Sean Dyche already knows Everton open secret as three…

Sean Dyche already knows Everton open secret as three players set to benefit

Welcome to the madness, Sean Dyche.

We are in a mess right now, on and off the field, and he has been brave enough to front it and come to the football club. He believes he is the man to turn this around, otherwise he wouldn’t have taken the job.

Dyche is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but we need a manager to galvanise this group of players. Frank Lampard, as nice as he was, couldn’t get a tune out of them.

I expect he will simplify things by getting back to basics and making sure the players do that right. We have been trying to complicate our play far too much and it hasn’t suited us. It is going to be a fight from now until the end of the season and every point counts. I don’t care if the style is attractive, it is about putting points on the board.

It will take a lot of hard work to fix our problems, make no mistake about it, but Dyche is a man who will be putting in the effort. He is a professional guy, he has Premier League experience and knows how Everton tick. The club is not in a good place, with a lot of negativity flying around, and we just need to get behind the players and Dyche.

Dyche will look back on his time at Burnley and think it was a huge success. He got them into Europe and was overachieving, which is a sign of a good coach. Getting the best out of players is what he did and we just have to hope he can do the same for us. We need to squeeze every ounce of quality and belief out of these players to turn around our season. When you played against a Sean Dyche side, there were no surprises. You knew what you were up against: you would have to roll your sleeves up and win your battles. His methods were very physical and demanding, which is good because the players at Everton don’t look fit, don’t seem to be bullying teams or showing desire.

What he said last season about our players not knowing how to win away from home was spot on, and something 40,000-plus Everton fans have been saying for quite a long time. They don’t seem to put games away and punish teams whose confidence levels are low, which we’ve seen in recent home games against Southampton and Wolves. We don’t smell blood and we are a soft touch as a football team. It’s no secret - everyone knows that. Dyche coming out and saying the same shows he knows what he is walking into and what the fans expect.

His appointment is likely to benefit those at the club he previously worked with at Burnley: Dwight McNeil, James Tarkowski and Michael Keane. Dyche will know their strengths and weaknesses, which could help us get the best out of McNeil in particular. His work ethic is fine but his quality on the ball is what has been lacking. If Dyche plays his 4-4-2, this gives McNeil two target men to put the ball into. Dominic Calvert-Lewin needs the right service to bring the best out of him, and he’s not been getting that.

It's not only McNeil, though, there are several players who need to raise their game at this moment in time. When the full-time whistle was going last season, players were collapsing to the floor because they had given everything to get a result. When the final whistle has gone this season, I haven’t seen any of that. The players are playing within themselves and I think Dyche will want to add fresh faces to add competition for places. We’ve had players underperforming and keeping their place due to a lack of options, but that needs to change.

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