What can we expect from Burnley, Leicester & QPR

What can we expect from Burnley, Leicester & QPR


By Brendan Bernegger

Jul-16-2014

Football, SubFeature



It was a successful season for Burnley, Leicester & QPR as they have finally returned to the promise land known as the Premier League. The three teams endured the rough 46 game season and have finally received their reward as they get to play in the most competitive league in the world. I’ll be breaking down all three of the newly promoted teams and highlighting their strengths, weaknesses, and what we can expect this term from the new boys of the Premier League.

Burnley:

After a four year recess away from the Premier League, Burnley are back with a new improved mojo to their team. Manager Sean Dyche has transformed this side into a well oiled machine as they improved on their 11th place 2012-13 season. At the end of the 2013 season Burnley finished with 61 points. Despite getting a wonderful season out of Charlie Austin, Burnley struggled at the start of the year which saw them drop points. Sean Dyche went into the 2013 off season hoping for a great season and is exactly what he got. Burnley got off to a fast start as they held the top spot for all of October and nearly all of November.

Keep in mind, Burnley also agreed to transfer Charlie Austin to QPR only weeks before the season got underway, as they sold him for around £4 million. In all of his appearances for Burnley he scored 45 goals in 90 games, thus averaging a goal every other game. With their main goal scoring option gone, Burnley looked like they were in trouble as they didn’t sign anybody as a replacement, thus giving all of their faith and trust in Danny Ings. Boy, did he deliver for the Clarets! Ings, who turns 22 today had a breakout season as he scored 21 goals in 40 league appearances for Burnley.

His tandem with Sam Vokes saw the duo account for 41 goals in 79 league appearances as the two fired Burnley to a strong second place finish and also to the Premier League. Ings, who is an England Under-21 player, is wanted by many Premier League clubs as he sets to make his debut this season. If Burnley want to have a successful season and avoid the dreaded relegation, they will need Vokes and Ings to keep the form going.

While their defense is not as high powered as their offense is, Burnley gave up the least amount of goals in the whole English Championship. Sean Dyche’s men only gave up 37 goals as captain Jason Shackell, and Kieran Trippier were key to frustrating opposing attackers.

Trippier is a dual threat as he can make challenging runs down the side to provide firepower for Ings and Vokes. Trippier gave 14 assists as he lead the Championships with most assists. One reason why the defense was so solid was because of how they fared in the air. The whole team won 51.0% of their aerial duels and were 1017/1994 overall and were third in that category.

While Burnley had a successful year in the Championship, their fortunes could be different this year. Burnley welcome Chelsea for their first game of year and for the first game of Monday Night Football. With no real Premier League experience on both the players and the coaches behalf, Burnley could get off to a slow start as they attempt to find their form. Sean Dyche is hoping for similar success like Tony Pulis and Crystal Palace had, after they finished 11th.

Dyche refuses to spend much money, and that could hurt him given the lack of Premier League experience that his players have. Spending millions on players isn’t always the best solution for success, but in the dog eat dog world known as the Premier League, it is the most common. For example, last year Cardiff City splurged on players but still got relegated anyway. Hull just avoided relegation but also spent a considerable amount. It was Crystal Palace who spent less than Hull and Cardiff and climbed out of the relegation zone.

The last time Burnley was in the Premier League, they were sent straight down to the Championship as they struggled to grasp what the concept of Premier League football was. Now, with a tactically better coach known as “Ginger Mourinho” Burnley could have a slight chance to stay up, but with no valuable Premier League experience it could potentially back fire. None the less, this is a fighting team who take nothing for granted, don’t be shocked if they can pull a surprise or two and keep up with some of the distinguished teams who are already in the Premier League.

Leicester City:

The champions of the English Championship have broken their ten year wait and are finally back in the Premier League. The Foxes dominated the second half of the season as they were nearly impossible to contain. Leicester fans have suffered a bit for the past ten years, as they were relegated to League one and endured two heartbreaking play off semi final losses to Cardiff City, (2010) and the worst of them all against Watford (2013).

In their season, Leicester scored the second most goals in the whole Championship as they scored 83. The scoring efforts of David Nugent and Jamie Vardy will be clutch for Nigel Pearson if he wants to avoid going back down to the Championship. The two accounted for 36 of the 83 goals as Nugent scored 20, while Vardy contributed his fair share of 16. Nugent is going to be an important factor for Nigel Pearson’s offense as he has previously played in the Premier League with Portsmouth and Burnley.

