Dyche

[Bluedylan1]

I think it's subjective whether you find something dreadful, so you can't really tell someone whether it's dreadful or not. It's an opinion.

[Shogun]

I think it's subjective whether you find something dreadful, so you can't really tell someone whether it's dreadful or not. It's an opinion.

We've also played quite differently throughout the season. Obviously we concede possession every match but when the high press in on and we're moving it forward with purpose then that's a lot more passable than matches like Palace at home when Tarkowski and Pickford are lashing 50 yard balls into the channels all match.

[AllyBlue14]

When we're out of form, yeah, there's nowhere really to hide with the quality of football. But by and large, I like that our play is characterised by being physical and tough to beat, at least it's an identity. What were we under Lampard? What was Benitez ball?

I think it all depends how you feel about him in general, really.

If you're not really a fan and would rather have someone else, the bad patches are awful and come because he's a one-dimensional dinosaur, with players therefore deciding to down tools. If you're more of a fan or prepared to cut him some slack, you see results in the context of points deductions and trying to grind out points on the board, knowing that you don't have the players to open up teams regularly. In reality, it's probably somewhere in between.

Personally, I think he's done a remarkable job given all the 'noise' and ridiculous circumstances. Any sort of debate over when we should get rid seems extremely unfair. Technically, we may have some decent players in our squad but many have been poor/poorly managed/psychologically weak for the best part of a decade. And numbers are decreasing year on year.

I think it's very easy to underestimate the magnitude of what Dyche has achieved over the last couple of seasons but to be safe with 3 games to go - having been deducted 8 points - is incredible.

[AjaxAndy]

Is the football that bad?

Why do people completely ignore the off the ball stuff and the way we defend.

Off the ball we are great and have been all season bar the odd game.

Defensively we are one of the best teams in the league.

Isn’t there joy to watch the team you support be so solid off the ball?

For me, this is the best football we’ve had since the best days of moyes and parts of silva in terms of how we are structurally.

I’ve seen too many Everton teams be so easy to score against. When we lead games we very rarely don’t win. That’s a huge improvement on what we’ve seen for most of the Moshiri era.

Never cared much for Carlo. Was very much get it to your best players and hope for the best.

I think before Doucoure got injured the footy was fairly entertaining, but once he was out we seemed to have no way of playing. It became pretty turgid as we weren't scoring and we were conceding enough to lose games. However no manager seems to have found a way to win without Doucoure and that's with better players, so it's fairly understandable that the wheels came off once he was out.

I think as long as we carry some form of attacking threat the defensive side really is an enormous positive, and it's great knowing everyone's going to put their bodies on the line to try stop a goal at all costs. It's probably the main reason we all loved players like Jagieka so much, because they would do whatever it took to keep the ball out.

I'd also back Dyche to make a replacement for Branthwaite work too because half the reason the lad has done so well this year is the system he's playing in... I don't think we'll miss him as much as people think, someone else (not Keane) will slot in and keep it solid back there.

I just think to satisfy some people he'd need a smattering of real talent and some creativity in there, and it won't happen because of the money we'll have available or rather not available... So fully expect the same conversations next year about playing style and wanting a more progressive manager.

[Goaljira]

Is the football that bad?

Why do people completely ignore the off the ball stuff and the way we defend.

Off the ball we are great and have been all season bar the odd game.

Defensively we are one of the best teams in the league.

Isn’t there joy to watch the team you support be so solid off the ball?

For me, this is the best football we’ve had since the best days of moyes and parts of silva in terms of how we are structurally.

I’ve seen too many Everton teams be so easy to score against. When we lead games we very rarely don’t win. That’s a huge improvement on what we’ve seen for most of the Moshiri era.

Never cared much for Carlo. Was very much get it to your best players and hope for the best.

It's only dreadful to watch when we bypass the midfield for the entire game. It's low percentage stuff, it completely knackers the midfield chasing the ball back and forth for 90 mins, and predominantly seems to just end up with us eventually going behind and losing.

[blueforyou]

Dyche gets the best, collectively, out of this set of players

[Toffee1]

[Robioto]

I'd want him to stay at least another year, he's perfect for steadying the ship and this ship isn't steady yet. The football is shite in the main, but results are what matters and a 44-50 point return in these circumstances is excellent.

I just hope the takeover goes through and we can get our house in order before we move to BMD.

[American Evertonian]

You say "just surviving", but our points total has us joint 12th, 19 points clear of relegation with 2 very winnable games coming up

Next Friday we may have won more points than the 10th placed team and be 22 clear of the drop.

I'm not sure we both share the same meaning for the word "just"

That’s a lot of words to ignore to then only focus on the word “just”

[American Evertonian]

Look at the season as a whole. Beat Luton (possible) and Sheffield Utd (probable) and we finish on 50 (FIFTY!) real points. Prior to that, we have gone 59, 39, 36, how is that not progress in the right direction? Also, as I've mentioned before, we cannot know how much better we would have played wihout the ponts reductions and the consequent fears and doubts this added.

