Dyche needs answers on pitch after chaos off it
You could be forgiven for thinking whoever decided the evening of Easter Sunday was the right time to reveal Everton’s latest eye-watering £89.1million losses was indulging in gallows humour.
The sardonic interpretation is someone at the club calculated the most critical gaze would be fixed elsewhere on Bank Holiday weekend, Manchester City and Arsenal in the final stages of their tussle as Everton finally published what the Premier League knew in December – that their financial situation is even bleaker than when they were hit with an initial 10-point penalty (later reduced to six) for breaking profitability and sustainability rules between 2021-22.
All that can be read from the grim Goodison Park accounts is the kind of impending doom that the club have been trying to claim is overexaggerated for the past few years.
Ahead of the team’s trip to Newcastle United tonight, there will be plenty of sympathy for manager Sean Dyche as the challenging conditions he and his players are working under become ever clearer.
Thirty-one points from 29 games represents undoubted progress over a year for a manager hamstrung in the transfer market and dealing with calamitous problems of others’ making. With six more points, Everton would be 14th and a comfortable nine points above the bottom three. The prospect of relegation probably would not have been referenced since the first few games of the season.
But there is another, more critical school of thought that Dyche must now overcome; that events off the pitch have become a convenient shield to excuse how poorly Everton are playing on it.
They are still awaiting their first league win of the year and Saturday’s defeat at Bournemouth was their 12th league game in succession without a victory. The last time that happened was at the start of the 1994-95 season, when Mike Walker was sacked and Joe Royle led a revival that ended with winning the FA Cup.
As the barren run has gone on, Dyche’s backers have continued to lean on the repercussions of the initial Premier League judgment on Nov 16, as well as the uncertainty around the ownership, 777 Partners’ bid having the ironic consequence of raising red flags all over Goodison.
Among the explanations for the form dip is that Everton are still suffering from the psychological impact of the initial 10-point deduction. “It changes the perception, it changes the feel, it changes the fan base, it changes the feel of performances. That’s just a fact,” Dyche said in February. “We all measure it differently when the team is top, middle or bottom.
“Does that affect the team whilst the process is going? At first everyone says obviously not because you win four, but you could argue there is a delayed effect.”
There has been more anxiety on Goodison match days given every fixture has been played amid the sense of being plunged into a relegation battle when, in other circumstances, a push towards the top half would have been the prize.
That said, the view is undermined given Everton’s best winning sequence followed their initial points deduction. Supporters and players united behind the idea that the club were being harshly penalised because of the cackhanded manner in which the Premier League determined what constituted an appropriate punishment for overspending.
It is hypothetical to consider what the Goodison atmosphere would be like if Everton were further away from the drop zone – it would obviously be less nervous – but the notion that the Gwladys Street end would be content with the style and standard of performances since early January requires a stretch of the imagination. No Premier League team have scored fewer goals in open play this season, only two have a worse record for passing accuracy, and none have delivered a greater volume of long passes. Although Everton have deserved more points – certainly at home – they have been a tough watch in recent months.
Dyche can point to a series of fixtures where Everton have missed easy chances. There are also several contentious refereeing decisions influencing outcomes, although every manager can read that script. Frank Lampard, Rafael Benitez and Marco Silva could have made similar arguments to Dyche during their reigns. There is an eerie similarity – certainly with Lampard – in the way a surge of optimism in keeping the side in the league preceded an unsustainable downturn.
Dyche has not had the transfer kitty to recruit the calibre of player that might have turned the six draws since Dec 19 into wins.
Where he is fortunate is that there is no executive of authority or clout to offer him a vote of confidence, let alone question his work. The club probably could not even afford to replace him if they were considering it.
Everton’s latest accounts demonstrate the club’s problems go way beyond the manager. Last year, Dyche provided a ray of hope to keep the club in the Premier League. He accepted the formidable task of finding a solution to historic problems, and like those before, must feel like managing Everton is akin to walking a tightrope in a gale force wind.
Now he must repeat the trick to ensure the spotlight does not more frequently shine on him.