Dyche looking for Everton points against fellow strugglers Wolves
03/12/2024
Finch Farm training centre, Liverpool, UK
03/12/2024
Finch Farm training centre, Liverpool, UK
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00:00Afternoon, welcome to our pre-match press conference to preview our game against Wolverhampton.
00:17Wanderers will start off with Vinny from Scotland.
00:19Sean, first of all, Brogier and Cimitti, any chance for tomorrow, if not any chance for the weekend?
00:23Brogier certainly to be in and around it. Cimitti's not ready yet.
00:26He's training ever so well and training hard,
00:29but he needs an extended games programme due to the nature of his injury.
00:33But Brogier should be around it.
00:35Obviously, you brought Beto in for Dominic Alba-Lewin at the weekend.
00:38We saw Dominic in the Merseyside derby last season,
00:41just what a threat he can be in the game that he gave Van Dijk and Canate.
00:45Maybe we haven't quite seen that since. Is he playing within himself?
00:48Well, I've spoken to him recently about it and that sort of freeing yourself up a little bit.
00:53And I think he's a very good player, as everyone knows.
00:56I've stood by him a lot when people have questioned whether he should be playing or not.
00:59But I do believe in him. I thought it was right to come out the other day.
01:03We'll reconsider it, of course, going into the next game.
01:06But I thought he came on, he looked active.
01:08But yeah, I don't think he's got more to offer.
01:11I don't think he's playing within himself, not a deliberate thing.
01:14But I reminded him of the good player he is and what he can be and the threat he can be.
01:18And I agree, against Liverpool last season, I thought he was excellent.
01:21I thought it reminded everyone of the player he is.
01:25It's shown itself at various times and finding that consistency of what he does is important.
01:30But he knows that.
01:31Is that where the injuries that he's had and suffered from, is that where it's maybe taken its toll?
01:37Maybe. We spoke at some length about that and he says he feels good.
01:40I mean, he's getting a lot more minutes under his belt.
01:41You know that. And training minutes as well.
01:43He's not missed a lot of football.
01:45Sorry, as in training ground football.
01:48So, yeah, I mean, I think he's coming back to get him back to where he wants to be.
01:52And certainly we want him to be, because we believe he's a very good striker.
01:56And I suppose the competition for players will be Brogier and Cimity coming back.
01:59Then that will, I suppose...
02:01Yeah, I think that's always helpful.
02:02Yeah, it's always helpful.
02:04You know, I played many moons ago and it's always helpful if you have got competition around you.
02:07It just keeps you with that edge, you know, because you know that if there's other players there
02:11and they're all willing and they're all fighting for play,
02:13then you have to stay on top of your performances.
02:15Maybe, maybe that'll be part of his motivation.
02:18Who knows? You know, different players are motivated by different things.
02:21Some by that, some by the manager, some by just wanting to play,
02:24some by wanting to score, all the rest of it.
02:25So they're the hardest things to define in an individual.
02:28When you're looking at the team as a whole,
02:30what reasons do you see for the fragility that we saw against Manchester United?
02:33Because we've seen against the likes of Fulham, the likes against Palace as well,
02:38that ability to come from behind and get points in the end.
02:42Yeah, you can't.
02:43I mean, I thought the other day it was pretty obvious in the sense of mistakes.
02:46You can't.
02:47The hardest thing as a manager is when someone doesn't take the crucial moment to score a goal
02:52and someone makes a mistake.
02:53They're the hardest things to manage, you know,
02:54and the other day was just an extreme version of it.
02:57You know, certainly three.
02:58I think Jared's unlucky with the one that pings into the box.
03:01He might have got a bigger foot on it, a bit unlucky.
03:03The three others, one's a tactical thing after the half-time,
03:06which is, you know, a mystery to me why the team did that, obviously.
03:10And then the two individual errors.
03:12So that's much more difficult to legislate for.
03:17Other times of the season, of course, we look at reasons for,
03:20but that one's a lot more difficult.
03:21Do you see it then as a tough moment at the minute?
