Sean Dyche makes ‘weird’ admission after Everton advance to EFL Cup quarter-finals
Sean Dyche admits he finds it “weird” that some people believe managers do not care about cup competitions after helping Everton reach the EFL Cup quarter-finals this week.
The Toffees eased to a 3-0 win over Burnley on Wednesday [1 November] to set up a home tie against Fulham in the last eight.
It marks the first time Dyche, who named a strong XI against Burnley, has reached this stage of a cup competition in his managerial career.
Asked about that achievement, Dyche is quoted by the Liverpool Echo [3 November] as saying: “It’s one of those weird things about cup football.
“There is like an imaginary view about cup games that [managers] don’t want to win it. Of course you want to win it.
“But the reality of the business of football is that the Premier League is so, so powerful against the cup competitions.”
A home tie with Fulham presents a great chance to advance further, but Dyche issued a warning to his players to not get ahead of themselves.
He said: “There’s still no divine right just because some of the big guns go out, you go, ‘ah, there we go, crack on!’. That is cup football, so delivery is still really important.”
Exciting
It is incredible the difference a few days can make in football. The disappointing derby defeat to Liverpool is now a thing of the past after quickfire wins over West Ham and Burnley.
The victory at West Ham went a long way to easing concerns of another relegation battle in the Premier League; the Burnley win has left supporters eyeing up hotels near Wembley for the end of February.
As Dyche is right to point out, the Premier League does take priority over other competitions – there is just too much money on the line to focus solely on other competitions.
But with a winnable home tie with Fulham up next, Dyche has to name his strongest available line-up for that one.
The fact he has never previously made it this far in a competition is surprising but also no doubt exciting for the 52-year-old in equal measure.
It is a journey the fans, players and manager are going on together, and it will hopefully end with a trip to the national stadium in a few months’ time.
In other Everton news, Dyche could make a couple of changes for this weekend’s league meeting with Brighton and Hove Albion.