Richard Keys hails Sean Dyche for Everton start, now boosted ahead of Merseyside derby with embattled Liverpool
Richard Keys has congratulated Sean Dyche for his start as Everton boss and believes the club have good reason to look forward to the Merseyside derby now.
The new Toffees manager kicked off his reign with a 1-0 win over league-leaders Arsenal on Saturday (4 February), bringing a timely lift to the club ahead of the clash with Liverpool next Monday night (13 February).
Jurgen Klopp has been in the spotlight for reacting negatively to a journalist after his side lost again, 3-0 to Wolves later on Saturday [Guardian, 4 February], meaning they are without a Premier League win in 2023, and Keys believes Everton should have renewed confidence now as they face the embattled German’s men at Anfield.
Keys wrote in his Monday (6 February) blog post: “Sean Dyche proved that football is a simple game. Well played mate. What a start. All of a sudden Evertonians are looking forward to next week’s derby. And with good reason.
“Liverpool’s problems are not dis-similar to City’s. What a shame that Klopp appears to be doing his best to impersonate [Pep] Guardiola in his post match press conferences now. What was that about at Wolves – blanking James Pearce from The Athletic because he doesn’t like what Pearce has previously written? Pathetic. There’s only one winner when a coach falls out with the press – and it’s not the coach.
“My guess is Klopp will walk. Not now – but if they’re knocked out of the [Champions League] by Real Madrid I think he’ll be gone before the start of next season.
“Liverpool are way off. A shadow of what they once were – and it’s no good blaming FSG. The downfall is Klopp’s responsibility. He didn’t start the re-build soon enough.”
Tables turned?
It hasn’t been often in recent seasons that the Toffees have gone into a Merseyside derby with a huge amount of confidence, but for once Keys might be on to something.
One win shouldn’t be overblown, and the club are currently still in the relegation zone, but Dyche could be a game-changer based on the early signs.
This set of players didn’t look confident enough to beat anybody in the final weeks of the Frank Lampard era, but the new boss overcame the miserable transfer window that greeted him as he arrived and duly handed the top side in the division a defeat.
If Everton can beat Arsenal, who have been in great form, then they do have enough to beat their Merseyside rivals, who obviously aren’t.
That doesn’t mean a second win on the bounce is definitely on the cards, but it looked a daunting pair of fixtures for Dyche to start with.
He passed the first test with flying colours, and Liverpool are currently struggling in comparison to the Gunners, so there is suddenly some optimism around the Toffees after the turmoil of recent weeks.
The former Burnley boss brought a major lift at Goodison Park at the weekend, while Klopp is attracting negative attention, so the scales have certainly balanced out a bit ahead of the meeting at Anfield in a week’s time.