New manager Sean Dyche has explained how he’s going to have to be creative in increasing Everton’s goal output as he looks to forge the side into a more flexible attacking force. Although Dyche steered the Blues to their first victory since October 22 as they defeated Premier League leader Arsenal in his first game in charge on Saturday, the fact remains that they have only netted more than one goal in just two matches in all competitions this season.
Everton defeated Crystal Palace 3-0 at Goodison Park in that aforementioned most recent three points until the Gunners were beaten while the only other occasion was their 2-1 comeback win at Southampton on October 1. Only Wolverhampton Wanderers (15) have scored fewer goals than Everton’s tally of 16 from 21 Premier League games so far and their two main strikers Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Neal Maupay have just one goal apiece for the campaign.
Calvert-Lewin, who remains an injury doubt for next Monday’s Merseyside Derby at Anfield with a hamstring issue, did have opportunities to add to his total though against Mikel Arteta’s side and missed at least three good chances to score. Despite being up against a table-topping team who had not been beaten since their 3-1 defeat at Manchester United back on September 4, Everton posted 12 shots in the match, an increase on their average for the season of 8.55 and had five on target, again up from their figure of 3.5 across the board.
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In the end, their only goal came from James Tarkowski’s header off a Dwight McNeil corner-kick but Dyche explained that there can be great variety in how you test the opposition and this can change depending on who you are facing. He said: “There are different ways of creating chances, it is just that sometimes we forget.
“Sometimes we think the only way to create a chance is to roll it through the six yard box. That is not the only way of creating chances, you have to work in both boxes, you have to find a style and way of working that can work in both boxes so you stop it going in your net and then in the other.
“If we can add more quality at times (that can help) but you have to remember the opposition we faced (Arsenal). They ain’t bad, they are top of the league for a reason.
“So therefore you have to do the ugly stuff against those sides and against other teams maybe we can be more progressive in our play. Different games for different reasons, different tactics for different situations, but the base won’t change.
“The team has to go out and know we have to fight and we have to work and we are going to work from our base and our shape and the tactical idea of it and the belief of it and the underbelly as I call it that will be intact. We just mould it differently for who we think we are taking on.”
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