While Nugent and Vardy will be looked upon for scoring goals, Anthony Knockaert and Riyad Mahrez will be looked upon for setting their goal opportunities up. Both Knockaert and Mahrez both combined for a productive 8 goals and 9 assists as they took the Championship by storm. They also lead the team with most key passes per match as Knockaert averaged 2.1 key passes per game in his 42 appearances, while Mahrez had 1.8 per game in the 19 appearances he made since coming over from Le Havre in early 2014.

While the offensive firepower is vigorous, the defense is also a strong point of Nigel Pearson’s squad. Led by captain Wes Morgan, Leicester gave up the second least goals in the whole Championship as they conceded 43. Morgan could form a partnership with Matthew Upson, as the former England International was snapped up on a free transfer from Brighton. Despite being 35 years old, Upson will be a strong contributor to Leicester’s strong defense and will also help Wes Morgan get suited to the fast paced Premier League. Morgan has never played in the Premier League and doesn’t have the experience that Upson possesses. It is uncertain wether or not Upson will be a bench player or if he will replace Liam Moore’s spot in the starting 11.

Speaking of Liam Moore the 21 year old will get more useful Premier League experience. Moore got valuable playing time last season as he made 30 appearances. Morgan and Moore formed a great partnership as they worked well together. Both of the players combined for an average 15.7 clearances per game leaving Kasper Schmeichel with very little work to deal with. Morgan averaged 9.3 per match while Moore averaged 6.4 per match. Schmeichel only needed to save 68 shots in the 44 games he played.

Pearson also get’s great play out of his midfielders as he runs a midfield friendly 4-4-2 formation. I highlighted above that Anthony Knockaert and Riyad Mahrez offer great wing play, but Pearson also has options in his central midfield. Danny Drinkwater is a key contributor to the offensive end and is a great distributor of the ball as he averaged 66.4 passes per game last season. The 24 year old can work well with both Matthew James and Welsh International Andy King. In fact, don’t be surprised if Pearson changes his formation to a 4-5-1 so he can include King, James and Drinkwater without having to sub one of them in and out.

In addition to Matthew Upson, Leicester signed Marc Albrighton from Aston Villa and also captured Jack Barmby from Manchester United, both on free transfers. Albrighton will give Premier League experience that Premier League experience to the Midfield, while 19 year old Barmby is regarded as a future Premier League prodigy. This team has a good chance to stay up but as mentioned above, their lack of big name players could hurt them. Nigel Pearson is hardly making any splash waves this window as he is only trying to lure in Brighton Striker Leonardo Ulloa to the club. He recently just had a £6.25 million offer turned away from Brighton as they want more money before letting Ulloa go.

Leicester have the capability to stay up but they get off to a brutal start as they have to play Everton, Chelsea and Arsenal in their first three games which may put them on a bad start. Out of all of the new teams in the Premier League, I think Leicester is the second most likely to stay up but I’m uncertain if they can avoid the drop.

QPR:

It was a magical ending to the season for Queens Park Rangers as they defeated Derby County in the play off final in ever so dramatic fashion. After the two teams played a stalemate for the first 90 minutes, Bobby Zamora scored an injury time winner which saw QPR get back into the Premier League after one year away.

The club claims they have put behind their chaotic spending habits, which was there ultimate demise as a team a couple of years ago. This time they are granted a new start and will try to stay in the Premier League for the long run. QPR has a good chance to stay up this year as their roster has previous experience in the Premier League, and Harry Redknapp is one of the greatest English coaches to ever coach in the Premier League. That being said, there are some things that QPR will need to tweak on their roster if they want success in the long run.

 

When QPR was in the Championship last year, they sent a number of their better players out on loan. For example, French International Loic Remy went to Newcastle and Adel Taarbat spent half of his time with Fulham and the other half with AC Milan as they were both not a part of the team that crawled back into the Premier League.While Taarbat looks like he’s staying in London, Remy has been a target for some of the top Premier League clubs. Remy is wanted by Arsenal, Tottenham and lastly, his loan club and the team that signs all sort of French talent, Newcastle United.

Remy had a strong season for Newcastle as he scored 14 goals in the 26 appearances creating a name for himself on Tyneside. QPR will want to keep hold of him anyway possible, but could let him go should a sufficient enough offer come around. While Remy was playing for Newcaslte, Charlie Austin did a superb job as he was QPR’s leading goal scorer with 19 goals in 34 English Premier League appearances. Redknapp tends to play a 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 hybrid formation with QPR, switching on and off based on what he wants. Ultimately, Remy could end up departing Queens Park Rangers as they are on the verge of bringing in Kolbeinn Sigthorsson from Ajax.

