Richard Keys blasts ‘negative’ Everton in loss to Manchester United as Andy Gray claims Sean Dyche was ‘worried’
Richard Keys criticised Everton for a perceived “negative” display in their 3-0 defeat by Manchester United despite the vociferous protests by the fans.
The beIN Sports anchor reacted live on the broadcaster’s coverage of the game after the final whistle on 26 November to question why the players didn’t deliver more in such an atmosphere.
In response Andy Gray suggested that manager Sean Dyche may have deliberately tempered the emotion as he was “worried” about his players being “reckless”.
Keys said after the final whistle: “[With] those cards demonstrating their displeasure at the Premier League if they had been more front-footish, if you see what I mean, more, ‘Well we’re in this now together and we are [up for it]’.
“You could just sense it was negative.”
Gray replied: “The performance? I don’t know, you could tell the atmosphere was up and the fans were up. There was an intensity about them.
“I’m guessing in a lot of ways Sean might have been a tad worried that the players got wrapped up in that and came out and were reckless.”
Keys continued: “Yeah just, ‘We’re after you’, anything to say, ‘We are as one’.”
“He would have been conscious, Richard,” Gray responded, “You can’t play with ill-discipline, you can’t just go out there and run about, chase everywhere.”
Watching a different game
Keys’ criticism might have been unwarranted if the Toffees players had produced a flat performance in the face of the fans roaring them on and loudly booing the Premier League over their 10-point deduction.
But the home side were well on top for most of the first half even after the stunning, third-minute Alejandro Garnacho goal that in other circumstances could put a dampener on everything from the off.
Led by Dominic Calvert-Lewin up front Everton dominated up until the break and it was only Andre Onana and some wayward finishing that prevented them from finding the net multiple times in response.
Gray’s argument also falls down when the fight that was actually shown was in fact undercut by Ashley Young’s recklessness, as he followed up a rash challenge that saw him booked in the first half by conceding a penalty after the break to arguably secure the points.
He was probably lucky not to be shown a second yellow for the foul, which initially was ruled a dive before a VAR review, or his attempts to remonstrate with referee John Brooks.
After getting sent off for two lunges in the first half at Liverpool it was not an encouraging display in another huge game.
Clearly the quality was ultimately lacking and the final scoreline was poor, but a once-in-a-lifetime strike, a sloppy penalty concession and a breakaway goal when chasing the game led to a flattering result.
It was otherwise a pretty good performance which was undercut by some recklessness by Young so if Dyche had been worried his warnings clearly didn’t work.
In other Everton news, Gary Neville was surprised by a never-before-seen occurrence in the Toffees director’s box during the protests.