Following Bournemouth’s incredible late comeback, Everton struggles at home.
Despite Sean Dyche’s false 100% record, Everton managed to make the worst start in their history even worse by finding a different method of defeating opponents. Under Dyche, the team has lost all six Premier League games in August; it seems that summer sports aren’t meant for Dycheball, as he started the month with a 12.5% win percentage in the top flight and saw that figure drop even further following Bournemouth’s incredible comeback.
And even while Everton argued for 86 minutes that they weren’t the first crisis club of the season, their subsequent collapse gave rise to doubts. In nine minutes, Bournemouth scored three goals, and there was room for three more. Everton had given up three goals to Brighton and four to Tottenham, but on this occasion their defensive failings occurred after taking the lead. By the end of Brighton’s victory at Goodison Park, the stadium was empty. The Evertonian public had been noisy while Everton were rampant, so when Bournemouth did, they were crammed in. Everton was dishevelled and nervous all of a sudden.
It could be their season’s activities. Given that Everton has had two failed takeover attempts this summer and that the club’s future is clouded in doubt and pessimism, spending any more time at the bottom of the standings might be very harmful. Likewise, if they were to continue on their current catastrophic trajectory. An afternoon that seemed to give ample vindication took on a chastening look for Dyche, a man who particularly enjoys being proven correct. Everton’s lead was set by Dyche, but Andoni Iraola engineered a comeback while his Everton rival was too sluggish to respond.
The Basque took the initiative. He made two changes after the triple substitution. It changed Bournemouth’s course. A starter assisted a replacement in scoring their first two goals. Dango Ouattara’s wonderfully dangerous cross was converted by Antoine Semenyo. Subsequently, Luis Sinisterra took the lead and Lewis Cook scored a goal that was unexpected for him: lunging into the area and smashing a powerful header into the goal. On the other hand, Justin Kluivert, a starter, set up the winner by crossing the goal, and Sinisterra, a replacement, scored it by getting to the far post.
A Dyche squad shouldn’t be that vulnerable to breakdowns or crosses. They rarely let this much slip: after finishing with the fourth-best defensive record the previous season, they have already given up ten goals in three games this year. It could have been more: during injury time, Jordan Pickford also stopped shots from Marcus Tavernier at close range, stopped a long-range attempt from Semenyo, and stopped the latter when he missed a 20-yard attempt. In just nine minutes of play, Bournemouth produced six excellent openings.
After Dyche made two changes, Iraola five, Everton felt helpless to respond. They lost their outlet when the excellent Iliman Ndiaye was substituted. They also appeared to lose their running power; a defence with three players in their thirties and a 34-year-old holding midfielder exposed by Bournemouth’s youthful energy and mentality.
Kepa Arrizabalaga had a busy debut for Bournemouth, making a terrific save to deny Seamus Coleman a glorious goal that acquired extra significance come the final whistle. If Dyche is often deemed defensive and Everton only mustered two shots on target across their losses to Brighton and Tottenham, they had eight here. Everton are still winless and pointless, but they are no longer goalless, and that reflected what they did right, before it went all wrong.
For much the entire match, Dyche’s tried-and-true approach appeared to be working. Everton scored from the second half of a set-piece, with a goal produced by a former Burnley player, a burly center-forward.
This was a clear sign of Dyche’s influence because he dislikes following public opinion. When Ndiaye made his league debut, it was expected that his dancing feet would be used as a No 10, but instead the new player was assigned to the left wing and Dwight McNeil, a Burnley graduate, was given the central role. Although McNeil is less talented, he still managed to create a goal, and Ndiaye looked impressive when cutting in from the flank.
While Dyche let go of one of his favourite players, Abdoulaye Doucoure, he continued to believe in Michael Keane, whom many Evertons would have been happy to see go in favour of the new recruit, Jake O’Brien. Dyche’s devotion to a Burnley mainstay paid off when Keane skilfully finished after Dominic Calvert-Lewin chested down a cross from Jack Harrison. Next, McNeil sent a pass into Calvert-Lewin’s direction, allowing him to dink a shot over Arrizabalaga. However, the traditional Dyche teams maintain their leads. This one stole victory from the jaws of defeat, with Keane at the centre of their defending. Everton’s issues worsened as Dyche’s August curse persisted.