Burnley v Tottenham - Player Ratings

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 7:50 pm

Please leave ratings for all players who have played 20 mins or more.

Scoring is from 3 to 10 as follows:

10 - Out of this World
9 - Excellent
8 - Very Good
7 - Good
6 - Average
5 - Below Par
4 - Poor
3 - Abysmal

taio · Post by **taio** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 7:52 pm

Pope 6
Bardsley 7
Long 4
Mee 5
Taylor 6
Gudmundsson 6
Cork 5
Defour 7*
Arfield 5
Hendrick 5
Wood 6

Barnes 6
Vokes 6

Vegas Claret · Post by **Vegas Claret** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 7:53 pm

everybody 4 other than Defour 7 and Arfield 6

colne-claret · Post by **colne-claret** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 7:53 pm

Pope - 5
Bardsley - 6
Long - 4
Mee - 5
Taylor - 6
JBG - 6
Defour - 6
Cork - 5
Arfield - 5
Hendrick - 4
Wood - 5

Barnes - 6

Bad day at the office. Couple of additions needed in January.

RVclaret · Post by **RVclaret** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:00 pm

Pope 6
Bardsley 5
Long 4
Mee 5
Taylor 6
JBG 5
Defour 7*
Cork 6
Arfield 5
Hendrick 5
Wood 5

Barnes 5

MACCA · Post by **MACCA** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:01 pm

Pope - 7 kept us in the game
Taylor - 6 did ok
Mee - 5 very poor by his standards
Long - 3 wasn't good enough for league 1, or the championship, and looks totally out of his depth in this league. Sad but Augusts failings showed today
Bardsley- 5 wrong option nearly every time. Underdog cup tie style defender.
JBG - 6 set plays were awful
Detour 7 only one that looked like he wanted to be the difference
Cork - 6 off day
Afield - 5 limitations high lighted
Hendrick - 4 is it his 4th or 5th totally ineffective game? Not a number 10, played like a number 2!
Wood - 5 time for Vokes, 4th game where he's been totally gash. Zero input, can't think of 1 chance created or he's tested the GK in the last 4 games minimum.
Barnes 6 tried, but limitations showed

Don't mind when they give their all, but a few can't say that tonight IMO

thelifeofbrian · Post by **thelifeofbrian** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:06 pm

Pope - 7 kept us in the game
Taylor - 6 did ok
Mee - 5 very poor and at fault for Goal 2
Long - 4- out of his depth today
Bardsley- 6 thought he did ok but dosent get forward enough - time for lowton to come back in
JBG - 6 ok
Detour 8 well up for it and worked his socks off
Cork - 6 very quier
Afield - 5 really need another left sided midfielder in the team
Hendrick - 4 not sure why he offers
Wood - 5 looks off the pace
Barnes 6 caused far more issues than woods did.

Blackrod · Post by **Blackrod** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:15 pm

After about 20 mins the result was never in doubt. We were pedestrian, sloppy and predictable.

If anyone doubted our need to buy in the transfer market the evidence was there for all to see. Kane was quality but Alli was just an embarrassment.

Pope 5 awful kicking
Bardsley 5 not a patch on Lowton on this showing
Mee 5
Long 4 not good enough at all
Taylor 6 did ok but not Ward
Cork 5 not up to usual standard
Defour 7 mom stood out again
JBG 6
Arfield 5
Hendrick 4 can't be a 5 and off form every game
Wood 5

Barnes 6

Flat Stanley · Post by **Flat Stanley** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:17 pm

Pope 6 Kicking awful
Bardsley 6 ok
Mee 4 Really Poor by his standards
Long 3 oh dear!
Taylor 7 solid throughout. Growing into the team
Cork 5 off day
Defour 7* Stood out today especially 1st half
JGB 5 lost the ball before 3rd goal. Not having Brady as an attacking threat leaves far too much on his shoulders
Arfield 5 ok in his limited way. Good squad player but should not be starting regularly at this level
Hendrick 4 fail to see what he is offering. Not a number 10 for me
Wood 5 thankless task today
Barnes 6 ok but we need better quality

