Sean Dyche stated in April that he wished to transform Goodison Park into a “fortress,” but Everton will now look to return to winning ways at home after three straight defeats.
Everton now have the opportunity to return Goodison Park to the “fortress” that Sean Dyche seeks after expelling their away day Blues.
Everton’s well-deserved victories at Brentford last Saturday (3-1 in the Premier League) and Aston Villa on Wednesday (2-1 in the Carabao Cup) were their first against top-flight opposition in a row since Roberto Martinez’s swashbuckling debut season in March 2014, when they won 3-0 at Newcastle United and 3-1 at Fulham in five days.
They’d extend the streak to three with a 1-0 win at Sunderland the following month, capping off a six-match winning streak that helped them to the club’s highest points total of the Premier League era (72) to finish fifth, 11 points higher than their previous best Premier League finish of fourth in 2004/05.
READ NEXT: Sean Dyche says Andre Gomes has been annoyed by the latest Everton injury update
READ ALSO: Steve Rotheram describes ‘frank and honest’ negotiations with 777 Partners about an Everton takeover.
However, success on home soil has become more difficult to attain in recent years. Dyche, who worked for over a decade at Burnley, whose Turf Moor field is barely over half the size of Goodison, spoke about his hopes for capitalizing on the Blues’ passionate and many home fans back in April, before of the visit of Marco Silva’s Fulham.
“We want to build that mentality at home, that fortress built by the fans and the way they go about it,” he said.
“They’ve been fantastic. I couldn’t question them at home or away, by the way.
“I believe the team has responded at home and in some away performances.” They took a step back last week, but overall, the squad rallied and gave the supporters something to rejoice about.
“You know it is not just a one-way street this – the players have to use their energy but then give the energy to the fans and I think that’s been a good balance so far.”
It sounded like a rallying cry for Everton, who, aside from a coronavirus-induced behind closed doors heartbreak with a 2-0 defeat on Valentine’s Day 2021, had won their previous 22 league home games against the Cottagers – a sequence stretching back to 1961 – fell victim to a 3-1 loss on a day they were woefully second best. Everton concluded the 2022/23 season with 10 home defeats, the first time they had gone into double figures in that column, coming within one goal of their first relegation in 72 years and registering the lowest corresponding points total in their 135-year history in the Football League/Premier League.
Indeed, the Abdoulaye Doucoure wonder-goal against Bournemouth on May 28 that salvaged the Blues’ top-flight position remains not just the last time Dyche’s team won at home, but also the most recent time they scored at Goodison Park. Since then, the club has suffered defeats to Fulham – again – on the first day of the new season, as well as Wolverhampton Wanderers and Arsenal, all by a single goal.
Although Everton once went five league matches without scoring at Goodison Park at the start of Walter Smith’s reign in 1998 – they drew a blank in nine of their first dozen Premier League home fixtures under the Scot before thrashing Middlesbrough 5-0 on February 17 – they have never gone four games at home without scoring, with their current streak one of 16 times they have failed to register in three straight matches.
Dyche’s men are also attempting to avoid becoming only the sixth Everton team to lose four consecutive home games, a fate suffered by many of the same players last season against Leicester City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Brighton & Hove Albion, and Southampton either side of the World Cup break under predecessor Frank Lampard. The optimistic but ultimately disappointing displays in terms of tangible benefits earlier this term have now been turned around by their stunning pair of results.
If the Blues had gone into the Luton Town game still hunting for their first Premier League victory of the season, you could have cut the tension at Goodison Park with a knife. With confidence restored and the manager suddenly having a variety of choices at his disposal, there is a significant opportunity for all those devoted but long-suffering customers of the Grand Old Lady to cheer their team to a morale-boosting third straight victory.
About The Author
Leave a Reply