Sean Dyche is well aware he has a big job to do at Everton.
The latest manager of the Farhad Moshiri era, he inherits the club at its lowest - even Frank Lampard had a headstart on the bottom three and the ability to make some moves in the final hours of the January transfer window and he still did well to save the Blues from relegation.
How Dyche fares with the even weaker hand he has been dealt remains to be seen. But he has navigated his opening weeks well and deserves credit.
There are deep seated issues at Everton that Dyche cannot solve, including the financial issues that underpinned the transfer window failure and the breakdown in the relationship between the board and the supporters. He will be bound by the former of those and has committed to doing what he can to learn about the latter.
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While both will impact his job it is clear that Everton supporters can back him and the team on the pitch while expressing their concern about matters off it. The evidence for that has been the conversion of the well orchestrated protest marches before his first two Goodison Park games to the tremendous atmospheres that have helped turn both occasions into wins.
Where Dyche does hold responsibility is events on the pitch and he could barely have done a better job in his opening weeks. Everton look like a side that might have control of its own destiny after two wins from three and, while the derby defeat was disappointing, Everton conspiring to frustrate at Anfield is nothing new.
Few supporters would have turned down six points from the first nine available to Dyche and the organisation he has installed was key to success against a more talented but manager-less and chaotic Leeds in last week’s relegation six pointer. A difficult few months lie ahead but Dyche has restored some hope and confidence and provided Blues with two Monday mornings fuelled by weekend wins. How nice has that been!?
The new manager has clearly had an impact at Finch Farm too. He has brought Abdoulaye Doucoure in from the cold, prompted Dwight McNeil’s best performances in royal blue and turned James Tarkowski into a major goal threat. Fears he would be such an abrupt change of style to Lampard that it could cause problems were not unfounded. But the reaction of one of the dressing room’s most influential players, Jordan Pickford, suggests a good start.
Pickford flourished as a leader under Lampard and there is no doubt he is better than the level Everton have been playing at over recent years. With Champions League suitors considering him as a potential option he could easily have left his contract to run into its final months, making it easier for an interested party to target him.
Negotiations over a new deal began under Lampard and, with Everton’s top flight status at threat once again, it would have been difficult to criticise him for waiting until the summer to commit. Instead he has signed fresh terms. This does not mean he will not leave, but if he does in the near future, Everton will be in a far stronger position to do a deal that suits the club.
That Dyche clearly played a role in Pickford’s decision to stay - the two having discussed the England number one’s future together before he signed - is a major vote of confidence for the new boss and his long term vision for the Blues. It also brings stability in a key area heading into a summer that will already feature a number of big issues for Dyche to contend with. One of his best assets is protected and he will be able to plan around that when the time comes.
For Dyche it is a huge boost. And for supporters it is a clear signal his positive influence stretches beyond the results he has so far delivered.
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