Dyche undertakes forensic examination of Calvert-Lewin's condition

Regardless of what does/doesn't offer when he's on the pitch, we have put blind faith in Calvert-Lewin as our first choice striker but it's now bordering on ridiculous if he can't get himself free from this two year spell.

The cold hard facts are that he's scored just two goals since August 2021, we are now sitting here at the end of February 2023.

There's only so long that we as a football club can afford to allow that to continue.

I personally think we battered Dominic and overused him as a young player. Compounded by his style of play, fatigue and injury was always going to happen.

I always remember being told to be honest when coming back from injury. If you're not fit, then don't say you can play.

But I never played anywhere near this standard. With the medical staff we have, you would think they would know it. Maybe Mr Dyche has recognised this.

The player will always want to play.

Don't bring him back until he is ready, otherwise we will have an early retirement on our hands because we will break him.

Come back when you are fit and ready Dominic. We want you and need you.

That's a fair enough assessment, but we also should have been ruthless last summer in the transfer market and look for an actual replacement and almost ruled out Calvert-Lewin for this season.

We aren't a charity and can't afford more weeks, months or whatever waiting on a player that is offering very little to the cause, through no fault of his own I accept that.

As I say, two goals since August 2021, and we still call him our first choice striker, how long can that go on logically?

As it stands now I'd be surprised if Dominic plays 6 more games the rest of this season, that could actually cost us in the relegation battle.

The club is at fault here for not seeing what most of us saw last summer in regards to this injury.

I said back then, it's not about getting Calvert-Lewin fit, it's about keeping him fit, and the plan has failed fantastically.

Us mortals could see it.

How the "experts" couldn't is beyond me.

Leeds tomorrow and young Ellis needs support, not left alone like he was for long periods at Anfield.

I played professionally for several years before an injury put an end to my career (a proper one).

During that time, regularly we had someone within the dressing room that we all knew could play if they REALLY wanted too, but allowed themselves not too because they didn't feel right or weren't 100% in their minds.

I can't help but feel that watching Dyche interview yesterday, his comments would have been different whilst longer in post and in different circumstances. It reminded me of Fergie when Saha joined us "Some players think they are injured"
I am basing that on what he actually did say and the tone of his comments

DCL cannot be relied upon and needs shipped out, along with Mina and anyone else not up for the fight regardless whether we stay up or not.

Gary Neville spot on, if we continue to wait for Calvert-Lewin, we could be relegated by then

Quadricep and hamstring have troubled many careers. The latter especially when players were required to overplay when injured.

How do you really distinguish your "proper" injury from his?

Whenever I see an injured player come back, then quickly get injured, then come back, then get a different injury, I start thinking about how well his fitness is being managed, by himself and the medical team/management. The management has the ultimate say in these matters. They'd be the people I'd pose the questions to.

We have been quite unlucky in recent years in that the incumbents of two of those key positions (Mina and DCL) are often injured.

I am pretty sure that if both had been more regularly available we would never have ended up at the foot of the table.

We haven't had that kind of money for 2/3 years now.

Most of the other teams are overly reliant on one striker, they don't tend to have another of equal quality hanging around.

What would happen to Brentford if Toney was injured? You take Kane out of the Spurs starting 11 and they're an also ran.

Chelsea can't buy a goal, Man Utd rely on Rashford.

DCL has scored more Premier League goals in fewer games than Richarlison. Where are we finding the money to replace or even match that?

Simple answer is, we're not and since 2021 never would have. Now players have been sold to simply balance the books.

It's shit or bust now. We have Simms & hopefully, for me anyway, Gray alongside him.

We can bang on about the arseholes in the boardroom and the Monaco boardwalk, what should have been, what could have been but it won't change the here and now nor will it change our short term future... our Premier League survival.

Bottom line is... if we can't beat Leeds on Saturday and then Aston Villa?

It's over.

Have we got what it takes to beat Forest & Palace away, Brentford & Fulham at home? I mean, wins is what it'll take, nothing less... and they're the only realistic games we may take points from.

