His only tactic is a long ball out to Harrison etc. - Did we really see this the majority of last season? I didn’t. In fact I’ve never seen us go so often to that sort of ball mainly because Keane (who was doing most of them) wasn’t playing much last season. The CBs were actually extremely high up the pitch switching it both ways to Mykolenko on the other flank - something we didn’t see at all last season. It’s also a tactical ploy I’ve seen Van Dijk do loads of time to Salah or Alexander Arnold. It’s not dinosaur football when he does it though is it? Most of our good moments came from that tactic on Saturday so I don’t know why it’s suddenly a glaring representation of dark age football. I’d rather see a successful long pass to a winger in space than a CB lash it down the middle to Calvert Lewin’s head.
People keep complaining about predictability of selection and playing the same way but when Iroegbunam was bought some of you were saying he’d never see the first team, wouldn’t be making an impact, Dyche doesn’t play young players. He then ends up starting our first game and even if Garner is fit, is clearly going to be around the first team/squad picture this season. ‘You just know exactly what you’re going to get’…well you do if you reset the goal posts enough times. He doesn’t play young players (except Branthwaite Onana Garner Iroegbunam Chermiti McNeil Patterson)
As for playing the same way I’ve never seen us play that way under Dyche before ever. Perhaps only that dreadful performance at Spurs. High lines, wide players hugging touch lines, midfielders dwelling on the ball in the middle of the park, trying to play out the back, Tarkowski doing turns as the last man. It was a shambolic performance but it’s just so so lazy to say ‘we all know what tactics he’s going to play’. He did the exact opposite of what most people predicted (tactically).
There was no low block, there was very little hoofs down the centre, there wasn’t any flick ons or second balls, there were no full backs unable to cross the half way line. The same old tired lines a just lazily thrown out every single game just aren’t true.
Bad tactics, bad selection, bad performance during the game, that was it. Extrapolating one game out to make out you always saw it coming is a bit ridiculous. Nobody a few weeks ago would have said Irogebunam would be starting, we’d be playing a high line, CBs would be finding wingers with raking cross field passes, and Mykolenko would be the furthest player forward during quite a few attacks.
No one.