Everton manager Sean Dyche will allow his players to briefly enjoy their escape from relegation but he has already laid down the law that major changes are needed at the club.
Abdoulaye Doucoure’s 57th-minute thunderbolt gave the Toffees a 1-0 win over Bournemouth and the victory which ensured they stayed up and extended their stay in the top flight to 70 successive seasons.
For the second consecutive season there was a pitch invasion at the final whistle – although nowhere near as many numbers joined in as 12 months ago when safety was secured with a game to spare.
There was a feeling inside the club that they did not want to be seen to be celebrating avoiding failure and that probably came from Dyche himself.
“It’s a horrible day for all concerned, there is no joy in it for me other than getting the job done,” said the former Burnley boss, who only took over in late January.
“I came in here to change a mentality and I think there have been signs of that. There is still more to go.
“I said to the the players ‘We shouldn’t be here. Enjoy this today and you’ve earned it but at the end of the day it has got to change’.
“There is no point in sitting on it and saying ‘Look how great we are’ because it is not like that.
“There is loads to change here and a lot of work to be done but it was a big step to secure it.”
Dyche was able to speak from a greater position of strength after avoiding what would have been only the club’s third relegation in their 145-year history.
That gave him the confidence to dish out some home truths in his post-match press conference which he had been reticent to do so previously for fear of creating more instability and detracting from the task in hand.
“Don’t think I thought this was an easy fix because it is not, far from it,” he added.
“It’s a big club, make no mistake. Big history, big club, but we are not performing like a big club. We have to find a way of changing that. This is two seasons now.
“I’ve played my little part in two seasons of this but there is a massive amount of change to build to a new dawn, a new future, a bigger future if you like.”
That future is likely to see him make significant changes to a totally unbalanced squad which somehow avoided relegation despite playing the whole season with their main striker – Dominic Calvert-Lewin – featuring in less than half of it and his back-up – Neal Maupay – managing just one goal (in September) in 29 appearances.
Asked if he would have to sell players, with the club having made more than £430m of losses in the last four years, Dyche added: “There’s a chance. I’ll find out about that.
“There’s not been any depth, there have been peripheral talks based on ifs, buts and maybes but that will come over the coming weeks when we find out the truth of what we have got, what we can do, what we can’t do.
“We had to get this (safety) sorted out, we’ve got it over the line. It was absolutely the key focus. Now it is time to immediately re-focus on the rest of it.”
Bournemouth boss Gary O’Neil was disappointed not to have got something from the game.
“I thought we were the better side and had control for the most part but there is still a lot to progress on,” he said.
“We knew we were coming into a tough atmosphere against a direct team and I thought the lads stood up to it well. We maybe didn’t create enough.
“We maybe got a little too desperate towards the end but there was a lot there I liked. It’s just a shame we didn’t score, I always thought we would get one.”
Tottenham ‘disgusted’ by online racist abuse of defender Destiny Udogie
Tottenham have condemned the racist abuse received by defender Destiny Udogie following Saturday’s home Premier League win against Liverpool.
Udogie, 20, was the target of several racist slurs on social media following Tottenham’s controversial 2-1 home victory after being involved in Liverpool forward Diogo Jota’s dismissal.
Jota was shown two yellow cards for two separate second-half challenges on the Tottenham left-back within the space of a minute.
Tottenham said on their official website: “We are disgusted at the racist messages directed towards Destiny Udogie on social media following Saturday’s game against Liverpool.
“We will work with the Premier League and, where possible, take action against any individual we are able to identify. We stand with you, Destiny.”
Tottenham won the game 2-1 thanks to Joel Matip’s stoppage-time own goal after Cody Gakpo had cancelled out Son Heung-min’s first-half opener.
Liverpool defender Curtis Jones was shown a straight red in the first half after VAR intervention for a foul on Yves Bissouma and the visitors were incensed when Luis Diaz’s opening goal was incorrectly ruled out for offside.
PGMOL later issued a statement admitting that a “significant human error” had taken place by VAR officials in their decision not to award the goal.
Football rumours: Juventus seeking new long-term deal for Adrien Rabiot
Juventus are reportedly working on a new long-term deal for midfielder Adrien Rabiot. The Daily Mail, citing Tuttosport, says the Italian giant is looking to tie the 28-year-old down for a further three years, after he turned down an approach from Manchester United during the summer in favour of extending his time in Turin.
