When he came in he had everybody giving 100% every minute, with absolute commitment and a high press that caught everyone out. Getting limited players to give their all with high intensity play was working and we were grinding out points and should’ve been midtable without the deduction.
So what is it?
A) He’s changed his tactics and is a moron - seems unlikely
B)The players are exhausted after playing too hard early season which they’ve never done before and we have minor injuries and niggles stopping us being 100% effective - I had hoped that but most of the team was just off for three weeks so seems unlikely
C)The players aren’t doing what they’re told anymore - seems unlikely given the level of commitment that was being shown and having characters like Tarkowski, Coleman, Pickford and Young towing the company line and telling players what the demands are.
So here’s what I think it is on reflection:
Teams know how we play effectively now and we have no plan b.
We destroyed Bournemouth with our press earlier in the season because they constantly knocked the ball about at the back but yesterday they played far more direct because they learned their lesson.
Dyche did a good job getting a solid plan a in place which Lampard or Benitez never managed to work out but this is where he has to earn his money - we’ve been sussed out! The top clubs survive our press by having the firepower to outscore us if they do make mistakes (or we miss all our chances like against Man U) and the mid/lower table teams change their tactics and we have no clue
Watch us play well against Newcastle and Burnley because they never change their tactics but this can’t go on. We need a plan b or to Dyche needs to go.