Sean Dyche shares ‘common sense’ verdict on team selection as process revealed
Sean Dyche has discussed how he and his coaching staff select the starting XI at Everton, suggesting that often the decision can just be “common sense.”
The former Burnley manager guided the Toffees to Premier League safety on the final day of the 2022/23 season with a win over Bournemouth and has overseen a change in results in the last few weeks, with Everton winning three of their last four matche
Speaking on Everton: Nothing Will Be The Same, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo (14 October) he said: “We affect each other as a staff. We push and prod each other with reasons why. Sometimes it’s just common sense.
“The obvious being we walk in, we have a week here, deliver a performance against Arsenal and win. It’s highly unlikely you’re going to change that situation. Other weeks we’re going ‘Well what about so and so?’ What have we seen in training, what’s their mood, how are they feeling, what was their last performance like, what can we expect from a future performance?
“If we have to change a player to a different position we look at how many games have they played in that position, what are their stats, what was their form before we got here, what’s their form since we’ve been here, what’s their daily output, what’s their analysis look like, what does their mentality feel like?
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“We build a team around who is in the right place, who is in the right slot, who is in the right frame of mind. All these things go in the melting pot.”
Big process
So often Dyche is reduced to nothing more than a long ball merchant who plays effective football that isn’t particularly pleasant to watch, but just from the short insight into his team selection process, it is clear he is a much better football manager than that stereotype.
The Toffees don’t have the biggest of squads and Dyche would likely have a set side week in and week out, but the nature of the difficult results in the past 10 months at Goodison have restricted his opportunity to name an unchanged outfit.
Now that he has most of his squad back fit and fighting for places, he may well be able to allow common sense to prevail more often than not and pick the same team for back-to-back games, especially considering the lack of European fixtures at Goodison.
Given the recent relegation battles, there are likely more players who know when they’re ready and in the right frame of mind to positively impact the side. If Dyche can cultivate his team to keep up their winning streak, they should have enough quality to maintain their place in the Premier League.
