Graham Potter admits Chelsea struggled to deal with the ‘physicality’ of Abdoulaye Doucoure and Amadou Onana during Saturday’s 2-2 Premier League draw with Everton, speaking to Football London.
It was a goal which summed up the new era at Everton. The Sean Dyche era.
A Dwight McNeil corner drilled towards the back post, flicked on and touched in by a man who, prior to the former Burnley boss’s appointment, was threatening to become something of a forgotten man at Goodison Park.
Goalscorer Doucoure, like Michael Keane, Ben Godfrey and the aforementioned McNeil, have been given a new lease of life under Dyche; all four players standing tall as the Toffees claimed one more crucial point in their battle against the drop.
Doucoure, one of the first names on Dyche’s team sheet, even set up Ellis Simms‘ dramatic late equaliser. He, alongside Onana and the similarly revitalised Idrissa Gana Gueye, are proving to be crucial cogs in the Everton machine, their running power and aggression central to the new boss’s up-and-at-’em gameplan.
Graham Potter’s Chelsea drew 2-2 with Sean Dyche’s Everton
“Everton used their strengths well,” sighs Potter, who’s Chelsea side remain tenth. “They’ve got physicality and used Doucoure and Onana to win long balls, second balls, throw-ins, set-pieces, and to create danger.
“Teams have always done that well under Sean. It’s not easy to control it as well as you’d like. We lost a little bit of control for a short period of time and when we did, we conceded. That’s the frustrating bit.”
Everton have picked up three wins and two draws since Dyche replaced Frank Lampard at the start of February. They are now 15th in the table. But, such is the nature of the Premier League – this Premier League – Everton remain just three points above bottom-place Southampton.
“You have to credit Everton. They do what they do well,” Potter adds. “They use their physicality, they use the set-pieces, they ask you questions.
Most of the game we controlled fairly well, as much as you can at his level. But ultimately the first goal is really disappointing as it’s from a set-piece; we spoke about that before the game.
“The second goal, we’ve not attacked well enough and then exposed a big space to defend and haven’t done it well enough. These are the little, small things. When you look at how much we put into the game and how much we tried to attack, to be cheap with the goals we conceded was frustrating.”
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