I'm pretty grateful to Dyche for what he has done at the club. Kept us up twice in a row under points deductions. Finishing 15th last year (nominal 11th without the penalty, was it, level on points with Brighton?) was a real achievement and I thought he found a good balance between defence and attack. We weren't (as many would have you believe) so bad on the eye at times. It was effective, direct football, and I wasn't against that, especially with the personnel that we had.
However we strengthened the squad over the summer with different profile of players and he had to demonstrate progression this year, both in terms of league position and style of play. I actually thought, with the way we were playing early in the season (bit higher up the pitch) that we were on to something. Although we lost both, I thought the Bournemouth and Villa games showed promise for the year ahead. In fact, the reason we lost those games I would argue was down to I) ineffective in game tactical management; and II) poor team selection in defence. However those games seem to have been a turning point for Dyche - who since then has given up on trying to score under the misapprehension that it was an imbalance between trying to attack and trying to defend which led to our losses. When in actual fact it was him and his decision-making pre and in game.
The moments which did it for me this season:
I) starting Keane over O'Brien during the Branthwaite injury. Exactly the same mistake from the beginning of last year - starting us off with a 3 or 4 loss handicap. And a real indication that Dyche has his favourites. Apparently Keane had ' a good pre-season'... playing in all of our losses? Only games we looked good pre-season were when O'Brien played? Baffling
II) ostracising Patterson. Yes he leaves us more open at the back when he plays, yes he can lose his positioning sometimes... but my god we look so much more of a threat with him in the team. Good coaches and tacticians would a) structure us off the ball to account for the space he leaves and offer him support or cover; and b) coach him to be better.
III) mis-use of Doucoure. Play him against teams who we want to press high - guy has got a great engine and is a total menace off the ball in the final third. Don't play him against teams where we need to defend and counter attack, where we need good quality on the ball to use it well when we have it. Dyche seemed to use him the wrong way round?
IV) Harrison. This guy has all the tools, left foot right foot, great engine, great first touch. But bricks it when he needs to make good decisions or actions to score or create goals. Missed a trio of sitters off the bench at Wolves and then proceeded to start the next 5 games on the bounce. I mean, come on. Should be a wing back, not a winger. Lindstrom has looked brittle as an alternative - but again that is because the guy is receiving the ball with his back to goal in his own half most of the time. Get him one v one and facing up his defender and he's got a great shimmy and whip into the box. I'm not convinced we couldn't have used him better in a better system.
V) Where are the young players? Armstrong too little too late.
Ultimately Dyche has paid the price for his tactical conservatism and inability to be fluid/adaptable from a systems and team selection perspective. These traits kept us up last few seasons - but now we are building a squad that has a slightly different set of qualities - these are the traits that would have taken us down.
Glad to see him go, but also grateful for his work
