Sean Dyche gives Abdoulaye Doucoure injury update and reacts to Everton win at Burnley

Sean Dyche gave injury updates on Abdoulaye Doucoure and Vitalii Mykolenko and his thoughts on Everton's 2-0 Premier League triumph over Burnley at Turf Moor

Everton manager Sean Dyche hopes that he got Abdoulaye Doucoure off the field quick enough in the 2-0 win at Burnley to avoid serious injury trouble for his top scorer after losing Vitalii Mykolenko the day before the game.

The Blues romped to a fourth consecutive win against their boss’ previous employers but Doucoure was taken off at half-time with the visitors already two goals ahead. Asked how the midfielder was, Dyche said: “He’s another one, he let us know the last five minutes of the first half he had a tightness in his hamstring, tightness can lead to problems so we’re hopeful we got him off in time because we are getting stretched at the moment.”

Everton, who were already without Jarrad Branthwaite and Idrissa Gueye through suspension after the pair both picked up their fifth yellow cards of the season against Chelsea, plus Ashley Young and Seamus Coleman through injury, were forced to switch to a 5-4-1 formation after Vitalii Mykolenko’s late withdrawal with an injury that makes him doubtful for Tuesday's Carabao Cup quarter-final clash at home to Fulham. But Dyche was pleased with how the squad responded. He said: “I’m delighted, particularly as a manager, with the second half given the tactical understanding of the side who were pieced together. Yesterday morning we lost Myko (Vitalii Mykolenko) with a tight groin and because we’ve got injuries and suspensions, we can’t risk players at the minute so we’ve had to change everything in a morning.

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“Their acceptance to go and deliver a performance that could win and was very pleasing was something we’ve worked upon, certainly this pre-season and going into the season, was the open-mindedness to be adaptable as a side and find ways of winning and I think we’re doing that. The players particularly deserve a lot of credit for that at the moment, for accepting the challenge and taking it on and I think we did that today.”

Dyche was particularly satisfied with the business-like manner his team showed in adversity. He said: “That’s another thing I’ve always thought: Strong, fit and organised is a good base to work from. Rightly so, the modern talk of brands and how you play, but at the end of the day you’ve got to win and I’ve made that 100% clear to the players – we start with win and work backwards from that.

“Their acceptance of all the changes and their acceptance of what it is, even the 10-point thing, there’s been no drama, they’ve parked that very quick, that’s the way it is lads, we crack on. All these words are easy but you’ve got to understand you’ve got 25 players who need to believe that and they need to buy into it and need to deliver every day and they need to deliver it in performances – that’s the real breakthrough.

“There’s some really good players here – we can play better than we did today with the ball and all the rest of it – but the acceptance of it and the reality of the acceptance has been so pleasing for me as a manager.”

The 52-year-old added: “The shift we were looking for at the start of the season was just to be better than the last two and I think that’s come in. There’s a lot of work to be done because of the penalty, it’s a reality – currently anyway – but I’ve very pleased with the players’ attitude towards it.

“I can’t enhance it enough, you’ve got to find ways of winning games and I think that’s the improvement in their understanding and that’s why I was so pleased with the second half today. We went 2-0 up and I thought we played well, opening them up other than the first 10 or 15 minutes when Burnley controlled it, I thought we were really good in the first half, scored two and then it’s about containing the game and controlling it – stats, facts, analysis, we know the opposition and I thought we did that very well.”

It was also Everton’s fourth consecutive clean sheet despite Dyche having to bring in Ben Godfrey for his first Premier League start of the season and goalscorer Michael Keane who hadn’t started in the competition since his tough outing in the 4-0 defeat at Aston Villa in August. But the manager liked the way those who hadn’t been featuring rose to the occasion. He said: “During my time here, not just me but the staff, we’ve been working very hard with the players to let them know the respect we have when they’re not in the side. I’ve always though the strongest groups I ever played with and worked with were the people outside of the starting 11 because they keep you strong.

“Don’t get me wrong, they’re not accepting it in a way of, ‘I’ll just stay on the bench’, it’s not that case at all and I don’t mind players being disgruntled and asking me questions about why not/ But when it comes to your training, do it properly, do it right and it will pay you back and it is. There are people coming in now who haven’t played in a while and they’re coming in and delivering.

“It’s not just playing well, it’s the mentality, you hear the right noise, you can smell it when it’s right. With the changes made yesterday, there was a clear acceptance of that’s the way it goes, we’ve got to change shape, change personnel. ‘Right, okay, let’s get on with it,’ and it’s hard to explain that but it’s a very powerful thing when you get that mentality and they’re earning the right.”