The main problem for QPR lies within the defense as they don’t have much depth in their centre back position. Richard Dunne and Clint Hill are nearing the end of their playing career as Dunne is 34 and Hill is 35. The two started in most of QPR’s matches and are the QPR’s main centre backs. The only two current back ups are Nedum Onuoha, who made seven apperances and Max Ehmer, who was loaned out last year to Carlisle United and has made one full start since he signed in 2009.

Luckily for QPR fans, Redknapp is on the verge of securing Rio Ferdinand’s signature as the former England captain will have a huge impact on the defensive end of the ball. In addition to that, Ferdinand will be use as some sort of bait so that Steven Caulker also comes to QPR. If Redknapp can lure both of these players in, the defensive line will be looking better and it will improve the chances of surviving.

Meanwhile the midfield is the focal point of Harry Redknapp’s style of play. With an over abundance of options, Redknapp can rely on various faces this upcoming season, who each have different strengths. Joey Barton is one of Redknapp’s favorites as he is an all around box to box midfielder, who can play both centrally and defensively for Harry Redknapp. The midfielder is set to turn 32 this September but showed no signs of aging last year as he was a workhorse for the club. As a team in general, QPR kept the most ball possession in the whole midfield with 55.7%. They also had the second most accurate passing in the Championship as their season average was 79.3%.

It will come as a blow to Harry Redknapp that Jermaine Jenas will miss some time as he suffered a cruciate ligament injury in the latter part of the Championship season. Jenas has played previously under Redknapp while at Tottenham Hotspur and would assist Joey Barton in the heart of the midfield. With very little speculation that Spurs youngster Tom Carroll could return on loan, QPR will need to get good games out of Karl Henry and also Gary O’Neil. Also QPR, could play with Junior Hoilett and Adel Taarbat on the wings, should the Moroccan International not depart.

QPR open up the season at home as they take on Hull City, before going across London for a clash against Spurs in game week 2. I personally think QPR will stay up this year and have learned from their mistakes during their first time in the Premier League. Harry has gotten familiar with his player in the Championship, and knows how to use them in their proper roles. In addition to that, this team finally has great chemistry, something they lacked during their first stint in the Premier League as there team was put together based on money. It would be shocking to me if Queens Park Rangers ended up going down.

 

I'm not much for reading but I think I can some it up in a couple of words ................. QPR survive to a mid table result, Liecester and Burnley relegated.

 

Nedum definitely made more than 7 appearances last season. I also doubt he'll be back-up this year if we fail to sign Rio and Caulker. He's certainly the best of the Dunne, Hill, Onouha trio.

 

He actually only made 7 League appearances, and 1 in the League Cup

He was injured for the majority of the season and on the bench for some parts

Richard Dunne made 41 starts for us and Clint Hill 40. Remarkable at their ages.

 

Awful lot to read.......but in a word "what to expect"......relegation!!!!!........anything else is a bonus...

 

As it stands right now, we will definitely be relegated. It we can sign 5/6 quality players, we have a chance of staying up.

 

If TF can convince Remy to stay, tie up the deal with the Ajax lad, drag Caulker over the line and dare I say it get Steve Black to work on Adel's head and get him to stay then we are are only 1 or 2 signing short of a decent squad......

 

Slightly off-topic I suppose, but can anyone - especially NY or Kilburn - explain to me the American obsession with breaking a sport down to statistics?

I can understand it in baseball (not that I understand baseball that well) and American football (where all you really hear about is a players average blocks, interceptions, fumbles or yards per game)

But surely, with more free-flowing sports such as basketball and )proper) football, can they please tone it down a little, sit back, crack a beer and enjoy the ebbs and flows in front of them, rather than dissecting the game into it's smallest parts? Please?

 

I'm not going to knock Redknapp. Turning the ship around and getting us promoted was a major achievement even if we had to endure some of the worst football ever from a QPR team..............BUT, one of the greatest English coaches to ever coach in the Premier League

 

" While Remy was playing for Newcaslte, Charlie Austin did a superb job as he was QPR’s leading goal scorer with 19 goals in 34 English Premier League appearances.

So Charlie scored his goals in the Premier league, must be a shoe in for the golden boot, sloppy Journalism