03:25And as such, you know, we see that the owner, Farhan Moshiri, at the minute,
03:30has given his support to you.
03:31Has there been a conversation with him?
03:32Has he offered any kind of support?
03:34No, the fact is, it's never been an easy ride since I walked in the building.
03:38Everyone knows that. I've spoken openly about it.
03:40You know, I remind everyone, the fans said they wanted truth.
03:42I've been nothing but truthful.
03:44I've never questioned the fans, still won't.
03:46Never questioned anything about the club.
03:47I've tried to keep everything in-house and keep it all about what I can tell you.
03:52And it's been difficult, and it still is difficult.
03:54You know, I didn't come into this season, not you personally,
03:56the media asked after the game, you know, why we're not doing this season.
03:59I said, the club hasn't been operating in the manner it wants to for the last five seasons.
04:03You know, we're just trying to build.
04:04We're trying to work.
04:05We're trying to work with the players and make it stronger than it was.
04:08We finished really well last season.
04:09And maybe that was a bit of a misleading one going into this season,
04:12as if it was going to be an easy season.
04:13It's not. Never was going to be.
04:15You know, and I'm ready for that.
04:17I'm more than ready for the challenge.
04:18And it's not because it could be easier, because for sure we've made errors.
04:22I've made errors this season, for sure.
04:25The team have made errors.
04:26That's quite obvious.
04:27And we haven't killed teams off when we've been in a position to do so.
04:30And the fine margins, you know, are always there for all to see.
04:34And I've never, never shied away from that.
04:36You know, it's a fact of life as a manager.
04:38You have to get the margins right.
04:40And we haven't done so far this season.
04:42But the bigger picture of this club,
04:43it's been a challenge from the first minute I walked in here.
04:46And it still is.
04:46And we've done loads of work.
04:47Not just me, by the way.
04:49I'm the one who has a voice because I often am the one who has a voice.
04:53But there's so much work being done here.
04:54So many good things have been done.
04:56But of course, I'm never naive enough to think that makes it all right.
04:59You've got to win games.
05:00And we haven't won enough games this season.
05:01We've got to win more.
05:02We've got to correct it.
05:03We've got to correct it ASAP.
05:05Can you expand on that, though?
05:06What errors do you feel that you've made this season?
05:08Well, just whether it be tactical errors, picking the right team,
05:11you know, sometimes, you know, like I said,
05:15the hardest thing is when a player doesn't take a chance,
05:17because that's the hardest thing as a manager.
05:19You can't take it for them.
05:20And you can't stop a mistake for them.
05:22But you can limit it with your organisation and maybe the cover of another player,
05:25the what-ifs, as I call it, attacking the maybes, defending the maybes,
05:28you know, be alive in both boxes, that kind of thinking.
05:33So, yeah, the errors I've made are really the tactical decision.
05:35You know, can you find a different way?
05:37Can you operate a different way?
05:39I did say the other day against, you know, sometimes belief of others.
05:44Michael Duffer, I remember him coming into a meeting at Burnley
05:46when everyone presumed we'd just roll out 4-4-2.
05:49And we sat there for two hours talking about subs,
05:51and he was absolutely gobsmacked.
05:53He went, I didn't know that this is what you do,
05:55because he just presupposed we just roll out 4-4-2,
05:57we roll out the subs and that's it.
05:59And he was absolutely gobsmacked.
06:00So I can assure you, it's a constant work in progress here,
06:04constant thought, constantly looking at the stats, the facts,
06:06the players, speaking to the players, sharing a view,
06:10trying to mould it differently, you know, trying to score more goals.
06:13For example, it's the hardest thing in the game.
06:15If it was easy, everyone would do it and they'd all have amazing strikers.
06:18We haven't. We're all searching for the best or developing
06:20or working with a team that can score goals.
06:22You know, that's the difference.
06:23And it's a constant work and it still is.
06:26And that's been since the day I walked in here.
06:27I wasn't expecting it to be easy and it's certainly not.
06:30And it's still not.
