Michael Keane has already proven why Sean Dyche made 'hard' Everton decision

Michael Keane has brought a new dimension to Everton's defence after Sean Dyche brought him in for Conor Coady

Chris Beesley Everton reporter

05:00, 16 Mar 2023

Everton's Michael Keane competes against Brentford's Ivan Toney(Image: Visionhaus/Getty Images)

Some 297 days had passed since his last match at Goodison Park but Everton’s Michael Keane marked his return with another crucial win and this time a clean sheet.

Keane’s previous outing had been for that game Crystal Palace on May 19 last year when his 54^th minute strike set the Blues on their way to a dramatic 3-2 comeback victory to secure their top flight status in their final home fixture. The centre-back has been with Everton since joining from Burnley for £25million in July 2017 and made over 30 appearances in each of his first five seasons at the club only to find himself frozen out under Frank Lampard this term.

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Under the former Derby County and Chelsea manager, Keane had played just 22 minutes of Premier League football throughout the 2022/23 campaign – ironically in the reverse fixture to last weekend away to Brentford back on August 27 – and was braced for a potential January loan exit in search of first team action elsewhere. A surprise move to the south of Italy was mooted with Serie A side Salernitana showing interest in the England international but they couldn’t raise the funds to do a deal while Blues chiefs were understandably reticent to strengthening one of their rivals against the drop by farming Keane out to one of them.

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In the end, Sean Dyche’s arrival ensured nobody was heading out of the Finch Farm exit door but the appointment of his former Turf Moor gaffer has handed the 30-year-old a timely reprieve.

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After the 1-0 home win over Premier League leaders Arsenal in his first fixture in charge, Dyche hinted that his ex-Clarets charge was already in his thoughts. He said: “There are a few players I have spoken to, there are a few players horse whispering as I call it.

“I spoke to Michael Keane, a player I think is a terrific player, and said I don’t think you are there yet physically, we will get you there because I believe he is a very, very good player.”

The waiting game continued but after a winter of discontent, Keane’s green shoots of recovery arrived on the first day of spring as Dyche took the plunge of starting him at the Emirates on March 1.

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It was more of a baptism of fire than dream return as less than a month after the Gunners had suffered their first league defeat since September in the reverse fixture at Goodison, they romped to a 4-0 success. While Keane himself wasn’t necessarily culpable for any of the goals, it was a chastening experience but after a 2-2 draw at Nottingham Forest next time out, Dyche has now been rewarded for his faith in the player.

The decision was a massive call by the Everton manager as he chose to drop Conor Coady to the bench. Until this point, the only fixtures he was eligible to play in that the native Merseysider had missed since 2017 were the opening game of this season for Wolverhampton Wanderers at Leeds United when he’d been made surplus to requirements at Molineux and was on the verge of being loaned out and a home match against Southampton in November 2020 when he was subject to coronavirus quarantining restrictions.

Given that Coady had been such a consistent performer, just what does Keane do differently for him to make way, a decision that Dyche acknowledged was hard when leaving out someone who is such a "fine professional." An examination of the two players’ respective styles on Comparisonator highlights the different attributes they bring.

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While Coady is more comfortable with the ball at his feet, producing more passes per 90 minutes, (46.25 to 26.07); successful passes (40.5 to 19.63) and received passes (36.83 to 14.86), Keane is ahead of him when it comes to most of the proactive aspects expected of a centre-back’s game. There’s not much between the pair for interceptions (Keane shades it 5.89 to 5.45) and is also ahead for successful defensive actions (11.5 to 10.56), a figure that is still shy of dominant centre-back James Tarkowski’s 16.4 but Keane sweeps the board on individual battles against opponents.

Everton defender Michael Keane's duels parameters against Brentford compared to the average for centre-backs in the Premier League

He contests more defensive duels (8.69 to 5.91) and won more (5.33 to 4.18); has been more than twice as dominant in the air with 7.85 aerial duels to 3 of which 4.77 were won to 2.07 and Keane also takes his presence into the opponents’ danger areas with more offensive duels (3.64 to 0.93) and offensive duels won (2.24 to 0.55). Such an approach seems better-suited to what Dyche is requiring right now with Everton trying to battle their way to safety while also seeking out alternative avenues of scoring and indeed, Keane's personal numbers in the 1-0 win over Brentford were ahead of the Premier League centre-back average in all one-on-one parameters with 14 defensive duels to the 8.49 baseline of players in his position; 8 defensive duels to 5.71; 4 offensive duels to 2.68; 3 offensive duels to 1.67; 11 aerial duels to 3.87 and 6 aerial duels won to 2.52.

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Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.

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