Sean Dyche criticizes Everton players, makes ‘unusual’ admission on Nottingham Forest goal

Everton manager’s reaction after Premier League clash with Nottingham Forest

Sean Dyche says Everton players failed to follow his game plan as they slumped to a disappointing defeat against Nottingham Forest. The Blues rarely troubled the visitors in their 2-0 defeat, taking until the 80th minute to register their first shot on goal.

Forest, meanwhile, posed a constant threat and Anthony Elanga had two golden chances to add to the strikes of Chris Wood and Morgan Gibbs-White.

After the match, Dyche admitted that his team was second. He said: “I thought they did what they have done to a lot of teams this season.

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“They played counter-attacking football and played it very well – that’s no sleight of hand on their part – they stayed organized and played quickly forward.

“They asked questions and scored a good goal – mediocre from us – but the second goal is ridiculous from us. We can’t give away goals, especially not against a team in this kind of form and renowned this season for being very organized and hard to fall apart.”

Dyche thought his side could have won a penalty in the first half for a challenge on Jarrad Branthwaite, but could not hide his frustration at the display.

Asked if he was disappointed by the ease with which Forest implemented their game plan, he replied: “I was disappointed, quite simply, because in the first half our players did the opposite of what we told them, which is very frustrating as a manager, trust. Me.

“I told them that because we analyzed it, we looked at the things we wanted to do and didn’t come up with anything that we expected of ourselves and that we could have done without a bad goal from us defensively , which is unusual lately and they did the bases better than us in the first half.

“In the second half we asked a few more questions, we didn’t really open them up, but then we were 2-0 down after an easy goal.”

Dyche said he had hoped to see his team play fast and with pace, but added: “We didn’t do that, we went completely the opposite way and played slowly, rolling backwards – sometimes unnecessarily. And then it was too methodical, there weren’t enough questions.”