'I thought' - Sean Dyche makes new Jarrad Branthwaite injury admission ahead of Everton trip to West Ham

Sean Dyche has suggested that Jarrad Branthwaite was brought back to Everton duty sooner than the manager would have liked.

Branthwaite enjoyed a fine breakthrough campaign for the Toffees last season. He made 41 appearances and scored three goals, which saw him named the club’s Players’ Player and Young Player of the Year. The centre-back also earned a call-up to the England senior squad and was targeted by Manchester United in the transfer window, although Everton remained firm on their asking price.

Branthwaite required minor groin surgery in the summer but hit setbacks in his recovery. After returning in a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace in September, he subsequently sustained a thigh issue. But since overcoming his latest complaint, Dyche has stuck with the pairing of James Tarkowski and Michael Keane and Branthwaite has continued with the centre-half pairing of James Tarkowski and Michael Keane.

But after a 1-0 loss at Southampton last time out, there is a growing clamour from sections of supporters for Branthwaite to be recalled for the upcoming trip to West Ham United.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Dyche insisted that he’s trying to ensure that his Everton players who are coming back from injury do not aggravate problems and find themselves back on the treatment table. The Goodison Park supremo believes that may have happened with Branthwaite.

Dyche said: “He was out quite a long time. He came back in and got reinjured so we didn't want that of course. In the bit in between, we won games. In my opinion, we should have won the last one but we didn't and it all looks different. If we won that, you're three wins and three draws out of them six and everyone looks at it differently. That's just the nature of Everton Football Club and being the manager.

“When you're talking about teams, that unit did very well last season, the back five if you like. There were some changes but that unit played together a lot. We want to address every part of the pitch. The key one is still scoring goals.

“It's generally the shared information from the medical team, sports-science team, coaching team and the player. Some players, you can't explain every single detail of every injury but some are more delicate than others. You have to be really careful and if that approach goes too far, in a split-second you affect someone for 3-4 weeks. Unfortunately, we have had a few of them when they're coming back from semi-serious injuries like Jarrad's.

“It starts a simple situation, a minor operation then leads to a secondary and third phase, gets fit then gets reinjured. That's the Jarrad story. There's no lack of thirst to get these players fit. We've got to get them fit enough to actually play. I thought it was a bit early for Jarrad but the consensus was he's right to play then two days later, he gets injured again. I'm not saying I'm right but I thought it was a bit too quick.

“We had to be careful, get him back again because if not you got through that period where you play a few and get injured. We're trying to push that away because we've had so many injuries.”