Sean Dyche has admitted he has made mistakes this season as he laid bare the bleak situation confronting Everton in the months ahead.
Everton have been slithering down the table and have not scored since returning from the most recent international break, the nadir arriving at Old Trafford on Sunday when they crumbled to a 4-0 defeat; Dyche was left dismayed by the individual errors that assisted Manchester United.
He has not, however, attempted to absolve himself of blame and candidly insisted that there have been moments in games throughout this challenging campaign in which he could have done better himself, both tactically and during matches.
Dyche has arguably the hardest job in the Premier League, having to work with numerous financial restrictions that have been imposed following the largesse of the Farhad Moshiri era but trying to meet the expectations of supporters, who are craving stability and good times.
‘We've made errors, I've made errors this season, for sure,’ said Dyche. ‘The team have made errors, that's quite obvious. And we haven't killed teams off when we've been in a position to do so. The fine margins are always there for all to see, and I've never shied away from that.
‘It's a fact of life as a manager, you have to get the margins right, and we haven't been able to do that so far this season. But the bigger picture of this club has been the challenge. From the first minute I walked in here, we've done loads of work but you have to win games and we’ve not won enough.’
There would be no better time to change that than in the coming days, with Wolverhampton Wanderers coming this evening before Liverpool cross Stanley Park on Saturday for the final Merseyside derby at Goodison Park in the Premier League.
Whether back-to-back wins would do anything for Dyche’s standing among supporters remains to be seen but he is desperate to give them something to shout about. Changing the negative narrative, however, will prove easier said than done.
‘The hardest challenge this year has been definitely been that finance goes this way (down) in the summer, and the expectation went that way (up),’ said Dyche. ‘That’s a lot to do with this being the last season in the old Lady and all that sort of stuff.
‘It doesn’t make everyone better players. It doesn’t make me a better manager, because it’s the last season in the Grand Old Lady. It’s an amazing stadium with all its history and its depth, which I’ve learned quite a lot about over my time, but it doesn’t make everyone better.
‘One of the hardest things to manage is when fans say: “Why are you not giving us the season we want in the last season in the Grand Old Lady?” I’m trying everything I can, we keep working with the players, but it doesn’t make it all glorious just because it’s the last season in the stadium.
‘That’s just not how football works, nor how any business works, but that’s one of the challenges to be part of Everton Football Club and I marvel at it in a way. If I could, I would be doing it and I’m trying it. All the other managers (before me) didn’t deliberately not try to be brilliant every season.
‘We’re working hard - that’s all I can assure people. That’s what I said when I got here. There’ll be no lack of hard work and there still isn’t. We have got less money, less wages, less playing staff - but we have got to deliver on what the expectation is. That’s life here.’
