Sean Dyche has called on Everton to take on the challenge of surviving in the Premier League this season and build belief.
Everton are 19th in the Premier League table and the club’s survival hopes suffered a blow after a 4-1 home defeat to Newcastle on Thursday night. The loss leaves Everton two points from safety, ahead of his weekend’s huge relegation six-pointer with 18th-placed Leicester at the King Power Stadium.
Everton have won just one of their last ten games in the Premier League, but Dyche has issued his squad with a rallying cry and has called on the Toffees to take on the challenge at Leicester this weekend.
“My mindset is always to take it on. That’s been the thing I learned as a player,” he told his pre-match press conferece.
“Big games, smaller games… your standards and consistency are the key. We’ve been trying to achieve that.
“It is fair to say the thing that gets in the way of that is quite obviously the feel of what is going on. The tightness if you’re not doing as well and the openness and freedom if you are doing well… these are the things that are affected.
“The next one will be a case of saying, ‘Right, lads, a lot of the basic principles of what we’re doing are correct but the details are massively important’… Every detail counts, every hard yard has to be done, every time you go in the box you have to believe you are going to score a goal and they’re the things that add in the detail to get you wins.”
Dyche was asked about the importance of this weekend’s clash, as Everton look to avoid relegation to the second tier for the first time since 1951. The 51-year-old acknowledged this weekend’s game is a big one for his team and believes a win can change the atmosphere around the club.
“The stakes have been high since I got here,” he insisted.
“The stakes should be high, by the way. A club like Everton… the stakes should be high. That’s what the players need to remember. They need to be high at this football club.
“[A win at Leicester] creates a different atmosphere. If we go down there, take on the game and win, then it creates a different atmosphere and the belief floods back in very quickly. It’s strange how quickly it can turn around.
“The key point is making it happen, I can’t emphasise that enough. I say it to the players constantly – you make things happen in football.
“Now and again you get a lucky one but even that doesn’t really build belief. The ones that build belief are when you take it on, then deliver and get a result.”
