Dyche, Dele and the real essence of ‘Dycheball’

Sean Dyche has expounded on the footballing philosophy that underpins his management style and revealed the role that Dele Alli has played in helping him convey it to Everton’s players.

Whereas the key takeaways from the MasterClass seminar he gave for The Coaches’ Voice on the key principles of the 4-4-2 formation from his days as manager at Burnley centred around his defensive ethos, a chat he had with Andy Gray for beIN Sport last weekend distills his ideas around possession and attacking football to three movements: Get, turn, play forward.

It’s an ethos that Dele told Dyche was the same one embodied by his former Tottenham boss, Mauricio Pochettino and it offers an insight into what “Dycheball” should look like with the right personnel and the right quality at the current Everton manager’s disposal.

Gray asked him what “playing football ‘the right way’ is,” at which Dyche laughed and said:

“It’s in an odd place, as you know, because when I was a youngster growing up, and playing… ‘Win first; learn to win’. That was a massive thing.

“I haven’t lost sight of that. I want teams who can win, first of all; I want teams who give everything; I want teams that give that feeling to a fan where they go, ‘No, I can connect with them, as a person’.

“But I also want quality; against, maybe, other people’s beliefs, I want quality. But I want quality in the attacking third. I, personally, don’t want my centre-halves rolling it around the 6-yard line. I don’t see value in that, as a fan even. I want middle- and front-third football.

“Recently, actually, I had a chat with Dele Alli. He’s a great fella who’s been through a lot, but I asked him, ‘Dele, what do you think?’

“He said: ‘I think you need to define with these players… when you talk about direct play, I think they think you mean kicking it forwards, but I know you don’t.

“Because he’d worked under Pochettino who was similar. Pochettino used to talk about direct, passing football — Get, turn, play forwards. Get, turn, play forwards. And Dele had got it.

“So, I actually told the players. I told them I was having a chat with Dele and I told them exactly the same story, because I wanted them to understand that Dele, now, is in a really good place and he’s watching what we’re do and he’s thinking about it.

“And he’s exactly right, Andy. We want direct play in the sense of play forward first. You know, the quicker you play forward… how quickly can you dominate the front third of the pitch, not dominate the back third of the pitch with the ball.

“So that’s all it is, Andy. It’s try and play progressive, dynamic, attacking football and if it needs to go long with one pass to score a goal… absolutely fine. If you’ve got the skillset to pass one 30 yards and someone runs onto it and scores, use it.

“If you haven’t, then we get, turn and we play forwards. And if we can’t do that, then we keep possession, looking to play forwards.”

While Dyche continues the process of moulding the squad he inherited from Frank Lampard and to which he and Kevin Thelwell added over the summer, Dele has been continuing the slow process of rehabilitation following hip surgery in the spring.

As Dyche explains in the Daily Mail, the work the one-time England sensation has done on his mental health and the time he has had to spend on the sidelines has allowed him, “the chance to focus on his football.

“He can’t get out on the grass with us yet but he is looking at it and he is absorbing what the input from myself and the staff has been.

“He is clear minded now. It was very difficult what he was going through, of course. We know that. But he is very willing to share, give an opinion.

“It’s a case of us having a coffee in the canteen. You’ll say: ‘Hey, Dele, how is it going? What are your thoughts?’ He’ll point out little things. ‘I thought that, I thought this.’ It’s just a natural combination where we like players to share a view.

“He seems to me to be very secure in himself. He’s more than happy to share what he is thinking. These are amazing things he’s experienced. People, sometimes, lose sight of that.”