Back in the race

Saturday was a day for firsts, AP McCoy romped home in the Grand National in his fifteenth attempt and Burnley earned their first ever away victory in the Premier League after previously drawing one and losing fifteen. It seemed like the Gods were smiling, except on me who didn’t back either.

After a turbulent week in the history of the club a positive performance and result was paramount for everybody involved with Burnley. After a humiliating defeat at the hands of Manchester City, stories of discontent within the ranks began to spiral out of control.

There was the incident involving Kevin McDonald, who left the ground at half time to spend the second half in a local working men’s club, rumours of bust ups between Brian Laws and Clarke Carlisle and Robbie Blake, as well as Joey Gudjonsson speaking to some website saying that the manager had lost the dressing room.

Chairman Barry Kilby must be thinking he should never leave, while on holiday in January the Owen Coyle saga began and this time he was to return after an embarrassing defeat and the alleged bedlam that was being reported around it.

With growing opposition to Brian Laws from some of the Clarets faithful prior to the trip to Hull the game was becoming as much of a career defining moment for him as it was season defining for the football club.

It was now time to show some spirit and prove to the world that Burnley would not be giving up their Premier League status without showing some fight. While in the car on Saturday flicking between various radio stations I was happy to hear that absolutely nobody gave us a chance. One pundit even predicted Hull could stick three or four past us; it was time to prove everybody wrong.

After a couple of minutes at the KC those hacks forecasts could’ve been proved correct as Kevin Kilbane was left free to put the home side one up. It was a true “here we go again” moment. Thankfully the players showed some fighting spirit and recovered to keep us from falling further behind. Then ten minutes before half time Martin Paterson did the business as he turned and fantastically put away a Tyrone Mears cross.

With the scores level at half time the game was there for the taking but in truth could’ve gone either way. Then suddenly the luck that has deserted us came flowing back as when Michael Duff went down in the box just past the hour mark the referee pointed to the spot and Graham Alexander coolly did the rest to give us the lead.

Six minutes later we got a second penalty, Nugent was felled by Mouyokolo only for Alexander to step up again and send Myhill the wrong way with the outside of his boot. And then as if the result wasn’t already good enough, Wade Elliot added a superb fourth as he struck a fantastic looping free kick over the hapless Hull keeper to mark his 200th appearance in Claret and Blue.

It was a tremendous result and one that now gives us a fighting chance of survival. Great credit must go to Brian laws and the players for coming back from all that’s happened recently. The manager in particular has come in for all sorts of stick and for me did well in asking the players to respond not for him, but for the fans and their own pride.

If we can now build on this result and get some momentum going then anything is possible. If we show the same passion and character as Saturday in our away games against Sunderland and Birmingham then we could take advantage of the fact that both sides have little to play for and get two positive results.

With Liverpool seemingly now concentrating all their hopes on winning the Europa League after yesterday’s goalless draw with Fulham I wouldn’t put it past us to get a surprise result against them either. Especially as Rafa is likely to field a weakened team as the game is sandwiched between their semi final clash with Athletico Madrid. That would leave a final blockbusting game against Tottenham at the Turf which may decide our fate.

Defeat against Hull at the weekend would’ve killed the season off but now we can look forward to next Saturday knowing another positive result would keep us within touching distance of safety. As our old boss Stan Ternent used to say “one swallow doesn’t make a summer” but it’s most definitely a start. Some may say this result has come too late to help us after our recent poor form but I disagree. “Half a loaf is better than no loaf at all” was another Ternent idiom; and as long as survival is still possible, I’ll keep on believing.

Goals galore for goatless City

Well, where do you start? Burnley received a total thrashing by City at the weekend and for the first time in recent memory Shaun Goater was nowhere to be seen. The free scoring “Goat” once banged in back to back hat tricks at Turf Moor and often cited it as his favourite ground during interviews. I think after Saturday the likes of Adam Johnson, Emmanuel Abebayor and Carlos Tezev may be redrawing their lists of their most successful stomping grounds.

Six one at the final whistle tells one hell of a story, but the fact it was three nil in less than seven first half minutes gives you all you need to know. It’s disheartening enough when your team concedes one early goal but when three go in all you can do is choose whether to laugh or cry.

