Everton must change their mentality about away games – Sean Dyche

Everton manager Sean Dyche is desperate to change a mentality he believes has contributed to the club’s woeful away form and largely resulted in a second successive relegation battle.

The Toffees have not won away since beating Southampton on October 1st and since then there have been just four draws in 12 matches on the road, with two of those points coming at Nottingham Forest and Chelsea last month.

Nine points from a potential 45 away from home in the current campaign is a continuation of problems from last season, when they won just twice and finished with 10 points from 19 away matches.

It is only their home form, from which they have accrued 18 points from 16 matches, which has prevented them from sinking even further in the table than their current 17th position by virtue of a superior goal difference to Nottingham Forest.

Dyche believes some players have struggled to adapt to the requirements of playing away from the safety of Goodison Park and accepts that needs to change with games remaining at Crystal Palace, fellow strugglers Leicester, Brighton and Wolves.

“It’s a bit different here because I walked into a situation where the record hasn’t been great for a couple of seasons,” said Dyche. “It is more a case of working it out with the players here.

“For sure it’s tactical, but it’s also a mentality thing.

“You have players who have to be ready as if it is a home game and deliver like it is a home game.

“Some players find it more tricky than others because of the home support, but generally speaking it’s a mental shift and taking on the challenge.

“The noise has been long enough now that people say ‘They can’t do this away’, ‘they can’t do that away’ so let’s change that story.

“You can’t wait for some magic