Soccer Football - Premier League - Manchester City v Everton - Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Britain - December 31, 2022 Everton's Neal Maupay in action with Manchester City's John Stones Action Images via Reuters/Andrew Boyers EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Greg O’Keeffe has claimed on the All Together Now podcast Sean Dyche will be putting in the work with Everton’s misfiring attacking players this week in training.
The Lowdown: Attacking woes will be alarming
Everton have picked up some form under the guidance of Dyche, with two wins and two clean sheets coming at Goodison Park, which has seen them move out of the relegation zone.
However, they may count themselves rather fortunate given both goals in those victories have come from defenders that hadn’t netted all season in the form of James Tarkowski and Seamus Coleman, while their strikers and attacking players appear to be lacking at the moment.
Dyche will surely be worried by the lack of output from his attacking players since he took over and knows it will have to change, as goals from defenders won’t keep happening every game.
The Latest: Dyche working hard behind the scenes
O’Keeffe has insisted that Dyche will be working hard to improve Everton’s attackers at Finch Farm this weekend ahead of another crunch clash this weekend against Aston Villa.
He said: “I think he’ll definitely be trying to improve our forward play because they’ve got to find a formula that just maybe gets a striker in the box a bit more at times, an actual centre-forward.”
The Verdict: Everton must improve going forward
If the Toffees are to give themselves a fighting chance of staying up this season, attacking players such as Neal Maupay, Ellis Simms, Dwight McNeil and Demarai Gray all have to step up a level.
Between those players, they have just six league goals between them and Gray has scored three of them, though he now appears to be out of favour having played just 29 minutes under Dyche.
Everton arguably have a favourable run of games to now contend with as their next two fixtures are against Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, but to get anything from those games, they may have to be more clinical and score more than once – something they’ve not managed since October.
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