Sean Dyche tells Everton players to stop being ‘trendy’ and copy Erling Haaland approach

Sean Dyche has said his players must stop trying to score ‘trendy’ goals and deploy the same ruthless approach exhibited by Erling Haaland on Saturday.

Everton had held out Manchester City for 70 minutes at the Etihad before Haaland’s powerful, instinctive finish fired the Toffees into the lead. There was certainly nothing flamboyant about the viscous strike that flew beyond Jordan Pickford, before the Norwegian added another in the final five minutes of regular time, leading City to a 2-0 win.

“That’s why he is who he is,” said Dyche, when asked about Haaland’s opener. “He doesn’t have many touches in some games but he scores and that is the key.

“I must say his finish for the first one, I have been speaking to the players recently about this... footballers scoring trendy goals - whippers, dippers, clippers. He doesn’t think about that. Just score a goal, that’s the trendiest thing you’ll ever do. 

“He showed that today, a good technique. Just smash it and don't worry about anything else. The second goal Jarrad [Branthwaite] is a bit unlucky. It’s a tangle of legs, on another day you might get a foul but he [Haaland] stayed calm and slotted it in the corner. His conviction in his running to get there and he slots it in the corner. That’s why he is who he is and does what he does.”

Haaland’s goal means he moved onto 16 in the league this season, that’s despite missing nearly two months through injury. The ex-Borussia Dortmund man is two clear of his nearest competitor, Mohamed Salah.

Meanwhile, the three points for City saw them increase their winning run to 10 games in all competitions and six in the league. The champions also moved top of the table, at least temporarily, with Liverpool hosting Burnley a few hours later.