Sean Dyche insists he’s facing some hard decisions over who to pick at the heart of Everton’s defence, but praised Michael Keane after helping his side keep a clean sheet against Brentford in his first appearance at Goodison Park since netting last season's dramatic comeback win over Crystal Palace.
Following the summer arrivals of James Tarkowski and Conor Coady, Keane found himself frozen out of the first team picture this term under Frank Lampard, turning out for just 22 minutes of Premier League football in the reverse fixture to this weekend away at Brentford back in August. However, the arrival of Dyche has provided him with an opportunity to return to this side with his former Burnley manager starting him in the last three matches.
Until that point, Coady, on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, had only missed one league game he was eligible to play over the past six years (due to coronavirus quarantining) but he has been left on the bench against Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Brentford alongside fellow centre-backs Yerry Mina and Mason Holgate since Keane’s return. Since joining Everton from the Clarets for £25million in 2017, Keane has endured various ups and downs but Dyche believes such fluctuations in form are an inevitability over such a period of time and the key is how players respond to these challenges.
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He said: “I don’t know what year we’re at now, is it six years he’s been here? Seamus has been 14, and people were pointing out the ups and downs he’s had.
“The longer you’re at a club, it’s difficult not to have those periods. And it’s how you respond.
“People maybe questioned me about putting him back in, and these are decisions you have to make as a manager, and I can assure you they’re not always easy decisions.
“Conor (Coady) was playing, fine professional that he is, you can only play 11. And so Keano came in.
“There were questions about the game at Arsenal, but I said you’ve got to get fit, you’ve got to get that sharpness from somewhere, and I thought he did really well at Forest. The margins between these players at the moment, they are all working so hard and putting everything in, and so the decisions are hard.”
Keane’s return has seen him reunited with Tarkowski who was previously his team-mate at Turf Moor, and Dyche was pleased with how the pair combined to shackle Ivan Toney at Goodison Park. Both have been capped by their country and England manager Gareth Southgate was in the crowd watching as they faced a striker with 16 goals so far this season, who Brentford manager Thomas Frank believes is the best at the Three Lions’ disposal after captain Harry Kane.
Dyche said: “Toney has developed into not just a good player, but a really effective player and I thought he was marshalled very well by the two centre halves, and the platform for the two to play, with the shape of the side.
“It all has to lock together, you want to give everyone a chance to do their role – and that’s where the tactical shape comes in. And also, with that, if it’s not going your way, and it is hard to dominate every game in the Premier League, if it’s not your day, then what do you rely on then?
“That’s when the shape, the work ethic, that’s when the desire to get the win or draw comes into it, and that’s when it pays you back – that relentlessness to do it.
“I really thought that was on show in the second half. That relentlessness to keep working, even when we weren’t playing well, to keep doing the ugly stuff.
“We have to keep doing that, when we’re good, people realise we are good, we can play. But when we’re not so good, that was always the question mark before we got here. But now we’re beginning to show a mentality that we can still do things properly, still see games through.”
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