Sean Dyche insists Everton cannot rush their recovery after the Toffees’ impressive Carabao Cup win at Aston Villa.
James Garner and Dominic Calvert-Lewin fired the visitors into the fourth round – and a home tie with Burnley – following their 2-1 victory.
Boubacar Kamara pulled a late goal back to spark a Villa rally but any comeback would have been undeserved for the awful hosts.
Everton lost 4-0 at Villa Park in the Premier League just five weeks ago but have secured back-to-back wins for the first time in a year as their season splutters into life.
Investment firm 777 Partners is also waiting for approval on its takeover and Dyche knows the process to revive the club takes time.
“The story of Everton has been a two-to-three season story, the cloud hanging over it a little bit. The only people who can change that story is us,” he said, after four defeats from their opening five league games.
“The team starts the process, bonding the club together, bonding the fans. You want that bond.
“We want a strong connection with the fans, the rest I can’t control, but a strong connection is something we can get with the way the players go about their business.
“We are trying to work with things on and off the pitch, there’s so much alignment which needs to be done from top to bottom. You can’t just fast track everything. The last couple of seasons have not been where Everton want to be.
“Now it’s step-by-step, building a team which is more competitive and gets more wins. The rest of it takes care of itself.”
Everton’s press unnerved Villa and earned them the opener after 15 minutes when they forced a mistake.
Robin Olsen’s poor clearance under pressure landed for Amadou Onana on the edge of the area, with Calvert-Lewin and Arnaut Danjuma returning the ball.
Onana slipped a clever pass through to Garner to smash in his first Toffees goal from 10 yards.
Olsen stopped a comical John McGinn own goal and thwarted Calvert-Lewin but was powerless to stop the striker adding a second five minutes after the break.
Youri Tielemans’ poor pass left Ezri Konsa short and Calvert-Lewin darted in to run through and beat Olsen.
It was all the visitors deserved yet they needed Jordan Pickford to stop Moussa Diaby pulling a goal back immediately.
Calvert-Lewin tested Olsen but Kamara gave Villa faint hope when his strike from the edge of the box deflected in off Michael Keane.
Diaby and Douglas Luiz went close to forcing penalties but poor Villa slumped to their first home defeat since February.
“It’s not (about being) tired,” said boss Unai Emery, who made five changes from Sunday’s 1-0 win at Chelsea which lifted Villa to sixth in the Premier League.
“I don’t want to use all our effort with the players each match. We are trying to keep a balance with some different players but trying to be competitive.
“We’re disappointed with the start and mistakes we made but we are trying to go forward and building the team.
“We made the second mistake quickly (in the second half) and it was difficult to come back.
“We have to move on quickly, try to recover the players for Saturday (against Brighton) because we need the best performance.”