During the rest of the eighty three minutes where three more goals went in, I like those who chose to stay had to let my anger subside and enjoy one of those rare “we’re bad but we know it” atmospheres. The fans stayed in good voice and got behind the team and at times made fun of our plight. There was however a chorus of boos which rang out particularly at half time where the fans voiced their dissatisfaction.

I’m trying to remain philosophical about our season as the Premier League was always going to be tough for a club the size of ours. Of course like many, my expectations rose slightly with our early season home form and those victories over Manchester United and Everton. However I always knew our form would stumble and the season would get invariably harder.

It has for a long time now been a struggle which was made much worse by the departure of Owen Coyle. Whether Brian Laws will ever prove himself to be the right man to take Burnley forward remains to be seen but at the moment things are not working out for him.

The team’s regular lacklustre starts to games are adding to his detractors claims that he cannot motivate the players who many believe don’t want to play for him. While stories true or not supposedly coming out of the dress room don’t fill people with confidence either. Away from the confines of the dressing room Laws also receives criticism about his body language. At times he looks and speaks like he is already consigned to the fact we will be back in the Championship next season. That frustrates fans who look at the table and see us not getting vital points when West Ham and Hull continue to falter.

While I don’t agree with all of this anti Laws stuff, I do share some fears. My worry is that we have moved straight from an arm over the shoulder manager in what as a “successful” side to a polar opposite who is more likely to get his point across by throwing tea cups or in his case chicken wings. This in theory should not be a problem but it could be if the players don’t think the manager has a worthy track record to back up his voice.

I was also utterly bemused to hear Laws tell a reporter after the game that he learnt against City that we can’t play just two central midfielders against anyone in the Premier League. This was blatantly obvious games ago and something I wrote on here at the time. Had it not been for losing the midfield battle in our home defeats to Pompey and Wolves as well as our draw with Stoke we may now be sitting level if not above our relegation rivals.

Restoring both Blake and Eagles into the line-up was a very brave attacking move in a 442 formation and unfortunately it backfired massively for him. I still believe one if not both of these two hold the key for us getting a positive result or two before the end of the season. They just need to be played in the right system.

At five nil at half time things couldn’t get much worse. In the days of my undistinguished football career when we were on the end of an irretrievable first half spanking we were always taught to try and redeem some pride by going out and winning the second half. Burnley fought out a one all draw but did show much more of a fighting spirit.

The second half performance was a small positive though, it showed that one or two of our players do still have a bit of fire in their bellies as Nugent in particular tried to take the fight to City. Sub Jack Cork showed glimpses of the performance he put in away at Villa while Wade Elliot also looked better than in recent weeks.

As the rain poured and the crowd chanted for a hopeful postponement the game descended into chaos at times as the ball struggled to run freely. To call the game off at five nil would’ve been as harsh on City as it would’ve been embarrassing for us to have a result that never was hanging over our heads. Things got so bad out there that I thought Laws’ third substitution was going to see Rebecca Adlington enter the fray.

As the message boards descend into meltdown, a chorus of dissatisfaction about our current plight rings loud and clear. Some are calling for Laws to resign or be sacked but it is almost a certainty that he isn’t going anywhere. A win at away Hull at the weekend would give him a massive boost in what is going to be a season defining game at the KC.

Three points away from home in the Premier League would give the manager a platform to build on in his quest for acceptance in doing something that Coyle never did. Whether we now stay up or go down we need to get back to 4-5-1, get the balance of the team right and give it a good go.

Mistakes have most definitely been made along the way and whether Brain Laws is the right man for the job or not getting our arbitrary hammering from City at the Turf is much better happening in the Premier League than it was in the dark days of Division Two.

Bragging rights stay on the wrong side of East Lancashire

The fallout continues. Burnley’s one nil defeat to Blackburn at the weekend has once again raised more questions about our underperforming players. In short, we weren’t at the races on Sunday lunchtime as Rovers completed the double over us without ever really being pushed.

In the last few months there is no doubt Burnley have lost their way. Competing week in week out in the most physically demanding league in the world has caught up with us and has shattered our confidence.

The weekend’s defeat was the first time we’ve failed to score at Turf Moor this season, a stat that given our form at home may be surprising to some neutrals. However the fact we’ve lost perhaps our only decent record left intact in a one nil defeat to our fiercest rivals is hard to take.

