The former Everton striker has been speaking about the tough run of fixtures his old club faces this month
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Former Everton striker Louis Saha
Former Everton striker Louis Saha
Former Everton player Louis Saha believes Sean Dyche will be judged on the performances of his team this month - not the amount of points they pick up.
December looked set to be a daunting month when the fixtures were released in the summer and the Blues’ poor form on the approach - they did not score a goal in November - only added to concern that intensified following the heavy loss at Manchester United on December 1.
The thrashing of Wolverhampton Wanderers last week released the pressure though and the postponement of the Merseyside derby on Saturday has given Dyche and his players an additional week to feed off that win while also removing a tricky, emotional fixture from the schedule.
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Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester City are still to come though, with the following games - against in-form Nottingham Forest and Bournemouth - still set to pose a challenge.
With that in mind, Saha told Casino Utan Spelpaus: “I think it's going be a very tough month, so it's going to be difficult if he doesn't pick up points to provide hope. If you lose 4-0 at Man United not playing well, and I don't think that Man United are playing brilliantly - you can expect way more damage with teams that are more confident, so they have to be really careful. When you have those kinds of signs you have to be very careful.
"If you manage to get a performance where you get a point, you get a good game, you can still hope to win the next one. During a month like this, we don't expect them to have nine points, that's for sure. It will be about performances, it will be about how close they are in the game, how difficult they made it for the opponent.”