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.
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