Sean Dyche delivers honest assessment of Nottingham Forest defeat to Everton

Latest Nottingham Forest news as Sean Dyche’s Reds beaten by Everton in Premier League clash

Head coach Sean Dyche was left to rue a poor start as Nottingham Forest fell to a 3-0 defeat away to Everton.

The Reds have made good strides since Dyche’s appointment in October as they battle to climb away from trouble at the bottom end of the Premier League table. On his return to his former club, though, the 54-year-old felt his team were below par.

They fell behind with less than two minutes on the clock at the Hill Dickinson Stadium courtesy of a Nikola Milenkovic own goal. And they struggled to offer much going forward in a bid to get back in the game, with the Toffees comfortably wrapping up the three points.

“We did not get off to a good start, which is never helpful,” Dyche said. “But to be honest we never got close to the performance level I expect from the group. Not with regard to tactics, just the competitive nature, the desire, the will of a collective, to take the game on.

“I never thought we got to grips with it, to be honest. I thought they did. Credit to them. They started with an edge, they were fighting, they were competing, they were asking questions and running hard – all the basics.

“I do not want to over-egg it because the players have produced a big shift since we got here – and this was only the second time we have stepped away from that. They have put in a real shift physically and with their mentality to take games on.

“But we cannot start games like that, against a team that looked really hungry for their chance to jump up the league. We have done that ourselves previously, but we did not today.”

He added: “I will credit Everton because they looked up for it. I am not talking about the quality of either side. I am talking about the edge and desire to take the game on and we were lacking that today.

“It was a real reminder to our group that has to be in place, as a basic. Then good play will take care of itself.”

Dyche had stuck with the same starting XI from Wednesday night’s win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. But he made a triple substitution at half-time as Nicolo Savona, Dan Ndoye and Ibrahim Sangare all made way.

“It is a challenge, because I am learning about the players. I made the decision to keep the same side because I thought there had been a nice balance to it, in the previous few performances,” Dyche explained.

“A few looked like they were flagging early doors. We had to make changes (at half time) it was nothing against them, we just wanted to freshen it and give the game a different feel.”