Dyche on Branthwaite and Everton injuries

Dyche on Branthwaite and Everton injuries  29/09/2024  Goodison Park, Liverpool, UK

Transcript

00:00Well, first things first, to allow him the chance to get in and play as we did today

00:16and allow him to get to full Premier League fitness. I don't think there's too much wrong

00:20with his game, so I'll just monitor as I see it and so will the staff. The nuts and bolts,

00:25as I call it, were intact last season, all the simple stuff. Well, they seem simple,

00:29but it's important. So, we'll see how he goes, but the first thing is to get him fully

00:33Premier League fit and I think he's done well to come through that today.

00:36Do you think there will be more scrutiny behind the scenes?

00:44There'll be no scrutiny from us, that's for sure, but it'll still be the same messages.

00:48Go and enjoy what it is, go and mature as a player by enjoying the challenge, whatever

00:52challenge that is. I think the idea of him maturing as a player comes from what you do

00:57every day, what you do when you're playing and also some of the stuff we give him and

01:00some of the stuff that they rub off on him. No, I'm not really overthinking that at this

01:04stage. The first thing is to get him fully fit and fully clear of his injuries. He's

01:09done well to get to where he got to today, I thought, and mostly delivered a good performance.

01:13Obviously, he'll probably feel it more tomorrow than he will today, but no, he's a very good

01:18young player, still relatively young that is, certainly young in Premier League games,

01:22but he's a very, very good player and a talented player and I think he'll only mature further.

01:25It makes a massive difference. I know results and all that, but it's a hard one for me because

01:50we've been stretched to the limit and that's no particular fault of anyone, but that kind

01:55of goes out the window and the reality is people just want you to win and I understand

01:58that, but we have been stretched, severely stretched and that's been awkward and a real

02:02challenge. Now, we are showing signs that, you've got to remember, footballers are, in

02:06the sense of a group, they look on the bench, they look around, they go, hang on, we've

02:10got real campaigners here now, they're getting fit, they're getting stronger. With all due

02:13respect to young players, it's like they're unsure, it's like a toss of a coin, are they

02:17going to do well, are they going to get it, are they going to understand it? So, I think

02:20that's building a squad mentality again and I think that's growing from having people

02:24back fit and as long as they come through these injuries, they'll only get fitter and

02:28stronger and sharper.