I actually think he’s a load better than the team position is maybe showing. Are any of those teams in and around us winning 5-1 at Brighton? Coming back against Spurs being a man down (and we absolutely put the pedal down in that period even before Moura got a red). We could have been 4 up in the first half against Arsenal who were top of the league at the time.
They’re not normal things for a team low on confidence near the bottom of the league. They don’t just happen because we ‘had a go’ or ‘Spurs were crap’ or ‘Brighton were tired’. They happen because of Dyche’s tactical set up and game plan. We’ve had two of our best away performances in ages in the last two games with some of the worst players we’ve had in the PL.
He’s now averaging over a point per game with THIS group of players (would probably be far higher if he’d ditched Keane earlier). Over a full season that’s 40 points and that’s without having a capable striking option for most of the season.
Now imagine we give him a full preseason, get someone to keep Keane out the team, get him some decent attacking players to compliment and replace Calvert Lewin when he’s out. Do you think he has us anywhere near relegation trouble? No.
He’s revitalised McNeill, he’s got Doucoure in his best position, he’s got Calvert Lewin fully fit playing probably the most compete game I’ve seen since his spell under Ancelotti, Garner is playing well, Pickford is playing well, Tarkowski is playing well, he’s reintegrating Patterson. Players are improving under him. Set piece defence seems to have improved, we’re looking more dangerous on offensive set pieces too.
He’s also not scared to make big decisions (regardless of whether they work out). He moved Iwobi out wide, dropped Coady, benched Gray, dropped Onana our marquee signing, now he’s dropped Keane.
I just think we need to back him in the summer to get rid of who he wants out and get in extra firepower because I think he could actually do a very good job for us and we could see similar wins to what we saw at Brighton a bit more regularly.