Dominic was pushed relentlessly by different managers, when he first started playing in the first team, used on both wings defending and attacking as well as in the striker roll where he scored and assisted goals as well as getting a few penalties for the team. he gave his all for seventy minutes v Arsenal before he was substituted like he did in most games he played in my opinion.

I don't think he has ever been a shithouse when he has been on the field for Everton, he has competed has much as he has been able to do and more than a lot of Everton players, in the same period, have done.

Very good perspective spoken from experience Phillip.

I seem to recall a remark about Saha during his Everton period. Very talented player but apparently would not play unless he was 100% fit in his own mind.

I obviously don't know, but I am suspecting Calvert-Lewin has been the reverse and he's been trying to play when he hasn't been fit.

Head wise; I don't know. We all have issues in life and modern footballers, especially young ones are kept in the bubble of the academies and deprived of a normal life from a young age.

Get back Dominic and be an Everton hero. Just as you were last May.

Not signing an additional proven goalscorer even when Richie was still here is dereliction of duty by the club. And boy are we gonna pay the price.

It was madness and an act of self harm not to get a quality direct backup/ challenger in for Calvert-Lewin in the summer. This was the priority signing to be made, then any others following it as a bonus. Another opportunity incredibly squandered in January. It defies belief, how can this have happened? No other club is run with his level of incompetence, it's the basics.

On to Ellis Simms, it's a big task and challenge for him. Everyone needs to give him full backing no matter what, he gets some goals wherever he has been once he has settled in. If Dyche can get a bit more out of him he might just, out of the blue, come good for us.

COYBLUES! Give us the Arsenal performance and we will beat Leeds.

I think his demise was more off the pitch lifestyle choices.

I liked Saha. I thought he'd won us the FA Cup for a minute!!

I can't see anyone buying him at present anyway.

These lads have ten years at the very top if they're lucky. DCL has lost one fifth of that before he's 25, can we not have empathy for him rather than judge him from afar and make baseless pokes about his professionalism.

He was unplayable at times before his big injury. Looked like the real deal. Was linked with big money moves to some of the biggest clubs in Europe. Now some on here are saying we should literally give him away. That's how badly his career has turned round. I'm absolutely certain this wouldn't be his choice.

He's going to leave no stone unturned, which should or should not, in some peoples eyes, be music to Dominic's ears.

I can't remember Lewin, ever being a malingerer before his first serious injury, so if he's hearing his manager, having sympathy and suggesting that his problems haven't been helped, by him rushing back to soon, or playing when he obviously wasn't ready (something I'm sure we have all witnessed) then having a manager who seems to understand him, might be what the player has been missing?

If Dominic is not that interested anymore, then I'm certain Dyche's thorough research, will identify this, but if he his, then hopefully Dyche's very sensible due diligence, will bring about real rewards?

There's a lot of lip service spoken in football, and anyone who doesn't believe the game is littered with people who are full of shite, hasn't got a proper perspective on it imo, so it is very refreshing to hear our manager, talking with so much sense, and if he's true to his word, one thing we should never have to worry about, is the managers work ethic.

I just don't really understand it when, regardless of tactics, formation, league standing, the simple objective of a football match is to try and score goals. Strikers are there to do that so why we've never really invested in them I don't know. It's not a surprise we don't score that many goals.

Todays situation is beyond belief. We've known since at least January 2022 that we needed another striker. This situation was made more extreme when Richarlison left (albeit we knew well before he'd go last summer). We didn't sign a striker in the summer yet ploughed tens of millions into the midfield and defence. Then we get to January, having already had DCL injured for most of the first half of the season, and we sign literally no one. We had the whole of the World Cup to line up a striker to join 1st Jan, well before we were near the drop zone, never mind in it, and yet we fail to do so. Even a loan would have been infinitely better than bringing no one in.

The entire recruitment and scouting staff at EFC need to be sacked and a whole new team brought in. I simply cannot believe in two transfer windows and the 2 months for the World Cup we were unable to find one single striker to join the club. Every other club in the bottom 3rd of the league brought in new players, even bottom placed Southhampton.

Beggars belief.

What would Everton do? indeed!

