Sean Dyche has denied Everton’s friendly defeat by Chester underlines the lack of quality at his disposal for the club’s latest fight against relegation.
Everton arranged a behind-closed-doors game against the National League North team on Tuesday to improve Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s match fitness after 11 weeks out with a hamstring injury. Eight first-team players with a combined 75 international caps were involved – Calvert-Lewin, Yerry Mina, Conor Coady, Nathan Patterson, Abdoulaye Doucouré, Tom Davies, Mason Holgate and Ellis Simms – and failed to break down a five-man defence in a 1-0 defeat.
Dyche says he would have had words with his team had they all been fit when losing to opponents in the sixth tier. But with Calvert-Lewin in line to make his comeback at Crystal Palace on Saturday, the Everton manager insists the sole purpose of the Chester friendly has been achieved.
“It’s just another negative story that everyone is baying for,” said Dyche of the result. “The story behind that is the truth, which is: ‘Can we get Dominic Calvert-Lewin minutes on a pitch in a more competitive manner?’ Which we did. That has to be the focus and you can’t start changing the focus. Did he look sharp? Yes. Did he play well? Yes. Could he have scored? Yes, numerous times. But was he in there to score? Yes. Did he come through it unscathed? Yes. Is he cool? Yes. Cool as in injury-free, not cool as in … I’ve seen his gear.”
Everton have toiled in attack all season without Calvert-Lewin and, after two successive Premier League defeats that have intensified fears of relegation, Dyche says the England international’s fitness is of paramount concern.
He said: “If we’d won 16-0 and Dom got injured, what would you have been talking about then? If we’d lost 3-0 and Dom got injured, what would be the thinking? It was always about Dom. The outcome I was looking for was: ‘Can Dom play football and run around?’ Which he can. Sometimes you have got to stick to the outcomes, because the rest of it is sometimes less important.
“Look at what the noise has all been about since I came to the club. Apart from the ownership, all the noise has been about Calvert-Lewin. We’ve been working really hard with the physios and the medics to make sure we give him the best possible opportunity to be as fully fit as possible. On another occasion, if he and everyone else was fully fit I’d be going: ‘Hang on a minute.’ I would be having a different conversation with the players about that result. But on this occasion I had to stay focused on the prize, and the prize was for him to stay fit.”
