Sean Dyche was saying following his Everton team’s 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion to extend their winless Premier League streak to nine games.
The manager of Everton, Sean Dyche, stated that his team’s choice to play nine minutes of extra time in their 1-1 tie with Brighton & Hove Albion altered the atmosphere within the Amex Stadium. Despite conceding an equalizer in the 95th minute, his team was unable to hold onto a Premier League victory for the first time in more than two months.
When asked if that was difficult to accept, the Blues manager replied, “It’s a fact.” We defended admirably and, in my opinion, improved after a difficult opening 20 minutes in which Brighton was the stronger team and we did not handle the ball at all. I was really happy with our mentality for that.
“It’s not an easy place to come here when they’re passing and they’re moving. They reined the ball behind us a lot more and they played a lot more long passes and long balls than they normally do.
“Then we re-gathered ourselves in our own game and I was pleased with that because it’s not easy to do during a game. There’s a lot made of half-time when managers are speaking but during the game we managed to affect that so I was pleased that we managed to get the message on and they took hold of it.
“The away team put on an extremely strong second half. There were several positive indications of an away performance; they were managing the game without the ball at points, but they never appeared overly vulnerable or in danger and were making the most of what they had at the time.
“After that, we scored a pretty nice goal, and your only complaint is that there are now nine minutes of extra time. We are all aware of the drama surrounding these moments—nine and all—but what really matters is how it alters the entire stadium.
“If four goes up, everyone just goes, ‘yeah, okay’. But nine goes up, you know what it’s like, they’re throwing more bodies forward and we didn’t deal with that so well, so that was a frustrating part, those last nine minutes when I felt we could have dealt with that better.
“On the other hand, on the balance of it all, Brighton have only lost one at home this season, they’re a good outfit, we come down here and we take a good point. It’s another valuable point on the table.”
Everton have now gone nine Premier League matches without a win but with his side – who are now a point above the drop zone with the appeal verdict against their 10-point deduction, the biggest sporting sanction in 135 years of English top-flight football, still to come through – Dyche played down suggestions that his team were in relegation form. He said: “We should be on 31 don’t forget. In a way you can spin the story however you wish.
“If you add in the run with the four wins on the trot, then all of a sudden you add it all together and go, ‘actually, it’s a healthy 31 compared to previous seasons, pretty healthy’. It’s how you measure it and my job is to look at the bigger picture.
“Our performances are correct in many ways. Finding goals is not an easy task, we know we’ve got to do that better but there’s a lot of good in our performances and a lot of good in our performance today.”
During the Everton manager’s pre-match press conference at Finch Farm on Thursday, he made the first admission that his players are being affected by the points punishment. Although the 52-year-old emphasized that the team’s mindset is still upbeat, he thinks that any changes to the Premier League table ought to wait until after the appeal, rather than being made right away last November.
“I actually spoke about the bit I can’t control,” Dyche remarked. What goes through a player’s mind.
“We can organise and get them ready and prepare them but I can’t control their own personal noise, their own personal people around them, their own personal opinion and the personal psyche of that moment. What I suggested that if it’s an appeal process which it clearly is, I don’t understand how they take the 10 points off you as if it’s done when it’s clearly not.
“You’re like, ‘well, leave the table alone, let it play out as it is and then adjust it’. I’d think that was a more simple scenario but anyway that’s for another day.
“The fact is the players have been solid with their mentality, the bit I can control and I think the performance today showed that. The belief in the performance was good so onwards and upwards.”
