I think us having 5 CBs (with Holgate's return), one as captain, and one that currently would walk into any team, means Keane's not playing in a 2. No other reason, and he's streets ahead of our other two. Not a favourite, just a better player, by some distance. 230+ Premier league, and a dozen international senior appearances. He can't be dropped for good if he's actually being called upon.Shogun wrote: ↑Sun Dec 31, 2023 1:38 am By the same token you can say there must be something about Michael Keane that every manager we've had has brought him into the team and subsequently dropped him for good.
If he wanted to protect Gomes then he should have brought on Danjuma and moved Harrison behind DCL so that he could help out in the midfield where it was obvious our 2 couldn't cope. It's not like we haven't seen Harrison play there this season.
Also, it's not like Wolves aren't playing a packed December and don't have injuries and fatigue of their own. They were arguably without their best player at CM today in Lemina.
Dyche got it wrong. He got the starting line-up wrong which is no shame because even the very best have done that. It is really poor that he didn't change things when it was obvious what was happening and indeed going to happen. We were lucky to get in at HT 0-1 down but still in the game, it was the perfect time to make changes.
It doesn't make him a terrible manager and it doesn't mean he should be sacked, but there's no need to make excuses for him when it's clear as day what happened. And let's not make out Wolves are world beaters, we were ahead of them without the points deduction.
It's done and we move onto the next match, but I don't know why people are so sensitive to Dyche critcism/praise.
Yet he's one of two scapegoats by some (not necessarily you, nor is it your argument) for a game where there were obvious errors from other players that led to goals. He's made plenty of mistakes too, but correlation in this case isn't causation.
On Dyche, as we don't have any depth in central midfield with Gana and Doucouré out, an extra body in defence against a tough team away makes some sense, and it had already worked just a fortnight ago (incidentally with Keane pushing into the middle and securing the important second goal). It also matched Wolves formation, player for player, so arguably suited the game situation. With the ebbs and flows of games it also shouldn't have been assumed that we wouldn't turn it around, and there are obvious inherent problems with changing system and tactics (and personnel?) 10 mins into a game, especially if it doesn't work. It's not necessarily about stubbornness (as @AjaxAndy edit: and @Toddacelli explained above)
I think the reason Danjuma isn't chosen to play on the wing is because he isn't really a winger, and moreso not in the way we set up. I've no problem with Harrison in behind DCL having promoted it before we'd even signed him, much prefer it to him being out wide. And that leaves Dobbin. Nah, not yet. I don't see how a right side of Patterson and either of Danjuma or Dobbin doesn't make us considerably more prone to conceding.
I don't know if anyone is making excuses for Dyche, or being defensive, just that there needs to be a bit of context and balance around these claims that he got it all wrong; the simplistic, presumptive 'it's all on Dyche' type comments.
I'd be happy enough with the criticisms as long as the extension to this wasn't the assumed implication 'we would have won/drawn if we'd done this', and subsequent confirmation bias as proof of claim. The alternatives were far from silver bullets, and likely worse.
If there wasn't a smidge of an undercurrent of opposition to an untrendy manager, that many think is below us, (that after 17 games of their first full seasons, had secured only one fewer win than Ancelotti did with a considerably weaker squad in a much more precarious position) ...anyway, he wasn't my first choice either, but he's doing better than anyone will have expected overall, and has suprised most at just how well we've been transformed under him. We've got to understand that sometimes we'll just be outplayed no matter, and regularly will be hamstrung, unable to change the picture for the better.
