Only moaners don’t care for Dyche’s style
GREAT survivor Sean Dyche could give Bear Grylls a run for his money on endurance in dangerous terrain.
As a spoof letter to Viz comic pointed out, considering TV star Grylls is supposed to be prepared for any eventuality on his regular forays into inhospitable areas, you would think he might occasionally pack a few sandwiches.
Burnley manager Dyche, on the other hand, always seems ready for a battle, whatever is thrown at him: Europe, survival, promotion, relegation.
It is not pretty but 10 points from four games since their Boxing Day thrashing by Everton has put Burnley on the upward path again.
And Dyche, who cut his teeth at Watford when Vicarage Road was a three-sided dump, is now the country’s fourthlongest serving boss.
“Survival – that’s probably the best way to describe being a manager,” he said. “You can deliver, and yet there are always question marks.
“When we first got promoted at Burnley, which came out of the blue, a fan came up to me at our Player of the Year dinner and said, ‘You know, it’s been an amazing season’.
“I thought, ‘Here we go’ – and then he questioned what we did at corners. Whatever you do, it is never enough.”
Dyche agreed this has been his toughest season, but Burnley are recovering well from their starry-eyed taste of European football last summer.
They were robbed of a last-gasp winner at Watford by a marginal offside decision against Chris Wood in injury time, although nobody seemed to notice the foul on Hornets defender Jose Holebas in the build-up.
The Kiwi striker said: “We have got back to where we were last season.”
Watford’s tributes to former boss Graham Taylor, marking the second anniversary of his death, club legend Duncan Welbourne, who died last week, and fallen Army captain Tom Sawyer, killed on duty in Afghanistan 10 years ago, were classy.
Criticism of Dyche’s industrial football cut little ice with Hornets defender Adrian Mariappa, the player of the year during the manager’s 2011-12 season in charge at Watford.
Mariappa said: “People moan about Burnley’s style of play because they don’t like playing against them.
“They have had great success, they were in Europe this year, so what they are doing is working.”
Javi Gracia today becomes Watford’s first coach since Gianfranco Zola in 2013 to reach his first anniversary in the job.
WATFORD (4-2-2-2): Foster 7; Femenia 6 (Britos 77), Kabasele 5, Mariappa 6, Holebas 6; Cleverley 5, Capoue 8; Sema 5 (Success 56, 6), Pereyra 5; Deeney 6, Deulofeu 4. Booked: Deulofeu. NEXT UP: Newcastle (a), FAC Sat. BURNLEY (4-4-2): Heaton 8; Bardsley 7, Tarkowski 7, Mee 6, Taylor 7; Hendrick 6, Cork 7, Westwood 6, McNeil 6; Wood 5, Barnes 5. Booked: Mee, Bardsley. NEXT UP: Man City (a), FAC Sat. Referee: M Oliver (Ashington).