While ten Premier League clubs toured the United States in pre-season, the Merseysiders stayed much closer to home. This summer, ten Premier League clubs pursued the dollar and scheduled pre-season games in the United States. Three have traveled east to Japan and, in Tottenham’s case, even to South Korea to meet the demand to witness Son Heung-min in person. Six are preparing for their events at altitude and in European training camps, leaving one to do things differently. Or, as Sean Dyche would say, keeping it real.
On Tuesday night, Everton’s pre-season “tour” continued at Coventry’s Building Society Arena, where Dyche’s men suffered a 3-0 defeat to the Championship club. So far this summer, there have been three games without a win against lower league sides. Their season began with a 3-3 tie at Sligo Rovers, which followed a training camp just outside Dublin. The game was principally organized to celebrate the career of Séamus Coleman, who cost £60,000 in 2009, and raise funds for the full-back’s old club.
Last Saturday’s short trip to Salford City resulted in a 2-1 defeat at the Peninsula Stadium. Everton’s next pre-season encounter is away to Preston, before finishing with a home game against Roma on August 10. The tour covers around 1,350 kilometers and begins at Everton’s Finch Farm training center. And that is exactly how Dyche wants it.
Everton’s well-documented financial issues and continued uncertainty over the club’s ownership could be cited as factors for being the only Premier League team not to visit mainland Europe. Everton v Roma would have been a showcase for the Friedkin Group’s two clubs, but the American company’s proposed ownership of the Toffees collapsed unexpectedly on July 19.
The truth is more mundane. Everton’s manager believes that maximising training time, limiting travel time, and replicating the challenges of domestic football during pre-season is more valuable than sampling the delights of California or Tokyo, no matter how lucrative or appealing that may be to the club’s larger fanbase (there are nearly 50 Everton supporters’ groups in the US, so the audience exists). And Dyche has the final say. This summer, as well as last, when pre-season included visits to Tranmere, Wigan, Bolton, and Stoke, Everton’s modest interim board has more pressing worries than worldwide development, with a club to sell and a spectacular new stadium at Bramley Moore Dock to build.
Everton’s domestic schedule has given Dyche the opportunity to improve his taskmaster reputation this summer, if that is possible. Following daily double-training sessions at the Dublin camp, Finch Farm has held double, and often triple, training sessions. His famed “Gaffer’s Day” – when the players’ mental fortitude is tested with two hours of nonstop running drills as Dyche laughs on the sidelines – took on a new twist last week. After keeping the team guessing about when “Gaffer’s Day” would take place, he finally revealed it was happening last Tuesday. This year’s added incentive – but only for the Everton boss – was that the squad had to repeat the process on Thursday.
Everton trained on the morning of their friendlies against Sligo and Salford, which helped to mitigate their laboured performances. Dyche’s priority at this point is “getting the sharpness in them” and increasing fitness levels ahead of the new season’s opening game against Brighton on August 17. However, while pre-season results are unimportant, and six first-team regulars were absent at Coventry, the Everton boss was concerned by what he saw on Tuesday. “Beyond the result, which is important by the way, we are trying to get players through these games,” he told me.
“We’re trying to acquire minutes while not breaking them due to the other injuries we’ve sustained. The one thing I’m sad about is that you want players to come in and really set down a marker. I don’t believe we had too much of that. Forget about the outcome; you’re still searching for that spark from players and habits, and I thought the habits were completely off in the first half and most of the game, to be honest.”
Despite the grueling nature of Dyche’s pre-season, his players at Everton and Burnley have had few complaints about the workload. Most people understand the long-term benefits. He has raised the bar. Everton’s injury record improved last season as well. His side was more robust and resilient, both psychologically and physically, as they overcame the unusual blow of two different points deductions to win Premier League survival with three games remaining. There’s something to be said for keeping things real, no matter how unfashionable that may seem.
