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claretspice

More like 2 weeks shy of the Chelsea game though - that was 12 of August. That's the best part of half a pre-season. The 10 days thing is charitable, its based on the fact most of our lads have played in the Championship when you start a week earlier. Fitness and match-readiness (and the mentality o...

claretspice

We looked under-prepared, which we were. So we were always going to give something away in that respect - but I was pleased at how well we kept going in the final quarter given our relative lack of 90 minutes. Our big problem last night was that last night (particularly without Defour) called for a ...

claretspice

2-3,000 I thought. Decent turnout, and I thought the club did a decent job with the commentary and the pictures really well synched up. Another gripe about the beer being thrown, but I expected that, and I also didn't understand quite why they were being so anal on the gate about people bringing can...

claretspice

Pope - N/A - such bad luck for the lad, I hope Dyche is wrong and it proves to be "less serious rather than more". Lowton - 6 - Got up and down OK, but his delivery was well below his usual high standards. Ward - 7 - Much like Lowton but with better delivery. One of our best players on the night. Ta...

claretspice

Completely agree with Socrates here. To my mind, it was fairly obvious that the reason Maguire was able make those marauding runs from left centre back was because he was the one England defender opponents were willing to allow to have time on the ball and space to advance into. Largely because - ev...

claretspice

To be fair, on paper that is an impressive signing. Im still sympathetic with our stance on transfers but there's no doubt we're beginning to fall behind our rivals this summer and its just getting a touch concerning. This kid might not be exactly what we need right now given our other wide options ...

claretspice

There are teams in the Championship paying higher wages than we do, if you want to be in the PL it's just part and parcel of a clubs development that wages would need to be increased to compete Well yes but there's limit to any club's development and its limited by its ability to afford wages in th...

claretspice

We will continue to have less than 50% of the ball, if we don’t bring in players who can keep it, then find a claret shirt in space. At some point we will stop playing without the ball, and actually seek it out and do some damage. The signs were there early last season before injuries kicked in. Ou...

claretspice

Our problem with taking these young, attacking players on loan from the top clubs is pretty straightforward. In the majority of matches we play, we have less than 50% of the ball - often significantly less. The development teams of the big clubs are used to dominating possession. That means that the...

claretspice

Noone said you can't get value from abroad, nor that we shouldn't. Id certainly like us to use that market more. But the failure rate is much higher from abroad - that's just a fact - and as a club we perceive that our ability to do our due diligence and "de-risk" signings is impacted the further af...

claretspice

A few interesting points in there. The first being the fact that United offered less than Blackburn to Forest, and less in wages, but Fergie told Keane to "hold his nerve and the transfer would happen in the end". The second being that Fergie had obsessively tracked the player for 3 years and kept c...

claretspice

I don't think we have a head of recruitment? I know we had Darnborough and Mcparland before, I'm not sure we replaced them, I do know we have a European Recruitment guy (Butterworth) I'm not sure of his actual job title, maybe he's the new head of recruitment. So far as I'm aware, Martin Hodge is s...

claretspice

The issue with the foreign market is that players are cheaper pound-for-pound, but they are also more of a risk. Both because its harder to judge how they will adapt to the Premier League, and secondly because there's more risk of them struggling to settle/fit in to live in the North West of England...

claretspice

BOYSIE31 wrote:Mistakes ??

I give you Wells / Bardsley / Walters - not one would get in any other premier league team and how much did they play last season and how much have they cost for wages and the fee for Wells ?

You aren't familiar with the concept of a "squad", then?

claretspice

This summer has been a bit frustrating, no doubt about that, but I'd still say that cool heads are needed and a bit of patience. I have at times been pretty critical of the club's approach in the market, particularly when we first came up under Dyche when we undoubtedly seemed to take parsimony to a...

claretspice

"Still told nothing imminent regarding incomings at Turf. Club have made very informal general enquiries about about number of players but no offers made" Boden's tweet... Yes. So we're talking lots, but we've not actually got to the formal point yet. I don't think that in the slightest bit contrad...

claretspice

Boden has just tweeted that we have made no offers for players What does an "offer" mean? I'm pretty sure the reality is that the clubs are in virtually constant contact about a price, deal structure etc., and formal offers are made only as a formality once the deal has been essentially agreed, to ...

