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.

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