Everton: ‘Surprising’ Sean Dyche admission made after win at Nottingham Forest
Journalist Daniel Storey admits it is “surprising” how the Sean Dyche tenure at Everton has panned out thus far following Saturday’s (2 December) win at Nottingham Forest.
Dyche succeeded in his mission of keeping Everton in the Premier League last season after taking over from Frank Lampard in January.
The Toffees find themselves in the relegation zone 14 games into the 2023-24 campaign, but that is only due to having 10 points taken off them.
Everton have performed better on their travels than at Goodison Park, having won three on the spin away from Merseyside.
In his column for iNews [4 December], Storey said: “Everton’s early life under Sean Dyche was surprising. They tended to concede more goals than we expected and thus were unable to grind out results.
“Eventually, Dyche worked through those teething problems. From the beginning of February onwards, Everton won four home games (Arsenal, Leeds, Brentford and Bournemouth) 1-0. It was fitting that that score kept them up on the final day.
“This season, more surprises. Everton have only won one of their seven home games, but they have established themselves as an elite away team – only Tottenham have picked up more points. Interestingly, the 1-0s are back too, at West Ham and now Nottingham Forest.”
Goodison blues
Many expected Everton’s form at Goodison this season to define whether they would be in another relegation scrap or instead battling it out in mid-table.
Seven home games into the season, though, and the Toffees have won just once in front of their own fans, failing to score in four of those matches.
Away from home, meanwhile, they have defeated West Ham, Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest in successive matches, while also winning at Brentford in September.
As Storey points out, Everton’s away form has been a surprise, but Dyche is now reverting to type in terms of the clean sheets that he craves as they have kept four in their past eight games in all competitions.
If the experienced manager can find a solution to Everton’s underwhelming home form, then there is no reason the Toffees cannot slowly climb the division and put talk of another relegation battle to bed.
In other Everton news, a Sky Sports pundit slammed something “criminal” witnessed against Nottingham Forest.