Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer wowed by ‘brilliant’ Sean Dyche after Chelsea win as top half form ‘speaks volumes’
Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have hailed the achievements of Sean Dyche in charge of Everton after the team defeated Chelsea 2-0 to continue their winning run.
The pair of former England strikers reacted on The Rest is Football on 11 December with Shearer calling the Toffees boss’ job “brilliant”, as Lineker suggested few would have believed the club could receive a 10-point deduction and still be safe from relegation.
After three wins from four since they were dumped into the Premier League relegation zone for a profit and sustainability breach Everton are now four points clear of the bottom four, after wins and clean sheets against Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and then Chelsea in succession.
Lineker said (18m 30s): “We should definitely Sean Dyche and Everton a serious mention. If Everton hadn’t had a 10-point deduction they would be now ninth in the league, which speaks volumes for what he’s done.
“That’s three wins on the bounce now. They play his way and it’s working for them, it really is. If you’d have said at the start of the season ‘Everton during the season will get a 10-point deduction, will they stay up?’ you’d have gone ‘phwoar, really, really difficult’.”
Shearer replied: “Yeah he’s done a great job, he’s brilliant, really got them going. The crowd have reacted, everyone’s reacted in the positive way that we thought they would do, that it was going to be the mentality of ‘us against the world’, and that’s working for them at the minute.
“Sean’s doing a brilliant job.”
Credit where credit is due
This Everton side look very much how fans would have hoped when Dyche was chosen as the man to replace Frank Lampard at the start of the year, and probably even better.
The squad is still relatively thin, and there are question marks in certain areas, but after two seasons where the mentality too often seemed feeble unless roused by the home support the difference in the fight on display now is night and day.
Farhad Moshiri has made more than enough mistakes in hiring and firing managers during his time at Goodison but it looks like he got it right with what looks like being his last attempt.
Assuming they don’t have the rug pulled out from under then again with a further punishment this side doesn’t appear to be in any danger of going down.
On current form Everton feel like they would have been genuine contenders for Europe were it not for the points deduction, which after the ordeal of the two previous campaigns is a stunning turnaround.
Dyche is rightly getting the recognition he deserves for what he has put together and fans will hope it continues for a long time yet.
