A defiant Sean Dyche praised his Everton staff and players for securing Premier League survival with a side “as stretched as I’ve ever seen it”.
Injuries to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Seamus Coleman, Ben Godfrey, Nathan Patterson and others left the Blues boss unable to pick a senior striker or full-back in a game that was among the biggest in the club's history.
Speaking after the 1-0 win over Bournemouth, Dyche said the limitations he has been forced to work within would have been forgotten had he failed to lead the club to safety. He said survival had only been possible due to the hard work behind the scenes during the months since his appointment.
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Everton were heading to the Championship as relegation rivals Leicester City led West Ham United and Dyche’s patchwork side laboured against a stubborn Bournemouth team that had already beaten them twice during this campaign. That all changed when Abdoulaye Doucoure scored just before the hour mark.
Asked how he felt In the moments before the 30-year-old’s stunning strike, Dyche said: “Strangely I'm all right about that sort of stuff as I can't do anything about it. I'm worse when I'm at home watching it but when I'm working I can't do anything about that, you can only react to what you are doing.
“You've seen the squad today and that's as stretched as I've ever seen it. And do you know what, if we didn't get it done today no-one would have cared. No-one would have said: 'He's had nothing to work with'. They would have just said: 'He didn't get it done'. That's the life of a football manager, I understand that, so I'm pleased for that reason we got it done.
“We have found a way. The work during the week by staff has been terrific, the players' workload and belief in what we were doing – we had to change shape and personnel – so I've been really pleased with the players. We've let some big moments in games go against us but the actual mentality has been pretty solid, against all the noise which has been difficult when you have been missing very important players and missing them a lot.”
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