Sean Dyche praised his players’ “commitment to score” as Everton broke their goal drought with a 4-0 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Despite having two goals disallowed, the Blues created several chances, while Wolves’ Jorgen Strand Larsen missed multiple opportunities.
The win, Everton’s third of a challenging Premier League season, marked their first goals since October, all coming from set-pieces. Dyche revealed tactical adjustments, including shifting Iliman Ndiaye to the right, Dwight McNeil to the left, and Abdoulaye Doucoure into a central attacking role, aimed at improving performance at both ends of the pitch.
The strategy paid off, with Dyche emphasizing the importance of instilling confidence in his goal-shy team before the match.
The Blues boss said: “I thought we found a good balance today. It’s not always that easy, of course, but I thought the commitment to score today was really pleasing – the body language to go into the box, the set-piece delivery, the commitment at set-pieces to attack the ball, in general play we created a number of other chances, so I was very pleased on that side of the game because obviously that’s been a big question mark.
“But I did remind the players before about the goalscoring prowess they have shown during their careers, not just here, in their previous careers. I said: ‘Look, you’ve got goals in you lads, you’ve got to go and relax in the box and go and take it on, just go and play on the front foot and, once it comes in the box, relax is the wrong word, but just go in there with the focus to score’.
“‘Don’t worry about anything else. Don’t worry about noise, don’t worry about crowds, don’t worry about the opposition. Just go in there and focus on scoring. And I thought I was pleased with that.’”