He's not my choice, some of the football has been excruciating (caveat, mental drag of points deductions) but I can't honestly say he hasn't exceded expectations and done a pretty incredible job. I do not for one minute doubt there are better managers out there, nor that there are managers who could squeeze a bit more out of the players or have us play with a bit more style. The problem is very few of them are available, of those few would consider a basket case like us, of those we could afford even less. At which point we move into medium to high risk appointments.

Like it or not, we need Dyche to settle us for at least one, maybe two seasons to put us in a position where we are financially more robust and a more attractive propostion to alternative managers. Or, we need new owners with deep pockets prepared to support a new manager. Right now, there is little hope of that happening. Reality is a bitch.

I don’t disagree with any of your points above. I don’t like the idea of him being here past the next season or two and understand our options are limited. I don’t see how we really move forward with him. I prefer not to extend him given how little tactical flexibility he shows.

[Gash]

Think we'd be mad to get rid of him just now and if the new owners (whoever they are) were to get rid of him to try and bring in some "big" name then the alarm bells would be ringing straight away for me that as a club we've learned nothing over the last 7 or 8 years. So far as extending his contract, if we have another season of turmoil like this I wouldn't blame him if he walked away even if there was an offer. We've tried it all over the years, the big names, the next big names, the has beens, the fire fighters, why wouldn't we give a further chance to someone who's managed us through this

In a season that's been full of turmoil he's someone who managed to guide us to a potential gross 50 points and beaten Liverpool at Goodison for the first time in donkeys years, there's been some terrible dips as well and he deserves criticism for that but he turned that around too along with the players. He is what he is and the football will never be that pretty but some people don't like Dyche the person so don't like Dyche the manager either so won't ever accept him or give him much credit. I don't care about his voice, his political leanings, his smart arse replies to journos, (some of them deserve it) his man management style, I don't even mind the football if it gets us to 50+ points next season and we see some progress which won't be an easy task with the finances. And next season could well see more points coming off and will certainly see a restriction in spending, hardly the best set up to propose to a new manager.

A bit like when Moyes was here, maybe it'll turn out to be a good thing that we couldn't afford to fire him so gave him time rather than have the umpteenth reset in recent years, so far Ancelotti and him are the only two that had any semblance of stability and 'success' (you could argue Allardyce too but I'd rather forget he was ever here) even if success for us at the moment is avoiding last day relegation battles.

[AjaxAndy]

Might not be a popular opinion, but if he keeps us safe next season I'd be tempted to give him another 3 years. Moving to the new stadium isn't going to be some magic bullet where we can suddenly start spending crazy amounts, and we just need a prolonged period of stability.

I think we're 4-5 years away from being where we need to be as a club unless we get lucky and find some state that's willing to take us over.

As long as we're safe and slowly building Dyche can stay here for the foreseeable IMO, I'm only going to ask for something different if he fails whilst given the environment to succeed, and I don't believe we're anywhere near that point, nor will we be for some time.

[Shogun]

*Prays for relegation*

[Escla]

Think we'd be mad to get rid of him just now and if the new owners (whoever they are) were to get rid of him to try and bring in some "big" name then the alarm bells would be ringing straight away for me that as a club we've learned nothing over the last 7 or 8 years. So far as extending his contract, if we have another season of turmoil like this I wouldn't blame him if he walked away even if there was an offer. We've tried it all over the years, the big names, the next big names, the has beens, the fire fighters, why wouldn't we give a further chance to someone who's managed us through this

In a season that's been full of turmoil he's someone who managed to guide us to a potential gross 50 points and beaten Liverpool at Goodison for the first time in donkeys years, there's been some terrible dips as well and he deserves criticism for that but he turned that around too along with the players. He is what he is and the football will never be that pretty but some people don't like Dyche the person so don't like Dyche the manager either so won't ever accept him or give him much credit. I don't care about his voice, his political leanings, his smart arse replies to journos, (some of them deserve it) his man management style, I don't even mind the football if it gets us to 50+ points next season and we see some progress which won't be an easy task with the finances. And next season could well see more points coming off and will certainly see a restriction in spending, hardly the best set up to propose to a new manager.

A bit like when Moyes was here, maybe it'll turn out to be a good thing that we couldn't afford to fire him so gave him time rather than have the umpteenth reset in recent years, so far Ancelotti and him are the only two that had any semblance of stability and 'success' (you could argue Allardyce too but I'd rather forget he was ever here) even if success for us at the moment is avoiding last day relegation battles.

Post of the day !

[777Kidnappings]

*Prays for relegation*

Just the very brink then we can give it bainesy til the end of the season. The rest will be history. Everton Watford champions league finals will follow