Everton take step towards safety proving why Sean Dyche is the right man for the fight - Telegraph 18/2/23
Leeds United drop into relegation zone after Seamus Coleman scores freakish winner
By Chris Bascombe
The Bride of Frankenstein enjoyed longer and more satisfying
honeymoon periods than recent Everton managers. Sean Dyche hopes his blossoming
relationship with Goodison Park will be the exception. They talk about a “new
manager bounce”. Under Dyche, the home turf suddenly resembles a trampoline,
two wins underlining why the Goodison factor is no myth as Leeds United
replaced Everton in the bottom three.
“When a group of players take ownership, the fans see it,”
said Dyche, with some humility suggesting his role secondary in the unifying
process. “You sense it when a team is giving everything. For most crowds, the
Everton crowd in particular, that is where it starts.”
For balance, it should be said there has been an air of deja
vu around Dyche’s first two home games. Frank Lampard kept Everton in the
Premier League a year ago after galvanising protesting supporters and seeing
off Chelsea and Manchester United in the run-in. His predecessor, Rafael
Benítez, had few enjoyable moments but still claimed Arsenal’s scalp at
Goodison.
Where Lampard and Benítez fatally struggled was eking out
wins when Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s injuries flared up. The importance of Dyche
engineering this pivotal win without his striker cannot be overstated. Their
set-piece threat aside, it looked like Everton would need something spectacular
or freakish to score. The winning goal had a bit of both.
Onto his ninth Everton coach, 34-year-old Seamus Coleman has
seen everything at Goodison Park, and his right foot proved to be the oldest
and most effective swinger in town as Leeds keeper Illan Meslier misjudged what
he presumed to be a 66th minute cross. Coleman clearly meant to beat the keeper
at the near post given there was no one in the penalty area he could have been
trying to find.
“He has had a lot of managers here and every one has said
what a great professional he is. What I like is he still has that edge,” said
Dyche, a point underlined when the Everton skipper was involved in a post-match
altercation with Wilfried Gnonto.
The moment was generally out of sync with a low quality
game, both teams demonstrating why they are fighting relegation.
But Leeds looked especially lightweight, like a team which
has decided to dispense with Jesse Marsch’s plan A in order to give an
opportunity to the slightly worse plan A of the backroom team he left behind.
Their plight was summed up in the first minute of injury
time when, having belatedly mounted some pressure, substitute Rasmus Kristensen
committed a foul throw. Shambolic.
Everton just about had enough, even if it was a slog. Of the
two threatened teams, they look like they have the right general to lead them
out of the relegation trench.
