Sean Dyche has launched an in-depth health “MOT” on Dominic Calvert-Lewin in an attempt to get to the root of his fitness issues.
The striker who is key to Everton‘s Premier League survival hopes – given their acute lack of attacking options – is set to be missing again from the crucial clash with fellow strugglers Leeds at Goodison Park on Saturday with an ongoing hamstring injury.
Calvert-Lewin, 25, has had a variety of injury problems since early last season which have resulted in him appearing in only 26 of Everton’s last 66 games in all competitions.
As well as the assessments from Everton’s medical and sports science departments, Dyche will look at Calvert-Lewin’s lifestyle, diet, the car he drives, his sleep patterns – and even the mattress he sleeps on.
He will also try to assess whether part of the problem has become psychological.
“I’ve got to learn about his history, his physiological history,” said Dyche. “I’ve got to learn what his body will and won’t take, which is what we are trying to do now.
“We’re speaking to him, the medics, the sports scientists, looking at the stats, training programmes, distance covered, high speed running, how many kilometres in a week he is running.
“We’re also looking at what’s his diet like, what’s his lifestyle like, what car does he drive, what mattress does he use, how many hours does he sleep a night? That’s learning about people. The biggest learning is what is in here [pointing to his head] and that is the hard part.
“I can’t do it all one-on-one but I’ll get all the information I can and then share it with him. That’s the process for every player by the way, not just him.”
Dyche believes Calvert-Lewin – who was in England’s European Championship finals squad in the summer of 2021 – has often played when not fully fit and that has only aggravated his problems.
“I don’t think he’s been properly fit throughout this situation because of his own will and the demand to keep playing,” he added. “Some players don’t realise until afterwards that they’ve put so much demand on themselves and they weren’t quite ready.
“We have to align the process of getting the injury right and him completely right so that he doesn’t break down and he can keep going.”
After Everton’s failure to bring in reinforcements in the January transfer window, Dyche’s attacking options are limited to Neal Maupay, who has scored only once since moving from Brighton in August, raw youngster Ellis Simms or possibly using winger Demarai Gray through the middle.
Dyche is demanding more goals from all departments in a team with the top flight’s lowest goals tally – 16 from 22 games.
“It’s not just one player’s job to score,” he said. “The whole team has a responsibility to score.”
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