Everton prediction stuns talkSPORT pundit after Brighton draw amid Sean Dyche verdict – ‘Are you joking?’
Jamie O’Hara was stunned by the idea that Everton can finish in the Premier League top 10 following the draw with Brighton at Goodison Park.
The talkSPORT pundit responded live to a supporter who called in after the 1-1 draw on 4 November to decry Sean Dyche’s failure to make the right substitutions and his backing of Ashley Young, but still thinks a top-half position is on the cards this season.
O’Hara suggested the Toffees boss isn’t a “top manager” because he doesn’t make “proactive” changes, but was shocked at the final position prediction, suggesting instead the club won’t be relegated which is the “main thing”.
O’Hara said (5.65pm): “I think what you find is that the best managers, the top managers, they make proactive substitutions. And then other managers make reactive subs, and Sean Dyche maybe is a little bit like that.”
To the suggestion that Everton will finish in the top half he reacted: “Top 10? You are being optimistic, are you joking? Top 10? You ain’t that good either. You’re alright. I mean look at the top 10 [lists them]. Chelsea are 12th, are you telling me you could get near Chelsea?
“I tell you what ain’t happening, you ain’t going down, and that’s the main thing for Everton.”
Aim high
On a positive note the Dyche regime at Everton seems to finally be taking shape after a run of eight games with five wins and a draw across all competitions.
The hugely-unfortunate Seagulls equaliser, as Kaoru Mitoma’s cross deflected off Young and looped over Jordan Pickford, put a dampener on what would have been a classic Dyche rearguard action otherwise.
Whether the manager was right to hold off with his changes probably depended entirely on the final outcome, and despite a huge advantage in possession for Brighton he can point to the fact that Roberto De Zerbi’s side didn’t necessarily look like scoring a conventional equaliser.
It necessarily invites risk to sit back and play defensively with a one-goal lead but it is also true that the past three victories have also come with clean sheets.
Young hasn’t quite been the dependable veteran presence that he was last season at Aston Villa and Nathan Patterson probably would be a more suitable choice on the right.
But after two seasons of struggle there is at least some development on show currently, suggesting that a third-successive relegation struggle perhaps isn’t on the horizon.
Ending the campaign in the top half does seem ambitious, but there are currently just four points between Everton in 15th and Crystal Palace in 10th so, right now at least, it isn’t such a wild suggestion.
In other Everton news, a BBC pundit hopes Dyche is “absolutely furious” about what happened in “lucky” incident.