With Everton now knowing they need a result in their final game of the season at home to Bournemouth in order to avoid the club’s first relegation in 72 years, manager Sean Dyche believes they have sent a strong message to their rivals for the drop.
Everton must still wait to see what Leicester City do at Newcastle United tonight but Leeds United’s 3-1 defeat at West Ham United on Sunday keeps them out of the bottom three as it stands going into their final game and the Foxes would have to triumph at St James' Park to put Dyche's side back in there on goal difference.
Going into the last few seconds of their last away match of the campaign against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on Saturday, the Blues looked destined to suffer a defeat after falling behind to Hwang Hee-Chan’s goal in the 37th minute but they snatched a share of the spoils when Yerry Mina netted from close range in the last of the nine allotted minutes of stoppage time.
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Asked what that moment could mean to morale within the Everton camp, Dyche said: “Trust me, at a club that has been in some difficult places it wouldn’t have been that different because there have been some mood shifts that I have seen here radically already. I wouldn’t have been too worried about that, I would have been worried about the next game because I park things very quickly.
“You have to (keep going). On the other hand, it gives us a strong feel of the group, the nature of the group, the energy in the group and the belief in the group, and of course it sends another message: ‘We’re alive. We’re ready. We are taking it on.’ I think that is important.”
Injuries forced the Blues to deploy several different formations at Molineux with Dyche deploying players outside of their natural positions but he believes at this stage of the season, fortunes come down to more than mere tactics. He said: “The fans know it is important, the fans have been terrific, there has been absolutely no issue with the fans. No question marks over that.
“We have had a few question marks over ourselves and the group and things that have got away from us and there has been a lot of good. I remind the players of that, there are a lot good players here, a lot of good situations, they are seeing through the challenges which I have spoken to them at length about.
“I tell them to see through all the noise, forget about that, look at what is around us, the group of players we have got. I was pleased for them (at Wolves) not just the bigger situation. A point doesn’t sound a lot at this stage but it is.
“Also their performance and their will and demand, they are important factors, it is not always about tactics. It can be, but to have the will and demand of the group – that was on show again to get something from a match that looked like it was going away from us.
“Not performance wise, we just couldn’t find the moment, we couldn’t find the chance that would get us at least a point. Then we did.”
The Everton boss added: “I hear managers wax lyrical about that but all managers make tactical changes. It is the delivery of it: can they deliver the tactics?
“I was mostly pleased that whenever we changed there was no question. Jimmy Garner was just a great advert for that: ‘yes, what do I need to do?’
“Work hard, play hard, try and affect the game. I am just picking him out, there were a few like that.
“Keano was another. There have been question marks but you put him on a pitch and he delivers at right-back, a foreign position for him but he got forward when we needed him to came alive in the box and he delivers a chance from which we score.
“They are important things for me, seeing players who accept whatever the challenge is. I am really pleased with that.”
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