Dyche Verdict On Everton's Sligo Draw

Sean Dyche was pleased with Everton’s “commitment and energy” in their 3-3 pre-season opener with Sligo Rovers on Friday after a tough week of training in the Republic of Ireland.

The Blues created a flurry of chances against Seamus Coleman’s former club, who are five months into their Irish Premier Division campaign, but found themselves 3-1 down with less than 10 minutes to go.

A late double from Youssef Chermiti secured a share of the spoils at a sold-out The Showgrounds, though, with Dyche praising the work-rate of his players following a gruelling training camp that included 13.5km worth of running in a double session on Thursday.

The Toffees boss conceded his squad will have to get sharper in front of goal as their pre-season goes on, but was positive about the display and the warm reception they have been given by the Irish.

“I was really pleased because with these games it's always awkward with scorelines but, at the end of the day, the lads did 13.5km yesterday, which is a big day – trust me,” Dyche told evertontv. “They've had some really hard running so we expected them to not be totally sharp and obviously it's our first one.

“Overall, I was pleased with their commitment to it, their energy and the chances we created. We've got to score them, we know that from last season, but there was lots on show today. And thanks to Sligo as well for putting on a great game, a great atmosphere and there were loads of Evertonians here.

“It’s been an excellent week. They way we’ve been treated by the Irish people has been terrific. The people in Sligo and the club have been fantastic to get this game on for us.

“It’s fantastic for Shay [Coleman] from his distance past now. In the week he had an event and it’s been good for him and good for us.”

Revealing what is ahead for his squad, Dyche added: “We’re not over the brow with the hard work. It will come down as pre-season goes on.

“We’ve got another big week coming up and then it will start edging down, going more tactical, more individual, more technical. They’ve put a real shift in this week and I can’t fault them because there’s been a lot of work done, particularly yesterday. We did that for a reason, we knew this would be a top-up at the end of the week to get some game-time. We knew they’d come into this game quite fatigued. That was expected.”

James Tarkowski missed the Sligo contest with a “minor niggle” but Dyche was hopeful the centre-back would be available soon, while also providing updates on Jarrad Branthwaite, Dele and Nathan Patterson.

“He [Tarkowski] has got a minor niggle at this stage and we have to be careful. We’ve got some other players we’re just being a bit careful with – they’re okay, just a few niggles that we’re going to monitor but nothing too serious. We’re hopeful with Tarky, hopefully it’s nothing.

“Jarrad is making good progress as are Patto and Dele so we’ll see how those guys go. At this stage it’s nothing too serious so we’re thankful for that.”