Today I have watched a decent Burnley side that desperately wanted to beat us - which they managed without any problems. They fully deserved the 3 points whereas we need to admit that we do have a very good squad but not a clue how to beat teams like Burnley. Having one game in hand may bring us back on second place soon but I doubt that we will stay up at the top if we continue playing sloppy football without any spirit, passion and ambition. I do blame our coach for not brining in the right spirit as we all know that this overpaid team can only be afforded because TF is crazy enough to spend a fortune just because he wants to own a PL club. I have to admit that QPR from the 80s suits me a lot more compared to what we do get these days.
On the bright side (for me), just checking my "token" Bet365 account, that was really just setup to take advantage of the live match streams, but I note in my account that on June 30th, I placed a $1 wager on Burnley to be Champions @ 50/1 and a $2 wager @ 14/1 on Burnley to be promoted - pre-season those odds just seemed too attractive for a club of that stature, I guess they were just not fancied - could turn out to be $3 well spent, just pin money for a bit of fun! I see BBC Sports show our ball possession today as 61% to Burnley's 39%.
I wouldnt count your chickens just yet, I thought they were poor, Henry set up 2 of their 3 chances and Barton gifted them a penalty. They created nothing on their own and wed have got a result if Henry wasnt playing and having a MOTM performance for them.
Yes, they certainly were, Fulham were never in this game. Just watched that crazy late "goal" in the Norwich v Cardiff game. "The match ended controversially when Fer kicked the ball into an empty net from a throw-in instead of passing back to Marshall after the ball had initially been kicked out of play to allow a home player to get treatment. Referee Michael Jones disallowed the goal."
They had 3 chances and he set up 2 of them, including the goal. He also missed a sitter where he literally couldnt have made it easier for the goalie, wait until you see it tonight.
Couldn't agree more and was thinking exactly the same whilst watching the game. Give me Simon Barker, Simon Stainrod, Wayne Fereday etc any day over MOST of this lot.
This was our first proper test this season. We lost and it was not difficult for Burnley by all accounts. Our league position is flattered by the opposition we have faced. Given the collective CV's of our squad it should be odds on that we are promoted. I fear that the loss of Maclaren might prove to have a far bigger impact than we envisaged. We need to obtain strong win against Wigan for our confidence.
come what may rangers will win this league by 5 points as I said back in august, I defeat in how many, just back from ffc v saints don't get me started how poor ffc are, we will be here all night
We play for a 0-0 and hope to sneak something, today it bit us big time and we played a lot better as soon as we went behind and Henry went off. I wonder if the "but were top" people are still happy with the way we play?
you would beat us at the moment, but you have won even playing badly, is that not the sign of champions, rangers will get better, they have the best squad, best manager, best chairman, and importantly biggest budget, so even if you 3rd come December, t.f will back harry with some top signings, come back in may and tell me then, I know I will be right, when burnley gets some injuries they will struggle, I think Leicester will be in the shake up as well, but its rangers for me, I nearly had the biggest bet in my life on rangers winning this league,
Nearly but not quite? Wigan will tell us more on Wednesday. If you have backed us make sure you're wearing brown trousers...
Seems a bit premature. Yep, we didn't play particularly well - it happens. I thought the majority of us were singing HR's praises for getting in the ''right sort'' (Simpson, O'Neill, Austin, Henry, Phillips etc) and getting rid of the majority of the over paid mercenaries? Similarly the team was being lauded for ''spirit, passion and commitment'' when we were grinding out 1-0 away wins at Bolton and Leeds. The tune changes so quickly here.
The reason it seemed like we were playing better is because Burnley took the lead and sat back more in order to protect it. There was a period when they didn't press us much or as high up the pitch which in turn afforded us more space. Yes Henry had a fairly poor game but our good and bad spells were not solely down to him. Plenty of players gave the ball away needlessly and dangerously today, including BAE on 2 or 3 occasions. It's just the fact that his errors didn't result in a goal (which they quite easily could have), therefore they're not highlighted or remembered. Henrys loss of the ball in the lead up to their goal was of course poor play, but our defence got split so easily afterwards. There were still 4 or 5 players vs 2 after Henry was dispossessed.
Go back to 82-83 under Venables, around this time that season we got spanked 4-0 at Wolves who went top at that time, these things happen. We'll lose a few more but I'll still back us to be there at the finish, it won't be the easy ride many think...
I didn' t saw the match because i was at work, but i believe it was a bigger match to Burnley than to us. Having said that i noticed from the reports that Burnley were well worth of their victory. That is something for arry to think about. Anyway theres no need for negative thoughts because Burnley is a very good side and it wasnt so bad to get a first loss in their ground. Im still certain that Burnley and Leicester cant keep up with us in this race. It s because the width of our playing material. Anyway we have just played one quarter of the season so much more will happen during the season. Anyway congrats to all Burnley fans it was was big win to them.