114 Days of Dyche
Forest will soon be appointing their 4th manager of the season - my thoughts on where it all went wrong for Dyche
Unfortunately Forest fans find themselves in a familiar position as the club search for their 4th man in the dugout. Ange lasted 39 days, Dyche at least made it into treble figures - but for me the the writing started being etched on the wall after just 62 days.
Those who were with me at Craven Cottage will attest how disappointed I was with Forest’s first half performance. Fulham were absolutely there for the taking, with a win Forest would’ve moved 8 points clear of relegation up into 15th and ahead of Fulham.
What I saw in that first half was so incredibly poor - just 6 shots despite plenty of possession. It was then capped off by a silly penalty given away by Douglas Luiz, and Forest going into the break down a goal. All they could then muster in the second half was 2 shots on target, both from outside the box - and no shots at all in the final half an hour of the game.
This was the beginning of a 4 match losing run, with the only bright performance being a spirited effort at home against Manchester City that arguably deserved more. Perhaps Forest were unlucky with a couple of decisions by the officials that day, but Dyche’s comments post match started to grate on me more and more after that game.
The Performances
My biggest issue with Forest under Dyche was the level of performances from week to week that could only resemble a rollercoaster. Not only that, but you could pretty much tell within the first 15 minutes or so what kind of game you were in for. Just a couple of days ago I spoke about the lack of changes Dyche would make in-game, you just knew nothing would change as the game went on.
This trait is arguably fine when things are working - but unfortunately we mostly saw the ‘plan’ not work the majority of the time. Every time it looked like Forest had a massive opportunity to really put a gap between themselves and the relegation zone, they always dropped an absolute stinker of a performance, that Dyche always failed to change. Forest under Dyche were consistently inconsistent.
So I thought back and tried to remember some of the worst performances I’ve seen from Forest since promotion. Hand on heart I put at least 5 games under Dyche in the ‘Top’ 10 worst performances. That’s a terrible record when you think he’s only had 25 games in the dug out.
In that previous article I looked at the time Forest spent behind in games. The draw last night actually swung things in Dyche’s favour - just. Under Dyche Forest were trailing in games for 32.29% of the time, only slightly better than the 31.20% before he was appointed. He only increased the time spent winning by 2% too. The underlying numbers & the eye test both told a very bad story.
Passing The Blame
I’m a big believer in focussing on what you can control - Forest (and their opponents) cannot control refereeing decisions, all you can do is try to play well enough to overcome them when they’re not going your way, or be in a position to benefit when they do.
Some of the soundbites that Dyche would come out with post match were just not what I wanted to hear from my club’s manager. Yes, managers are often asked their opinion on these sometimes controversial incidents, but how they answer them can really change how everybody views them.
To me at least, Dyche would often use questionable refereeing incidents to overshadow Forest’s own poor performances, and more importantly his own mistakes. He claimed Man City’s winning goal should’ve been disallowed (it shouldn’t), he claimed Fulham’s penalty was ‘soft’ (it was a clear penalty). I’m sure there’s others I’m missing too.
These were just two examples that to me reenforce the wrong mentality in to the squad, a mentality that makes players and teams easily frustrated when the slightest decision doesn’t go their way. Perhaps he was trying to instil that ‘us against them mentality’, but other parts of his management were never going to allow that to happen. Instead, you could even argue this came to an ugly head when Elliot Anderson gets a red card for saying something he shouldn’t have to a referee.
Dyche would also countenance these dreadful performances with more wild comments to the press. He would proudly state “if we win the next one then that’s 11 points from 7 games” - very conveniently ignoring that he’d lead Forest to an embarrassing night in Braga & a ridiculous performance at Wrexham during that time frame, whilst also not mentioning that Forest had lost the previous 4 league games too.
He even started to mention the crowd more often too especially toward the end, before trying to assert that he wasn’t questioning the crowd despite him bringing the crowd up in the first place. Combine that with his public comments on the fringe players, and it was clear that his tenure would be over the day after the season finished at the absolute latest.
Creating a ‘Team’
So much has been said about Forest’s recruitment from the summer, and at some point I’ll dig into it even more. It’s definitely fair to say that we should be disappointed with the majority of the players that have come in - the performances just haven’t been up to scratch and that hasn’t helped the team at all.
Forest recruited heavily in the summer with a view to changing the playing style of the club, moving away from the defence-first, transition-second style that was very successful until the last 8 games or so of last season. These players were brought in, in my mind at least, to play in a more controlled, possession heavy style. We saw the beginnings of this on the opening day.
Where the players have obviously struggled since is the multitude of different voices on the training ground. Nuno would have had his own ideas, Postecoglou then arrives, trying to implement a completely new style on the fly- and then in an early hail-mary Forest appointed Dyche.
This playing style for want of a better phrase “regressed” even further to something even less expansive than what we had last season. The new players just weren’t brought in for this football, and it shows.
