Sean Dyche has explained his efforts to enhance his team’s performance as Everton fights to steer clear of relegation, which would be the first time in 72 years, as the season approaches a crucial stage, writes the LiverpoolEcho.
Everton will play against Newcastle United tonight (at 7:45 pm) while being positioned second from the bottom of the table, following Nottingham Forest’s 3-1 triumph over Brighton & Hove Albion, which ended Everton’s 11-game undefeated streak. Despite barely avoiding demotion last season with the lowest points total in the club’s history, the Blues are currently projected to finish with an even smaller point total this season.
Dyche took seven games to secure three victories, whereas his predecessor Frank Lampard had only achieved the same number of wins in 20 games earlier in the campaign. However, Everton has only managed to win one out of their last nine games. Regarding the upcoming games, Dyche stated that every game is crucial, not just the so-called “business end of the season.” He emphasized that the start of the season, the middle, and every match in between are all important.
“It’s just when it gets to this stage, you have to take care of it. At the beginning you can sort of go. ‘well, they’ve got time, they’ve got this, they’ve got that’.
“Defining the moments of truth are the hardest thing as a manager. Putting the players in an organisation in terms of tactics, set-pieces, a fitness level that is correct, they’re the key moments of truth and the big moments, the hardest things as a manager and a coach.”
Dyche added: “You can only guide the players to get where they need to be. Those are the key moments and that comes down to the individual taking that key moment and taking it as their own and that’s what we want, everyone to make a difference, whoever it is.
“We’ve been trying to build that mentality, everything counts. The more you do that, the more you get better at it in theory, the more you win.
“We’re not a million miles away. I thought we were excellent at Forest, that was just a classic Premier League away performance and we made just one mistake, gave the ball away, stripped the midfield, which we didn’t need to do.
“Things like that change the perception, change the view, change the away view. So all these things are important but you can’t define every single moment, you just have to believe in the work you do and the process you go through with the players to go and trust themselves to go and find the freedom to go and score and affect games.”