It’s the sort of lazy opinion you’d expect from people who don’t watch football that closely, or those who copy and paste their beliefs of the beautiful game from blinkered social media pundits.
“Sean Dyche is a dinosaur”, “Everton are a long ball team”, “they just defend all the time and get lucky” are but three of the hot takes you can expect to read and hear about the Toffees, which all miss the truth by some margin.
The reality is that Dyche is one of the most versatile managers in the Premier League, with Plans A, B, and C to call upon depending upon the circumstances of the individual game.
How many other head coaches in the EPL can claim that?
Above Water
In seasons gone by, if Everton had been deducted ten points then they would have been relegated – that’s a simple fact, given that the sanction would have seen them slip into the bottom three in both 2022/23 and 2021/22.
That alone illuminates the work that Dyche is doing, with the deduction still not enough to keep them in the dropzone so far in 2023/24. Indeed, their Premier League relegation betting odds of 9.4 show how comfortable they are compared to the travails of Sheffield United (1.13), Luton Town (1.38) and Burnley (1.52).
“The most pleasing thing for me is we’re finding different ways to win.” ????
Sean Dyche’s #EVECHE verdict: pic.twitter.com/swcFAH6dwl
— Everton (@Everton) December 10, 2023
This should be caveated by the fact that those three promoted sides are all rather wretched – examples of the growing gulf between the Premier League and the Championship. But that’s of no concern to Everton, who continue to win games despite possessing a squad put together on a shoestring budget; Burnley spent more than £90 million in the summer transfer window, while Dyche had just £30 million to play with.
And what’s more, he’s keeping Everton up on his own terms…
From Back to Front
It’s true that the basis of Dyche’s success comes from the defensive discipline he drills into his players – his 4-4-1-1 shape is very difficult to break down either laterally or with vertical line-breaking passes.
From October 29 to December 10, the Toffees only lost one of the seven Premier League games they played – with four clean sheets along the way.
But any suggestion that Dyche is simply defending his way to success can be quickly kicked to the curb by a) the statistics, and b) the good old-fashioned eye test, which confirms that his side counter-attacks with alarming pace and ruthless efficiency.
Three wins on the spin against Nottingham Forest, Newcastle, and Chelsea were induced in this way – Dyche was happy to let the opposition dominate possession, but when they won the ball back his Everton players moved the ball forward with incredible speed; their xG numbers against the Magpies (3.36) and the Blues (1.22 from nine shots) is confirmation that you don’t need to retain the ball in order to be a devastating attacking unit. With 20 goals in 16 outings, Everton have scored more times than sixth-placed Manchester United this term.
Defeat at Goodison Park. #EVENEW // #NUFC pic.twitter.com/ewnUPLXQc0
— Newcastle United FC (@NUFC) December 7, 2023
That 4-4-1-1 defensive shape becomes 4-2-3-1 in attack, with Dyche one of the few head coaches to still use the full width of the pitch in its traditional sense: he deploys at least one winger on the same as their natural foot, with the simple aim of hurting the opposition with crosses into the box.
Everton lead the way when it comes to crosses per 90 minutes, which is anathema to the modern trend of working the ball into the penalty area with inverted wingers, advanced full backs, and channel-running midfielders.
But, as is the case in many regards for the Toffees, it works for them; so all hail Dyche, the head coach who’s happy to be different and find unique ways to win football matches.