We’ve heard a lot in the past around how Dyche only played the way he did, because that’s all he really had available to him. He has absolutely eroded any thoughts that he’d be able to implement a more expressive and attacking style.
And this is where I come back to the “creating a team”, and the “us against them” mentality I mentioned earlier. It is impossible for a manager to do those things when you
Do not use new players in their best positions (Bakwa sparingly at LW, McAtee CM, Ndoye CF), or play existing players who are not up to standard (Abbott) over new, vastly more experienced signings (Netz). The lack of minutes for Jair Cunha is also baffling.
Throw your depth players under the bus when they perform poorly in their incorrect positions (Wrexham & Braga).
Refuse to reward good performances by fringe players with cameos off the bench in games that are either done as a contest, or need chasing.
What must James McAtee be thinking after his impressive performance against Ferencvaros? He hasn’t made a Premier League appearance since Aston Villa on the 3rd of January. That’s 6 consecutive games (including 2 when he was definitely needed) where he hasn’t seen the field. You can’t bring these players along with you when you don’t reward them.
The lack of use of the fringe players will not have sat well with Marinakis who sanctioned such heavy spending - with the idea of not only improving Forest’s squad, but also improving the balance sheet in future seasons too. It would not have sat well with squad either, the majority of whom could never see a possible route into the first team no matter what they did on the training pitch, or on a match day.
The Positives
Yes, there were some! I think we were all very surprised when Forest bettered last season’s fantastic win at Anfield with a comfortable 3-0 win early in Dyche’s tenure. The team were absolutely buzzing that day and it was one of the best days Forest have had since promotion.
Personally, I will never forget Dyche’s first game against Porto. I’d always hoped and dreamed I’d get to see my team play and win in Europe, yet never really thought it would happen. Dyche didn’t get us there, and even though he likely had little impact in a tactical plan in that game, he was the man to lead Forest to their first European win in my footballing lifetime. To have Ian Woan & Steve Stone involved too made it all the sweeter.
There’s absolutely no doubt that Forest are in a significantly better position now than they were when Dyche was appointed. 7 games without a win, only 5 points on the board, and just 1 point from 2 Europa League games. Forest are now 3 points clear, and qualified easily for the play-off round (even though it arguably should’ve been a top 8 finish).
A lot of the noise around the club especially on social media has been pretty frustrating - everybody wants what is best for the club but it really seems Dyche has split the fanbase, even more so than after Nuno’s departure earlier in the season.
Hopefully this decision gives Forest and the fanbase a chance for another(!) reset ahead of a run of challenging but very important fixtures.
he writing started being etched on the wall after just 62 days.
Those who were with me at Craven Cottage will attest how disappointed I was with Forest’s first half performance. Fulham were absolutely there for the taking, with a win Forest would’ve moved 8 points clear of relegation up into 15th and ahead of Fulham.
What I saw in that first half was so incredibly poor - just 6 shots despite plenty of possession. It was then capped off by a silly penalty given away by Douglas Luiz, and Forest going into the break down a goal. All they could then muster in the second half was 2 shots on target, both from outside the box - and no shots at all in the final half an hour of the game.
This was the beginning of a 4 match losing run, with the only bright performance being a spirited effort at home against Manchester City that arguably deserved more. Perhaps Forest were unlucky with a couple of decisions by the officials that day, but Dyche’s comments post match started to grate on me more and more after that game.
The Performances
My biggest issue with Forest under Dyche was the level of performances from week to week that could only resemble a rollercoaster. Not only that, but you could pretty much tell within the first 15 minutes or so what kind of game you were in for. Just a couple of days ago I spoke about the lack of changes Dyche would make in-game, you just knew nothing would change as the game went on.
This trait is arguably fine when things are working - but unfortunately we mostly saw the ‘plan’ not work the majority of the time. Every time it looked like Forest had a massive opportunity to really put a gap between themselves and the relegation zone, they always dropped an absolute stinker of a performance, that Dyche always failed to change. Forest under Dyche were consistently inconsistent.
So I thought back and tried to remember some of the worst performances I’ve seen from Forest since promotion. Hand on heart I put at least 5 games under Dyche in the ‘Top’ 10 worst performances. That’s a terrible record when you think he’s only had 25 games in the dug out.
In that previous article I looked at the time Forest spent behind in games. The draw last night actually swung things in Dyche’s favour - just. Under Dyche Forest were trailing in games for 32.29% of the time, only slightly better than the 31.20% before he was appointed. He only increased the time spent winning by 2% too. The underlying numbers & the eye test both told a very bad story.
Passing The Blame
I’m a big believer in focussing on what you can control - Forest (and their opponents) cannot control refereeing decisions, all you can do is try to play well enough to overcome them when they’re not going your way, or be in a position to benefit when they do.
