Sean Dyche believes his Everton side now know what is expected of them and has offered an insight into how he is viewing each member of his squad.
The Blues head to Anfield on Monday night to take on Liverpool on the back of a huge 1-0 win over Arsenal at Goodison Park on Saturday. James Tarkowski’s second-half header was enough to secure Dyche a win in his first game in charge of the club.
The victory wasn’t enough to move Everton out of the relegation zone, but it was the first time they have picked up all three points since October. Liverpool, meanwhile, are winless in each of their past four league matches, having been beaten 3-0 by Wolverhampton Wanderers last time out.
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And Dyche, as well as praising Alex Iwobi for his performance against the Gunners, believes his side’s display against Arsenal has set the bar not only for his team’s trip across Stanley Park, but for the rest of the season.
“[Arsenal] was a platform for the players to see the expectation, no matter who you are. No matter what style of player you are," the Everton boss said.
“The shape, the work ethic, and the two wide players working back tremendously hard. Alex, I know he can play and he’s a very talented footballer. But the working back and doubling up with Seamus was terrific.”
Before Dyche added: “Different managers have different feels for different players and different styles, about how they wish the team to play.
“I’m looking at the players with a clean slate going right, how do they fit in with what I think is appropriate, and of course the opposition.
“Arsenal, for example, are top of the league for a reason. Unlikely against a team like them, no matter how good you are, that you’re going to dominate the ball. Not impossible, but improbable. So therefore you better be doing all the other stuff really, really well.”
Dyche, speaking to evertontv, also believes that the resilient nature of his Everton’s performance on Saturday was an indication of the group's determination to start building momentum in a bid to avoid relegation to the Championship.
He said: “There are still layers on top of that performance, obviously. We can deal with the ball better at times. But I wanted an urgency, I wanted passion to the play and a commitment to the shirt. That was on show.
“Some of the blocking and tackling… I think we doubled our tackles against them. That’s a good sign that the players are at it. They want more.
“We broke the play, there were some good moments. We created two or three great opportunities. Some great crossing moves, broke up the play higher up the pitch.
“It’s not easy, you’re playing Arsenal. They are flying, they are a good outfit. To do that to them and deliver that performance, we’ll now aim to build on that with some quality, because there is a quality here no two ways about that.
“But we needed a base to work from, so I am pleased about that because the performance was really important to me.
“The results come and go, we want them to come, of course, but the performance was very important to me. To see the players had accepted what we had tried to get into them, and then going out and delivering.”
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