Dyche tells City he’ll stay tough
SEAN DYCHE says all managers are entitled to approach games however they see fit – and that includes being tough in the tackle, even if Pep Guardiola and his players disagree.
Raheem Sterling claims some City players have been “butchered” in recent games, while manager Guardiola has complained that referees are not taking strong enough action when his players are being hacked down.
But Dyche says winning three points is the most important thing when your players step out on to the pitch, irrespective of how they get them.
“Does it matter how you win a football match? Not in my opinion,” said the Clarets boss ahead of City’s visit to Turf Moor this lunchtime. “There’s a lot been spoken over the years about this, that and the other. But the actual job of a manager and a team is to win and to find a way to win.
“Youth football is different, where it is to develop.
“But as a firstteam manager you operate in whatever way you need to. Manchester City don’t need to change much. For the rest of us, it’s what can we do to win.
“The great Liverpool sides had someone who could cut you in half – Graeme Souness, Steve McMahon. Then there was Roy Keane at United.
“Too many managers are going out of the game, losing their jobs trying to make players play a way they are not capable of.”
Dyche was a no-nonsense defender who feels tackling is much meeker now than in his day. “There’s less malice compared to when I was playing,” added Dyche. “There is way less physical contact.
“Tackling is still part of the game and it’s a very difficult skill – much more difficult than people make it out to be.”
Dyche’s midfielder Steven Defour will undergo knee surgery next week with his World Cup dreams hanging by a thread.
The Belgian is set to miss the rest of Burnley’s campaign after a cartilage issue showed up during a routine scan. It means the 29-year-old faces a race against time to be fit for the World Cup in Russia.
Belgium are in England’s group along with Tunisia and Panama.
“I initially said a few months, but it is likely to be the season,” admitted Dyche. “He had a sore knee but he was managing it wisely over the last few weeks. But he will have to get that dealt with.
“Very possibly and probably he will miss the World Cup, depending on how the surgery goes.
“That’s the information we have had from the surgeon so far. We’ll have to wait and see how he recovers.
“Steven will have surgery on Monday and it depends on how he recovers.” the players are getting butchered out there and it’s sad to see. Some of the challenges have been awful. It’s not what I expect to see in a top-flight football match – especially when teams are losing and just go out to kick players. I don’t think that’s right. “We need to cut down on that because we’ve got a World Cup at the end of the year and the majority of the players in the top flight, and certainly in our team, will be playing in it and it would be sad to see someone miss the tournament due to a silly tackle.
“These tackles can happen, but it can’t be that every game we’re getting two players coming in with injuries. We haven’t been protected enough in certain situations.”
Sterling says City must steel themselves for another physical test today at Burnley. He said: “Burnley wear their hearts on their sleeves, they’re energetic, they fight until the last whistle and we know it’s not going to be an easy one.”
What can we do to win? That’s the challenge