Sean Dyche cited Roy Keane’s trip to the pub before his Nottingham Forest debut as he addressed his Everton side’s struggles in front of goal.
The third-bottom Toffees visit Forest for a huge relegation showdown on Sunday, with the sides separated by four points. Everton have the worst scoring record in the Premier League, with just 17 goals in 25 games. Since Dyche succeeded the sacked Frank Lampard last month, Everton have scored just twice in five games, losing three of them.
Dyche should again be without injury-plagued centre forward Dominic Calvert-Lewin and may turn to youngster Ellis Simms, who has just two Premier League appearances to his name. Talking about the pressure his strikers are under, Dyche joked he may send them to pub, like Brian Clough did to Roy Keane before the Irishman’s Forest debut against Liverpool at Anfield.
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“Yeah, there’s pressure, but sometimes, where do you start the journey?,” said Dyche, a former Forest youth teamer.
“Roy Keane went out on the Monday night after a reserve game, had a few pints, and the next night he played for Forest at Anfield. Never looked back!
“So, where do you start the journey, what do you start for? It’s more difficult these days, and I’m not Brian Clough, that’s for sure, but that then was like: ‘yeah, we’ll put him in and he’ll play’. Where do you start the journey?
“I’ll get him down the pub! You know what I mean though. Times have changed, we monitor when we think they’re ready. But at some point you still have to go: “go on then…’
“With Dwight [McNeil] we did that at Burnley when he had just turned 18 and he never came out of the side afterwards. Sometimes players adapt very quickly, sometimes it takes time. I think it’s tougher for those roles, but they still need to go in at some point.”
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