Sean Dyche can be proud despite Everton loss v Manchester City as double statistic emerges.

For a significant portion of the match, the visitors’ outstanding organization at the Etihad prevented any of the numerous gifted attackers from City from shining.

But in the 71st and 85th minutes, star attacker Erling Haaland scored to finally break through their stubborn defense.

The Goodison Park team is now ranked 18th in the Premier League after the close 2-0 loss, and their window of opportunity to secure safety is closing.

Even so, manager Sean Dyche can still be quite proud of his team because of their performance in the first half, which gives them optimism for the future.For the first time since January 2023, the hosts had nine shots in the first forty-five minutes, five of which were blocked and none of which found the goal, according to the official Premier League website (10 February).

In addition, it was the most attempts City had missed in the first forty-five minutes of a Premier League game since they had fourteen against Southampton in November 2014.

Their difficulties in the last third were definitely more down to Everton’s excellent defense than to City’s subpar goalkeeping, as players like Jordan Pickford, James Tarkowski, and Jarrad Brathwaite all had significant roles to play. However, fatigue was bound to set in, especially when Pep Guardiola has the luxury of starting Bernardo Silva, Jack Grealish, and Kevin De Bruyne on the bench—a veritable wealth of talent for the Manchester team.