Vitaliy Mykolenko has surely now won trust of Sean Dyche at Everton after what he did v Crystal Palace
Everton defender Vitaliy Mykolenko has now surely established himself as one of Sean Dyche’s trusted performers following another impressive Premier League display against Crystal Palace.
A late goal from substitute Idrissa Gueye helped the Toffees triumph over the Seagulls in a thrilling Premier League game at Selhurst Park on Saturday (11 November).
The result means Everton are now eight points clear of the drop zone on 14 points after 12 games and have now lost just once in five games in all competitions.
Everton are enjoying a tremendous purple patch in front of goal too in recent weeks with Saturday’s win now meaning they’ve scored 11 goals in their last five games in all competitions [SofaScore] after struggling to even create chances earlier in the campaign.
Dyche has to be given tons of credit for his side’s complete transformation in attack over the course of the last month or so, they’ve recorded the sixth-most shots, six-most shots on target and the seventh-most shots on target per 90 [FBRef].
The likes of Abdoulaye Doucoure, Dwight McNeil, and Jack Harrison have all heavily contributed to the Toffees’ stark improvements going forward but one player who’s become a surprise contributor of goals recently is Mykolenko who bagged his second consecutive strike against the Eagles on Sunday.
It was exactly two months ago when there was talk that the Ukrainian international had lost the trust of the Everton boss who had preferred to deploy Ashley Young in the left-back role.
Former Daily Star journalist Paul Brown told GiveMeSport (8 September) that Dyche even prefers the likes of Ashley Young and Nathan Patterson to play at left-back over the Ukrainian despite them starting the season off poorly.
Mykolenko signed for the Merseyside club for a fee of £17m during the January transfer window in 2022 but had struggled to establish himself in the Everton team, with the Ukrainian only starting his first game of the season after the September international break.
Fast forward two months and the former Dynamo Kyiv left-back has now become a regular, trusted and crucial component in Dyche’s resurgence at Goodison Park, and his performance at Selhurst Park further pointed to the improvements Mykolenko is making in his game.
As per SofaScore, the 24-year-old registered five clearances, won 50% of his ground duels, 100% of his aerial duels, successfully completed 100% of his dribbles, won three tackles [SofaScore] and could well have ended the match with two goals after hitting the woodwork.
Mykolenko seemed a forgotten man at the start of the campaign but what a difference two months can make in a footballer’s career and it seems the Ukrainian defender is now well and truly one of the first names on Dyche’s teamsheet.
In other Everton news, the Toffees want to sign an award-winning defensive wonder in January, with his club now resigned to losing him amid several Premier League interest.