. He said he made half-time changes to try and address those issues while also having to deal with injuries.
Bournemouth continued to cause Everton problems though and eventually found the winner through a late David Brooks volley.
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Following another disappointing defeat and performance, and a game in which Everton once again struggled in front of goal, the ECHO led the post-match press conference at the Vitality Stadium. Below is a transcript of the questions asked by the ECHO and Dyche’s responses.
Sean, what did you make of that?
It was a tight game that they edged, as they have been doing this season. They’ve had a very good season, they are a very strong side, particularly here. I thought the first half was a close affair, but we weren’t where we wanted to be so I made changes for the second half.
I thought we were stronger in the second half and we got into key areas and, as has been the challenge since I’ve been at the club, finding that last moment when people pass when they could shoot, or the final cross and the final finish, we don’t find that. So it’s very frustrating. It was a tight game that went against us.
Can you talk us through those changes, what was the plan and what were you hoping it would achieve?
Well, there were a couple of injuries, of course. So we had to monitor that…
…Was that Lindstrom injured?
Lindstrom, he got a knock, so we had to monitor that. We’re looking at ways of operating. We think Harrison’s [Armstrong] done well and he showed really strong signs in what he’s been doing. So we gave him some minutes in the game and [we were] trying to find a way of opening up, stopping their left side, whilst promoting [Ashley] Young, who can cross it. Patto [Nathan Patterson], as we know, is a more attacking-style full-back. It was trying to build a momentum that can go and win the game.
Despite that, there were no shots on target. It took 81 minutes to get one against Forest the other day. What needs to change?
You need to change the amount of shots we get on target, the amount of goals we score. That is what needs to change.
Do you believe you can do that with the squad that you have got?
Well, we’ve certainly been trying. We have been trying for two years to do that. It’s very difficult to find players who have that cutting edge and ones who can score a goal.
What options do you think you have got going forward?
Well, we’ve got a couple injured now, a couple of centre forwards injured. Youssef [Chermiti] is injured and Broja we will wait and see, using the squad that we have got.
How concerned are you by the failure initially to turn draws into wins…
… It is a reality. I have said it since I have been at the club. I knew the reality, well I didn’t actually, when I first got here let’s say the reality shifted significantly, which we have spoken about. But these are the realities. This is the squad, these are the players we have got, this is trying to constantly mould players into a more offensive unit whilst defending properly.
What reassurances can you give to fans or the new owners that…
No reassurances of any kind because the reality of football management is every time that whistle blows, no manager can reassure anything, no manager can assure every result goes your way.
So do you very much see this as a case of a season in a relegation battle then?
No, I’ve never said I never anything different than the facts are the facts. At the beginning of the season there was all this noise about ‘we’ve had this big window and we could do this and do that, it is the last season in the Old Lady’ and all that sort of stuff. I made it clear, I said I don’t know where that has all come from. I made it clear at the beginning of the season, I made it clear at the end of last season, because you were there when I said, ‘by the way, there is miles to go with this story’. There were miles to go and there still is. The new ownership will bring stability, they have made that clear. And over time they’ll build that. That is it. The rest of it is as it is. It is working constantly with a group of players to try and win football matches. But I tried to make it clear, everyone said they wanted the truth, I told them the truth. Then if you don’t want the truth, what do you want me to tell you? I’ve tried to be honest with you. You keep asking me and I keep reflecting on the truth. I’ve told you.
(Questions from other outlets on Jordan Pickford’s performance, the winning goal, the second half performance)
ECHO: When you say there you thought this was a close game, I know it was close in the scoreline but do you actually think it was because there felt a degree of predictability perhaps about Bournemouth scoring?
No, no, no. It was close in scoreline. I didn’t say about the performance. The performance I felt was a long way off, I think I made that clear, in the first half. Then I changed that and I thought we got slightly better. I hope I made that clear, I wasn’t saying we got radically better, I just thought we got better second half, we looked more offensive while still defending properly.
Why did you think it was, for a second game in a row, that Everton started so poorly?
I just think the feeling around what we’re doing, it goes down again, so therefore we’ve got to challenge ourselves to deal with that. And these players have dealt with a lot, I remind you of that and I remind myself of it, often. They have dealt with a lot these players. I said to them ‘lads, it’s another thing you’ve got to deal with, collectively’. But they’ve dealt with a lot, these players, and they’ve got to deal with more because it is a never ending story.
And was [Orel] Mangala injured when he came off?
Yeah, well he had a personal issue during the week that we had to sort out.