I've watched Andy King score a screamer to give us our first derby win in years. Everton are Magic and that iconic green banner. I watched Sharp score the first goal at Wembley to take us on a path to glory and then embarrass Lawrenson to score "that" goal.

Andy Gray's strange header at grass level when it looked easier to side foot it into the net. But hey, it went in!

Pat Van Den Hauwe scoring a rare one to send us home cheering the champions on the long trip back from Norwich.

Tim Cahill's header at Anfield.

Kevin Sheedy. Just Kevin Sheedy. I'll leave it there.

I've had some great moments watching Everton. Too many to recount. But I can't emphasise the emotion I felt when Dominic put that thumping diving header in the back of the net against Palace last May. I was almost crying. The Palace fans were celebrating with me - genuinely.

Let's hope Dyche, who is honest speaking, can help the lad get back to where he can be. Whatever the reasons are, and we don't know them, he and the staff will know better than us and will help him.

Tomorrow is about the 11 on the pitch and those on the bench.

In the meantime, let's give Simms the chance to find his feet at this level. It should have happened a while ago, imo.

·
9 Feb
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a major doubt for the Merseyside Derby on Monday. The striker is yet to return to training after feeling tightness in his hamstring during the win over Arsenal. Scan results revealed no major injury however Calvert-Lewin is still feeling discomfort 🔵

Re the above. Apparently, an internal club source who has been a generally reliable source of info over the past few years, however before the virtue signallers query the legitimacy. I cannot quantify it, just share it with the intention to inform everyone's opinion in this democratical forum.

Watching Lampard's last game in charge against West Ham, then DCL looked very stiff, and almost like he was scared to stretch. He looked too heavy, and offered nothing because of this imo.

Two weeks later, Dyche's first game, and Dominic played like he had life. He won headers, he tried to hold it up, he tried working the Chanel a couple of times, kept two defenders occupied and even had the confidence to try a little spin, and this seemed to confirm what our new manager had said about him, that he was actually a lot closer than he thought he was?

Maybe the extra work has took a bit out of him, because for the first time this season, he looked like a proper footballer again, imo, or maybe he still lacks confidence in his body, and this is the real issue.

I'm no sports scientist, but looking in from the outside, the only thing that I'd have DCL doing, is running. He would run in the morning, stretch then rest, then he would run in the afternoon and then he would stretch some more, and he would repeat this every single day until he could run without having any fear.

As to virtue signalling - what does that even relate to in this case? I'm not especially fond of DCLs daft outfits if thats what you're getting at but the same is true of many fashionista bellends who play football. Neymar, Pogba, David Beckham, Ronaldo, etc etc. Are these guys all shithouses when their hamstring goes?

Or is it only a proper injury if you wear conventional trousers?

He's good, and to be honest our best bet at escaping the trapdoor this season, Maupay seems to have left his shooting boots at Brighton, Simms doesn't have the premier league smarts (He's switched on so it will come in time), or pure raw talent to nullify this. (Being isolated and starved of service doesn't help either) Loaning out Tommy Cannon was a mistake I think as well.

I am absolutely disinterested in Calvert-Lewin's lifestyle choices away from football , especially as what you have mentioned has no bearing whatsoever on his availability for Everton. Maybe a better mattress will help though.

That said, your attempt to entice me into virtue signalling about this matter has failed ! ha

Signed

A fellow Ragged trousered philanthropist

Knee, calf, hamstring and quad strains are often related to back and hip malfunctions.
Treatment of the immediate issue such as a hamstring strain may well get a player back on the pitch within three weeks but if there is an underlying musculoskeletal weakness the injury will more than likely recur.

These problems seem especially common among taller players. Duncan Ferguson was an example of someone who would be in and out, sometimes flying in training for a few days before breaking down the day before a match.

Dyche is spot on in trying to get to the root of Dominic's problems. The comments about the player being a malingerer or worse seem cretinous to me. There may have been doubts about the level his ability to reach the very top of the game but I don't think there are any grounds for doubting the level of the player's ambition to do so.

It's gone now, but I think playing with a broken toe, might have contributed in Dominic, getting a much more serious injury Christy, but what is a manager supposed to do when he's got such limited striking options?

