Sean Dyche was commenting after his Everton side’s winless Premier League skid reached nine games with a 1-1 draw at Brighton & Hove Albion.
Everton manager Sean Dyche said that the decision to play nine minutes of extra time in his side’s 1-1 draw with Brighton & Hove Albion affected the tone inside the Amex Stadium, as his side failed to cling on for their first Premier League win in over two months after conceding a 95th-minute equaliser.
When asked if that was difficult to accept, the Blues manager replied, “It’s a reality.” After a challenging first 20 minutes in which Brighton were the superior team and we didn’t deal with the ball effectively, I thought we defended well and grew into the first half, which I was very pleased with.
“Then we re-gathered ourselves in our own game, which pleased me because it is difficult to do during a game.” There’s a lot of emphasis on halftime when managers talk, but we were able to influence that throughout the game, so I was glad that we were able to get the message across and they took it.
“The second half was an excellent away performance. There were many positive signals of an away performance, including controlling the game without the ball at times yet never appearing overly open or in difficulty, and dealing with everything they had at the time.
“Then we scored a really good goal and you’re only frustrated that nine (minutes additional time) goes up. Nine and all that, we all know the drama around these minutes, but more the fact that changes the whole 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 games without a win, but Dyche dismissed suggestions that his team was in relegation trouble, despite the fact that the appeal verdict against their 10-point deduction, the largest sporting sanction in 135 years of English top-flight football, had yet to be heard. He said, “We should be on 31. Don’t forget. In a manner, you can tell the story anyway you choose.
“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.”
In his pre-match press conference at Finch Farm on Thursday, the Everton manager admitted for the first time that the points deduction is affecting his players. The 52-year-old emphasized that the squad’s mentality remained positive, but believes that any changes to the Premier League table should be delayed until after the appeal, rather than implemented immediately last November.
Dyche stated, “I actually discussed the part I can’t control. What is going on within a player’s thoughts.
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