Sean Dyche labels Everton ‘SOFT’ after 4-0 thrashing at Aston Villa as the Toffees boss insists there is no ‘magic wand’ to fix their struggles
Sean Dyche questioned the mentality of his Everton team, saying they ‘went soft’ and lacked resilience during their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Aston Villa.
The Toffees have not scored yet this season in two defeats and are already bottom of the Premier League table, after goals from John McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey and Jhon Duran saw Villa ease to victory.
And Dyche said his team were far from their best and he could have substituted the whole team at half-time. ‘We were a long way off, particularly after being a long way on last weekend so that was a surprise to me,’ he said.
‘The thing that reminded me of before I got here, we conceded a goal and you just smelt that the group went soft very quickly. We conceded another and everyone was looking at everyone else to do something.
‘We’ve got to stop that feeling. I have hopefully reminded the players of the resilience of being a footballer. Sometimes you have to accept a collective down day.
Everton produced a torrid performance against Aston Villa on Sunday afternoon as they slumped to a heavy defeat
Everton manager Sean Dyche labelled his side as ‘soft’ after their performance at Villa Park
‘That today was a collective down day. I can’t pick a player… apart from Dobbo (Lewis Dobbin) who has had an excellent pre-season and Arnie (Arnaut Danjuma) is getting sharper… but other than that there’s hardly a player anywhere near what we can do.
‘We have got to make sure that we learn from this very quickly to make sure the mentality is stronger going forward. We looked too lackadaisical. Our defence… the body language, intent, weren’t there.’
Dyche added that Dominic Calvert-Lewin will hopefully be OK after suffering an injury to his cheekbone, though Alex Iwobi could miss some matches with a hamstring blow. Idrissa Gana Gueye went off at half-time but that was tactical.
‘Idrissa didn’t perform today but I could’ve taken the whole team off at half-time,’ added Dyche. ‘There’s no magic wand, there never was when I got the job, and there are no shortcuts, because shortcuts in football usually cost a lot of money.’
Everton dropped to the bottom of the Premier League standings after another consecutive defeat
Dyche insisted it was a ‘collective down day’ from his struggling Toffees side on Sunday
Meanwhile, Everton midfielder Amadou Onana was racially abused on Instagram, with a fan calling him a ‘monkey’.
‘Oh nice one, mate, appreciate it,’ Onana sarcastically replied. It comes a week after Neal Maupay was also abused by fans on social media.
Unai Emery added: ‘Today I want to especially dedicate this victory to Emi Buendia and Tyrone Mings (who both suffered long-term injuries). But of course I am going to be very demanding for us to improve which I think we can do in some things.
‘But today the result – of course after our defeat in Newcastle – was very important.’
