Liverpool's Fabio Carvalho in action with Everton's Demarai Gray
Greg O’Keeffe has questioned how Demarai Gray may have responded to Sean Dyche’s methods at Everton’s training ground.
The Lowdown: Dyche not taking it easy at Everton
When Dyche was appointed as the Everton manager, a lot was made of how he was putting his foot down at Finch Farm as he banned snoods and hats from training sessions.
While this was said to be so the players trained as they played on the weekend, which would make sense, it remains to be seen what benefit that has had on the squad.
Since taking over from Frank Lampard at the end of January, Dyche has overseen two wins against Leeds United and Arsenal, while managing to get a misfiring Everton side to score twice in one game last weekend after putting installing top scorer Gray into the starting lineup.
The Latest: Gray may not be a Dyche favourite
However, O’Keeffe has been left less than convinced on the All Together Now podcast about whether or not Gray will have responded well to Dyche’s more straight-talking ways at Finch Farm, having started just once under the new boss.
He said: “It’s a very old-school attitude what Dyche has done there. It’s just a tactic to try and deploy some discipline and get some grit and strength about the group.
“It’ll work for some and it won’t work for others, and I think Gray’s the type who just wouldn’t have it, or certainly, if he had to have it, he would be unhappy and sulky about it.”
The Verdict: Dyche must find a spot for Gray
It’s rather strange that it took Dyche until his sixth game in charge to start Gray given that he was the club’s top scorer and looks to be the only person capable of finding the back of the net on a consistent basis.
The English winger has netted six times this season across all competitions, and even when deployed in an unnatural striker spot as he was last weekend, he still managed to impose himself on the game by netting a penalty.
Even if it was true that Gray wasn’t having Dyche’s methods behind the scenes, the Everton boss may well have to swallow his pride until at least the summer and get Gray into his team, or the goals may continue to be sparse within his team.
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