Everton: Martin O’Neill shares relegation verdict live on talkSPORT after Sean Dyche conversation
Martin O’Neill has insisted Everton are in deep trouble with the relegation battle and threat of a further points deduction after a conversation with Sean Dyche.
The former Nottingham Forest manager insisted that the players and manager should push any concerns about points deductions to the side as they had no control over it.
He did, however, share that the points deduction will start to play on the players’ minds as it has dragged them deeper into the relegation battle.
Speaking live on talkSPORT [18 March, 12:50], O’Neill shared: “I had a conversation with Sean Dyche about this. I think you think to yourself that these indiscretions didn’t happen on your watch, and therefore I think you can push them to the side.
“But during the course of time, if you don’t win some football matches, it definitely starts to play on you. Then Everton got a couple of points back again and you think that’s okay, but even with those six points, you start to think about the position they could’ve been in, but it’s not reality.
“The reality is that they are in a relegation fight and probably shouldn’t be. There’s no question that it plays with your mind. As the games start to get less and less, you’re looking at the situation and you can’t help but think you wish you had those extra points.
“I think initially you just have to get on with it. That ten-point deduction was really massive, it’s now down to six and even with that situation, Everton still find themselves in deep trouble.”
Martin O’Neill shares new Everton points deduction verdict
The claim that Everton’s initial ten-point deduction, later reduced to six after the appeal process, will be playing on the minds of the players will not come as a surprise given the severity of the situation the club is in.
This comes after Jordan Pickford recently admitted that the decision had crept into the thoughts of the players at Finch Farm with concerns beginning to rise about the situation as we head towards the end of the season.
Not only that, but Everton will likely face a second points deduction as a result of their second breach of the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules, which will have yet more of a negative effect on the minds of the players and staff.
The longer the process drags on between Everton, Nottingham Forest and the Premier League, the more those concerns will start to affect the players’ thinking, and it remains a possibility that the situation will be uncertain until after the season ends.
In other Everton news, a new financial update should emerge within weeks.
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