In Focus: Dyche's Toffees tenure turning sour

The Premier League season is only two games deep and Everton already look in big trouble. 

After narrowly avoiding relegation in 2022-23, the Toffees find themselves bottom of the table, having lost both of their fixtures. 

Sean Dyche's team have yet to score and have conceded five goals, with Aston Villa inflicting a humiliating 4-0 defeat over them last Sunday.

Ahead of Saturday's match with 19th-placed Wolves, we take a look at the problems inflicting the Merseysiders. 

Villa collapse

The dismal display at Aston Villa highlighted the issues that Dyche must solve at both ends of the pitch. 

His Burnley side's success was built on a robust defence and four consecutive clean sheets in pre-season suggested that Everton were on the right path. 

Yet although the opening performance against Fulham was largely positive, a sloppy goal saw them lose 1-0 at home to Marco Silva's Cottagers. 

Any defensive stability fell apart at Villa Park, as the visitors struggled to cope with the pace and fluidity of movement from the opposition. 

Unai Emery's men were able to find space between the lines of Everton's 4-4-2 and the back four repeatedly collapsed under pressure. 

A younger defender who could add pace to the backline is 21-year-old Jarrad Branthwaite, who impressed while on loan at PSV Eindhoven last season. 

Since James Tarkowski signed in 2022, Everton have only won 8.3% of the 12 games that he has started alongside Michael Keane, compared to 25% when the central defensive duo are separated. 

Injury woes

Part of the reason why it is so important for Dyche to improve Everton defensively, is that they are so lacking in attacking threat. 

That is somewhat down to an injury list that is almost entirely comprised of forwards and creative players. 

Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Alex Iwobi went off in the defeat to Villa, joining the likes of Dele Alli, Dwight McNeil and new signings Jack Harrison and Youssef Chermiti on the sidelines. 

Lewis Dobbin and Arnaut Danjuma came on and were one of the few positives for Dyche, who praised both after the defeat. 

He said: "Sometimes you have to accept it's a collective down day, which it was. 

"I can’t even pick a player, bar Dobbin, who was excellent and Arnie Danjuma, who showed he is getting fitter and sharper, who was anywhere near what we can do." 

Those substitutes are surely in line to start against Wolves, with so many other attackers injured and the club struggling to bring in fresh reinforcements. 

Roll the Dyche

It is very early on in the season to be talking about six-pointers, but Everton's home match with Wolves already has the look of a crucial fixture. 

Both teams appear set for a difficult campaign and a loss for either would represent a huge blow. 

Dyche has proved that he can make a team defensively resilient in the Premier League. 

The question hanging over him when appointed last January was whether he was capable of exacting the sort of attacking returns necessary for a club with greater ambitions than mere survival. 

As bad as Everton were defensively against Villa, that looks like the easier problem to solve right now.

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