Sean Dyche believes Neal Maupay is doing the ‘right things’ as he attempts to provide the goals Everton so desperately need.
The striker had several good opportunities at Arsenal and had an effort scrambled off the line in the match with Aston Villa days earlier.
He is yet to add to his sole goal for the Blues - the match winner against West Ham that secured a first win of the season. But his manager believes he is capable of finding the form badly needed by an Everton side mired in a relegation battle after scoring just 17 league goals in 25 games.
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Maupay appears to have become Dyche’s favoured striker in the continued absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The former Brighton player has started the last three games as the spearhead for his new boss’ 4-5-1. And while he is yet to score for him, Dyche believes Maupay’s time will come.
He said: “Neal is doing the right things at the minute. He keeps getting in the box and finding chances, and it’s not easy just to find chances in the Premier League. So they will go in.”
Dyche has stressed - typically amid the focus on Calvert-Lewin - that he wants players from around the pitch to contribute to Everton’s attacking threat. The two goals scored on his watch have come from the defenders Seamus Coleman and James Tarkowski. He added: “We want wide players driving in on the back post because we’re flashing crosses across the six yard area and not quite dominating the back post. They are basics but they still have to be done. We are trying to mix our game and affect the game in as many different ways as we can.”
Everton’s goalscoring struggle has been even more notable given the difficulty the team has in chasing a game after conceding first. Dyche said belief from the players that going behind in a game does not mean it is over is key to making progress. He explained: “That is part of the process we are going through of being solid, being resilient and still finding the ability to have the chances, and still believing too. You have to keep believing in what they can do. Neal has scored goals in the Premier League. He got one in four, what, 26 goals in 102 at Brighton. Those are his stats. So he has got goals.
“Dominic is injured, Ellis Simms is new to it, still learning and that will happen. Then he can go in that role. There are some options, but yeah, the fine margins, it helps when you are scoring goals. Psychologically as a team it helps, but that doesn’t mean you are just relying on it. You can never rely on it, as a team you always have to make sure you keep the back door shut when you are trying to open the front.” Asked whether Demarai Gray - Everton’s top scorer this season - was an option up front, Dyche made clear the winger “adds something different” but said work was ongoing to find the right “balance” to include him in a starting line-up.
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