5. His Football Philosophy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d34GxUde4Gg Dyche recognised immediately what the Burnley problem was when he arrived; before his appointment he watched Burnley concede four goals away at Cardiff. It was all a bit gung ho under Eddie Howe - if you score 4 well score 3, that kind of thing. His new, immediate philosophy had the simple mantra of stopping the goals as the basis. It took him a few months to sort things out and get his own players in. Burnley might easily have slipped into the bottom three in his arrival season. He inherited good players but also some dross, but once he signed Heaton, Jones, Kightly and Arfield he had his own team. Once the defence was sorted then the style emerged, the intense pressing game, dont let the opposition settle, harry them into going right back into their own half. What you do when you dont have the ball is as important as what you do when you do have it. Then when opponents lose possession the response is a style that is practised on the training ground, moving swiftly through the units to get to the opposition penalty box. Passing in the opposition half is one-touch, incisive, penetrative and at pace. The players might not move at pace, but the ball does. The beautiful example against Wigan was a classic, textbook goal that was the reward for training routines and drills. From goalkeeper to goal in 15 seconds and 5 players, from one end to the other so quickly you had to watch the replay to appreciate it. It was a manager and players dream, the culmination of practice and belief. It was Ashley Barnes who scored but it was a team goal. And the team is the basis of the philosophy. It is the group that is powerful so the individual is harnessed to it and must fit in.