The overall lack of creativity, competitiveness and desire to get a result was also difficult to swallow as barring the first fifteen minutes in the second half when we actually showed some fighting spirit there wasn’t enough on show throughout to warrant us deserving at least a point.

If we had started the game with that same high tempo that we started the second forty five then things may have been different as for fifteen minutes or so we genuinely looked like we were starting to make life uncomfortable for our neighbours. But instead of carrying on that fight, once Rovers showed they were more than capable to standing up to us we stopped getting in their faces and went back into our shell.

It’s blatantly obvious to say the belief has gone, we’ve stood up to bigger and better teams than Blackburn in the past and won but sadly we don’t look to have it in us anymore. Those who blame Laws entirely for this fall from grace are being unfair. Yes he has made mistakes during his short tenure and maybe out of his depth at this level but the fact is we were never built for Premier League football.

We lack the pace, power, experience and physicality that the division demands. Two of Blackburn’s last three managers in Mark Hughes and Sam Allardyce have recognised this and cut their cloth accordingly. Just look at the two sets of team sheets on Sunday, Rovers have plenty of players with a mix of these attributes, Burnley don’t.

Even a player we brought in to add some power to our side has been badly misused over the course of the season. Playing Andre Bikey in the middle of the park has always been a mistake and now we find ourselves with perhaps our only centre half with all the raw attributes to be a Premier League defender completely out of the side.

This use of Bikey points to a lack of strength in depth in the midfield area in the first place. In fact, we must go down as the only Premier League club in history to have one fit recognised central midfielder for much of the campaign. In this I’m not counting Alexander, a converted defender and Elliot a converted winger, but after Chris McCann’s injury having Kevin McDonald as the only natural one left was bemusing. There is no doubt losing McCann, our best player, has been the major disappointment of our season as with him we would still have some of the drive and competitiveness that we are so dearly lacking.

Up there with losing McCann is the timing of Coyle’s departure when this squad imbalance could have been rectified. The months of planning by Coyle were taken in one foul swoop across Lancashire to the Reebok. Looking at his signings of Holden, Weiss and Wilshire two out of those three can play centrally. Holden could have been the combative influence we missed with McCann being out, while Wilshire could’ve added to the options in the role that Elliot plays in being the one of the three that can attack and link up with the wingers and forwards.

Instead, when it looked like McCann may return in late January Laws spent over two and half million pounds on a left back and centre back. With Duff, Edgar, Carlisle, Bikey, Caldwell, Long, Jordan and Kalvanes in these two areas in and around the squad you have to look at the necessity of adding both Cort and Fox with the midfield being so threadbare all season. Laws did make some acknowledgement of the lack of depth by bringing in Jack Cork, but after a promising start he has been used sparingly.

What I’m getting at is that last season Coyle did fantastically well in getting the best out of Alexander and Elliot by switching them from their natural positions but then after winning promotion to a league where nearly ever side has a combative midfield neither him or his successor saw fit to add to what we already had in that department. Unfortunately, once the momentum went we were never equipped to scrap it out in a relegation battle against teams that have the basis of a strong spine to their sides. Even the likes of West Ham have struggled with Green, Upson, Parker and Cole making up the backbone of their team.

Maybe Coyle thought his money was better spent elsewhere and in the event of injuries he could ride it out until January and then beg borrow and steal to add to weakening areas. While Laws on the other hand tried to combat the problem by changing system and going 442 until the last couple of weeks. This underlying problem in midfield has been there for far too long and due to the unforseen change in management has left a gaping hole meaning we can barely get a foothold in games.

I can’t believe I’ve gone well beyond the one thousand word point without even mentioning Sunday’s contentious issue. This morning the FA announced there would be no charge for the diving Martin Olson and his admission that he deliberately targeted a penalty hungry referee for the games one and only goal.

With Allardyce’s version of Mike Dean’s thought process it’s hard to see why he gave the penalty in the first place but it was extremely sad that this ended up being the game’s defining moment. Not only because a player’s deliberate cheating has decided the fixture but mainly because Burnley couldn’t find a response.

Without it, Rovers with Olson playing a starring role would’ve probably gone on to win the game anyway but the decision truly took the wind out of our already deflating sails. The game certainly had other moments where the referee’s decisions could’ve turned it back in our favour but it wasn’t to be, the Rovers lot began their much promised Burnley relegation party early in the Cricket Field while the majority of Clarets slumped off home in deep depression.