Spurs were very good but too many players had off days and you can't do that against top teams and expect to get anything. Injuries, suspension and poor transfer activity catching up with us. Done great until now to get so many points on the Board but the gulf in class showed today. It should have been 5 or 6 nil. It's amazing to think we were above them in the table before today. Shows how far we've come

ClaretTony · Post by **ClaretTony** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:18 pm

Pope 5
Bardsley 7
Long 4
Mee 6
Taylor 7
Gudmundsson 5
Defour 7
Cork 5
Arfield 5
Hendrick 5
Wood 5

Barnes 6

upanatem · Post by **upanatem** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:21 pm

Pope 6 No fault with the goals; made some excellent saves; but o/all performance let down by poor kicking at times
Taylor 6 Looks like there could be a player in there; but v hesitant to go forward and put in a cross
Mee 5 Well below his normal standards
Long 4 Baptism of fire; got caught out several times; played into Delli's hands
Bardsley 6 Tough for any defender against quality opposition
JBG 6 His crosses and free kicks needed to be spot on, but not today
Defour 7* Quality in the middle of the park; good passing esp. under pressure; makes it look easy
Cork 6 Not up to his normal high standards
Arfield 5 Huffed and puffed; but not quite there
Hendrick 5 Not his normal position and it showed, esp. against top class opposition
Wood 5 Not much service to him; but no real quality on display
Barnes 6 Always gives 100%; annoyingly looks for too many fouls

CoolClaret · Post by **CoolClaret** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:26 pm

Pope 5
Bardsley 7
Long 4
Mee 4
Taylor 6
Gudmundsson 5
Defour 7
Cork 5
Arfield 5
Hendrick 4
Wood 4

Barnes 6

Dyche 4

The midfield was abysmal, the space to exploit was outwide with them pushing their fullbacks on. Outfought today, we were ****.

KlyBfc · Post by **KlyBfc** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:32 pm

Pope 6- couple of good saves but some woeful kicking
Bardsley 5 As it says in post 1 - below par
Long 3 all at sea
Mee 5
Taylor 6 - up against Eriksen And did ok
Arfield 4
Cork 4
Defour 6 MoM - definitely our best player but only up to his normal standard so an average for me
JBG 4
Hendrick 4
Wood 5

Barnes 6

MDWat · Post by **MDWat** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:33 pm

Pope 6
Bardsley 5
Long 4
Mee 4
Taylor 7
Gudmundsson 4
Defour 7*
Cork 6
Arfield 5
Hendrick 4
Wood 5

Barnes 5

TVC15 · Post by **TVC15** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:39 pm

Some pretty harsh comments / ratings on this thread - have some perspective. We've just been beaten by a Spurs side who beat Real Madrid and probably just gave their best performance in the league this season.

A few of our players found this a really tough game but we did not play that badly and Spurs played very well.

FCBurnley · Post by **FCBurnley** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:45 pm

Pope 5 Couple of saves but kicking was awful
Bardsley 6 tried but exposed
Long 3
Mee 4 Felt sorry for him playing in a one man defense
Tayor 4 Certainly not Ward
JBG 5
Defour 7 * Only claret who looked decent
Cork 3 Lost count of his give aways
Arfield 5 Did his best but not good enough
Hendrick 3 Another no show
Wood 5 ok until injury

Barnes 6 Could easily have won a pen
Tarks 3 for getting a stupid 3 match ban

Totally exposed today and should have lost by more than we did. Not sure how Dyche will avoid defeats at Huddersfield and United. Our small squad not able to cope with the injuries and suspension.

quoonbeatz · Post by **quoonbeatz** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:54 pm

A reality check, to an extent.

Pope - 5 kicking was awful

Bardsley - 6 not bad, not good

Long - 4 no blame for the penalty, it was a blatant dive but apart from that this really wasn't his day against one of the best strikers around

Mee - 5 not great either

Taylor - 6 very much still finding his feet, decent going forward

Cork - 5 lacked options but overpowered in the centre

Defour - 7 our best player yet again bit he couldn't do it on his own

Gudmundsson - 6 best of the attacking players but not enough today

Arfield - 6 average is about right

Hendrick - 5 struggles with us launching it up to him

Wood - 4 poor again

Barnes - 5 should have brought vokes on first to try and hold the ball up.