claretspice

There have been many reasonable posts expressing concerns that we are paying too much for a squad player. We don't have infinite resources so it reduces our ability to improve the first team where we need it most, i.e. centre back and a different option up top. Caricature, hyperbole and reductionis...

claretspice

The "why do we need squad players ? " argument was used last summer when the likes of Bardsley was signed .But that extra stength when injuries struck contributed to our 7th place finish Indeed. On that occasion, the criticism we were signing players who were too cheap and not showing enough ambiti...

claretspice

ClaretTony wrote:Depending on fitness, and assuming that neither Brady or Defour will be risked, I'd expect

Heaton
Lowton Tarkowski Mee Ward
JBG Westwood Cork Lennon
Hendrick
Wood or Barnes

Is JBG back in full training post world cup and injury? if so, that's an unexpected bonus.

claretspice

heaton, lowton, tarks, mee, ward, hendrick, lennon, cork, westwood, barnes, wood. Certainly the strongest available and fully fit line up. Playing in a 4-3-3 with Barnes and Lennon wide, it looks pretty strong. Would expect that anyone who has a niggle would be rested, but that team looks the favou...

claretspice

Clucas would be underwhelming, no doubt about that, but I understand why Dyche would want him. He's a solid player who can play in a couple of positions. If Dyche is keeping Hendrick to be a number 10 then we do need another CM who can sit in. Defour and Cork would be first choice with Clucas and W...

claretspice

So you would be happy to pay circa £12m for a 5th CM when we have only 3 CB's and no experienced No 10 I would like to upgrade our CM or wide players but Clucas is not the answer to those scenario's as he is no better than what we have got Add that £12m to the values we place on Dawson or Jay Rod a...

claretspice

Marney and Arfield were considered surplus to requirements - we don't need any cover for them Rubbish. Firstly, Arfield was offered a new deal and rejected it. He wasnt surplus to requirements. Secondly, even if two players were deemed to be beyond their useful life with us, the idea that means we ...

claretspice

Any proof that Hendrick was only dropped because of that? Because in my eyes although Wood came back very strong, he still wasn’t fully fit as some of his lacklustre performances after that strong comeback suggested, and was thrown in at the deep end because of how poor Hendrick was. I think we mus...

claretspice

You don’t agree with me that Arfield was a natural winger? That’s an interesting standpoint to take when he only played centre mid when absolutely necessary and played the majority of his games on the wing. Also in order for there to be 3 CM slots we would have to be looking to sign an attacking mi...

claretspice

Yes. We've got only one "reserve" at centre half (3 for 2 slots) central midfield (4 for 3 slots) and out wide (3 for 2 slots) as it stands.

That's not enough depth. We need one more, ideally, in each of those departments.

claretspice

I said "if and when we go down". All teams bar the top ones do eventually, which is why the top flight now bears so little resemblance to 20 years ago. I don't agree with you on Arfield, but leaving that aside, we've got 4 central midfielders for what may very well be 3 slots, and 3 wingers for what...

claretspice

The difference being that we signed all of those players, except Keane, when we were in the Championship, not when we were about to go into our 3rd successive season in the Premier League and about to contend on more fronts than we ever have before. If and when we go down, the model will have to cha...

claretspice

I swear if we were linked with an Andre Bikey return and a bid for ‘young starlet’ Glenn Whelan some people on this board would be happy. The facts are: • Clucas is not a natural winger, nor a natural 10, he is a central midfielder, not a position I believe we need to strengthen. • According to Hul...

claretspice

Apart from anything else, Grealish doesn't really fit the way that Dyche wants Burnley to play. Strikes me you're running a much bigger argument about what Burnley should try to be, which is well beyond a thread about whether Sam Clucas should be a target. But I'd make three points. Firstly, your ar...

claretspice

If we are going to spend £12m on a player then there is no way he is going to be a “squad player” IMO especially under dyche. Personally think that means he’s our back up for Jay Rod Not sure how you can reach that conclusion when one is broadly speaking, a centre forward - albeit one who can drop ...

claretspice

Wouldn’t mind Clucas. He’s an upgrade on Arfield and can play both wide left and in the centre. My main reservation is signing someone injured. We did that with Wells last season and that didn’t turn out well. If Clucas, Dawson and Rodriguez are the sum of our transfer business you’d think we’ve ad...

