Sean Dyche believes Everton’s performance levels have been better than their recent results suggest as they prepare for a pivotal Premier League game at home to Burnley on Saturday.
The Toffees have gone 13 league games without a win which, added to their six-point deduction for breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), means they lie four points above the relegation zone with eight games to go.
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A 1-1 draw at Newcastle on Tuesday night provided encouragement and Dyche believes their winless run has masked some decent displays.
He said: “[Managing for] 500-odd games teaches you about the game. You are still searching for the answer, we all are, and probably you will never get there. We only use it as a benchmark, we are not naive. We don’t just look at performances and don’t bother about the win, of course you can’t. But there has to be something reliable, a way of measuring what is going on.
“With all the noise and all the challenges and everything that goes on at Everton Football Club ever since I got here and before I got here – the finances and the like – we want to have a benchmark and a baseline of what we judge. It can’t just be about winning and losing.
“There has to be a point where you go ‘right, where are we at with the actual performance levels?’ I don’t think we are as far off it as everyone thinks but the winning bit does change the viewpoint.
“An average performance when you win becomes a very good performance and a good performance when you lose becomes a below average performance. That is just the way football is.”
That said, Dyche would happily take a scruffy win against his former club at Goodison Park at the weekend.
He added: “Our job is to look beyond [results] and measure it the best we can – with stats, facts, analysis and your eyes and your feel. Myself and my staff have got thousands of games between us. I can assure you there is no naivity to it. We are not going ‘oh well, we played well again’.
“Of course not, you would take an ugly, horrible win. Sometimes you need that, but ideally you do it by design. Ideally you do it by the team forcing results through their quality of performance.
“Now and again you have to measure it by different things and if it is three wins on the trot and they are ugly, hard-fought wins then you take it. But over a season’s work and over years of playing in the game, usually when you are doing things right and playing well, that’s what brings results. That’s what you want as a coach, manager, staff and the players.”
Team news update ahead of Burnley…@wearfigs pic.twitter.com/hqtNqhZl8n
— Everton (@Everton) April 4, 2024
Everton expect to hear the outcome of a second breach of PSR guidelines next week, complicating matters further at the foot of the table.
“We have had one knock [deducted 10 points] and we got a little bit back (reduced to six points). Who knows what comes next because we weren’t expecting the first one, the way it transpired,” Dyche said.
“We have to keep our eye on the current reality – we are where we are in the table. We got a good point from Newcastle and have a much more positive feel to the group. That will be our focus going into the next game.”
Everton’s last league win came in the reverse fixture at Turf Moor in December.
Burnley are three places and seven points worse off than Everton but unbeaten in four league games. Dyche is not expecting any surprises from Vincent Kompany’s men.
He said: “I don’t see them as much different in the sense that they are giving their all, they have got a youthfulness, they have got energy about them, they have got some quality. They spent a lot of money on players to try to build on what they achieved last season in the Championship.
“Obviously it has been a tough season and not just for them – it has been a tough season for us and for many others because the Premier League is tough. Their challenge is what it is. It is nothing to do with me now.
“I always respect Burnley Football Club and always will do, but the fact is that when the whistle blows there will be no respect then. We have got to look after ourselves and deliver a performance that can beat them.”
