22 July 2023 , 17:25
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Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure believes his absence from the first team under Frank Lampard was a personal matter.
Mali international Doucoure joined from Watford in 2020 and played regularly under Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez. It was a different story under Lampard, though, with the former Chelsea boss using him in the 2021-22 run-in but changing tack last season.
The 30-year-old started the first two games of the season, picking up an injury in the second, but was restricted to substitute outings after that under Lampard. Once replacement Sean Dyche came in, though, Doucoure started 15 league games and made a notable contribution to Everton's Premier League survival.
“If the previous manager had stayed a few weeks more, I would have been gone,” Doucoure told The Athletic. “It was impossible to not play for a year, but I think with him that was the plan.
"Even if I was training well and fresh, I don’t think he’d put me in the team. It was like he had something personal against me. I knew if the club changed manager, I would get a chance again. So I had to keep my head down, waiting for my chance and it worked well. I was happy to be the one to score the goal to help the team stay up.
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“It was a long season with low and high moments. For me personally, it was a challenge but it helped me to grow and achieve more success. Since the new manager came in, there was a lot of hard work from everyone and we deserved to stay up."
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Abdoulaye Doucoure's final-day winner kept Everton in the Premier League (PA)Doucoure was thrown straight into the starting XI for Dyche's first game, a 1-0 win against title contenders Arsenal. The 90 minutes he played that day represented the same number he managed across the previous four months under Lampard.
He scored his first goal of the season in a 2-2 draw against Nottingham Forest, and added a goal and an assist as his team claimed a point against Chelsea. There was also the low moment of a red card against Tottenham, but Doucoure had more to offer after returning from suspension.
The former Rennes man scored twice in a 5-1 victory over Brighton, a result which kept Everton's fate in their own hands going into the final weekend of the season. They needed a win against Bournemouth to make sure they'd be able to enjoy another year of top-flight football, and it was Doucoure who scored the only goal of the game.
"We see people dropping, we haven't got full-backs, losing centre forwards... but they're still going and the mentality has been terrific," Dyche said after that win. "I think Doucs has really been a shining light of that, with the way he's gone about it and he scores a terrific goal."