The emotional turbulence of Everton’s dressing room was immediately identified as a problem by Sean Dyche when he took over as Blues boss.
Dyche arrived at Finch Farm with the club on a shocking run of form and heading into its second consecutive relegation battle. Everton are still at risk of a first relegation in decades but they significantly improved their chances of survival with a stunning win at Brighton and Hove Albion on Monday.
Speaking after that victory, Dyche stressed the importance of his players remaining grounded, going so far as to state that handling the aftermath of a win can be harder than dealing with the impact of a defeat.
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Dyche has consistently argued that individual results and performances should not be viewed in isolation and that perspective is crucial to any analysis. One of his first impressions of the Everton dressing room was that it appeared to lurch between emotions from game-to-game. This is something he immediately sought to address, he said.
Dyche told the club website: “When I walked in here the thing that hit me instantly was a big result, big everything; tough result, low everything. That needed to change in-house. Our fans, who have been brilliant, can absolutely react like that - but the in-house feel here, the environment we work in, and the flow had to get more level and more consistent in our daily work and thinking.
“We’ve spoken to the players and staff about it. It’s important to handle good times in terms of not thinking everything is solved and right and proper. When I talk about seeing through the noise, that maybe implies when things aren’t going right but it very much applies to when things are going right as well.”
Dyche is adamant his players should not get carried away after the performance on the south coast. While it has dramatically boosted the club’s hopes of survival, he said he had stressed to the team that work remains to be done.
Dyche added: “Inevitably, there will be ups and downs and it’s about how you deal with them. Over the years, I’ve found handling success can be a more powerful thing than handling failure because, in my view, you’re handling failure because you have to do better. If you want to be in any profession, you have to work through the knocks if you really want to get to where you want to be. But what about successes? How are you handling them?
“I’ve spoken to the players about not getting too carried away. We beat Arsenal in our first game and then I was quick to mention it was a step - and there are lots of steps to go.”
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