Relieved Dyche delighted for the players after Everton beat Palace

Sean Dyche spoke of the relief at his Everton side finally getting off the mark with their first win in the Premier League this season that lifted them out of the bottom three for the first time in the campaign.

What's more, the Blues came from behind to achieve victory for the first time since the 53-year-old took charge in January last year as Dwight McNeil erased Marc Guehi's 10th-minute opener two minutes into the second half with a sublime finish from 25 yards before volleying in the winner a few minutes later.

“There has to be [relief] because you’re searching for that win,” Dyche told Gary Lineker for Match Of The Day. “I’m delighted for the players because they’ve worked very hard to change a scoreline around. You know, there’s been question marks over many things, and that being one of them but the mentality [in the] second half was really pleasing to see the game through.

“There’s a lot demand here that we put on ourselves, let alone the feeling of this great club and we have to answer that, and I thought we did do today. We certainly did enough to win the game and that was important.”

In his post-match press conference, Dyche expanded on the pressure to turn results around and build on the feel-good factor that came from the imminent takeover of the Club by The Friedkin Group.

“The off-the-pitch [news] we don’t know if it is a positive yet,” he said. “On the pitch is the bit I can try to control and it is pleasing for the players. They put a lot of effort in here. It means it is a step forward.

“The work is never done here. The expectation is go and win again and win again and win again. There were a lot of question marks to play through a nervy stadium. I don’t think we are as far off as people think.”

Dyche admitted that his players were sluggish and “tight” in what was a very poor first-half display by almost everyone in Blue bar Iliman Ndiaye who was, once again, an exciting presence ever time he got the ball.

Jesper Lindstrøm had deservedly kept his place after impressing at Leicester last weekend but he struggled through a torrid first 45 minutes that exposed his lack of experience with the speed and physicality of the Premier League.

The Dane was withdrawn at half-time and replaced by Jack Harrison who had weighed in with a brilliant assist within 10 minutes of the restart, serving the ball from which McNeil rattled in his second and the winning goal.

“I said to Jesper afterwards that it is about learning what it is here,” the manager explained. “I said to him about reacting to a mistake, getting after it and shutting the game down. He's learning about the culture of Everton Football Club.

“And I think Jack's got more of that about him because he's learned over his time here. I was pleased for Jack because his energy is great and he's a very talented footballer, with either foot, and he used it today by doing the simple thing well. Two touch, gets it out of his feet, puts a great ball in. So pleased for him and pleased for the other subs.

“It was not an easy game to see through and I was pleased for all the subs today.”

 

---

---

Reader Comments

Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer ()

There are no responses so far to this article. Be the first to offer a comment using the form below.

---

How to get rid of these ads and support TW