Everton manager Sean Dyche has joked that he may take his strikers down to the pub on Saturday night to prepare for Sunday’s crucial relegation showdown with Nottingham Forest.
The Toffees manager still has huge problems up front, with his first-choice centre forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin - who has a hamstring injury that has already sidelined him for a month - set to miss the visit to Forest.
And in considering whether to play his young forward Ellis Simms - who has just two Premier League starts to his name - former Forest youth player Dyche was reminded of the rather unconventional debut Brian Clough gave to Roy Keane at his former club.
Speaking about the pressure on his strikers, with Everton scoring the fewest goals in the Premier League this season, he said: “Yeah, there’s pressure, but sometimes, where do you start the journey?
“Roy Keane went out on the Monday night after a reserve game; had a few pints, and the next night he played for Forest at Anfield. Never looked back! So, where do you start the journey, what do you start for? It’s more difficult these days, and I’m not Brian Clough that’s for sure, but that then was like: ‘yeah, we’ll put him in and he’ll play’. Where do you start the journey?
“I’ll get him down the pub! You know what I mean though. Times have changed, we monitor when we think they’re ready. But at some point you still have to go: “go on then…’ With Dwight (McNeil) we did that at Burnley when he had just turned 18 and he never came out of the side afterwards. Sometimes players adapt very quickly, sometimes it takes time. I think it’s tougher for those roles, but they still need to go in at some point.”
Simms could start at Forest, with Neil Maupay looking short of confidence up front for the Blues, but Dyche is adamant that his team can’t use the lack of goals as an excuse. Instead he wants them to continue to be brave in getting taking risks to create chances, and he said: “We can find a way of operating with this group. Arsenal was not a lucky win, it was a win by design.
“My job is to look at the bigger picture and when I got here it was one point from the last five games, Now it’s six points in the first five. It doesn’t seem like a lot but it is when you’ve been in that form it’s a big shift, a factual shift.
“So there is progress. Distance covered, more efforts on goal, more chances, more crosses – factual progress. It still doesn’t guarantee you anything but it does increase your chances of winning. It is a process, and we have to continue to do the right things that will bring chances, and then the goals will go in.”
Skipper Seamus Coleman should be fit despite picking up a knock in the midweek defeat to Arsenal, and Conor Coady may return after being rested.
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