Dunn who stuck away the penalty didn’t get his wish of “pumping” us ten nil but despite securing the bragging rights offered humility in his post match interview. While his wish to keep these derby games alive looks like an ever decreasing possibility, maybe his advice of playing at least one of Blake or Eagles will be heeded by Brain Laws. Having workhorses like Nugent and Paterson playing wide just didn’t work against a side much more physical than ours. While we needed some of this on one flank, on the other a bit of Eagles pace or preferably Robbie’s skill and guile wouldn’t have gone amiss.

I’m hoping like we all are for a change in performance on Saturday against Manchester City and for the four final games that follow. I still believe a surprise result is in the offing and if we can get it when City come to town it would set up an almighty dogfight at Hull the following weekend.

Promotion and our first Premier League season were only meant to be the start of the journey to try and establish ourselves as a Premier League club. Sides like Bolton, Wolves and Birmingham have all tasted success and comeback stronger in subsequent seasons. But in Burnley, the majority of the town seems to be engulfed in the belief that relegation in just over a month’s time will be the end.

The frustrating part is that even with a bad side we could still survive as others like West Ham and Hull aren’t showing themselves to be that much better. But bigger teams have gone down with bigger and better squads and budgets than ours so there is no shame in going back to the Championship. I know the new fear is that with relegation our slump will continue into next season. Whether it will or not is almost an impossible one to call right now but at this moment in time I’m willing to give Brian Laws the chance to prove himself by building his squad in the summer. Others may not agree; while Brain Laws himself or the board may not if results continue to be bad.

For me too many have gotten immersed in high expectations and the extra deflation subsequent failure brings. The manager, team and club are punching well above their weight in this division and although extremely disappointed with how things are turning out I’m still immensely proud of all Burnley Football Club has achieved over the last two years. My feeling is that although we earned our place in the Premier League last summer we are not looking anywhere near like a Premier League team and if I’m honest I don’t think we were ever equipped to be over thirty eight games.

F is for Frustration

I think it’s fair to say that Mick McCarthy isn’t one for smiling. However that wry grin he tried to hide during Saturday’s post match press conference told the story of what was another frustrating afternoon for the Clarets.

Big Mick looked a top hat and cane away from breaking out into a song and dance musical number as at the end of an up and down ninety minutes at Turf Moor we had handed his Wolves team three vital survival points.

In truth, neither side looked like the ones who were promoted from the Championship last term. Both have had their confidence shaken by the harsh realities of football at this level. However Wolves still have shades of the highly organised unit that took the title, where Burnley occasionally showed glimpses of the hard working attacking side that snatched promotion via the playoffs.


Unfortunately in a relegation battle it’s often those who have the tightest defences that will pick up important results against those around them and so it proved again at the weekend as for the second time in four days the Clarets failed to take three points from their remaining “winnable” games.

Against Stoke on Wednesday night we succumbed to the Rory Delap long throw despite the best efforts of the advertising hoardings around the Turf Moor pitch. After a poor first half the team rallied in the second and produced a display that showed heart and spirit and was played at a tempo that at times the Potters could not cope with.

David Nugent’s headed finish from Martin Paterson’s superb cross ensured a point in what could’ve been three by the end. You’d have thought that the performance in the second forty five would have been the perfect tonic to take into the game against Wolves.

However after a bright start we quickly lost our way. Our defensive frailties looked a moment away from resurfacing and when Brian Jensen rushed out from his goal to take out the oncoming Kevin Doyle with a diving head butt alarm bells began to ring. The incident would’ve been more at home in an Attenborough documentary as the Beast leapt at the Irishman like an attacking Rhinoceros.

Minutes later we were punished. An innocuous ball over the top was met by the limp head of Tyrone Mears as our normally ultra dependable full back decided it was his turn to throw one in. Matt Jarvis took full advantage of the error to make it one nil to the visitors.

Before the start of the day Wolves had scored the fewest in the Premier League this season so to give them a goal head start in such a vital game was unthinkable. The football for the rest of the half was scrappy as we couldn’t get the ball into the right areas.

