Sean Dyche makes Everton admission after Craig Pawson backlash and gives Arnaut Danjuma latest

Sean Dyche was speaking to preview Everton's Premier League game against West Ham

05:00, 29 Oct 2023

Everton manager Sean Dyche

Sean Dyche understands why members of his squad took the decision to speak out about Craig Pawson following last weekend’s Merseyside derby defeat to Liverpool.

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Blues players were left incensed when referee Pawson failed to send off Ibrahima Konate after he brought down Beto. The Liverpool centre-back escaped a second yellow card for a trip on the Everton forward with the game goalless. At that stage Dyche's side were already down to 10 men after Ashley Young was given his marching orders for two bookable offences during the opening 45 minutes.

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A brace from Mohamed Salah would go on to secure the Reds side a 2-0 victory, but after the game, a host of Blues players came out and questioned the call made by Pawson midway through the second half. Jordan Pickford called for '"less arrogance" from referees when addressing the decision; Jarrad Branthwaite suggested that Pawson had applied double standards to his decisions, and James Tarkowski bemoaned a lack of consistency.

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And while Dyche is keen on his players not talking about officials after games, he accepts that when a call of the magnitude of the one involving Konate goes against you like it did last weekend, members of his squad are going to let their frustrations be known.

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The Everton boss said: “I said afterwards you don’t really, as players as well, want to be talking about officials; if you can help it, I certainly don’t.

“But it is tough because they are still human and it is still their job and their livelihoods, and when something, what I felt was an obvious moment, goes against you, then that is hard to take.

“There are a lot of things that happen in football from the officiating side, and it is tricky. I have a lot of respect for referees. I have always said the three toughest jobs are the two managers and the ref in the modern game.

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“But at the same time, some decisions are easy, and you have got a team there; don't forget, you have got the fourth official and the two assistants. Between them three getting to the referee in his ear and going, 'he’s got to go! He has got to be booked'. I just think that was a simple moment.

“So I get the players' frustrations. I don’t really want to be talking about referees, and I don’t want them to be speaking about referees, but it is very difficult when something like that happens in a game like that as well. Very difficult.”

A period of silence was held inside the media room at Finch Farm before Dyche’s pre-match press conference for the game against West Ham United on Sunday afternoon in memory of the club's chairman Bill Kenwright, who was influential in ensuring the-ex Burnley manager was the man chosen to replace Frank Lampard in January.

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And opening up on his initial conversations with Kenwright and the rest of the Everton hierarchy, Dyche revealed: “It was more of a casual process of chatting through thoughts, my belief in Everton from the outside, obviously because I wasn’t in the club, my view on what it was and how I felt about it, and his view of what it was and how he felt about it and how we could move it, and things like that.

“It was a very open interview style. Mr Moshiri and Kev (director of football, Kevin Thelwell), it was like a chat more than you can imagine. It wasn’t a structured interview; it was more of an open view about, right, this is where it is at; what do you think? That type of thing

“He (Kenwright) was supportive from as soon as I got the inclining it was going to be me, super supportive straight away."

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One man who is expected to be in Dyche's squad for Sunday's game against the Hammers is Arnaut Danjuma. However, following the September international break, the on-loan Villarreal CF forward has found his game time limited.

Danjuma has made just three appearances off the bench in the Blues' last four Premier League games. But Dyche has revealed that the 26-year-old is doing all he can to force his way into his thinking.

He said: “He is another player who has got to fight for his chance, and he is doing so. He is training really well, and he is training hard.

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“He came on at the weekend trying to make a difference, all be it difficult with 10 men, you down, and all that sort of stuff.

“He’s training well, and we want the players to push each other. Seamus (Seamus Coleman) is coming back now; we are short of Dele and Andre (Andre Gomes), but if we can get them fit, it is still a few weeks away for Dele, but if we can, the group gets very competitive, and you want that."