06:31Just to clarify, has there been a chat with Fahad
06:33and has he given any kind of clarification?
06:35No, only the simple, I've always had a relationship with him,
06:38which is very simple.
06:39WhatsApp messages, the odd phone call, very super simple.
06:43We're still waiting on the new ownership.
06:45It seems to be the general feel.
06:47I still haven't spoken to anyone.
06:48It seems to be like it's gathering some kind of pace.
06:53Who knows what that will bring?
06:54We'll have to wait and see because I've had no contact of any depth with them.
06:57Again, I have to ask the question because you say that you haven't spoken to them.
07:01Does that add an element of frustration?
07:03Would you feel happy if you've been able to have a conversation?
07:05No. The reason I say no is because we all know there's been other groups
07:10who have been close and then it's fell away.
07:12I can only imagine.
07:14I don't know them as operators, but I imagine they've gone, no, no,
07:17until we're absolutely there, then we'll just sit tight.
07:20You know, and I'm sure when they get to the point
07:22when they're really ready or nearly ready, they will reach out
07:25because why wouldn't they?
07:25They have to get a feel from, you know, whether I'm their guy or not.
07:29They have to get a feel for what I've learned in my time at this club
07:32and others have learned they have to do that.
07:34Well, I would imagine that's good business practice.
07:36Yeah, again, it's up to them.
07:37But I can totally see why they've just stepped away until it's finally done.
07:42And then I'm sure they'll be in ASAP and say, right,
07:45this is where we're going to go with it.
07:46Do you have any transfer plans then?
07:48Well, we're planning on different scenarios for obvious reasons.
07:52It still has to be the financial situation to some degree played into that.
07:56So, yeah, Kev and the team are working hard when we can
08:00and working with them and viewing players and background on players and the like.
08:04And I know we've often spoken about crucial times in the season,
08:07but it feels like this could be purely because of the relative
08:10positions of the two sides in the table.
08:12And obviously Wolves can move out of the bottom three and above yourselves as well.
08:15So how crucial a period?
08:18Last season, as you'll probably remember, we were on four points at this stage.
08:22We're on 11 now.
08:23So by no means is that where I was expecting to be.
08:26I was expecting to have more points.
08:27But you know what happened next.
08:29So it's a similar but different scenario.
08:31You know, we've got ourselves in a position where we feel we should be doing better.
08:34I certainly do, myself included.
08:37Now it's about taking on the next challenge, taking on these games,
08:39going and winning more games, getting more points on the board.
08:42We've done it before.
08:43It's now time to do it again.
08:44It seems to go in them cycles.
08:47And sure, I'm still trying to crack the code, as others have before me.
08:51You know, it's been a bit like that for a while.
08:53When I look back from the fixtures and the stats and the different ways
08:55the team's been operating for a number of seasons as reference points
08:59and spoke to a few of the players who've been here a number of seasons.
09:02But that's where it's at.
09:03We've got ourselves back to a point where we have to go, right, we must do better.
09:06And ASAP, and that's what I've been speaking about with the players.
09:09It's my responsibility to make sure we're in the right frame of mind to go and do better.
09:14And that's what we're looking to do.
09:15Thanks, Sean.
09:16Thanks, Vinny. We'll go to Richard.
09:18Sean, given what you've just said in context of where you were 12 months ago,
09:22how great is the challenge to maintain a level-headed approach within this group?
09:26Or do you detect a degree of frustration?
09:29No, I mean, I've been frustrated this season because I think we've done better
09:32than what the points show, key moments we haven't taken care of.
09:36And that's been quite evident.
09:39I don't think there's major frustration in the group other than wanting to,
09:42you know, the frustration of not winning and wanting to play well
09:44and wanting to deliver better than we are doing, of course.
09:48But no, I think it's an ongoing challenge here.
09:51And I think the group are pretty honest with it.
09:53I think I couldn't be more proud of this group.
09:56I said, you know, what about this one?
09:58I said, these have come through fire after fire, a lot of this group.
10:01There's only a few players join us this summer.
10:03The rest have just been through constantly,
10:04here's another knock, another knock, another knock.
