Wembley09 wrote: ↑Sat Feb 24, 2024 9:57 pm
The personality also makes a footballer, not just the ability. Hence why he's at Burnley.
DCWat wrote: ↑Sun Feb 25, 2024 1:17 am
I was critical of Dyche and his reluctance to cast a wider net - perhaps now we are seeing just why he wasn’t prepared to shop abroad.
First in particular makes a very interesting point. We've possibly gone from technically limited players with good mentality to technically gifted players with poor mentality. It's arguable as to which is more important, mentality or technique- natural sporting ability exists but past a certain level it's all about mind & mentality as the difference maker. Cristiano Ronaldo had excellent technical ability from day 1 but also had one of the hardest working mentalities there is (no, he hasn't pressed much for about 7 years now, and only a few teams can afford that luxury, but you only need to read about his training or lifestyle to see he is a very dedicated hard worker, it's not laziness that means he doesn't press, it's preserving his body and maximising his main duties).
We can't afford a Ronaldo in our team, and Amdouni is some way below Ronaldo.
It's arguable which is more coachable too. We saw Barnes' technical ability improve under Kompany, for example, and Brownhill, Roberts and Gudmundsson learned new complex roles for last year's system. But then look at Dyche's work with troubled players. Barton was a saint with us, the only time in his career. Trippier arrived as a bit of a troublemaker, look at him afterwards. Treacy credits Dyche to extending his career saying he was unmanageable at the time. Barnes is another example- he joined us having previously assaulted a referee. We're in a weird position that Dyche's team probably needed a Kompany to loosen their play and grow their technical game, but Kompany's team needs a Dyche to toss the bad eggs and get people to reapply themselves/grow mentally. They'd probably make a hell of a managerial duo.
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