'Disappointing thing is' - Sean Dyche fires blunt message to Everton fringe players

Everton manager Sean Dyche looks on during the pre-season friendly between Coventry and Everton at The Coventry Building Society Arena on July 30, 2024 in Coventry, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)Everton manager Sean Dyche looks on during the pre-season friendly between Coventry and Everton at The Coventry Building Society Arena on July 30, 2024 in Coventry, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Everton manager Sean Dyche looks on during the pre-season friendly between Coventry and Everton at The Coventry Building Society Arena on July 30, 2024 in Coventry, England. (Photo by Michael Regan/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Everton suffered a 3-0 pre-season loss against Coventry City.

Sean Dyche has demanded that his Everton fringe players step up to the plate and give him selection decisions to make ahead of the new season.

The Toffees have still to win in their summer friendly campaign as they fell to a 3-0 loss at Coventry City. Everton have a lengthy injury list for this time of the year, with James Tarkowski, Jarrad Branthwaite, Vitalii Mykolenko, Idrissa Gana Gueye, Nathan Patterson and Youseff Chermiti all missing the defeat - as well as new signings Jesper Lindstrom and Jake O’Brien - while Jordan Pickford is still to return to duty after helping England reach the final of Euro 2024.

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It’s given those on the periphery of Dyche’s squad a chance to show their worth - yet they fell well short of that against Championship side Coventry. Everton have also lost 3-1 to League Two outfit Salford City and drew 3-3 against Sligo Rovers.

Everton now turn their attention to a trip to Preston on Saturday - and Dyche will be wanting more if any of his squad are to be in the mix to start the 2024-25 Premier League curtain-raiser against Brighton on 17 August.

The Toffees chief told evertontv after the Coventry loss: “We showed how many players we're missing., very important players. Credit to Mark's team, they were excellent and looked game-ready on that performance.

“From our point, we're diluted very quickly. We're missing too many important players, we're hoping they're going to come back sooner rather than later. We're bedding players in and it's difficult when they're in this fitness period to do any tactical shape. We're trying to manage a lot but we know deep down, there are five, six, seven players who have been very important to us and they will be important again.

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“Beyond the result, which is still important make no mistake, we're trying to get minutes and have a break because of the other injuries. The only disappointing thing is you want players to lay down a marker and say: 'Gaffer, I'm ready, I'm game-ready the way I'm playing and going about it' and we didn't have too much of that. Forget about the result, you still want sparks from players and habits.

“We were miles off [in the] first half and most of the game. Some of that is we haven't got into that side, which we are doing now, the tactical side, but it's difficult when we're missing six, seven players.”

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