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Sam Allardyce has revealed he will employ a sports psychologist to help repair his Everton squad's fragile confidence.

The new Blues boss enjoyed a stellar start to his reign at Goodison, Saturday's 2-0 win over Huddersfield propelling his side into the top half of the Premier League – a considerable boost given the struggles of recent months.

Allardyce is keen for more after penning an 18-month deal last week. The 63-year-old has already set up his backroom team with Craig Shakespeare coming in as his assistant and loyal lieutenant Sammy Lee joining the coaching staff. Fitness coach Ryland Morgans will be added to the team, while Martyn Margetson is expected to come in as goalkeeping coach.

Interestingly, though, Allardyce confirmed he would look to add someone who will work primarily on the mental side of the game.

The ECHO understands that will be somebody Allardyce has worked with before. At Crystal Palace, his last club, he employed the services of Lee Richardson, the former Oldham midfielder, to perform the role.

Palace were in the relegation zone when Allardyce was appointed, and he felt they were mentally burdened by the pressure of playing at Selhurst Park. They eventually worked their way out of danger, securing Premier League survival in relative comfort.

The situation at Everton is different, but Allardyce says his players would benefit from the presence of a psychologist.

“I haven’t got him yet but I will be,” he said. “I am doing it all myself at the minute!”

When asked specifically about how he can change a player's mentality, or give a player more confidence, Allardyce responded: “Small targets are set. I had about a five minute chat on Wednesday before the game, David (Unsworth) had done everything else, it was his game but I just had five minutes and talked about a few pointers about how you get better.

“Nothing too elaborate, just to one or two. It was ‘you are here and here's what you have to do to get there.'

“In the last couple of days that progresses onto more information and delivering more beliefs and eventually it will not only be us who delivers psychologically in terms of wanting to make the players stronger mentally.

“But I would actually try and find them a sports psychologist to back that up because I think that will be very important. If the brain is clear and positive before the lads go out then they produce a positive performance. If the brain is clouded and doubtful you don’t see the player produce the quality he has got.

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“That has obviously been seen on a couple of occasions here with the lack of confidence from the lack of results. You have to turn that round as quick as you can and build that confidence and let it grow. Hopefully we can do that as quick as we can.

“But there is nothing better than two wins on the trot. After all the work I might do, or a sports psychologist, what really brings the confidence back at the end as much as the work behind is being given the opportunity to go out and play to their strengths and give their all. Play to their best ability and you have got two back to back wins.”

Allardyce singled out Gylfi Sigurdsson and Wayne Rooney, his two most talented players, as examples of players whose form had been affected by pressure this season.

Sigurdsson scored his first Goodison goal – and just his third in total – to set up Saturday's win, while Rooney followed up his midweek hat-trick against West Ham with another solid display in midfield.

Allardyce said: “Gylfi came so late because of what I am told was the ongoing saga with Swansea, will they or won't they?

(Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images)

“And I believe in that time he wasn’t really training with the first team and it wasn’t happening for him in terms of a full pre-season. So he is on catch up.

“This is a big club you know. No disrespect to Swansea, you are playing on a bigger stage and arena so you have to have a greater mentality to come out and produce because the demand is higher. No disrespect to Swansea and the Swansea fans, these fans have greater demand for a player that comes to play for Everton.

“All fans want entertaining but they want to see a level of ability, too. It is big pressure and a lot of the other players who have come from abroad because of the start of the season, the Europa League, it has not given them a real opportunity to get settled in and be able to produce at Everton what they produced abroad.

“So that is a disappointment. That is the feedback I have been gathering over the last few days, so hopefully those boys, once they have had a bit more time, and if we give them an opportunity, they can show that they are worth their place at the football club and get better and better and play more like they did at their clubs abroad.”

(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

On Rooney, he added: “Wayne didn’t play at Manchester United as much as he wanted to do and that is why he left and came here. And then the adjustment of coming back to his old club and playing in a different role.

“Then there is the pressure Wayne is under all the time. I have every admiration for him because he never seems to be fazed by the criticism. He has had more criticism in the last couple of years than he has had praise and I think that he has handled that brilliantly. ~

“He produced a good performance Saturday and a brilliant one on Wednesday, so we have to really make sure we get him ready for every game from a physical point of view because he is catching up in years. if we get the physical side of Wayne right then that ability never ever leaves you.”