Volkswacht Bodensee - Dyche keen to change 'negative' narrative at Everton

Dyche's men were thrashed 4-0 at Aston Villa last weekend following their 1-0 home defeat against Fulham.

Everton have narrowly avoided relegation in each of the past two seasons to extend their proud record of staying in the English top-flight to 70 years.

Dyche was brought in midway through last season to avoid the drop and believes it is up to him and his players to change the narrative when they host Wolves on Saturday.

"To be honest ever since I got here, everybody's talked about us 'needing a lift' and words get thrown around like 'crisis', all these bad noises and negatives," said the former Burnley boss.

"It's just the way Everton's been for a number of months, years even. So it's our job to change the story. It always starts on the pitch, with me and the team changing the rhetoric.

"We haven't done that yet this season but we're two games in. You can't measure a season on two games, particularly after playing so well against Fulham, but you don't get the win and it changes the story yet again."

The opening day defeat to Fulham could have been very different had Dominic Calvert-Lewin been fit.

The injury-hit striker returned against Villa but was forced off in the first half after a collision with Argentina goalkeeper Emi Martinez saw him nursing a swollen face around his cheekbone.

Calvert-Lewin will definitely be missing against Wolves and the extent of his latest injury is still to be determined.

"He's seeing a specialist tomorrow," Dyche added on Thursday. "The specialist advice before he checked it properly was he needed the swelling to settle down.

"Unfortunately he will miss the weekend, but that's part of him hopefully getting the right answer and the protocols we need to follow."

To compound Everton's issues on the field, protracted talks over fresh investment in the club collapsed this week.

American investors MSP Sports Capital had been expected to complete a deal to take a 25 percent share in the club.

Dyche said that had not changed his plans for the final week of the transfer window, but that he was already working with a tight budget.

"We know we have to find ways of creating deals and making them happen because we haven't got pots of gold," he added. "I knew that when I got the job."

M.Odermatt--BTB