Sean Dyche claimed the idea of overseeing Everton’s greatest winless streak in the Premier League does not bother him.
The Blues manager said he was more concerned with the end goal than the road, adding that strong or bad runs of form are merely part of the “bigger picture.”
His comments came after Everton’s stoppage-time defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.
The loss extended the club’s winless streak to 12, the joint-longest in its Premier League history. Everton last earned three points on December 16, when Dyche oversaw a 2-0 victory over his former team, Burnley.
Despite a three-and-a-half-month hiatus and a six-point deduction, Everton remains three points clear of the relegation zone, with a game in hand on its two closest competitors in the survival race. Dyche’s broader backdrop includes having to function in the chaotic conditions of a protracted takeover, as well as two financial cases from a period that nearly totally before him.
Asked ahead of the trip to Newcastle United whether he was concerned about the potential to break an unwanted club record in the event of a loss or draw, Dyche said: “Absolutely not. It is a season’s work, it is always a season’s work. Runs come and go, there is noise around runs, but I have had good runs, I have had indifferent runs, I have had record breaking runs, it means absolutely nothing.
I wouldn’t tell you about all the records that I have had, I wouldn’t bother you with that, it wouldn’t mean anything. It is the end product that meant something, promotion, staying up, going to Europe. That means something, not the run in between. Equally a negative run doesn’t mean anything to me, it is more about what the journey is, the bigger picture, where do we end the season. That is what the bigger picture is for me.”
Everton’s recent poor form has been characterised by costly errors, the calamitous own goal at Bournemouth following the concession of two penalties at Old Trafford and punishing late goals in the defeat to West Ham United and draw at Brighton and Hove Albion.
Asked what reaction he hoped to get from his players after the late disappointment on the south coast, he said: “To be honest, I don’t need a reaction in a sense of effort, it is details. The stats and facts of our performances, slightly less so today with the creation of chances, but generally it is all there for us to build on. But you can’t make mistakes.
It is as simple as that. At both ends, it is not fair to just question defensive moments, you have got to question finishing. We have had chance after chance, and we have not capitalised, so we have got to change at both ends of the pitch.”
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