Sean Dyche has said Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s car, mattress and sleep patterns will be looked at as part of a wide-ranging investigation into the striker’s fitness problems.
The Everton centre-forward will miss Saturday’s Premier League game against their relegation rivals Leeds with a hamstring injury sustained in Dyche’s first match in charge, the win against Arsenal.
The 25-year-old has been restricted to 30 appearances over the past two seasons by a variety of injury problems and his absence has been sorely felt, with Everton failing to sign a goalscorer last summer or in January. Calvert-Lewin’s latest manager admits it is imperative Everton find the root causes.
Dyche said: “I’ve got to learn about his history, his physiological history. I’ve got to learn what his body will and won’t take, which is what we are trying to do now. We’re speaking to him, the medics, the sports scientists, looking at the stats, training programmes, distance covered, high-speed running, how many kms in a week, what’s his diet like, what’s his lifestyle like, what car does he drive, what mattress does he use, how many hours does he sleep a night?
“That’s learning about people. The biggest learning is what is in here [points to his head] and that’s the hard part. I’ll get all the information I can and then share it with him. That’s the process for every player, by the way, not just him.”
Dyche believes Calvert-Lewin’s determination to play with injury has contributed to the frequent setbacks. “I don’t think he’s been properly fit throughout this situation because of his own will and demand to keep playing. Some players don’t realise until afterwards that they’ve put so much demand on themselves and they weren’t quite ready. We have to align the process of getting the injury right and him completely right so that he doesn’t break down and he can keep going. But that’s what you try to do with every player.”
The Football Association has charged Everton and Liverpool over their mass confrontation in the closing minutes of Monday’s derby at Anfield. Both clubs are alleged to have “failed to ensure their players and/or benches conducted themselves in an orderly fashion and/or refrained from provocative behaviour” and have until Monday to respond.
