2023/24 Sean Dyche

Saint Domingo said:
There’s an absolute world of difference in losing games we saw under Koeman, Silva, Benitez, Lampard when they were circling the drain against the games we lost this season (minus the Villa away game). Anyone who knows anything about football can see that surely.

Those games under previous managers saw teams with players walking around, lashing out due to bad discipline, shambolic defences with players waltzing through without tackles being made, Everton players shirking challenges, playing as individuals, fronting up to fans, ignoring managers, and basically completely giving up as soon as we conceded a goal.

Even in the games we’ve lost this season (Villa aside perhaps), we’ve still been scrapping for every ball. Of course not everything has gone our way and we’ve been outclassed at times (Arsenal) and had some poor finishing at times, but there’s been no shortage of work rate, the players are running for the manager, the fans have stayed behind the team, tackles are going in and we’ve stayed together as a club for the most part (apart from a minority splinter cell on here who will never have Dyche)

It’s night and day from previous death spirals under former managers and it’s now stating to show in results.
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Exactly, we got pegged back twice on Saturday, didn’t play great but we hung in there and got the win. Same against West Ham. We seem to have a bit more character/team spirit/belief than we have in recent seasons. We have to cut our cloth according to the players we have.
 
Kevsleftpeg said:
Exactly, we got pegged back twice on Saturday, didn’t play great but we hung in there and got the win. Same against West Ham. We seem to have a bit more character/team spirit/belief than we have in recent seasons. We have to cut our cloth according to the players we have.
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The players are better than most give credit for though, Pickford is Englands no1, Branthwaite and Onana are both very highly rated younger players linked with CL level clubs, DCL (when fit) is a top PL level striker on his day. There are numerous others like McNeil, Harrison, Garner, Tarkowski who have shown they are good PL standard players. I have no issue with being direct, our neighbours play very direct and it doesn't do them any harm. Id just prefer a few less long balls (we average 73 in games this season) we can be direct by moving quickly on the ground it just takes a bit of work on the training ground. The main thing though at the moment (for me) is that players have actual roles now, that's something which has been lacking under numerous managers and it makes a huge difference imo.
 

Simon Buttle said:
The players are better than most give credit for though, Pickford is Englands no1, Branthwaite and Onana are both very highly rated younger players linked with CL level clubs, DCL (when fit) is a top PL level striker on his day. There are numerous others like McNeil, Harrison, Garner, Tarkowski who have shown they are good PL standard players. I have no issue with being direct, our neighbours play very direct and it doesn't do them any harm. Id just prefer a few less long balls (we average 73 in games this season) we can be direct by moving quickly on the ground it just takes a bit of work on the training ground. The main thing though at the moment (for me) is that players have actual roles now, that's something which has been lacking under numerous managers and it makes a huge difference imo.
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I believe that as long as the ball is in the air, our probability of not losing the game increases. So I definitely think the ball is on the ground way too much. We have to learn to kick the ball higher, because then it will take longer to come back down to the ground. If both the frequency and height can be increased, this will be to our advantage. This is only logical.
 
Egil Olsen said:
I believe that as long as the ball is in the air, our probability of not losing the game increases. So I definitely think the ball is on the ground way too much. We have to learn to kick the ball higher, because then it will take longer to come back down to the ground. If both the frequency and height can be increased, this will be to our advantage. This is only logical.
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I’ve nothing against a long ball forward if there’s a purpose behind it. But punting the ball up in hope more than expectation to DCL who is surrounded by opposition defenders, or playing it down a channel when Usain Bolt would struggle to get near it, In my book is giving the ball away / possession cheaply. We have better players than that. And at some point it will cost us if we continue to do it. We can be a bit cleverer when it comes to game management.
 
Egil Olsen said:
I believe that as long as the ball is in the air, our probability of not losing the game increases. So I definitely think the ball is on the ground way too much. We have to learn to kick the ball higher, because then it will take longer to come back down to the ground. If both the frequency and height can be increased, this will be to our advantage. This is only logical.
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It's not called airball it's called football, if we could develop the ability to mix it up it would be far more advantageous in the long run imo.
 

Simon Buttle said:
The players are better than most give credit for though, Pickford is Englands no1, Branthwaite and Onana are both very highly rated younger players linked with CL level clubs, DCL (when fit) is a top PL level striker on his day. There are numerous others like McNeil, Harrison, Garner, Tarkowski who have shown they are good PL standard players. I have no issue with being direct, our neighbours play very direct and it doesn't do them any harm. Id just prefer a few less long balls (we average 73 in games this season) we can be direct by moving quickly on the ground it just takes a bit of work on the training ground. The main thing though at the moment (for me) is that players have actual roles now, that's something which has been lacking under numerous managers and it makes a huge difference imo.
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I agree with all of this!

I've been saying for a long time our players are not as bad as most make out!
 
Calvin said:
I’ve nothing against a long ball forward if there’s a purpose behind it. But punting the ball up in hope more than expectation to DCL who is surrounded by opposition defenders, or playing it down a channel when Usain Bolt would struggle to get near it, In my book is giving the ball away / possession cheaply. We have better players than that. And at some point it will cost us if we continue to do it. We can be a bit cleverer when it comes to game management.
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Again (I feel like i start every post in this Dyche thread with this same opening sentence, and find myself sticking up for Dyche more and more through this decent run)

I'm not Dyche's biggest fan and i don't think i ever will be...….but its very rarely just aimless hoofs to nowhere!
A lot of that is down to Dom's ability to win headers and Doucoure being busy around him! But i very much doubt the instruction by Dyche is ever just to hoof it anywere
 
Saint Domingo said:
You’d think we were the only team in the league who don’t play like Man City the way some people go on on here. Wasn’t long ago this forum was insisting we should have been copying Brentford and Thomas Frank is a good manager. He is a good manager, but he’s even more direct than Dyche is! Balls into channels, set pieces, long balls into to the box for two big strikers to challenge for. Do Brentford fans care? No, not whilst they continue improving, does anyone else care? No. Yet as soon as the manager is English and managed a championship team that played 442 once upon a time then all of a sudden direct football is terrible.

All I see in Dyche is a pragmatist. If he had better players he’d play better football. The football this season is better than what we were producing last season because the players are better, and the football he’s played at Everton has been better than a lot of what he produced at Burnley.

I’ve also seen Mourinho Benitez Klopp and Conte all win big trophies by literally hoofing a ball down a field and then chasing after it trying to force a turnover. Ancelotti has won CLs when his team haven’t had the most possession and had to play on the counter.

More than one way to skin a cat, thankfully Dyche is smart enough to know this which is why he’s still Everton manager and some of his predecessors aren’t.
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It appears you have to have a foreign name to be any good now and yet I don't think Ferguson is one.
 
Simon Buttle said:
It's not called airball it's called football, if we could develop the ability to mix it up it would be far more advantageous in the long run imo.
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Today's centre-backs are better with the ball than defending. The development has also gone so far that they have become smaller than they were 20 years ago. They are also far more vain than Richard Gough and Dave Watson were. They would be crushed in a duel against the "Big Dunc".

So why not reintroduce the long ball tactic? This would be innovative in a context that is mostly only concerned with ball possession. The opponents would not know how to defend themselves against this tactic.
 

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