Everton boss Sean Dyche. (Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)Everton boss Sean Dyche. (Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images)
Everton boss Sean Dyche. (Photo by Molly Darlington/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Everton battled to a 1-1 draw against Man City with Iliman Ndiaye scoring for the visitors at the Etihad Stadium.
Sean Dyche heaped praise on Iliman Nidaye and Jordan Pickford as Everton earned a share of the spoils against Manchester City.
The Toffees battled to a 1-1 draw at the Premier League champions at the Etihad Stadium. The visitors fell behind in the 14th minute when Bernardo Silva bagged for Pep Guardiola’s side, who had lost nine of their previous 12 games heading into the encounter.
But Everton displayed resolve and got back into the game nine minutes before half-time through a fine Ndiaye finish at the back post. The game could have been different had Erling Haaland scored a penalty in the second half. However, Pickford won the battle of the mind games to thwart the City striker’s effort.
The Blues were full value for a third successive stalemate, having held Arsenal and Chelsea to 0-0 draws beforehand. Dyche, speaking to Amazon Prime, was impressed by the skill Ndiaye showed to bag - and wants to see more of if from the Senegal international. The Everton boss said: “It's a great touch and hit. It doesn't give the defender a chance to react and catches the keeper off guard when players do it that quickly. But it takes a lot of skill so fair play to him.
“He's got a bit. I always speak to him about touch and hit. Keepers want to set and it's a tough skill to learn. It's been hard in the games we have had, we have played against some powerful teams. I was worried about coming here because it will change at some point. I thought we handled it really well. There is an underlying feeling they will pull result out of the bag and we handled it well.”
City had the chance to go ahead eight minutes into the second half when Everton defender Vitalii Mykolenko’s late lunge brought down Savinho. Dyche admitted it was a ‘lazy tackle’ from the Toffees left-back but credited Pickford for keeping out Haaland.
“It is a penalty,” added Dyche. “The forward does well. But Jordan, very good for his confidence and listening to the coaches but, of course, it comes down to his decisions and fair play to him. I was a long way from it. At the moment, I wasn't sure how much contact there was. It is a penalty. It is a lazy one. He is a really good defender, Myko, and been in really good form in the past few games so I'm not going to question him.”
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