Dyche happy with performance as Everton draw at City
26/12/2024
Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK
26/12/2024
Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Are you all right, mate? Long time no see, you OK?
00:13You've been on your own, haven't you?
00:20Before we start, guys, we're going to do this press conference in three stages,
00:24so the first part will be reflecting on today's game,
00:27then we'll do our preview stuff for the Nottingham Forest game,
00:31so there'll be a section for broadcasters which will be embargoed until 12pm tomorrow lunchtime,
00:36and then we'll do something for the papers at the end to preview the Forest game for the Saturday papers.
00:41OK? Who wants to start us off, Pete?
00:43Was that a tactical pre-brief?
00:45It was.
00:46I thought so, it's good.
00:47Did you get all that?
00:48Just.
00:49I'll be testing you at the end.
00:51A point against another of the Premier League's top teams,
00:53and it could have been three, couldn't it?
00:55What's your mood at the moment?
00:57Yeah, it could have been three, I think they would have been stretching it,
01:00I think they're a very good outfit for the game.
01:03You're wondering, are they going to click again, because they will do at some point,
01:06and I thought we did well to stop that from happening as a team,
01:10and they scored and it was a scruffy one, a lucky one, dare I say it,
01:13with a strange spin on the ball which takes it in.
01:17And you're wondering, but that seemed to settle us down,
01:19I don't think we were as good as we have been the last few games at that stage.
01:23We settled down a little bit and then we scored a fine goal ourselves,
01:26and then we defended very well for the rest of the game,
01:29and of course we have chances to break away in the second half,
01:33and one right at the end when you do wonder if we could have nicked it,
01:36but I think it would have been harsh on them, so I think we take the point.
01:39How surprised and relieved were you that they didn't click?
01:44I was not really surprised or relieved, we believe in what we do as well,
01:48and I thought we set us all up really early in the game,
01:51like I say, the only thing I was worried about was not the shape,
01:54it was just a bit of the intent, it was just lacking a bit of intent,
01:56maybe of course early kick-off and boxing out and all them things,
01:59they all play into it a little bit, but I think that grew as the game went on,
02:04and I was really pleased with our goal, it was a really good goal,
02:07a great finish from Milly, we only took him off because hopefully he's not too seriously injured,
02:11but he had a tight calf so we had to be careful with that,
02:14Shae was the same with just a little bit of cramp, we had to be careful with him,
02:18but the biggest thing for me is the mentality, that's growing all the time here,
02:21and it's taken us time this season, we got off to a really tough start,
02:24we were nosed up, but once we started to correct it, we really have pushed on from that,
02:28two losses in 13, I know there's been a lot of draws,
02:31but it's not easy to do that in the Premier League,
02:33and I think that shows the intent and the desire to the side,
02:36to keep working at getting change, not only in their performances but in results.
02:40There's a lot of talk about mentality, and Pep's been talking about it today,
02:44with his players maybe struggling to bounce back, how do you build a strong mentality?
02:50Well, it takes time, in Pep's case he's built it over a period,
02:54but also had a lot of money invested, and invested it very wisely,
02:57let me make that clear, and he's a top-class manager,
03:00as a different process, since I've been at the club,
03:03there's a lot of downtrodden feeling about the club on and off the pitch,
03:08to constantly push that away and stay positive,
03:11and try and correct as many things as possible,
03:14including the finances, including the team structure,
03:18the belief in the team and the belief in the fans,
03:20it's taken time and it's been a lot of hard work,
03:22and there's still a long way to go.
03:24The new owners have talked about stability, that's their first goal,
03:27both on and off the pitch, it takes time with that,
03:31because of the PSR rules, I must make it clear,
03:33there's no trouble or anything there, I explained that last week,
03:35all clubs are going to have to look at that and be inside of the right rules,
03:40which we'll have to do ourselves.
03:42It's not an immediate fix, but what I'm getting to really is
03:47the story's just beginning to turn again,
03:50it's just beginning to get a bit more of a positive feel,
03:53and the fans can see a bit more light instead of the ownership
03:56wondering who's going to own what.
03:59We'll see, there's still lots of hard work to go,
04:01but there's been a lot of work done.
04:05Was there any sort of special plan for Haarlem today?
04:09No, I mentioned it the other day about playing Chelsea,
04:13I was asked about Parma, what a great player he's turned out to be,
04:17we know Haarlem, De Bruyne, all these guys,
04:20but I believe in the team, I don't look at one aspect of it,
04:23I'm aware of it, but I believe in the team and what the team are doing,
04:26and I think they've done a good job today.
04:28Richard, in goals, you always fancy him to go up and save, don't you?
04:31You never know, it's good from the analysts as well,
04:34they work together to give him the benefit of the doubt
04:36of as many penalties as we can, but of course, credit to him,
04:39because he has to make a decision on the spur of the moment,
04:41he made the right one.
04:42Was there an analysis of where he might go?
04:44Was that what, sorry?
04:45Was there an analysis of where Haarlem might go?
04:47No, it's stats and facts, everyone knows them nowadays,
04:51it's not hard to get them, but we are an analyst team
04:53that look into that, of course,
04:55but it's still down to the goalkeeper to make the right decision,
04:58and he did, so I'm really pleased for him and for us.
05:05Hi, Sean, you've obviously been here a lot of times with different teams,
05:09but because of the run that City are on,
05:10do you sense that maybe there's a little bit more anxiety in the stadium
05:13among their players, and perhaps there has been in the past
05:15something that you can take advantage of?
05:17It's not easy to take advantage of,
05:19it's not really about sense that you know it
05:21because of all the noise around it,
05:22it's the first period of questions,
05:26I wouldn't say it's negativity, I didn't feel that in the stadium,
05:29but more question marks than usual,
05:32and you understand why, but the prowess they've shown year after year
05:35and the managers have shown, it's the first period,
05:37and let's face it, it's pretty impressive to have this first period
05:40after all them years and all the trophies and all the rest of it,
05:43so there's certainly a maximum amount of respect for it,
05:48but they're getting questioned for the first time,
05:51heavily questioned, and does that maybe give you a better opportunity?
05:54Yes, than when they're free-flowing,
05:56because I've been here when they're absolutely free-flowing,
05:58and hurt our teams many times,
06:00so today was slightly different in the sense,
06:03well okay, it still takes the power of a group to just turn that back on,
06:08I do think they are due one, I do think they will,
06:11they will open someone up with the amount of good players they've got,
06:14but our team has worked very hard to make sure that doesn't happen to us today.
06:19Any further questions on today's game before we move on?