Sean Dyche insists he’s facing some hard decisions over who to pick at the heart of Everton’s defence, but praised Michael Keane after helping his side keep a clean sheet against Brentford in his first appearance at Goodison Park since netting last season's dramatic comeback win over Crystal Palace.
Following the summer arrivals of James Tarkowski and Conor Coady, Keane found himself frozen out of the first team picture this term under Frank Lampard, turning out for just 22 minutes of Premier League football in the reverse fixture to this weekend away at Brentford back in August. However, the arrival of Dyche has provided him with an opportunity to return to this side with his former Burnley manager starting him in the last three matches.
Until that point, Coady, on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, had only missed one league game he was eligible to play over the past six years (due to coronavirus quarantining) but he has been left on the bench against Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Brentford alongside fellow centre-backs Yerry Mina and Mason Holgate since Keane’s return. Since joining Everton from the Clarets for £25million in 2017, Keane has endured various ups and downs but Dyche believes such fluctuations in form are an inevitability over such a period of time and the key is how players respond to these challenges.