The game was crying out for us to switch from the 4-4-2 formation we had started the game with and match the visitors 4-5-1 formation. It could’ve been easily done by moving Pato out to the right and Elliot inside one into central midfield but sadly it never game with both players starved of possession in the first forty five minutes.

Another second period like Wednesday night was called for if we were to get something from this mustn’t lose game. But as the half kicked off disaster struck, within minutes Wolves were two up thanks to a cruel deflection off Clark Carlisle’s heal to give Brian Jensen no chance.
With a mountain to climb action was now definitely needed. After Stephen Jordan had replaced the injured Danny Fox in the first half the gaffer decided that his final two substitutions would see Steven Thompson and Robbie Blake enter the fray.

The board went up and it was Andre Bikey and Chris Eagles who were to be withdrawn. In my opinion it was the right decision but not for the majority of Clarets who roundly booed the withdrawal of Eagles.

I hate those that chose to boo and jeer a manager’s choice even when I think what they are criticising is right. But Laws’ decisions here was straightforward; Bikey had to come off as he was woeful and showed again he cannot play in a midfield two, Elliot was the only one who had the ability to move inside and join Alexander so that left a choice of Eagles or Paterson to come off.

Despite playing well against Stoke, Eagles was flattering to deceive out wide and often choose the wrong decisions in striking from distance instead of building the attacks and trying to feed the front two. And while not being a natural wide man Paterson has been our best performer from the right in recent weeks, creating and scoring goals as well as offering more protection defensively.

For me Laws was proved correct as Thompson got his first Premier League goal in what was almost a fantastic comeback. Robbie Blake was his dazzling best from the left hand side creating more in his cameo role than Eagles has in recent weeks. His opportunist strike that hit the post would’ve been a great reward for what was a superb performance. However we had left it too late and time ran out with the score at 2-1 leaving the home support trudging off in yet more disappointment.

At that point in the game Laws substitutions were right but unfortunately where he got it badly wrong was in the way we set up for the game at the start. I do feel sorry for him in that both Jack Cork and Kevin McDonald fell foul of injury but it has been shown time and time again that the Andre Bikey experiment in midfield hasn’t worked. He can just about do a job when we play three in there but as a two it leaves us open to be dominated.

Under Coyle we played 4-5-1 for the whole of the Championship season and this year in the Premier League too so it’s not as if after twenty minutes when it’s blatantly obvious we are losing the game in midfield that we couldn’t easily switch it to match them up. Looking back at the home games we’ve had against Portsmouth, Stoke and Wolves I believe if we’d have packed the midfield we’d be sitting here with a minimum of six points.

But they’ve gone now and we must concentrate on the remaining eight games that still could save our Premier League status. The road to the end of the season is hard but we’ve yet to face an easy game all season and are still in a position to survive.

What I do like about Laws though is that he has yet to bemoan the injuries that have blighted his short reign as manager. Others in the Premier League would’ve kicked up a fuss if their star striker picked up an injury while on International duty but Laws has admirably got on with the job in hand after losing Steven Fletcher for the last few games. The same too can be said of Chris McCann’s slow progress in his comeback from injury and last week’s knocks to Jack Cork and Kevin McDonald.

After Saturday pretty much every media outlet I’ve heard have already condemned us to the drop with Portsmouth despite remaining 18th in the table. Hull may have a game in hand below us but who knows how their decision to sack Phil Browny-Orange will turn out. Let’s hope it’ll have a negative effect.

As for the rest, Wolves will continue to drop points as will the likes of Wigan, West Ham and Bolton. The last two should have enough to get themselves away from the drop zone before the end but I still feel it’ll go right to the wire. Our run in is hard but a positive result at Wigan at the DW at the weekend could be that catalyst we are looking for.

The pressure is well and truly off us now, we’ve not got the results from our “winnable” games and now to the rest of the watching world we are already down. I have a belief that we will pick up an away win before the end of the season and that we will get a surprise positive result or two when Champions League chasers Liverpool, Manchester City and Tottenham come to the Turf. Then there’s that wild card fixture when Blackburn Rovers come to town.

It’s going to be one hell of a run in and one I’m going to try and enjoy whatever happens. It’s going to be tough to stay up but as I’ve said before there is no shame in us dropping back down to the Championship. All I know is that if we begin to start games like we have been ending them in the last couple of matches then a shock result or two will come.

Keep the faith and get behind the lads.

Up the Clarets.