Sean Dyche is not worried about transfers. Not now. Not with a job to do this season.
Every week rumours appear, as they always do, about who Everton are scouting or targets they have lined up. Ignore them. Dyche will be aware, as will everyone at Finch Farm, that the squad he inherited lacks the strength in depth to avoid a difficult season and that too much pressure is placed on the shoulders of Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
But Dyche’s focus is on the next 12 games. Preparatory work is going on behind the scenes over the summer transfer window, with plans drawn up for both scenarios - that of Everton retaining their top-flight status and of the almost unthinkable alternative. Dyche’s focus is solely on the players already at his disposal though. And it has to be.
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Dyche has spent just over a month as the Blues boss. There has been clear progress in that time. Yes, there have been low points in the six games of his tenure - the whole performance during the Merseyside derby and the collapse in the second half at Arsenal. Everton are seven points better off, though, more organised and, crucially, generally looking stronger in each game. The question is not whether Dyche can find improvements, it is whether he can get his players to improve enough, quickly enough, to prevent a drop into the Championship.
Spending time speaking to Dyche and watching him in action, it has been interesting to get an insight into what he believes the stepping stones for progress are. Fundamentally, they appear to be psychological ones rather than physical ones. A lot of work is taking place at Finch Farm to improve the condition of the players but when you look at Dyche’s responses to questions about what the next stage of his survival plan is, and his reaction to some of the ‘noise’ surrounding Everton’s performances under him, the thoughts he offers are interesting.
Dyche has not been afraid to highlight mistakes. He does not place blame on the individuals who made them - or attempt to offer excuses for costly errors - but he has not shied away from talking about them. Before the draw with Nottingham Forest he highlighted four mistakes he believed had hurt his side’s efforts - two in the defeat at Anfield, the penalty conceded against Aston Villa and Idrissa Gueye’s lapse of concentration for the game-changing second Arsenal goal at the Emirates. After the City Ground draw, he added Abdoulaye Doucoure’s loss of possession in the build up to Forest’s late equaliser as a fifth. These were “learning curves” he said, and encouraging better game management was the solution.
It is a similar story with the hunt for goals. In the absence of Calvert-Lewin, Everton’s struggle for goals has only worsened. They have found the goals to earn seven points in six games under Dyche and are now creating more chances, having more touches in and around the opposition’s box and looking more threatening. If you ask Dyche for his view on what is needed to turn those opportunities into goals he never adds to the pressure on Calvert-Lewin by pleading for his return. Again, the biggest development is viewed as a psychological one. He wants his players to have what he describes as “the freedom to miss.” If he can make them more comfortable about the idea of not taking chances, he believes more chances will be taken.
Much has also been made of the Blues disciplinary record. They have had three fines now over the conduct of thier players, totalling £115,000. Two of them, worth a combined £95,000, have already come under Dyche. Is he concerned? No. Has he urged his players to avoid fiery scenes? No. In fact, his response is more bemusement at what is now considered out of order. While he respects the disciplinary process, Dyche’s belief appears to be that the footballing authorities are concentrating their efforts on the wrong issues - he sees diving as a problem of far greater concern.
Ultimately, Dyche wants his team to be psychologically resilient. That means cutting out errors, being comfortable with missing chances, ‘wanting’ to win more. He believes his Everton side is getting there, too. Transfers are a huge part of the footballing narrative now and Dyche will have a long term strategy in the back of his mind while others, like director of football Kevin Thelwell, will have it at the forefront of theirs.
But for now, for Dyche, it is the biggest part of the narrative football that he is concentrating on - results. And getting there is as much about the mindset of his players as it is anything else. “That’s the big thing for me, the mentality,” he said this week. “Finding that mentality as a group of people, all noses pointing in the right direction, all willing to put everything we can into winning games. That is the starting point. Then that starts building but it has got to start somewhere. That is what we are looking to do now, start that mentality. And, of course, you have got to understand all of the tactical and the technical stuff is a given, but the mentality, the underbelly, the mentality that says we will stop at nothing to be relentless to go and win games. That is a good mentality to have.”
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