Everton manager Sean Dyche believes his goal-shy team need to share the responsibility of scoring in order to stay up.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin did not play in Monday’s 2-0 defeat to Liverpool after being substituted an hour into the 1-0 win over Arsenal due to a hamstring problem and with the striker set to miss out again against Leeds United on Saturday, Dyche acknowledges the rest of Everton’s team – who have netted just 16 goals in 22 games between them this season, now the lowest tally in the Premier League – must take on an increasing scoring responsibility.
Dyche started with Ellis Simms spearheading the attack at Anfield rather than the more-experienced Neal Maupay.
The rookie striker, recalled from a loan spell at Sunderland in January, had netted both goals in a 2-0 behind-closed-doors victory over League Two Stockport County in the build-up to the Liverpool fixture. Maupay was sent off in the same game, although Dyche was adamant the dismissal had no impact on his selection for the derby. He said: “Absolutely not, it was only a silly spat over something nonsensical. That wouldn’t have any say in playing or not playing.
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“I know who Neal is, as in he’s got a little bit of fire in him. I quite like that actually.”
The Blues boss added: “It’s a team game. Even Lionel Messi didn’t win the World Cup on his own and is arguably the best player in the world and one of the best players ever, but there’s still a team around him and it’s not one player’s job to score a goal and equally it’s not one player’s job to defend your goal so we’ve got to look at the team beyond individuals.”
Although Dyche predominantly used a 4-4-2 formation during his last managerial position with Burnley, he has lined up 4-5-1 for his first two games with Everton. Given that the Blues are now preparing to face a direct rival rather than one of the Premier League’s big boys there could be scope for an additional attacking player and Demarai Gray who was a regular under Frank Lampard but is yet to start under the new manager could be a potential candidate for a striking berth given that he was used up front under the previous regime when they went 5-3-2.
Dyche said: “Demarai is a very good player. He’s certainly a player we’re thinking of, he’s adapting to what we want from him as all the players are.
“He’s someone who we think can operate in a few different roles and it’s a case of defining the best chance of using him for his gain and for our gain of course.”
At the other end of the field, Dyche is concerned about Jordan Pickford’s form after he left Mohamed Salah with an easy tap-in for Liverpool’s first goal after misjudging a cross. The 51-year-old has not spoken to the England number one about the incident and asked whether he thought Pickford looked jittery in the game, said: “I didn’t notice he was before just misreading something.
“You’d like to think there’s some emotion involved in those games. I don’t mind players if they feel that emotion.
“You want it expressed in the right way but I don’t particularly remember him being jittery but it does make more of a story because he misread one if you look for evidence. If he’d have saved three you’d have been saying he was really on it because he was engaging with the crowd and he was right on top of his game, that’s how quickly performances change from a viewpoint but when you see the stats and facts you see there’s not so much in it and it’s my job to see through it.”
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