Not the day to have an off day and the injuries are biting a bit now. That said, you need the officials to do their job and unfortunately, once again, Michael Oliver proves himself nowhere near up to the task. We should have been playing against 10 after 3 minutes, then again after 8 but he got starstruck again.

No excuses, the better side won but they got a lot of help along the way.

kaptin1 · Post by **kaptin1** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 8:55 pm

Pope 7
Bardsley 7
Long 5
Mee 7
Taylor 6
JBG 6
Defour 8*
Cork 6
Arfield 6
Hendrick 4/ Vokes 7
Wood 4 / Barnes 8

RalphCoatesComb · Post by **RalphCoatesComb** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:00 pm

Pope 7
Barnsley 7
Long 5
Mee 5
Taylor 6
Gudmundsson 6
Cork 6
Defour 8 (MOM)
Arfield 5
Hendrick 4
Wood 5

Barnes 6
Vokes 6

Bordeauxclaret · Post by **Bordeauxclaret** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:02 pm

Pope 6
Bardsley 5
Long 4
Mee 4
Taylor 5
Gudmundsson 5
Defour 7*
Cork 6
Arfield 5
Hendrick 3
Wood 5

Barnes 6

PhiladelphiaChris · Post by **PhiladelphiaChris** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:09 pm

Pope 6
Bardsley 7
Long 4
Mee 5
Taylor 7
Gudmundsson 6
Defour 7
Cork 6
Arfield 5
Hendrick 4
Wood 5

Barnes 6

Lowbankclaret · Post by **Lowbankclaret** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:24 pm

Some people need to really give their head a wobble. Our poor players played 11 spurs players and at least two officials tonight. It would have been tough just playing the 11 of spurs. On six minutes it should have been 10 spurs players.

Pope 6 not at fault for any goals. Kicking not the best , but our players reading of some of the long kicks was not the best
Bardsley 7 many times no options for him. Not sure what some expect him to do.
Long 5 played ok alongside Tarks but shown to be a little below what's needed with Mee along side him
Mee 6 hard days work for him today.
Taylor 7 thought he did well today, several times Arfield didn't do his job leaving him exposed .
Gudmundsson 6 bless him , hard day at the office today
Defour 7 showed he is a cut above today
Cork 6
Arfield 5 didn't do the leg work today and left Taylor exposed when in that side.been a really player for us and I would keep him but today they were above his class
Hendrick 5 wrong position which he gets away with normally but today exposed .
Wood 5 didn't do much of note

Barnes 7 tried his best , should have been given a pen , but Oliver is a cheat.

bfcjg · Post by **bfcjg** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:43 pm

Pope 7 extra point for the one on one
Bardsley 7
Long 4
Mee 6
Taylor 6
Gudmundsson 6
Defour 8 only class we had.
Cork 4
Arfield 4
Hendrick 4
Wood 5

Barnes 7

Steve-Harpers-perm · Post by **Steve-Harpers-perm** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:51 pm

Some knee jerk comments after a rare defeats. We were still in the game until the second sloppy goal killed us.

Slurpy · Post by **Slurpy** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:53 pm

Pope 7
Bardsley 5
Long 4
Mee 5
Taylor 7
Gudmundsson 6
Defour 7
Cork 5
Arfield 4
Hendrick 4
Wood 5

Barnes 6

joey13 · Post by **joey13** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 9:55 pm

Pope 5
Bardsley 6
Long 4
Mee 5
Taylor 6
Gudmundsson 6
Defour 7
Cork 5
Arfield 5
Hendrick 3
Wood 4

Barnes 5

Beagleheart · Post by **Beagleheart** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 10:00 pm

Pope 6
Bardsley 7
Mee 6
Long 5
Taylor 6
JBG 6
Cork 5
Defour 7
Hendrick 5
Arfield 6
Wood 6

Barnes 6

First time that we have looked out of our depth for a while. The Christmas period might be a bit of a challenge.

