Dyche departure can trigger response from players - Jackson

Dyche was relieved of his duties on Friday, with the squad getting over the shock to draw 1-1 at West Ham two days later.

But, ahead of Everton’s home game with Leicester City on Wednesday night, the Clarets are three points adrift of safety, having won only four of their 31 league games so far.

And Jackson, who will again be in charge for Thursday night’s home clash with Southampton, thinks that, in a strange way, that the club’s decision to part ways with Dyche, could be the alarm call the players need to push them on in the remaining seven games.

Jackson said: “I think that can be a trigger for a team sometimes.

"It gives them a jolt. They think, ‘This is where we’re at, what do we do as a group now?

"’Do we sit and wallow or do we come together and take on that challenge?’.

"From what I’ve seen so far that’s what they’ve done.

"I have been pleased with the players and you are always looking to see how players respond to what is around them, and the response we have seen in training and within the game, when you have been in football a long time you get a feel for the group and how they are feeling.

"It is like sixth sense and you can judge a dressing room, and at the moment I can see a group pulling together.”

Jackson himself is being kept in the loop by chairman Alan Pace, in the search for a new permanent manager, and is taking things day by day and game by game at the moment: “I spoke to him and he thanked everyone for the West Ham game, and said he would like us to take charge of this game, and he’d let me know in due course.

“I am trying to focus on what we are doing now, and I cannot affect what is going to happen in two or three days time.

"If I tried to live in the future the you can’t do that, I have to live in the moment. That is the way football is.

“It is not an everyday conversation. It is where we are at and what they would like me to do.

"The whole staff has pulled together and is mucking in.

“I spoke to the chairman the other day and he has asked us, similar to West Ham, to prepare for this game and that is where we are at.

"After that, and with the situation, it is not an easy process with what is going on, but we have been asked to deal with this game.

“For me, my sole focus is just on this (Southampton) and making sure the team is prepared.

"If I am asked to do it again in Sunday then I will go through the same process.”