Sean Dyche has spoken out about how he intends to help his Everton players bounce back from their 4-0 defeat at the hands of Aston Villa today.
Everton were utterly outclassed by Aston Villa at Villa Park. Goals for John McGinn, Douglas Luiz, Leon Bailey, and Jhon Duran secured a comfortable victory for Unai Emery’s side. Meanwhile, Sean Dyche clearly has plenty of work to do.
Everton were ragged at the back. Michael Keane and summer signing Ashley Young were weak links. The Toffees also comprehensively lost the midfield battle, and were toothless going forward.
Everton’s misery was compounded by the injuries they picked up. Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s return to the side last just over half an hour before a facial injury forced him off. Alex Iwobi was also removed early, with what looked like a hamstring injury.
Having been beaten by Fulham at Goodison Park on the opening day, Everton are without a point in the Premier League. Fears of another campaign spent scrapping in a relegation tussle will be brewing in earnest on Merseyside now.
Dyche calls for Everton response
Dyche needs to elicit a positive response from his squad, and quickly. The Everton boss already has a plan for how he will manage his side through the aftermath of this thrashing. Speaking to BBC Sport, he said, “we will study the game tomorrow with the players. It was a tough day in the sense they were better than us. Sometimes that happens. They had more edge to their performance…That was not good enough, it was way off where we want to be, way off the consistency we need. They had just been punished themselves, they reacted and we need to react ourselves. We were miles off it today.”
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Everton take on fellow-strugglers Wolves at home next time out and will need to be much, much better to get the positive result they desperately need against the Midlands side.
They will be hoping that Calvert-Lewin and Iwobi’s injuries aren’t as serious as they looked, and that both are available for the next match. Beyond that, though, there are tactical and structural flaws that must be ironed out on the training pitch this week.
If things don’t improve quickly then Dyche could find himself under real pressure before long.