Sean Dyche makes Goodison Park crowd admission after Everton draw against Crystal Palace
Sean Dyche has admitted that Everton must be able to deliver in front of a Goodison Park crowd expecting to see victories.
The Toffees were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw against fellow strugglers Crystal Palace on Monday evening. Although Everton moved out of the Premier League relegation zone with a share of the spoils, plenty of supporters left the Grand Old Lady frustrated that the hosts failed to defeat a Palace side without four key players in Michael Olise, Eberechi Eze, Marc Guehi and Cheick Doucoure.
Jordan Ayew opened the scoring for the Eagles in the 66th minute before substitute Amadou Onana rescued Everton a point with six minutes remaining. The home side did have goodchances throughout, with Dominic Calvert-Lewin spurning two golden opportunities – with his barren streak stretching to 19 games – while James Tarkowski and Abdoulaye Doucoure also saw efforts thwarted.
The Blues have now failed to win their previous eight league matches, while it’s nine games since scoring from open play. Everton manager Dyche said: “The demand is different. It’s the old favourite: ‘Sometimes the hardest fight to win is the one everyone expects to you’. It was a different game, a different feel in the stadium. I think it was my 50th game, I’ve learned it.
“I’ve said to the players at half-time: ‘Right the expectation is different, you can feel it in the stadium, it’s our responsibility. Don’t worry about the fans, it’s been great, it’s our responsibility’ and I was pleased performance in the second half.”
“We were braver with the ball, brave to stay calm, the players played with better effect to open up chances against an organised side who were playing counter-attacking football after they went 1-0 up. That’s sometimes hard breaking down a packed defence. It’s another point on the board. We’ve just popped out of the relegation zone, we all know the story if we had another 10 points and all that.”
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