Sean Dyche says that he is starting to see the change in his Everton side as he and his staff impress on the players the different ways that can sometimes be required to win tight games in the Premier League.
The manager was speaking after today’s well-earned 1-0 at West Ham that moved the Blues up a place to 15th in the table on the back an excellent goal from Dominic Calvert-Lewin.
The striker’s neat touch that took him past Nayef Aguerd gave him enough space to sweep a right-footed shot past Alphonse Areola in the Hammers’ goal with 51 minutes gone and that proved enough for Everton to take three points back to Merseyside.
It was Calvert-Lewin’s 50th goal in the Premier League for the Toffees, a milestone he would surely have passed a while ago had he not struggled against injury over the past two seasons.
“Absolutely it’s a great milestone for Dom,” Dyche said afterwards, while also hinting that the No.9 isn’t yet back to the peak of his powers. “Since he’s come back to fitness he’s looked stronger, he’s looked sharper and we hope it continues to pay him back.
“It’s a real good marker for him. To get to that number is really pleasing for him and for us.
“Dom’s a really good player. He’s had a really tough couple of years. I think, collectively, we’ve found a way of managing that sort of comeback to true fitness. He’s very close now. You can tell it in the way he’s performing, his body language, his desire to do what he does.”
On the overall performance, the manager expressed his satisfaction at a good overall team effort.
“I thought it was a very good performance for lots of reasons,” Dyche said. “We’re trying to work in different ways with the team — with the ball and also without the ball: can you defend, can you see a game through and I thought we did that very well today.”
“[I]t was very pleasing. It’s a very tough place to come and they’ve proven that over the last couple of seasons and certainly over the last calendar year.
“You don’t want to be too greedy but I certainly don’t think we made as many chances as early season. Our first three home games of the season it’s unfathomable how we didn’t draw those games, if not win.
“Today was a different kind of performance. We had key moments and defended very well.
“We had a mixed way of playing that I really like. I talk to them endlessly about it, there’s different ways of winning games and I say to them: ‘Can we work on different ways of winning games?’ and we’ve done that.
“I think we’re beginning to change the group and I think there’s a firmer edge to us when the game is not as perfect as we’d like it to be and I think that’s important over a Premier League season.
“I’ve been in it a long time and I know these tight games… coming out on top of them, the ones where you’re not playing as well… Can you find a way to get points, to win games? The ones where you play well usually look after themselves. I think that underbelly of a mentality is important and I think it was there.”
Dyche also reserved individual praise for Jordan Pickford, who was in the right place to make a solid 90th-minute save to deny Saïd Benrahma not long after he had tipped Aguerd’s shot over his crossbar, and young defender Jarrad Branthwaite who continues to defy belief at the level of his performances given his relatively tender age.
“Jarrad continues to learn and to find that Premier League way,” Dyche explained. “We’re not over-coaching him, we’re letting him go a little bit but he’s doing a very good job.
“The team in front of that and the belief in what we’re trying to achieve, the belief in change… because I’ve said endlessly we’ve got to change the story. Don’t wait for anyone else to change it. There are signs that we’re beginning to do that.
“I think we’re improving from last season and that was my first marker when asked about it. I said: ‘I want to improve, I want to be better than last season,’ and I think there are clear signs of that.”