‘Apart from’ - Sean Dyche names only two Everton players who impressed in Aston Villa loss

Sean Dyche heaped praise on Lewis Dobbin for his performance in Everton's chastening loss to Aston Villa - with every other member of his squad bar Arnaut Danjuma failing to impress.

The Toffees were condemned to a 4-0 defeat at Villa Park, with their troubles on the road carrying over to this term. The Blues found themselves two goals behind after just 24 minutes, with John McGinn and a Douglas Luiz penalty on target. Villa extended their lead after the break through Leon Bailey and then Jhon Duran.

To a man, Dyche felt that the starting line-up that he named were well below the standards required - and that they reverted to the concerning signs they showed before took over the Goodison Park hot seat in January and successfully guided Everton to Premier League safety.

But he did feel that 20-year-old Dobbin, who replaced Idrissa Gana Gueye at half-time, caught the eye. The Everton manager was also encouraged by the display of Villarreal lonee Danjuma, who came on for Dominic Calvert-Lewin after the striker suffered a facial injury in the opening 45 minutes.

Dyche, speaking at his post-match press conference, said: “They were the better side. We were a long way off, particularly after being a long way on last weekend because I thought we played very well, so that was a bit of a surprise to me.

We actually didn't start too bad but the thing that reminded me of when we got here is we conceded a goal and you just felt the group go soft very quickly then you concede another one and it's like everyone is looking at everyone else to try to do something.

“That is what I felt before I got here. We had a couple of moments like that last season but, generally, we kind of stopped that season and hopefully reminded the players of the resilience of being a footballer. Above all that, sometimes the weirdest thing is you have to accept a collective down day. I can't even pick a player - I must give a mention to Dobbo, he's had an excellent pre-season, is a young man earning his spurs - Arnie Danjuma is getting fitter and sharper and showed that.

“Apart from that, there's hardly a player anywhere near what we can do. Therefore, these collective down days do come. They probably had a reverse after their result last weekend but it's early season and have to make sure we learn very quickly to ensure the mentality is stronger going forwards.”