Everton punishment branded a ‘disgrace’ by former Leeds United assistant as Sean Dyche backed after Manchester United defeat
The 10-point penalty imposed on Everton has been branded a “disgrace” by Karl Robinson who backed Sean Dyche as the “best manager” to rally the club through.
The coach, who finished last season as Leeds United assistant manager, said live on talkSPORT on 27 November that the Toffees boss is “certainly” the right man to keep the club up in the circumstances despite the 3-0 defeat by Manchester United the day before in a game they could have won.
Paul Ince agreed “without a doubt” that Everton won’t go down with Dyche in charge, while both backed him over his post-match reaction where he railed against the second-half penalty awarded after a VAR review.
Robinson said (2m 45s): “As a manager when you go and speak to the media… you do go into it thinking, ‘What is my best tactic with this? How can I use this to promote the next game? How can I use it to back the fans?’
“It’s not a case of not being transparent, it’s a case of making sure you can manage your club through these moments. Sometimes you do say things you don’t overly believe in, but you know it to be the right thing to say…
“One thing about Sean Dyche is he’s consistently honest… and they look like the Everton that I would relate to [under him]…
“When you go into the interviews afterwards there’s certain things you have to say to protect your players, and to protect the fans, and to give them hope and optimism moving forward…
“And by the way, one big thing, what’s gone on at that football club with the points deduction is a disgrace, so in some ways he wants to keep that as the forefront…
“Sean’s got a responsibility to use that to galvanise Everton Football Club moving forward, and I’ve seen that and heard that in his interviews.”
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Dyche had finally got his side looking like he would have wanted in recent weeks after months of turmoil last season with the threat of relegation and then a summer of transfer and takeover uncertainty.
The points deduction has derailed that relative stability on the pitch, especially as it came during the international break.
So he would have badly wanted to provide answer at the earliest opportunity with a result against Erik ten Hag’s side on Sunday, and arguably he got a performance that was good enough to do so.
The 3-0 scoreline suggests his side didn’t turn up but for the most part they did, and it was a stunning early opener, a penalty and a third on the counter when Everton were chasing the game that proved the difference.
That doesn’t necessarily make United unworthy winners but it wasn’t a dominating performance by the visitors by any means.
Therefore it was a missed opportunity to harness the strength of feeling among the fans at Goodison, so Robinson is right that Dyche will be doing everything he can to prolong that effect into upcoming games instead.
In other Everton news, a lawyer has claimed that the Toffees had more than the single charge levelled against them by the Premier League.