Conor Coady, the Everton defender, has revealed the sweeping changes new boss Sean Dyche has made as they seek to continue their encouraging start under the regime when Aston Villa visit Goodison Park on Saturday.
Conor Coady said: “I think a lot of it is behind-closed-doors works that supporters don’t see on the training pitch. We have to be pushing each other every single day on the training pitch — I think that’s where winners and losers are made. Training has to be competitive at all times, not to the point where you’re kicking lumps out of each other but in terms of being desperate to win, being desperate to contribute with a goal or an assist or a block or a tackle. That’s where it starts. If you have that every day in training then it becomes normal to carry that on at the weekend. That’s where we’re getting to. The gaffer helps with that competitiveness and there’s little forfeits in the sessions that you don’t want to be on the end of — nose flicks, ear flicks and all kinds! It’s up to us as players to take the responsibility to carry that through and we’re doing absolutely everything we can to ensure that is the case.”