Sean Dyche feeling the heat already as Jordan Pickford bails him out against Blades and rescues first point of the season for Everton at Bramall Lane
- Everton and Sheff Utd just two of the club’s just fighting for top flight survival
- Jordan Pickford was Sean Dyche’s saviour with stunning late save against Blades
- United and Everton fought out a 2-2 draw to earn their first points of the season
Offer Paul Heckingbottom and Sean Dyche a guaranteed 17th-place finish in the Premier League right now and they would immediately snap your hand off. So too the Sheffield United and Everton directors keeping an eye on the accounts.
And who can blame them? To revive former Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon’s infamous remark from 2005, the reality of the Premier League today is that the winner will come from ‘a small group of one’.
Two or three clubs will fight to finish second to Manchester City, and three or four more will dream of finishing fourth. For everyone else, the priority is simply to stay above the line, stay within the limits of Financial Fair Play, bank the television money and try to do it all over again the following season. Anything else is a bonus.
For most of its members, the Premier League is a grim, thankless attempt to gather the handful of wins needed to avoid relegation. From time to time, they must ask themselves what is the point of it all.
Best League In The World? The competitive imbalance at the top level of English football will only become more pronounced and the division itself more predictable.
Sean Dyche and Everton are already under pressure after gaining just one point this season
Jordan Pickford pulls off an incredible triple save to rescue a point in the draw with Sheff Utd
Both Paul Heckingbottom and Dyche would snap your hand off for a 17th place finish
Everton used to be one of those clubs who wanted to break into the elite but on and off the pitch, they have performed so poorly for so long that they can no longer have such ambitions.
MATCH FACTS AND PLAYER RATINGS
Sheffield United (3-5-2): Foderingham 6; Ahmedhodzic 5.5, Egan 6 (Basham 68, 6) Robinson 6; Baldock 7, Souza 6, Norwood 7, Hamer 7, Larouci 5.5 (Thomas 68, 6); Archer 7 (Traore 75, 6), McBurnie 6.5
Subs not used: Davies, Trusty, Bogle, Slimane, Ousla
Scorers: Archer 33, Pickford (og) 45+3
Booked: Ahmedhodzic
Manager: Paul Heckingbottom 6
Everton (4-1-4-1): Pickford 6; Patterson 6.5, Tarkowski 7 (Godfrey 90+1), Branthwaite 6.5, Young 6; Gueye 6; Garner 6.5 (McNeil 75, 6), Doucoure 7, Onana 7, Danjuma 6.5; Beto 7
Subs not used: Lonergan, Virginia, Mykolenko, Chermiti, Onyango
Scorers: Doucoure 14, Danjuma 55
Booked: Branthwaite, Doucoure
Manager: Sean Dyche 6
Referee: Andy Madley 6
Attendance: 31,124
An example of how not to run a club, Everton are a warning to their rivals of where too many mistakes can leave you. Dyche was tetchy after this one, needlessly taking issue with a reporter’s question about Jordan Pickford’s stunning late save.
These were Everton’s first goals of the season and this was their first point. Perhaps Dyche is feeling the heat.
He has been in post only since January but as Marco Silva, Rafa Benitez and Frank Lampard would attest, Everton owner Farhad Moshiri is not known for his patience.
Without Pickford’s late intervention, Everton would be contemplating four defeats from four heading into the international break.
‘The last two seasons we started off really well, then hit a bad patch,’ said Pickford. ‘This season we haven’t started off at our best, but it can only go up and it’s about learning from each game — how we can get better as a team and pick up results.’
Sheffield United have operated smartly in the market. Whereas Luton appear to have built a squad to push for promotion from the Championship in 2024-25, the Blades are showing a little more ambition.
Anyone who watched Coventry last season could see that Gustavo Hamer was ready for the Premier League and the £15million midfielder looks right at home already.
James McAtee is back for a second loan spell from Manchester City, after playing a key role in the Blades’ promotion campaign.
Cameron Archer scored on his home league debut to cancel out Abdoulaye Doucoure’s opener and hit the post in the incident that led to Pickford’s own goal, though Arnaut Danjuma later equalised for Everton.
Aston Villa inserted a buy-back clause in the £19m deal that took Archer to Bramall Lane and are monitoring the progress of their homegrown forward.
Cameron Archer topped off an impressive full debut for the Blades with his first goal
‘He wanted to come here,’ said Heckingbottom. ‘When we go after young players, we know they’re not going to come here for the money, so it’s about how we work and sell ourselves.
If after we’ve done that, the player still doesn’t want to come, it means we’ve probably dodged a bullet. Cam liked what we saw in his game and how we thought he could improve.
‘It’s a great start for him and he is all about goals but we want to bring other elements to his game. When you are thinking about who to put into the starting XI, you have to consider so much more than goals.’
True, but as Archer has shown throughout his short career, goals are a pretty good place to start.
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