I remember us murdering Brighton, but then losing Mina, Lewin and Richarlison, and I don't think we have really recovered since then?

Dyche would be doing the same with the entire roster, not just Dominic. But Dominic is the player he's mostly being asked about.

For the defence this would seem to be at the root of Dominics problems.

He is very athletic and relied on that to put himself about mainly as the lone striker. If he was carrying muscle injuries he has no doubt put too much of a demand on certain of his limbs and is now suffering for it.

A bit of encouragement and sympathy would go a long way to aiding this lad's recovery instead of the ridiculous comments that some posters have made.

It's a good point. Think about someone like Mick Quinn. He was like the creature from the swamp thing. All he had to do was find a small patch of dry ground in the mud pit around the goal and wait for the ball to get stuck in the mud within reach. Could you imagine him being a professional now playing on these carpets with the floater balls they use?

“I don't think he's been properly fit along this situation because of his own will and demand to keep playing; thinking ‘I want to get out there, I want to keep playing.'

“Some players don't know until after the event that they've put so much demand on themselves that they weren't quite ready."

It's a contentious one, especially because I'd love him to be in our team tomorrow, and thinking about him playing with a broken bone in his foot, when Maradona, had him running on quicksand, makes me remember how brave and honest, Reidy was.

You can have all the talent in the world, but if you are continually injured and therefore don't play, you're definably not an asset and officially a drain on resources.

Good health is part of the game. We simply must trade Calvert-Lewin and Mina, get as much money for them as possible, and move on.

Maybe their injuries are tragic, maybe not. I don't care. The health track record for both players is beyond shit. We're in a relegation battle 2 years running – we can't afford passengers.

We need Leeds to take points off those around us too which will inevitably mean they climb the table too.

Our March fixtures scare the crap out of me.

In the space of two weeks he's turned an injury into a soap opera. He's taken an injured young man and questioned firstly his mental toughness (yes he clearly did) and then when there body broke down under pressure he moved to every aspect of his lifestyle.

I'll be honest I have a bad feeling about him. When he speaks it feels like his only interest is telling the world how smart he really is. His interest should have been the player.

Whatever you might think of Dom, the club has a duty of care to him. And his manager is out raving to the press about every aspect of him off the pitch.

I would agree with you, if I hadn't read a different transcript of the interview, where Dyche was at pains to emphasise that the methods he was employing applied to every member of the playing staff and wasn't specific to Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Dyche:“ That's learning about people. The biggest learning is what is in here [points to his head] and that's the hard part. I'll get all the information I can and then share it with him. That's the process for every player, by the way, not just him.”

I think Sean Dyche is aS concerned as everybody else as to why DCL keeps breaking down, so why shouldn't he examine all aspects to try and solve the problem. The medics say the scan shows no damage to the hamstring and I am sure they have access to the best equipment money can buy.

You say he has turned an injury into a soap opera, but I think Dyche is looking at a player who didnt play much last year played even less this season, so maybe it is a soap with no happy ending. How you can blame Dyche for any of this, I don't know. You say he is trying to prove to people how smart he is, I think quite the opposite he is just a hardworking manager who is trying to solve the problem that is EFC.

In line with other examples posted above, Klopp also shared that he thought Sturridge was suffering from an unsuitable mental assessment of his injuries, something along the lines of mistaking normal fatigue, aches and pains, for injury.

Another thought is that as ever, there is more to it that we don't know on the outside. Inherent deficiencies or vulnerabilities to injury in the physique of a professional footballer tend to show a little earlier than at Dom's age (Michael Owen being one) - and one expects knowledge of such would have escaped into the light by now.

As so often with Everton, it all happens at the worst possible time. Fingers crossed!

Keiran - Imagine? If things go south tomorrow, we could be begging for him to play, come the Villa game.

I don't know if some of that was for me but I essentially agree - just not when it gets too personal (or can be perceived that way), what's in the head etc. That doesn't need to be out there, it can cause more drama that can be better avoided.

Need to get creative and very quickly, Calvert-Lewin is not coming back fully fit anytime soon.

