Dyche Encourages Everton to Unite Following Loss to Villa, Paul Vegas

For the second consecutive game, Everton let slip a 2-0 advantage to suffer a 3-2 defeat at Villa Park on Saturday.

Dyche said, "We’re certainly taking some knocks at the minute. Every mistake seems to be a goal, and every chance we don’t quite capitalise on.

“Unfortunately we were on the wrong side of the margins again today. It’s a tough one to take, for different reasons than the last game. We’re down to a low squad anyway, so it’s been a challenge – without a shadow of a doubt.”

On Everton’s start to the season: “We were terrific in the last game. It’s one of those things. Today, we make a mistake and they capitalise on it. I said to the players, the killer instinct in both boxes is what’s vital. The key moment was to go 3-1 up. We didn’t and we made a mistake, and they capitalised on it. We have to keep going.

“We’re making high-quality chances. At the minute, we’ve got to score as many as it takes to win a game. That’s been a challenge since I’ve been at the club. We can’t keep leaking goals like that.

“We’re having to manipulate the team. We have to keep believing in each other. You’ve got a responsibility to deal with it – and that’s what we have to do, including me."

"They're are an honest group. They’ve worked very hard and been through a lot. We are where we are, so they’re very disappointed. We have to respond. Before you know it, Tuesday will be upon us.”

On Vitaliy Mykolenko’s substitiution, he added: “He said he felt ill, so we had to take him off.”