please log in to view this image Saturday 23rd December 5.30pm Premier League Turf Moor The loss at City might not have been out of the blue, but the performance was appalling and a reaction is needed. A trip to Burnley to play a side currently above us in the table might not be ideal for that, though. Sean Dyche's side are very hard to break down at the best of times. Will our team be able to recover from the latest blow and get the win that we need to overtake our hosts? Burnley's season started off with a most uncharacteristic 3-2 win against champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. They took a 3-0 lead into the break, after Gary Cahill was dismissed early on, and nearly blew it in the 2nd half. Both of those things are very unlike Dyche's sides in general and his Burnley team this season in particular. They're currently 6th in the table, despite having only scored 16 goals in 18 games. This is due to their Manchester matching defensive record, which has seen them concede a mere 12 times. This Spurs side has scored one goal shy of double that of our hosts, but that probably doesn't tell the full story. We've only conceded 18 ourselves, the 5th best in the division, but some of those have been very costly. City battering aside, they've largely been spread out and have come in games where they're damaging. The scoring's been quite concentrated, in contrast. Liverpool, Stoke, West Ham, Everton and Huddersfield account for 18 of our 31 goals scored. We know that teams playing an open game against us give us the opportunity to get goals and points. We've struggled far more when sides are content to sit back, stay tight and hit us on the break or set-pieces. Burnley are far more likely to present the second scenario. Have we learned enough over the months to do what needs to be done? The game at Wembley earlier in the season was an exercise in frustration. We struggled to create chances against a well drilled side that all knew their jobs and did them well. When Dele Alli finally broke the deadlock after the break, it seemed that we might take all three points. Further chances were missed though and a failure to control the game late on was costly. Chris Wood broke in behind from a Robbie Brady pass and leveled it up in injury time. The game at Turf Moor in the last campaign was similarly frustrating, but for very different reasons. A dour first half was disrupted by injuries, as both Winks and Wanyama were forced off before the break. The second half saw a few cracks open before Eric Dier fired home from a badly cleared corner. Vincent Janssen joined the injured list shortly after that, which allowed Heung-Min Son to enter the fray. He killed the game off with an easy finish from Dele Alli's pass a few minutes later, sealing a 2-0 win. Alderweireld and Wanyama miss out again through injury, though they're both back in training. Davidson Sanchez is available again, following the last of his 3 game ban. Brady and Heaton are both out for Burnley, while Ward faces a late test. Tarkowski misses out, as he's been banned by the FA panel for an act of violent conduct against Brighton. Lineups for each side's last league game: Spurs: Lloris; Trippier, Dier, Vertonghen, Rose; Winks, Dembele; Eriksen, Alli, Son; Kane. Subs: Vorm, Aurier, Foyth, Davies, Sissoko, Lamela, Llorente. League form: LLDWWL. Burnley: Pope; Bardsley, Tarkowski, Mee, Taylor; Gudmundsson, Cork, Defour, Arfield; Hendrick; Wood. Subs: Lindegaard, Lowton, Long, Westwood, Barnes, Wells, Vokes. League form: LWLWWD. Referee: Michael Oliver. TV: BT Sport 1. How many changes are needed from the side that started against City and do we need to change our shape? Is there anything in particular that we need to address to help break down stubborn defensive displays? Is our bench well balanced enough to offer decent options to the manager or should he change it?
Our current FB situation worries me. At RB, Trippier has not made the position his own and had a mare at Citeh last week. He needs to remember how he played against Madrid because if he can reproduce that display, then he would be the number one choice. Aurier has also been inconsistent and like Trippier, is probably suffering through the continued rotation policy of the FB's. On the left side, I don't think Rose's heart is in the club and after a succession of "iffy" performances, I am surprised Poch persists with him. For me, at the top of his form, I would put him ahead of Davies. Unfortunately the top of his form is becoming a distant memory. Aurier and Davies for this one and if they both do ok, then stick with them for the next few games.
One of the few positives to come out of the City game is that we have now hopefully broken the Davies-Trippier / Rose-Aurier pairing for rotation. One pacy with one solid is the way to go. Although I absolutely agree that for all his hot air in the summer, Trippier has done little to nothing to suggest that he is the long term option at RB. What are your thoughts about Aurier (other than his unusual facial hair)? Do you think he can develop into a top player? He arrived totally unfit and without a pre-season under his belt so I've been willing to cut him some slack. But like Trippier, moments of inspiration appear to be few and far between.
Roo do we underestimate the difficulty of playing in the PL for a young inexperienced footballer, perhaps especially a defender. The hardmen, the cynical, and the amazingly skillful can all intimidate the new boy and could conceivably really undermine a fledgling football career. Pochettino has shown confidence in young players so if he is holding one back there has to be a good reason IMO. Not forgetting the fans who can be merciless.
I appreciate that spurf. But on the other hand, he was “experienced” enough to be thrown in at the deep end for a match at the start of the season. A game where he was MOTM. Every glimpse of him we’ve seen, he looks solid. I don’t see the harm, personally. I think there’s enough fans that are underwhelmed by Trippier and/or Aurier this season, that they’d be delighted to see KWP get a chance.
We need a reaction tomorrow, last week was awful and both team and manager need to step up this week. I look at Burnley and I see exactly the type of team we hate playing and as such I would like to see a change of shape tomorrow and the use of some different personnel to rest and take poor form into account. So how about 4-4-2/ 4-3-3 Lloris, Aurier, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Davies, Lamela, Dier, Dembele, Son, Kane and Llorente.
As said after the City game, we need Dier moved back into CM, especially with Dembele and Winks in a poor run of form and especially given Burnley's physicality. Hugo Aurier Dave Jan Davies Dembele Dier Lamela Anyone Son Kane Please.
I'll take that with KWP instead of Aurier. On balance I'd start Eriksen over Alli but both need a reality check. Anyone but Sissoko, though.
Largely agree, although I think we should be mindful that Rose did have a long time out so it's perhaps 2+2=5 to put it down to his personal situation. I certainly wouldn't be shocked if it is the case though. I'll be really disappointed if it is the case because it's such a pathetic thing to do. Aurier reminds a lot of Walker and Rose before Pochettino arrived. The ingredients are there, he just needs a bit of time and work. Davies really has kicked on this season though, which is what we've really needed from Trippier too with Walker leaving and Aurier needing to learn a bit more before he's ready. Hopefully we can see a bit more of KWP in the FA Cup becuase Aurier's pissing off to the ACON soon and we certainly don't want to be relying on Trippier at the moment.
I`d like to see Llorente start up front with Kane for this game also, Burnley are very good defensively and they will be expecting our regular starting XI, why not do the unexpected and give them a different problem, there is a danger we have become too predictable and easy to defend against. I like this team with probably Eriksen instead of Lamela (who is still returning to full fitness after injury).
