Michael Keane believes Everton are moving in the right direction under Sean Dyche - and has revealed his side have placed an extra emphasis on set-pieces in training.
Keane made his second start under new boss Dyche against Nottingham Forest on Sunday. Despite taking the lead on two separate occasions, the Blues were held to a 2-2 draw at the City Ground.
The result in the Midlands leaves Everton inside the Premier League bottom three. But Keane believes his side showed enough against Steve Cooper’s men to suggest they are moving in the right direction.
READ MORE: Sean Dyche may have just found an unlikely answer to Everton's goalscoring issue
READ MORE: Sean Dyche is overseeing a costly new Everton trait that could be all worth it
He said: "Mentally it’s a step in the right direction. We came here and took the game to them. We made it difficult for them. We did a lot of the right things and they are things we need to carry on going forward.
"We spoke before the game about our away form not being good enough both this year and last season. It's a fresh start and we wanted to start putting things right."
Demarai Gray fired Everton ahead from the penalty spot before Abdoulaye Doucoure added a second to make it 2-1 just before the break. Doucoure’s header came from an Everton set-piece - and Keane has revealed the goal came straight from the training ground.
He said: "We work on them (set-pieces) in training. We know we can be dangerous on them. Tarky [Tarkowski] won a great header initially, I have anticipated it and flicked it on.
“Luckily, Doucs has attacked it. It doesn’t always come off but when it does it is nice because we work on them."
Reflecting on the game in general, Keane said: "I thought we played well all game going forward. We limited them to very few chances, but they were clinical.
“We could have done better for both goals they scored. But in general, it was a really good response to our midweek game at Arsenal. The mentality was right, you could see the energy within the team and we showed quality at times, too.
"Everyone in there is disappointed not to come away with three points because I think we edged it but it must have been a good game to watch because it was end to end."
READ NEXT:
Sean Dyche has a double selection dilemma as Everton face brutal 12-game truth
'Never easy' - Ben Godfrey explains Sean Dyche problem after return to Everton team
Everton pair suffer fresh injury blow as Duncan Ferguson makes bleak recovery prediction
Moise Kean leaves Everton as Juventus make early decision on permanent transfer
Graeme Souness was wrong to question Demarai Gray after Everton penalty comments
