There was every potential for the small media room at Everton’s training ground to be as frosty as the conditions outside when Sean Dyche walked in. It wasn’t.

That is a credit to Dyche who, like after the disappointment at Bournemouth on Saturday, was uncharacteristically early for his media duties just as the storm of speculation looked in danger of overwhelming his position.

Yet he is a pragmatist and, for all that may have been brutally clear on the pitch during his two years in charge, it is an approach that has served him well during the chaos off it. It did so again on Tuesday afternoon as he emerged into a flurry of questions over his future.

READ MORE: Sean Dyche speaks about his future as Everton manager and Friedkin Group talks

READ MORE: Sean Dyche responds to Jamie Carragher criticism of 'awful' Everton tactics

Whatever your thoughts on the Blues boss, his was an unenviable position to be in. This was a press conference in which he had to accept he was on the back foot but in which his answers allowed him to influence the narrative around his role, if not regain control of it.

His willingness to embrace the doubts over his job carried into the question and answer section that continued with the print media after the cameras were switched off.

“Nothing makes me feel weird about that at all”, he said of reports Everton’s new owners were exploring a replacement: “If I owned [Everton], I would be saying to my chief executive: ‘What happens if?’ Across the globe, or certainly the key positions including players, we look at who is out of contract, who is in and out of form. It should be absolutely part of the process, if you’re not doing that as an owner, I would be thinking we need to be doing this. If it was my business.”

To an extent, this was the only way Dyche could go. He cannot point to results, performances or the Premier League table right now to do the talking for him. Everton are struggling, are doing so in areas they have been for a while, and it is tough to find evidence Dyche can do anything beyond set up a team that is solid but reliant, as Leon Osman reflected earlier this week, on one of Jordan Pickford, Jarrad Branthwaite and James Tarkowski to deliver a stellar performance.

Last season, when his back was against the wall and he ended a club record Premier League winless streak with a 1-0 win over Burnley, he could at least exclaim afterwards that he had designed an “ugly” win. How he and Everton’s new owners would love one of those right now.

Few will be privy to Dyche’s inner thoughts but a manager who has long professed to understand he will be judged on winning games has few places to go other than to accept he is under pressure when he has overseen just three victories in 19 Premier League matches.

That belief was not true last year when the chaos at the club helped shield him during that long winless spell. But the new owners have brought new pressure and accountability and there is no point in him hiding from that. And he was not, adding: “I think why is there a big drama about that [looking at alternatives] because that is what you should be doing. If you are in any business in the world of this size and this amount of money and turnover, that is an absolutely valid thing to be doing.”

Dyche’s performance and the merits of whether The Friedkin Group stick or twist with him make for a compelling debate right now, but one thing that is clear is that the Blues represent a challenge for any manager.

And beside Dyche’s willingness to speak openly on his future, the big takeaway from the pre-Peterborough United press conference was the reminder of just how fragile Everton’s squad is and how little he, and anyone else, has to work with.

That has been a key factor in recent years and will be once again over the coming months. The Blues' painful struggle in front of goal has drawn harsh analysis and sharp intakes of breath from pundits across the airwaves this week - including, in the likes of Gary Lineker and Osman, from former players who want the best for the club.

An injury crisis among his attackers is perhaps not ideal then, but then for all that Everton have created many of the club’s own problems in recent years, this has not been a lucky club.

Dyche had just 16 first-team players available on Tuesday morning. Of those unavailable was Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who is now having an ankle injury assessed, and Youssef Chermiti, who will be out for weeks with a thigh injury. There is better news for Armando Broja, who could be available on Thursday night after the injury that led to his withdrawal at the weekend turned out to be minor. Yet his troubling injury record is the reason a player of his potential was available to Everton in the summer and, while everyone hopes the opportunity represents his revival, it would be foolish to rely too heavily on him.

That leads to the irony that the only senior forward, in Beto, not carrying a complaint right now is the one whose sale could, should the right terms be offered, unlock the January transfer window for the Blues and help them bolster the squad. That is not just cruel misfortune for the club, it is a stark reminder of how, for all that a bright new future is on the horizon, Everton represent a challenge to whoever is in charge - whether or not that is Dyche.

The hope now has to be his lack of options turns out to be a blessing. If necessity is the mother of invention then Dyche being forced to try a different approach up top might not be a bad thing.