10:06And we're still going and we're still fighting.
10:08I certainly am. And I believe the team are.
10:10So fair play.
10:12You know, that's part of the journey of Everton Football Club.
10:15Without these having a right go, we'd be in massive trouble.
10:17But we're still having a right go.
10:19We're still working for every inch of what we get.
10:21We don't always get it right.
10:22But I don't always get it right.
10:23I'm absolutely sure of that.
10:26But we've got it right enough.
10:27And now we've got to get it right enough again.
10:29Do you feel then that you're better equipped to handle this situation
10:32because of experience?
10:33Because whether you are or you're not, you know, you've got to handle it.
10:36That's the job.
10:37I came here, absolutely.
10:39The goalposts changed radically within a month of getting in here.
10:42And what I was sort of projected as being what the truth of the club was, wasn't.
10:48Not in a vicious way.
10:49It just turned out that it wasn't.
10:50You know, all sorts of things started happening last season.
10:52You all know that was a massive shock to me when we got points.
10:55I didn't even know that was on the horizon.
10:57So when I came in here.
10:58So it's constant.
10:59It's a constant challenge here.
11:01And I'm certainly up for it.
11:02I think I've shown that and I need to show it again.
11:04What do we expect from Wolves then tomorrow night?
11:06Because they might be in the bottom three.
11:08But you talk about being battle-hardened.
11:11They seem to scrap in every game.
11:13And from what we've seen at the weekend,
11:15there isn't a dull game involved in Wolves this season.
11:16Well, yeah, but people weren't saying that at the very beginning of the season about them.
11:19You know, they've corrected it somewhat more recently
11:21until obviously not so good on Saturday.
11:23But they've got good players.
11:25You know, most players in most teams in the Premier League do have.
11:27They've had a tough start.
11:28As have we for different reasons, different challenges, different reasons.
11:32Another big game, another important game, a very important game.
11:35Everyone keeps telling me every game is very important.
11:37And it is. No, it is.
11:38I'm not laughing about it.
11:40I'm genuinely serious.
11:41That's another thing I've learned about having a football club.
11:43Every game is a must win.
11:45That's the challenge.
11:47How do you set up your team without giving any secrets away?
11:49Because you look at how Wolves have played this season.
11:51There's only really Arsenal that have stopped them from scoring this year.
11:54So whilst they might not be getting the results,
11:56they certainly know how to put the ball in the net.
11:58Well, our defensive record until Sunday was very strong.
12:01We know that.
12:02I'd like to think we wouldn't make that many individual errors.
12:05You never know, but I'd like to think not.
12:07And we've corrected the defensive unit from the beginning of the season.
12:11Now it's about finding that balance that I speak about endlessly.
12:13You know, correct that.
12:14Well, get back to that solid feel,
12:17but also having more awareness in the attack in third to go and open teams up and score more goals.
12:21If you can get a positive result here tomorrow night,
12:24how does that set you up for what is always an important, busy, festive period,
12:28especially when you look at what's down the road?
12:29It just sets you up for the next one.
12:31You know, I've never got carried away with that here.
12:32There's no respite.
12:33The next one, a win just pushes back the noise and makes it feel better.
12:38Then we have to keep winning to really push it back.
12:41And we've only had a couple of spells where we've done that.
12:43It's important to get back to that.
12:44Pushing the noise, making it, changing the narrative, making it more positive,
12:48making it more positive general feel.
12:50Working very hard to do that.
12:51And it's been hard to keep it once we've got it.
12:54That's been the challenge.
12:54But the first step is the most important.
12:56And the next step for us is to win the next game.
12:59Thanks, Richard. We'll go to Julia.
13:03Just there, you said, you know, it's been fire after fire for the players.
13:07It's been constant challenges for yourself and everyone.
13:10Do you feel you and the players are all still together on the same page right now?
13:14Yeah, absolutely.
13:15I don't think that's been questioned, certainly not in the camp.
13:18It always gets questioned outside of the camp when things don't go well.
