Sean Dyche has, perhaps unfairly, gained a reputation inside the English football sphere as the anti-Guardiola. His Burnley side consistently upset the odds to stay in the Premier League without spending as much as some teams that failed in the same mission. He did this through a style of play that wasn’t always as easy on the eye as that which Manchester City employed to win multiple league titles. Defensively rugged and never likely to persuade casinoszonder.com users to back them for a big total goals bet, Burnley under Dyche overachieved. They did so at the expense of affection from neutral fans, who considered the Dyche way to be an unwelcome blast from the past.

Now will come the ultimate test of Sean Dyche as a manager. If his ace card is to get a team of players to become more than the sum of their parts, then he’s got a chance to prove himself in the most meaningful way. Having been appointed as manager at Everton, he needs to succeed where a long and growing list of gaffers have failed. And if he can get a tune out of the greatest underachievers in the Premier League, he’ll more than earn his reputation as a managerial miracle worker. The question is whether he’s the right man for this job.

Do players and boss understand each other?

A major reason Dyche’s Burnley sides played the way they did is that the players were suited to that more attritional approach. When you have strikers such as Ashley Barnes and Chris Wood, and midfielders best suited to hard running, then going Route One every so often makes sense. At Everton, Dyche will be working with a squad assembled by more “progressive” coaches, and it’s hard to see a long ball game working as well as it did at Turf Moor. Dyche has always argued that he picks a style to suit the players, so we’ll see how Everton approach games between now and the end of the season.

Is Dyche misunderstood?

As a player, Dyche had an approach to defending that was typically described as “old school” and that reputation has seamlessly followed him into management. What isn’t often remarked on is that Burnley went 129 games under Dyche in the Premier League without a red card. Considering that they were underdogs in most matches and had the reputation they had, that’s a remarkable fair play record and the former Gillingham man never gets credit for it. If he can instil that level of discipline in an Everton side that badly needs maturity, he’ll be doing exceptionally well.

Will he get time to do it?

Many people who follow Everton will tell you that underachievement is baked into the

structure of the footballing side of the club. Each manager who has turned up there since David Moyes’ departure has tried to implement their gameplan on a structure that was put in place by another manager. That doesn’t make for a solid foundation, and if Dyche is going to get Everton back to their former level, he will need time. That may include relegation this season, and if Everton are serious about casting off their poor recent history, they need to accept that. Frank Lampard managed a quick fix last season, but 12 months later Everton are in the same position, so things need to change more profoundly.