Not sure what Ian has seen to justify optimism here. Dyche is a really good manager at what he does which is play solid football but the standard in this league this season is the best I can remember. Solid isn't enough and even Cornet who has scored some outstanding goals this season (I'd take him) doesn't elevate them enough IMO. Wood has lost his mojo a bit recently and they are going to struggle.
Two things the commentator said about Burnley, during their game at Man Utd was that 10 of the squad are out of contract and that 14 of the squad were aged 30+. Lots of experience but many of them could be distracted by contract negotiations or even by trying to move on for one last biggish pay day. Not a great situation to be in.
I think Dyche will strengthen the squad. Burnley looked dreadful on MofD last night and I think they will make additions. They still have games in hand and I would be reulctant to write them off just yet. I think it was last season they were in the same boat and put a run together. BBC is reporting that Newcastle intend making 6 signings in January and you wonder how quickly a team could gel in those circumstances. I still see the bottom three being Newcastle, Norwich and Watford.
It's all been about who Newcastle will buy. They have one or two that may be targeted eg Saint Maxim and?
Bloody hope so …. I’ll be pissed off if Newcastle somehow manage to stay up. I really hope all their mercenaries, I mean “new signings”, don’t gel ……
I won’t be writing Burnley off, because of previous years, but it will be increasingly difficult for Dyche to motivate players who have contracts running out next summer. They have always done well because they rely so much on teamwork and team spirit, but I wonder if those who may be feeling forced out might start playing more for themselves than the team, in order to attract another club into signing them. I am of course assuming that the 10 players who are out of contract are generally in the match day squads, which may not be the case.
Off the top of my head, Burnley have no history of going big on January signings. This will be the third transfer window of the new ownership. The previous two essentially only yielded Cornet - and whilst he's already become their star player, he is just one player. An injury prone player who is heading off to the AFCON. Half their squad is out of contract in six months time - including Tarkowski, Mee, Cork, Barnes and Jay. How committed will they be to the fight this time? Will they all even still be at the club on 1 February? They rightly released Lennon about 18 months ago because he is past it as a PL player. And he's now suddenly starting for them! But possibly above all else, is the fact that they are zero points ahead of Newcastle. Not three, or seven, or twenty. But zero - albeit with two games in hand. Never before have they had to go into direct competition for survival with a team that essentially have an unlimited transfer budget. A team who barely need to be worried about the repercussions of spending money and getting relegated anyway. A team with ambition (whether realistic or not) that is sky high. Losing to Leeds yesterday was a complete disaster for Burnley. Dyche has done a great job at Burnley, but now that us, Leeds and Brentford have all got a handy little lead over them, I do struggle to see a way out for Burnley this time.
It's highly doubtful that they would even need them to gel. Look at what they're competing against: three teams who are far off the pace of one-point-per-game. Look at the rubbish which has been able to survive in previous seasons. 35 points almost certainly keeps you up these days, and last season it would have been as low as 29. Newcastle have won ONCE all season, conceding 42 goals in the process, and yet are only two points from safety. That is ridiculous. Even only at the half way stage, any team with that record should be well adrift. But not so. So even if their new signings were to fail to gel into a proper cohesive team, they are still likely to be better than what the currently have. The odd piece of magic here, the odd brilliant cross there etc. And that alone has every chance of closing a gap of two whole points.
Tell you what, since Saintsplayer went to “webplayer” as it’s platform, it’s absolute pants. I’m thinking of cancelling if it doesn’t get any better. It’s slow, doesn’t load, kicks you out, freezes …. Incredibly annoying - especially now for me, as I’m reliant on it to watch any sport that’s not on freeview
Our game with Wolves looks like being a game of two halves, based on their goal scoring stats. They struggle to score in the first half and there’s no need for me to add anymore. Having said that MOST of or games with them tend to follow the same pattern, with us dominating the first half before Traore takes over and changes the game.
Cole and Wright are right about United. When you have selfish players like Ronaldo and Fernandes in your dressing room, you don't have a hope. I hate to say it, but JWP would be a star at Man U. Get rid of the cancer in the club.