Exactly. Plan B — a concept Frank never grasped.

Do we know who did what to whom and when, yet?

Agree with others: we hve to make the best of what we've got: that's Simms and Maupay. We have to play both together because either one by himself simply isn't going to cut it.

That obviously leaves us a bit light in midfield. I'd be tempted to play 3 in there if we had attacking full-backs to provide the width. Sadly Patterson still isn't ready and Mykolenko can't attack.

So our ‘options' are a 34-year-old knackered Coleman and a journeyman loanee. (Am I allowed to wallow about our disastrous recruitment at this stage, please? It's literally handicapped us at every turn.)

With a 3-man midfield, perhaps we could play James Rodriguez in a free role to find space and create. Oh no, wait. We shipped him off too.

Hmmm... Demarai Gray as a fluctuating winger it is then.

What could go wrong?

If he doesn't, his agent will.

So, what's a gifted, sporadic England international 25-year-old centre-forward to do given the perfectly obvious total ineptitude of his employers who've squandered several of his young years and, as a direct consequence, have disabled themselves from any squad improvement for seasons to come?

Does he immediately play some more for the buffoons who run the club? Or does he bide his time in sick bay allowing other knackered or useless players to try to cover for him, confident that his price is right now at it's highest vis-a-vis his length of contact, in the obvious knowledge that his owner will sell anyone and anything for the biggest possible price as soon as possible?

It's a no-brainer to me.

Some people call it "professional" football – more experienced others call it "I'm Alright Jack" selfishness.

Christ, we are fickle fans.

There's nothing wrong with leaving no stone unturned to get Dom back to fitness. There's a lot wrong with telling the world at every opportunity that you're doing it. My guess, given his interviews to date, is that he's trying to impress with how modern and sophisticated his techniques are.

I'd rather he worried more about his players and less about himself.

I think the problem is context. Dyche gets a ton of media questions and they share what creates headlines. I wouldn't say he was trying to sound modern any more than you're woke.

Obviously the elephant in the room is Calvert-Lewin's continuing absence in spite of not one tangible obvious injury. The press are going to hound him on this point and I think he was doing a politician's dance with vague answers, dancing around the point because he's trying to best manage the situation.

If anything, I think Sean isn't trying to be modern; I think he's a bit of a blast from the past. But when managers are required to periodically answer questions from the press, it puts them in a bad spot. We have no fit striker but, as a new employee, he can hardly say “the board fucked up”.

So I think he's just trying to do a diplomatic dance offering vague answers on Calvert-Lewin and avoiding criticizing the board because ultimately he needs both on side to boost our chances of survival.

The manager was over-communicating during the press conference about Calvert-Lewin's situation. He might be trying to push him or challenge him, but that should be done in private.

Personally, I think that Dyche is talking a lot as he wants to counter the caricature that built around him at Burnley – he wants to be seen as a technical, modern manager.

I think he has nothing to prove, and he should just concentrate on the job in hand.

Mind you, all of us as supporters probably are suffering from a mental breakdown now, too!!!

Have I missed something while running through the previous posts. Where did the "woke" reference come from?

Obviously something is wrong with Calvert-Lewin… and so let's allow the manager to get on with his job in his own way.

By the way, the idea that his hamstring injury isn't real... where did that come from? I've seen it from El Bobble, but nowhere else. And it's become a stick to beat him with (well one of the sticks, along with his dress sense, mental state and choice of mattress).

It seems pretty obvious that he has a hamstring injury.

He's talked about commitment, team performance & work ethic, he's talked about the importance of us fans both home and away.

He's only been here for 2 games, what do you expect him to fill the press conference time talking about?

I remember him posting an almost identical message at the end of the season to Richarlison: "Thanks for everything." Well we know who ended up leaving. I think Calvert-Lewin expected he would be gone too.

So he may be trying to get fit; however with his predisposition to injuries, his mind being elsewhere, then the result is that his body is breaking down (mind/body connected).

I would bet that, if he were fit and at another progressive club, he wouldn't be struggling as much.

He changed his car and a lot of his injuries cleared up. Sounds simple but it's not as silly as it sounds.