Gary Neville says that he thinks Sean Dyche’s comments about Everton in midweek were ‘on the edge of disrespectful’.
The Blues are fighting to avoid relegation from the Premier League, and were handed a welcome boost following the weekend’s results. Frank Lampard’s side got all three points with a 1-0 win over Manchester United on Saturday. Then on Sunday, Burnley suffered a 1-0 defeat to fellow relegation rivals Norwich City at Carrow Road. These results leave Everton four points clear of the bottom three with a game in hand and eight matches left to play.
Earlier in the week, Everton lost 3-2 to Burnley which did leave them just a single point above the drop zone. In his post-match comments, Dyche aimed a dig at Everton and his thoughts on their ability to see out matches.
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“It's hard to explain, but sometimes you sense that a team might have lost how to win a game," Dyche told Sky Sports on Wednesday night. “I said to them (Burnley players) at half time 'I'm not sure these know how to win a game, away from home particularly'.
"I told them we've got to play on that mentality - we do it by playing forward with better quality and being more aggressive in our play.”
Neville, speaking on the Sky Sports Gary Neville podcast, reacted to the comments from Dyche. The former Manchester United skipper went on to explain why he was pleased for Blues boss Frank Lampard.
“I didn’t see the Burnley vs Everton game in the week, but I did see the interviews on social media the day after from Sean Dyche,” said Neville. “They actually made a bit of an impact on me, and I thought it was harsh to say publicly that he said to his players that he doesn’t think this Everton team knows how to win games, or something along those lines.
“Maybe on the edge of disrespectful but certainly ramping up the mind games. Turning up the heat of Frank Lampard. I thought that Lampard would not like that, and you’d like to think that the Everton players wouldn’t like that. Because it was a pretty harsh thing to hear for me, and we’ve heard a lot over the years in football.
“So for Everton to do what they did (beat Man United), I don’t think they played particularly well but I don’t think they had to. For them to get that win and get that response, and then to see Burnley lose at Norwich, it’s swung in the last few days and it’s a massive swing for Everton from where they were.
“If you’d have said in midweek that Man United will probably win or draw, Burnley will probably go and beat Norwich, and you’d see Everton in the bottom three. It’s not happened.
“First thing to say is well done to Frank Lampard, because I think he was on the edge. And I think his players were on the edge of something that would have put massive pressure on them.
“They’re under massive pressure anyway, but to go into that bottom three with that crowd and the intensity, it would have been unbearable. So well done to Everton.”
