For all those saying it’s not pretty, world class players make pretty football, not tactics and formations. No coaching in the world can get Doucoure or Gueye to play the passing movements that Silva De Bruyne Aguero could do.
For the majority of teams outside the top 6 if you try and play like a top 6 team without that level of players you’ll just get cut to pieces as Lampard found out and as Rodgers is now seeing.
Even Liverpool struggled when the onus was on them to make the play in midfield, they’re far more effective in transition on the counter tearing teams a new one. Do prime Mane Salah Firmino do it better than McNeill Maupay Iwobi do, of course. Liverpool looked pretty crap when Klopp had Benteke Sturridge Lallana Ings trying it.
We honestly need to put aside this hipster nonsense about football style. We’re just too poor a team at the moment to be worried about it. Every time we make a step forward though in improving defence, improving transitions, improving set pieces, there’s fans who just want to paint these things as primitive football rather than the bed rock of successful teams which they are.
City and Liverpool score loads of set pieces yet you don’t ever hear them mentioned whereas when we do it there’s fans quick to point out how many of our goals are set pieces because Dyche manages us. It’s an absolute load of nonsense.
If we were just aimlessly lobbing long balls forward for Simms to flick on then the detractors might have a point but look at the chances we’ve created under Dyche. Calvert Lewin and Docuoure had three chances between them in the first half against Arsenal all from pull backs and crosses after getting behind their defence. The Davies header v Liverpool, Coleman and Doucoure chances v Leeds, the McNeill goal yesterday. They’re all open play goal chances from passing combinations without a long ball in sight.
It’s just a complete myth pedalled by the media about Dyche football that stupid hipster Everton fans are all too happy to lap up.
We played some absolutely turgid stuff under Martinez Koeman Silva Frank and Carlo, we played some decent stuff under Allardyce and Dyche. The opposite is true as well, there was some decent footy under all those other managers as well and Allardyce did serve up a lot of rubbish.
It doesn’t make any difference whatsoever, none of those styles improved Everton at all in the short or long term. We need an effective manager who can grow consistency, recruit well, improve players and get us moving up the table. All this style discussion is absolute nonsense.