Buxtonclaret · Post by **Buxtonclaret** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 10:04 pm

Pope 6
Bardsley 6
Long 4
Mee 6
Taylor 7
Gudmundsson 5
Defour 7
Cork 5
Arfield 6
Hendrick 5
Wood 5

Barnes 5

Ouch....

Top Claret · Post by **Top Claret** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 10:14 pm

Can't be arsed marking. To many bad performances today. All the back 4 poor. Midfield non existing apart from Defour. Strickers received no service. Goalie was OK

Roosterbooster · Post by **Roosterbooster** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 10:18 pm

Many of these scores are reflective of how well Spurs pressed us. Really put our back 4 under pressure

Pope 5. Worst performance of the season. Poor kicking, poor reading of the game, pulled off a good 1 on 1 save after he was far too slow coming off his line
Bardsley 6. Solid. Gave the ball away quite a bit, but movement was poor
Mee 5. Another worst performance of the season
Long 4. Out of his depth
Taylor 6. Did ok
Cork 5. Just didn’t get involved. Poor touch quite a few times
Defour 7. Easily our best player today. Very intelligent use of the ball over the top second half nearly got Barnes in 3 times
JBG 6. Some nice touches. Ruined by his worst free kick this season
Arfield 5. We are missing Robbie
Hendrick 4. Same as the last 5 weeks. Either play him somewhere else, or don’t play him
Wood 4. Almost a relief he was replaced so early. Very disappointed. The ball never sticks

Barnes 6. Immediate difference. We didn’t necessarily play well when he came on, but we at least looked like their back line had something to think about
Vokes 6. I’d start him. Better in the air than wood. Better touch. More intelligent player. His movement in the box is much better. Wood drifts to the back post and gets lost in 3 defenders. Vokes attacks the middle of the goal. I’m still trying to work out why his goal was disallowed

CrosspoolClarets · Post by **CrosspoolClarets** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 10:34 pm

Pope 5
Bardsley 7
Taylor 6
Long 4
Mee 5
Cork 6
Defour 7
Hendrick 4
Gudmundsson 5
Arfield 6
Wood 5

Barnes 7

Sometimes, you just come across a top side at the top of their game. Everything about them, pressing, passing, finishing (Kane), cheating - all top notch. OK, it’s game 46 in the PL under Dyche where we have gone behind from the first goal and never won, but we’re 7th at Christmas, I’ll let Sean do it his way.

We saw the best and worst of modern football today.

The best - Harry Kane. His desire is a lesson to us all. Even having his own chef.

The worst - well, 5 separate incidents.

1. Kane and Alli free to play with no video evidence used (despite said evidence being convincing) despite Tarkowski (crucially as it turned out) suspended with video evidence for reacting to having his broken hand crushed.
2. Alli then not sent off in the 5th minute for a nasty, reckless challenge.
3. Alli dives, Kane scores. Neither should have been playing. Alli should have had second yellow. Burnley vs 10 men.
4. Barnes doesn’t get clear pen for being elbowed in the head.
5. Vokes disallowed goal with no arms on the keeper.

My point being - if we had video evidence live in football matches, all those five sets of refereeing errors do not occur. Burnley may have got something, maybe not. But I cannot criticise our players today when all that goes against them. What chance do they have? The sooner we have instant video reffing, the better.

claretgimmer · Post by **claretgimmer** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:48 pm

Pope 5 Distribution poor at best
Bardsley 7 OK
Long 4 Needs to be at his very very best against teams like these but was nowhere near good enough
Mee 6 Struggled a bit today
Taylor 6 Did ok but we miss Ward
Gudmundsson 6 showed some good touches but well marshalled generally
Defour 7 Our best player but didn`t have to be brilliant to get that accolade
Cork 5 Out of sorts today
Arfield 5 Gives everything but we just need better
Hendrick 3 Lightweight liability, better options available IMO
Wood 5 Won nothing in the air, not sure he strong enough or tough enough to play as a one up front against the top teams

Barnes 6 Made a difference and gave the Spurs defence something to think about, holds the ball up better than any of our other forwards

Dyche 5 for persisting with the Wood/Hendrick combination which is too lightweight, time to try some other combination

The whole team appeared subdued or maybe it was just the amount of changes but we need 1st choice players back fit ASAP or the Christmas/New Year period will bear no fruit whatsoever.

