Everton manager Sean Dyche believes the motivation must be there for his side to win a Merseyside Derby, rather than just put a dent in Liverpool’s Premier League title hopes.
A 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest on Sunday boosted Everton’s chances of overcoming defeat, but with survival yet to be secured the Blues boss is unconcerned about the prospect of putting a spanner in the works’s wheels the Reds to become champions. Dyche said: “I’ve talked about this a lot – you would hope the motivation is there for every game. That should be the case for our players and for Everton Football Club.
“That is what we have been working towards, but of course it has a little extra feeling, that is of course true.
“Derbies all over the country, I’ve played in them, I’ve managed them, this one I’ve only managed two, both away, so obviously I haven’t experienced the home game yet. It means more, of course, but the point is you hope to achieve a consistent level of performance that applies to every game you play it in. But [in a derby] Of course the sound changes, the players you know what they get, the feel of the game does change.”
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While Dyche respects Jurgen Klopp’s performances ahead of what will be the Liverpool manager’s final Merseyside Derby, he admits he is not close enough to the German to think he will miss him when he is away. The 52-year-old said: “Well, I don’t know him.
“I know him professionally and I think he has done a brilliant job. That is it.
“My respect for him is enormous. It’s for every manager, because the one thing I know about being a manager is that it’s very hard, much harder than people think.
“It doesn’t matter whether you manage a small club or a big club, it is very difficult. But when you have to rebuild things like he has and he’s been to every one of his [three] clubs for a while – five, six, seven years at each club – and has over a thousand game managers and still only 56. That’s actually remarkable for such a young manger to have amassed over 1,000 games.
“You know that in the LMA there is a club of 1000 players, and there are not many. So that equated to winning things, which means the respect is there, but that respect disappears massively every time the whistle blows, whether I was the manager at Burnley or now the manager at Everton.
“That’s how I’ve always worked. Absolute respect, but once the whistle blows, everything is for Everton Football Club, me, the staff, the team and the fans.”
Ahead of his first derby at Goodison Park as Everton manager, Dyche will be hoping the home fans can play their part in inspiring his side, as they did against Nottingham Forest last time out. He said: “They definitely made a difference on Sunday, especially after the week we had.
“It was a very tough week for me, it was a very tough week for the staff, the players and the fans who traveled to Chelsea. I don’t want to keep complaining about that, but it was a very important reaction to that week from the players but also from the fans.
“To stick to your job and say, ‘Okay, we have to put that aside because these are really important games’, you can’t ask for more than that. We took the heat, I took the heat because it wasn’t good enough, it’s that simple.
“But then you can ask for a response and there was. At least they gave the breathing room for the reaction to happen and sometimes that’s not easy for fans.
“I have a lot of respect for that because the team needed that first part of the game on Sunday to get some space to get it going. If it starts too early and the fan base goes in the wrong direction, it becomes increasingly difficult.
“But the fans just started in a really good voice, very positive and stayed with the team until we scored and then scored again. Then the rest took care of itself.
“That is a very important factor and it is absolutely appreciated by everyone involved: me, the staff and the players. We know it wasn’t good enough the week before and we had to give a response, but to give the team a breather to see if they can respond, that’s really important for the fanbase, so that’s it. absolutely respected.”
Everton have not beaten Liverpool at Goodison Park since a 2-0 win on October 17, 2010, before Dyche had even started his managerial career, working as Malky Mackay’s number two at Watford. While he admits this is quite a long time for loyal but long-suffering Blues fans to wait, he is determined to let his players take advantage of this opportunity.
Dyche said: “I’ve been reminded of that a few times since I’ve been here. It’s a challenge, the stats are there for a reason, it’s a challenge, but it’s a good challenge to have.
“We’ve just got an important result, we’re back at Goodison and the fans are in a good mood, it’s a great opportunity to tackle it again. That’s all I’m looking for, a performance that can take the game and win.
“It’s not easy, but you have to have the mentality to say, ‘Okay, let’s just continue with the performance and forget all the stories from the past and continue this performance.’”
On the changing nature of the Merseyside Derbies, Kettering-born Dyche, who remembers the Wembley finals between the two clubs in the 1980s, added: “I’m learning, I’m quite new to it, but from my perspective point of view seen from a distance I remember the mixed crowd and they were interviewing the two neighbors who lived next to each other. Unfortunately, in a sad way, that doesn’t happen anymore, does it?
“That’s part of our lives, that’s all changed. I grew up remembering the Wembley final with blue and red everywhere.
“The underlying rivalry was always there, of course, but now it’s just clearer, isn’t it? That’s just that society has changed so much. I don’t think that’s anyone’s specific fault, it’s just how life is.”