DYCHE’S STRANGE BREW MAKES CLARETS THE CREAM AT HOME
FIRST impressions suggested an afternoon of stereotypes in Lancashire. Rain turning to snow, biting cold. Burnley fielded an XI of eight Englishmen, two Irishmen and a Scot. Once the football started, this was a day to challenge some established myths. Sean Dyche’s team held Chelsea with some degree of comfort and actually created the better chances. This is not a side who rely only on the direct and uncompromising style that opposition managers always seem to talk about. Dyche is pragmatic enough to admit that he would take Burnley back to the Championship if he tried to play the same way as Chelsea. ‘I want to play a brand of football that wins,’ he said. ‘I have to design the team so we can win games by playing a different way when we need to. ‘We have to find another way to win. We have to be awkward and different and strange.’ There was nothing strange about his side here. Competitive and resolute defensively, they broke with purpose. Playing their football when they could, they scored a lovely goal and with a little more poise in front of goal might have had more. Asked afterwards if he was disappointed not to have won, Dyche laughed. He knew that was stretching things a little. Nevertheless, there is more to Burnley than fire and brimstone, even if Antonio Conte was happy to fall back on a familiar refrain. ‘Burnley play the long balls and fight and fight. You can find difficulty here because the pitch is small and this is better for a team that tries to defend and plays the long balls,’ the Chelsea boss said. ‘They have less pitch to cover and then there is a good atmosphere with the supporters. I think it is good, right to have this type of atmosphere in Burnley. For all these reasons, they have these points in the table.’ Conte was not being disrespectful to Burnley and it will not be a surprise if the Clarets finish in the top half of the Premier League. That will be down to their extraordinary ability at home, where 29 of their 30 points have been won. Dyche would be forgiven if he bristled at talk of Neanderthal football but on this occasion he didn’t. He knows there is more to what he and his players do than is apparent. He is quite happy for it to remain that way. ‘We are a team that people said had no chance but we have done incredibly well. ‘He (Conte) won’t know all the work we do on the training field and the depths of analysis that we go to. Why would he know that? So we don’t see it as disrespectful. I wouldn’t expect him to know this.’ In an interview over the weekend, midfielder George Boyd spoke of some of Dyche’s managerial techniques. One includes players being made to do forfeits on a Friday if they have stepped out of line during the week. One involves lying in the River Calder for a minute. It’s quirky but it seems to work. Burnley looked as though they were in line for a chasing when Chelsea scored so early but their response spoke volumes. The home team were excellent all over the pitch against a side who matched them for intensity and physicality without ever finding their irresistible fluency. Dyche paid Norwich £13million for Brady last month and his free-kick equaliser served as some small payback. Joey Barton, back from his unhappy spell at Rangers, was also influential and his assimilation into this squad is indicative of his manager’s ability. Conte said at the end of last week that he hadn’t heard of Barton. He will know all about him — and Burnley — now.