Sean Dyche says one Burnley tactic was a 'dirty word' – now it's fashionable | OneFootball

Sean Dyche has claimed one Burnley tactic was a "dirty word" regarding set-pieces but Arsenal and Mikel Arteta have made it fashionable...

Mikel Arteta and Arsenal have been praised for their set-pieces but former Burnley manager Sean Dyche has bemoaned the criticism the Clarets received when he was in charge.

Sean Dyche spoke via The Overlap Fan Debate on YouTube, providing an excellent Burnley retrospective on the current situation in English football, with set-pieces becoming a more prominent part of the tactical gameplan for numerous teams.

Dyche believes that, when his Burnley teams succeeded from dead balls, the narrative was his side were all about their work ethic and scoring from set-pieces, whilst also being solid at defending their own box from those situations.

Sean Dyche's set-piece verdict amid Arsenal and Mikel Arteta praise from Jamie Carragher

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The former Burnley figure spoke to Jamie Carragher and said: "Well, it was a dirty word when I was doing it at Burnley. I'm not just saying it to try and protect myself, I mean it. When I was doing it at Burnley, it was like, 'oh, all they do is work hard and rely on set-pieces'.

"Now, it's on trend and that's just the way football is. Tony Pulis got hammered for years and now it's on trend. But it's like long throws and all that."

Carragher added: "I was saying on commentary last year, it felt like it was the set-piece league. There were long throws and corners coming in. And if you remember, so the best team in the league at doing it, Arsenal, the best team in Europe, Paris Saint-Germain.

"I'm thinking, I remember Graham Taylor as an England manager like 30 years ago, [he was] absolutely lambasted for set-pieces but also kicking the ball out from the kickoff. It was a bit like, 'what is this?' But when Paris Saint-Germain did it, it's like, well, 'what can you say?'

"But my point is, I think set-pieces and long throws, and you're saying Tony Pulis got criticised for it, yourselves at Burnley. It was always seen as something like the teams fighting for their lives. It was to give them an extra advantage or like that was their way of getting the ball in the box basically.

"But when the top teams do it, it's a bit like everyone looks at each other and goes, 'Well, well, no, no one can say nothing about them. So, no one can say nothing about me if Arsenal are doing it. You can't have a go at me for this kickoff if he's doing it'."

Sean Dyche has every reason to be frustrated after his spell with Burnley

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Dyche's point is that set-pieces were once treated as a slightly unfashionable or simplistic way of winning football matches. Managers such as Tony Pulis and Dyche himself built teams that were exceptionally effective from dead-ball situations, yet their methods were often dismissed as old-fashioned, with coaches sometimes labelled "dinosaurs" for relying on them.

His sides may have been identified by their physicality, off-ball structure, and set-piece dominance, but that was not necessarily a bad thing, which he was often criticised as a coach for. The irony is that elite football has now embraced many of the same principles.

Arsenal's extensive work on corners has helped turn set-pieces into a sophisticated part of modern tactics, complete with specialist coaches and detailed analysis. The methods themselves have not necessarily changed as much as the perception of them.

What was once derided as basic football is now increasingly presented as innovation when employed by the game's biggest clubs. That is why Dyche has every reason to be frustrated by the growing rhetoric around set-pieces in English football since he left Burnley.

Sean Dyche's Burnley achievements are not simply down to set-pieces

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It is also worth reflecting on just how much Dyche achieved at Burnley before reducing his methods to set-pieces and hard work. Keeping the Clarets in the Premier League year after year following his promotion from the Championship with them was one thing, but he also guided them into Europe and secured a seventh-placed finish in 2017/18.

That required far more than simply being difficult to beat or dangerous from corners. Burnley had a clear tactical identity, were extremely well coached defensively, and became adept at exploiting space in transition by using their wide players effectively.

Dyche also developed players, the club recruited intelligently for his style, and the 55-year-old created an environment where his squad consistently performed above expectations. Whatever criticisms could be levelled at his style of football, portraying his success as nothing more than long throws, corners, and running would massively undersell the sophistication of what he built at Turf Moor.