Crystal Palace v Everton, London, UK - 11 Nov 2023 Sean Dyche, Manager of Everton after the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Everton at Selhurst Park, London on 11 November 2023 London Selhurst Park London England Copyright: xMicahxCrook/PPAUKx PPA-067861
Sean Dyche revealed that significant tactical tweaks to his Everton set-up were not required at half-time against Crystal Palace – and ensuring a ‘feel’ of a performance was more important.
The Toffees finally picked up a first victory of the Premier League season as they beat Palace 2-1 at Goodison Park. Yet it was scarcely plain sailing for the home side, who fell behind to Marc Guehi’s 10th-minute strike.
While Everton had the better chances for the remainder of the opening period, the Eagles caused plenty of problems and dominated the midfield. But the Blues responded after the interval, with Dwight McNeil firing a double to deliver three points. Palace barely threatened an equaliser, with Dyche’s side comfortably seeing out the game to yield all three points and move up to 15th in the table.
Asked what he told his Everton squad in the dressing room at the break, Dyche responded: “Just the feel of it. Sometimes in football, you’re waiting for someone else to make a difference and sometimes they do, of course. But in a game where no-one is quite making a difference, it’s got to be a collective. It was more about bringing not just a tactical thing but a feel to the performance – that kind of emotional feel to get together and play hard to go and win a game. I thought there was more edge of our game in the second half.”
Dyche made the decision to substitute Jesper Lindstrom at half-time and bring on Jack Harrison. Lindstrom, on a season-long loan from Napoli, struggled as the first period wore on, while Harrison added experience – and his cross into the box engineered McNeil’s 54th-minute match-winner.
On the half-time change, Dyche explained: “Jesper, I said to him – he’s learning what it is here. I said to him about reacting to a mistake, getting after it and going and shutting the game down. He’s a player who is learning about the culture of Everton Football Club.