Some of the soundbites that Dyche would come out with post match were just not what I wanted to hear from my club’s manager. Yes, managers are often asked their opinion on these sometimes controversial incidents, but how they answer them can really change how everybody views them.
To me at least, Dyche would often use questionable refereeing incidents to overshadow Forest’s own poor performances, and more importantly his own mistakes. He claimed Man City’s winning goal should’ve been disallowed (it shouldn’t), he claimed Fulham’s penalty was ‘soft’ (it was a clear penalty). I’m sure there’s others I’m missing too.
These were just two examples that to me reenforce the wrong mentality in to the squad, a mentality that makes players and teams easily frustrated when the slightest decision doesn’t go their way. Perhaps he was trying to instil that ‘us against them mentality’, but other parts of his management were never going to allow that to happen. Instead, you could even argue this came to an ugly head when Elliot Anderson gets a red card for saying something he shouldn’t have to a referee.
Dyche would also countenance these dreadful performances with more wild comments to the press. He would proudly state “if we win the next one then that’s 11 points from 7 games” - very conveniently ignoring that he’d lead Forest to an embarrassing night in Braga & a ridiculous performance at Wrexham during that time frame, whilst also not mentioning that Forest had lost the previous 4 league games too.
He even started to mention the crowd more often too especially toward the end, before trying to assert that he wasn’t questioning the crowd despite him bringing the crowd up in the first place. Combine that with his public comments on the fringe players, and it was clear that his tenure would be over the day after the season finished at the absolute latest.
Creating a ‘Team’
So much has been said about Forest’s recruitment from the summer, and at some point I’ll dig into it even more. It’s definitely fair to say that we should be disappointed with the majority of the players that have come in - the performances just haven’t been up to scratch and that hasn’t helped the team at all.
Forest recruited heavily in the summer with a view to changing the playing style of the club, moving away from the defence-first, transition-second style that was very successful until the last 8 games or so of last season. These players were brought in, in my mind at least, to play in a more controlled, possession heavy style. We saw the beginnings of this on the opening day.
Where the players have obviously struggled since is the multitude of different voices on the training ground. Nuno would have had his own ideas, Postecoglou then arrives, trying to implement a completely new style on the fly- and then in an early hail-mary Forest appointed Dyche.
This playing style for want of a better phrase “regressed” even further to something even less expansive than what we had last season. The new players just weren’t brought in for this football, and it shows.
We’ve heard a lot in the past around how Dyche only played the way he did, because that’s all he really had available to him. He has absolutely eroded any thoughts that he’d be able to implement a more expressive and attacking style.
And this is where I come back to the “creating a team”, and the “us against them” mentality I mentioned earlier. It is impossible for a manager to do those things when you
Do not use new players in their best positions (Bakwa sparingly at LW, McAtee CM, Ndoye CF), or play existing players who are not up to standard (Abbott) over new, vastly more experienced signings (Netz). The lack of minutes for Jair Cunha is also baffling.
Throw your depth players under the bus when they perform poorly in their incorrect positions (Wrexham & Braga).
Refuse to reward good performances by fringe players with cameos off the bench in games that are either done as a contest, or need chasing.
What must James McAtee be thinking after his impressive performance against Ferencvaros? He hasn’t made a Premier League appearance since Aston Villa on the 3rd of January. That’s 6 consecutive games (including 2 when he was definitely needed) where he hasn’t seen the field. You can’t bring these players along with you when you don’t reward them.
The lack of use of the fringe players will not have sat well with Marinakis who sanctioned such heavy spending - with the idea of not only improving Forest’s squad, but also improving the balance sheet in future seasons too. It would not have sat well with squad either, the majority of whom could never see a possible route into the first team no matter what they did on the training pitch, or on a match day.
The Positives
Yes, there were some! I think we were all very surprised when Forest bettered last season’s fantastic win at Anfield with a comfortable 3-0 win early in Dyche’s tenure. The team were absolutely buzzing that day and it was one of the best days Forest have had since promotion.
Personally, I will never forget Dyche’s first game against Porto. I’d always hoped and dreamed I’d get to see my team play and win in Europe, yet never really thought it would happen. Dyche didn’t get us there, and even though he likely had little impact in a tactical plan in that game, he was the man to lead Forest to their first European win in my footballing lifetime. To have Ian Woan & Steve Stone involved too made it all the sweeter.
There’s absolutely no doubt that Forest are in a significantly better position now than they were when Dyche was appointed. 7 games without a win, only 5 points on the board, and just 1 point from 2 Europa League games. Forest are now 3 points clear, and qualified easily for the play-off round (even though it arguably should’ve been a top 8 finish).
A lot of the noise around the club especially on social media has been pretty frustrating - everybody wants what is best for the club but it really seems Dyche has split the fanbase, even more so than after Nuno’s departure earlier in the season.
Hopefully this decision gives Forest and the fanbase a chance for another(!) reset ahead of a run of challenging but very important fixtures.