13:21We've got a question after the Chelsea game when we responded.
13:23That's quite obvious.
13:24We've got a question after the points tally.
13:25The start hadn't been amazing last season.
13:28We've always banded together.
13:30We've always pulled together.
13:30We've always found our way.
13:31And it's important we do that again.
13:33It feels like a limbo period at the moment because, as you say,
13:38it feels like a takeover may be imminent.
13:40But then we've been in this situation before here.
13:43For you yourself then, and you're saying there that the current owner communicates
13:47by WhatsApp and there is an interim board been in place for most of your tenure.
13:51How much sort of going on inside here?
13:54Is it skeleton staff?
13:55Does it feel sometimes like it's just you and the players taking all this on?
13:59That's maybe not necessarily your issue.
14:01That's just how it's been.
14:02I'm going to make it clear.
14:03Mr Meshiri has been following me on WhatsApp.
14:05There's no drama to it.
14:06It's just that's his chosen...
14:07But he's not at games is what I'm saying.
14:08He's not a present owner.
14:09I think we know the reason for that, you know, from when I first came here.
14:12But the fans didn't want him at games, amongst a number of others.
14:16He's actually been supportive of me and my time here.
14:18I think he's realistic of the challenge.
14:20So no problem with that.
14:22And the WhatsApp thing is irrelevant.
14:23It's just his manner of keeping in touch.
14:25There's no problem to me either.
14:27The new owners might, if they come in and take the club,
14:28they might decide to do that.
14:30A lot of people do nowadays.
14:32The challenge of the club hasn't changed at this moment.
14:35We don't know what's going to come forward, because if the new owners come in,
14:38I would imagine they'll have a plan, a strategy, a feel.
14:41They probably will make their changes from the hierarchy and where they see it going.
14:46I would imagine, equally.
14:48We'll have to wait and see.
14:49Don't know until I speak to them.
14:51At the weekend, you brought Nathan Patterson on.
14:54I know you've been asked a lot about him and his progress.
14:56I've been asked a lot about every player, especially the ones who are not in the team.
14:59And then when they get in the team, they go, why are they playing them?
15:00And then I go, right.
15:01And then the ones out the team have to come in the team.
15:03And it's an ongoing process.
15:04OK, then has he done enough to potentially start?
15:07He's done enough always to just be in mind.
15:09Every player here is more or less in mind.
15:11We've got some ones that you'd argue are probably going to play,
15:15but we've got plenty on the periphery and challenge when they're all fit
15:18to make sure that challenge is healthy and people are getting fit again now.
15:22A lot was made about the fans leaving early at Old Trafford at the weekend.
15:27I just wondered with the next two games as well, you know, Merseyside
15:30Derby coming up, Wolves tomorrow at Goodison.
15:32How much do you need the fans behind the team?
15:36And do you feel you've still got the fans?
15:37The fans have always been a big part of this football club.
15:41They will be forevermore, I hope, with me, beyond me.
15:45I really hope that because it's that kind of club where the fans are important.
15:49I've never questioned them, despite what some people have written, as you know,
15:52but I've never questioned the fans and nor will I be doing.
15:55Of course, it's helpful if they're behind us.
15:58If they're not, try and stay behind us as long as you can.
16:00Try and help myself and the players.
16:02Every time, you know, they get a mention, it's a big part of what they can do.
16:06So well, then stand up then and stay together.
16:08That's the simplicity of it.
16:10No, it's not that easy in real terms because you've got to win games.
16:12And that's the glue that holds a fan base together, is winning games.
16:15And if you're not winning, certainly dying for the cause and putting sweat
16:18on the shirt and believing in the badge, you know, it's a big part of it.
16:20And I certainly do that.
16:22You know, there's no...
16:23Me, my staff and the players,
16:26sometimes we haven't delivered as well as we could do,
16:29but we work tirelessly, I can assure.
16:31This is the most work I've done in all my years in management
16:33at this football club without a shadow of a doubt.
16:37Thanks, Julia. Any further questions in the open section before we move on?
16:42Nope.