Reaction from the Everton manager after the clash with Tottenham in the Premier League
Sean Dyche blasted his players for a “subservient” start that undid Everton’s game plan at Tottenham Hotspur. An injury crisis left the Blues facing an uphill battle in north London but they struggled to put up a fight against their hosts with a poor performance.
Yves Bissouma put his side ahead after just 14 minutes but Everton could have been behind before then, Jordan Pickford saving well from Cristian Romero, Heung-Min Son and James Maddison and Brennan Johnson flashing a free header across goal.
Dyche was unhappy with the manner in which his players allowed Spurs to seize the initiative and suggested he had told them so following the match.
Asked what he had focused on in the dressing room after the final whistle, Dyche appeared to question his side’s approach to the match.
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He said: “What about taking responsibility at 0-0? Strangely, it is easier to take responsibility when you are one or two goals down. Every manager will call it 2-0 football and then everyone starts playing. What about playing when it is 0-0?
“So within all the challenges, which are quite obvious, we have got to remind ourselves of the truth of what we are, and what we are trying to achieve, and that part of the mentality of the group, we have shown before how positive it can be, we let it go too easily.
“And today, we know they are a good outfit who have spent money on some real talent. They are in a big stadium, their first game at home and everything, and they started like that, and we just started a little bit subserviently.
“We had good organisation but the first goal was a sign of it, everyone just backing off and just letting players run into the box and that kind of - it is only two or three yards but it is two or three yards of intent to go and stop moments like that.”
Son doubled the lead after 25 minutes when he capitalised on a Pickford mistake. That made a tough task even more difficult, Dyche said, and after he made attacking substitutions on the hour mark it was the hosts who showed the more clinical edge.
Dyche said: “The second is impossible to legislate for and then you are 2-0 down. And when you are 2-0 down at a place like this it is tough.