Chelsea are believed to be gearing up for an expensive January. According to The Guardian, the Blues are set to target Napoli striker Victor Osimhen and Brentford forward Ivan Toney, after already spending £1billion on new signings in a year.
And the Daily Mirror, via Cadena SER, says Luka Modric is on radar of multiple MLS teams, with Inter Miami believed to be especially keen on the Real Madrid midfielder.
Social media round-upPlayers to watchKalvin Phillips: Arsenal will chase the Manchester City midfielder in January, according to Fichajes.
Lamine Yamal: The Daily Mail, citing Fabrizio Romano, says Barcelona are eager to sign the 16-year-old winger to a further three-year deal.
I was a mess – David Beckham lays bare pain he suffered after World Cup red card
David Beckham has revealed he still cannot forgive himself for the abuse his family suffered amid the fallout from his red card at the 1998 World Cup, which left him a “mess”.
A new Netflix documentary series titled ‘Beckham’ is set for release on Wednesday, looking back on the former Manchester United and Real Madrid midfielder’s career as well as his marriage to Spice Girls singer and fashion designer Victoria.
In episode two, titled ‘Seeing Red’, Beckham, now 48, reflected on the “stupid mistake” which changed his life after he was sent off for kicking the back of Diego Simeone’s leg during the last-16 clash against Argentina in Saint-Etienne.
England went on to lose after a penalty shootout and Beckham found himself centre of a backlash – including a pub hanging up an effigy of the midfielder, who received a hostile reception from rival fans around the country when he returned to action for United the following season.
In the documentary, Victoria Beckham said the continued abuse left her husband “absolutely clinically depressed” as the then 23-year-old tried to deal with the fallout alongside becoming a father for the first time in March 1999.
Beckham admitted the saga “took a toll on me that I never knew myself”.
He said: “I wish there was a pill you could take which could erase certain memories. I made a stupid mistake. It changed my life.
“We were in America (on holiday after the World Cup), just about to have our first baby, and I thought, ‘we will be fine. In a day or two people will have forgotten’.”
Beckham added: “I don’t think I have ever talked about it, just because I can’t. I find it hard to talk through what I went through because it was so extreme.
“Wherever I went, I got abused every single day – to walk down the street and to see people look at you in a certain way, spit at you, abuse you, come up to your face and say some of the things they said, that is difficult.
“I wasn’t eating, I wasn’t sleeping. I was a mess. I didn’t know what to do.”
Beckham added: “It brought a lot of attention that I would never wish on anyone, let alone my parents, and I can’t forgive myself for that.
“That is the tough part of what happened, because I was the one that made the mistake.
“It is only now that I am 47 years old, it is now that I beat myself up about it (still).
“When I have gone through difficult moments, I was able to block it out, but inside it killed me.”
Beckham spoke of the support he received from then Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and the club as he looked to focus on his football.
“That was the only thing I could control – once I was on the pitch, then I felt safe,” Beckham said.
“Anytime I was kicked during that season, it was like the (opposition team) had got two goals.”
Beckham added: “As horrible as it was to look up to Victoria in the stand (getting that abuse), it was the one thing which spurred me on.”
The Netflix documentary also charts Beckham’s triumphant end to the 1998-99 season, which culminated with United having won the Premier League, FA Cup and a memorable Champions League final against Bayern Munich in Barcelona.
With Paul Scholes and Roy Keane suspended, Beckham played an integral role in United’s comeback win, which was secured by two goals in stoppage time.
Reflecting on the match, Ferguson said: “With David, that night there was something inside him saying, ‘I am not going to let this happen’. It was a personal thing that he had in him, that stubbornness and determination.”
Beckham’s former United and England team-mate Gary Neville was an executive producer of the Netflix documentary.
Neville recalled the way he and Beckham were “absolutely destroying teams” down the right flank for United.
“He was with his crossing. I was supporting him in a way which was to be fair, I would say I was a side dish really. Not the beef. I was the mustard on the side,” Neville said.
“I was subservient because I needed David to go and do something magical. He was practicing free-kicks and I was practicing throw-ins.”
Neville added: “It was telepathic on the pitch. Off the pitch as well, I knew where he was in his mind – it was not enough for him, he wanted to be more than a football player.”
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