claretspice

I said on another thread yesterday that if you look at our squad now against last season, we've lost Arfield, NKoudou and Marney, and are likely to lose Walters given he's seemingly surplus to requirements, from the attacking midfield and wide slots. That's potentially 4 departures from a squad whic...

claretspice

I would have thought the man who Rodriguez would want to make him feel wanted was Dyche, not Garlick. Im not sure the money man is the one whose approach Jay would care about.

claretspice

Just reported £18.5 million for Daley Blind from UTD to Ajax - yet WBA want £20 million for Dawson? Does that add up for anyone else? https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/44831362 Yes. One is a player who is surplus to requirements at his club, the other is a player whose club have no need to sell ...

claretspice

Any specific positions you think? Personally I thought another centre-back, but perhaps SD feels that we have enough cover in the development squad? We are currently 3 players down on last season's squad - Arfield, Marney and Nkoudou - and given it looks like Walters is available, it's arguably 4 (...

claretspice

One of the stories I had in mind yesterday when I commented on Teasdale was a story I read in the Orient to the Emirates book not that long ago, which referred to Derek Gill putting together a consortium to provide finance to the club before the Orient Season. The implication of the story was that T...

claretspice

All Trump has really done - albeit in the most ham-firsted, undiplomatic way possible - is confirm what was already known - you cannot have a free market deal on food stuffs with the EU, and also have one with the US. The regulatory standards required to tie into the EU market on food are much highe...

claretspice

Given that the British Foreign Secretary until this week was Boris Johnson, Im not sure any Brit is in a position to lecture the Europeans on the fitness of their politicians (or to be exact, civil servants) based on theur fondness for women, wine or song. And nor is Johnson unique in that regard am...

claretspice

I watched the Belgians on Tuesday night and Martinez appeared to be getting praised for his innovative "3 at the back in possession, back 4 out of possession" set up, with Chadli playing virtually like a winger in attack, and slotting into a back 4 with Vertongen shuffling to left back when France h...

claretspice

As someone who started watching Burnley after 1987, I never quite knew - and I'm not sure I do now - whether Teasdale was part of the problem, or part of the solution. Some sources give you the distinct impression Teasdale saved the club from the largesse and delusion of the previous regime, others ...

claretspice

Interesting development. You'd imagine we have plans for the fact that Dawson may not happen, because its dragging on a bit and we don't really appear to be getting anywhere. We're talking about two clubs who have form for being extremely stubborn on valuations (whether that's a strength or a weakne...

claretspice

Negative, to all of the above.

Teams experiment when they have a problem that needs fixing.

Our team does not have a problem that needs fixing.

claretspice

The only thing that concerns be is that Henderson for the last 30mins vs Columbia went missing. Leaving huge holes in midfield. If it’s level going into the last 30mins vs Croatia this can not happen. We can’t let Modric/Rakitic have time and space. But we can’t fear them. We have the best center f...

claretspice

Antonio has played on the left. I recall he gave Trippier a tough time against us. The only time Trippier was really up against it from memory. Interesting. I think I recall the game you mean (but I think I missed it) - would be when we played Sheffield Wednesday? I certainly remember people raving...

claretspice

Antonio's record for playing games over his 3 years at West Ham is OK. Broadly 30 league games a season over the first two seasons, albeit before a more disrupted season last season. That's half decent. I have seen a couple of links with Antionio, and you can argue the merits of him as a signing eit...

claretspice

I can tell you in two words why more people do not vote Lib Dem. Proportional representation. Or more accurately, lack of it. In Pendle you might as well throw your ballot slip directly in the dustbin if you want to vote Lib Dem. Fair point in some seats. Not in others though. Lib Dems have already...

claretspice

Perhaps. But its a long time ago now (8 years) and the last 3 years have done plenty to cast that particular government in a better light, whilst other parties have been breaking plenty of promises of their own. I understand why tuition fees were so emotive, but its odd for one policy a junior coali...

claretspice

The party that occupies the centre ground, has a sensible centrist/centre left policy offering, and which offers the best current option on Brexit, i.e. to have another referendum now we've all seen how utterly impossible the exit process is. So that would be the Lib Dems then. Clearly, no one is go...

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