Dyche Outlines Next Steps For Everton After Hammers Draw

Sean Dyche says he was satisfied with the “very solid” nature of Everton's display at West Ham – but believes the Blues must continue to work relentlessly to find the “bit of devil in front of goal" after a goalless draw at London Stadium.

The Toffees dominated a large portion of a hard-fought battle in the capital, before requiring Jordan Pickford to pull off an excellent save at the death to deny Hammers substitute Danny Ings.

The draw means Everton have tasted defeat only once in their past seven games and, speaking to evertontv afterwards, manager Dyche says it is a platform that can be built on following the forthcoming international break.

The Blues boss also hopes the pause in domestic fixtures will help ease his injury list, having been without Dwight McNeil [knee] and Seamus Coleman [hamstring] for the trip to West Ham, while Armando Broja and Youssef Chermiti [both foot] are closing in on a return to fitness after prolonged spells on the sidelines.

“I mean, it would have been really frustrating if they scored right at the end, when Jordan makes a fine save, because I didn't think they deserved that,” concluded Dyche. “[It was a] tight game. I thought we delivered a very solid performance. 

“We wanted to get that solid feel back. I don't think it was miles away at Southampton – we just didn't score a goal and got caught up at a counter-attack. 

“[Coming] down here is a tricky game with what's going on and the noise here. We’ve got a clean sheet and a point on the road – and that's an important factor. One loss in seven just consolidates that mentality.

“We know we've got to win more games but it's good from the side and that we're still stretched with injuries. This [international break] hopefully now will give them a chance to get fit again and good getting bodies back fit.”

Jarrad Branthwaite returned to the starting line-up to make only his second Premier League start of the campaign in place of Michael Keane, a decision Dyche admits was tough after the latter’s good run of form.

After a third clean sheet from the past five top-flight games, Dyche called on his side to continue that unyielding trend, while balancing that with more attacking threat.

“Certainly [it has been important to get back to defensive solidity] after the beginning of the season we all know the stats and facts of that – forgetting about all the injuries and all the rest of it,” continued Dyche. “We had to get back to that solid feel and I think that's been on show.

“The balance is then getting out front there, which we did a lot today, particularly in the first and early part of the second, and finding that bit of devil in front of the goal, that moment of truth and that's something that we've got to keep looking to develop. It's not easy if it was everyone to do it, of course, but equally we've got to find that work on transition.

"I thought there was a lot of good work on transition today to make sure we looked after ourselves and kept a clean sheet, not just the back five, which was part of my thinking with Jarrad coming back in because Keano has done well, but that back five mostly kept a lot of clean sheets and it did do again today. 

“I thought Gana was really strong again today. I think his performance, Mangala’s getting fitter, as in the Premier League fitness I speak about, so there's good signs – but now we’ve got to keep turning those good signs into winning performances, not just solid performances.”

Dyche named two goalkeepers amongst his substitutes, as well as 17-year-old Harrison Armstrong and Under-21s midfielder Callum Bates, who was named in a Premier League matchday squad for the very first time.

Discussing his options, Dyche added: “The challenge you have is we try to fill the bench with the kids when we can but they've got to get games programmes as well, so we can't just keep pulling them out just to be there and if they're not ready, they're unlikely to get on the pitch. 

“It's great for the feel of what they do but we haven't got that strength of depth where we're looking around at the bench going, ‘Right, let's just make four changes here, three changes there’.

“You don’t want to lose it, you want to win it, so it’s a tricky situation looking at who we’ve got and who we’re putting on where and for what reasons.

“Overall today, forgetting about that, it's another point on the road, another clean sheet and another brilliant turn-out from our fans. The numbers, yet again, were amazing.”