Tuesday night, back home under the lights at fortress CCS, what’s not to like? Ok, well, maybe our visitors for starters as we welcome the ever-miserly Burnley to the Capital city for a game that is likely to prove pretty vital for both sides but for very different reasons given our respective league positions. Both sides suffered similar ‘heartbreak’ in the cup over the weekend although whilst our defeat was somewhat anticipated (especially against a near full strength Villa side) our visitors suffered a bit of a humiliation against near neighbours Preston (albeit with a weakened side out) – hopefully though their 3-0 reverse will have acted as a bit of a psychological blow having not suffered a result like it all season… Parker doing his best to explain why stripes on one sleeve of your cardigan is the ONLY way to go. Who Are You? Old Mr Stripey Sleeve Parker has been at the helm since July following the departure of Burnley’s previous darling Vinnie Kompany. To be fair to Parker, he’s actually been doing a very good job in the Turf Moor hot seat, clocking up a win % of just shy of 53, which, over 34 league games is not to be sniffed at and is his best showing of any of his managerial appointments. It’s no exaggeration to say that he has also made them incredibly tough to beat, but more on that in a second. The Claret’s top scorer so far this season, rather surprisingly isn’t a forward, but is actually midfield kingpin Josh Brownhill (ex-Wurzel) with 10 goals from his 30 games. Behind him then comes Dutch forward Zian Flemming who is on loan (with an obligation to buy) from Millwall. He notched 23 goals in 92 games for the Lions and has 7 in 25 league games for Burnley so far. The numbers then really begin to drop off with fellow forward Jaidon Anthony (on loan from Bournemouth) with just 3 in 31 league games. Other familiar names are of course ex-JB and s#hitehousery specialist Connor Roberts, Brighton loanee Jeremy Sarmiento, ex-Man Utd youngster Hannibal (really can’t believe we may have Hannibal coming up against us sheep botherers – if he scores we can definitely talk about Silence of the Lambs eh?? ), highly rated ‘keeper James Trafford and veteran striker Ashley Barnes who rejoined the club in January having left at the end of the 2023 season originally (and scoring against us in his final game no less - ). Last Time Out & Form Last time out saw then Erol Bulut’s Bluebirds take a rather dispiriting 5-0 thumping up at Turf Moor in just the 2nd game of the season. The strange thing was though, if anything the Bluebirds were the better side on the day – it sounds bizarre granted but it was one of those days where everything our hosts hit seemed to go in and the ball just wouldn’t roll for us. We actually finished that game having had more possession, more shots overall, the same number of shots on target (just 4 each – with Burnley having been gifted their opener through a Horvath OG). We hit the woodwork, got in more tackles and even out-passed our opponent (including in the accurate passes and forward passes categories) and yet still ended up on the wrong end of a thumping. A very bizarre game indeed!! So, despite my assertions that Burnley were a tad fortunate to beat us by the scoreline they did earlier in the season, this is where it begins to get a bit scary now. Their current league form is frighteningly good, despite them ‘only’ being 3rd in the table. Whilst they may have only won 3 of their last 6, they’ve not tasted a defeat in the league since the beginning of November, some 22 games ago (1-0 away at Millwall). More impressive still is the fact that since then they have conceded just 3 league goals (1 each v ‘Boro, Norwich and Watford – all in December pre-Christmas). If that kind of stat doesn’t underline just how tough a test awaits our ‘improving’ Bluebirds then I don’t know what does. Just for good measure though, perhaps the one glimmer of hope is their goalscoring as they have a distinctly a mid-table record (10th best) with 43 in 34 games (we ourselves are just 6 goals off this record – who knows, maybe we’ll draw level with them come the final whistle?? ). Defensively though, as you’d expect of a team with the above kind of record they are way out in front, conceding a total of just 9 (in true vidi-printer style when you see something that is just too shocking… NINE ) goals over their 34 matches. With this record, if they can maintain it, it will result in the best defensive record in the history of the football league, and only 1 team in the entire league (Liverpool with 1) have experienced fewer defeats this season so far. In, Out Or No Sign Of Them About Following the decent showing in the cup game by what was a ‘scratch’ side of sorts it’s good to know we do now have some quality in depth, with even young Luey Giles and debutant Dylan Lawlor showing up well. Definitely still out for this one though are; Jak Alnwick (hamstring – done for the season) Jesper Daland (shin injury/stitches) Ollie Tanner (foot fracture) and David Turnbull (returning to fitness) Better news comes with the possible return of Leicester loanee Will Alves and we saw Callum Robinson taken off at half time and Alex Robertson return versus Villa, so they are in the frame for Tuesday. Callum Chambers wasn’t risked v his old side and with Rambo playing an hour, the odds are he’ll be benched for the game against our high flying visitors. Predicted Starting 11 Horvath Rinomhota Fish Goutas O’Dowda Mannsverk Chambers Willock Robinson Colwill Alves The Odds Home 3/1 Draw 23/10 Away 10/11 Match Day Melody Going on the defensive record of our visitors for this one; Blooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds!!!
Funnily enough I said exactly the same to a mate earlier!! Would prefer a 5-5 if we're going to draw but yep, if we can nab a point (or more) I'll be happy.
BB's match day thread of the usual highest quality. I was going to say something about the meanness of Burnley's miserly defence on the Prediction League thread but BB beat me to it on here. The possible differences I can see in our starting 11 are Ng at right back after his 2 excellent games v Hull and Villa - and Rino was awful second half v Hull - and maybe, just maybe, Rambo in for Willock and Ashford for Colwill. Either way strong sides for us with plenty on the bench. Salech may be disappointed not to start after ruffling the feathers of the Villa cb's. Burnley can be beaten away from Turf Moor with defeats at Sunderland and Millwall but they have not conceded more than a single goal in a league game in the whole season so far. Perhaps the 3 at Preston in the cup will have softened them up a bit? We can hope.....
I was torn by Ng. He's played a lot of minutes again recently and Riza seems to like the industry of Rino. As well as Rino has done recently I'm with you BfB on his last showing, he definitely tailed off massively v Hull. Personally I'd prefer Ng but can see Riza reverting back. Id also prefer Ashford to Willock but again, he worked hard v Villa.
I suspect Burnley will be looking for that single goal and then shut up shop, keep possession and leave with a 1-0 win. So Riza go on and outsmart that smarmy cockney by going all out attack from the off and make them realise an easy three points is not going to just happen without a fight.
Never liked that Parker bloke, not even when he was Lady Penelope's driver. And I'm sure that's where his fashion sense came from. I'm with nin and reckon we can beat them if Riza gets it right. It's about time that we upset the applecart a bit. Two early goals for us and then... keep going. Gotta get CCS in raucous mood. Fab (see what I did there?) read again Brizzle. Thank you. Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds
read againBrizzle. Thank you. Why do you want Brizzle to read it again? I’m sure he understood you the first time
Solid looking starting 11 with options off the bench. Salech can soften them up for Robinson in the last 20. As is usual of late, not quite sure how they will line up.
Who is the clown doing co-comentary on red button on Sky? Saying Mannsverk could have had a red card for the tackle on Roberts??? WTF?
Balls... Poor goal to concede defensively there... No one picking him up despite 3 being around him... Commentators doing my head in as well...