Onward and upward UTC

DAVETHEVICAR · Post by **DAVETHEVICAR** » Sat Dec 23, 2017 11:57 pm

Pope 6
Bardsley 6
Long 5
Mee 6
Taylor 6
Gudmundsson 6
Cork 6
Defour 7
Hendrick 6
Arfield 6
Wood 5

Barnes 6

superdimitri · Post by **superdimitri** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 12:25 am

Pope 4 - Awful distribution
Bardsley 6 - Too slow but OK defensively.
Long 3 - Naïve. Slow with his feet.
Mee 4 - Usual mistake, bad captaincy.
Taylor 6 - OK but most of their threat was the other side.
Gudmundsson 5 - Over confidence cost us the 3rd.
Defour 7 - Was everywhere attack and defence, probably wondering where the rest of the team went.
Cork 4 - Wasteful and lightweight, odd to see him play so bad.
Arfield 5 - no lack of effort.
Hendrick 3 - needs to be dropped, awful.
Wood 4 - Can't hold the ball.

Barnes 6 - So much better than Wood.

JohnMcGreal · Post by **JohnMcGreal** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 1:38 am

Pope 5
Bardsley 6
Long 4
Mee 5
Taylor 6
Gudmundsson 6
Defour 6
Cork 5
Arfield 5
Hendrick 4
Wood 5

Barnes 5

Bad day at the office for us against a very good Spurs side. We were lucky to get away with a 3-0 defeat in the end.

Wile E Coyote · Post by **Wile E Coyote** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 1:43 am

Defour on the high numbers, No, he was equally useless, this is a bit unfair on the others.

bfcmik · Post by **bfcmik** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 2:30 am

Pope 6
Bardsley 6
Long 5
Mee 6
Taylor 6
Gudmundsson 6
Cork 6
Defour 6
Hendrick 6
Arfield 6
Wood 5

Barnes 6
Vokes 6

No man of the match - we just didn't turn up on the day.

KRBFC · Post by **KRBFC** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 4:42 am

Pope 6
Bardsley 3 just not good enough, makes Lowton look like Dani Alves.
Long 3 everytime he went near the ball he made a mistake.
Mee 5 had no chance playing in a back 4 alongside the two above.
Taylor 6 thought he was decent.
Arfield 3 didnt even notice he was playing, god knows why he wasn't brought off at 0-1.
Cork 5 his worst game in a Burnley shirt but you can't blame him with a number of Championship calibre players around him.
Defour 6 ok
JBG 6 tried and tried nothing came off for him and Bardsley gives no support at all.
Hendrick 4 out of position again, he just isn't an attacking midfield player.
Wood 5 give zero service just aimless hoofs.

ashtonlongsider · Post by **ashtonlongsider** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 7:19 am

Pope 5-Definitely his worst game. Distribution was dreadful.
Bardsley 7-Thought he was one of two players to show any composure.
Long 4-Way out of his depth
Mee 5-Poor by Ben's standards.
Taylor 6-Showed some promise.
Gudmundsson 5-Huffed and puffed but not much quality. Needs to learn when to pass.
Defour 8-Showed his class and experience. Pity no one else was on same wavelength.
Cork 5-Surprised. Didn't do himself any favours on this show with Southgate in the stands.
Arfield 5-Put a shift in but no end product.
Hendrick 3-Sorry I know it's Christmas but I'm baffled what SD sees in him.
Wood 5-Again too isolated but he should be more robust in the challenge, especially in the air.

Barnes 6-Surprised and disappointed he didn't start in place of JH.

Indecisive · Post by **Indecisive** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 8:11 am

Jesus. Some of these are all 3's and 4's.

Really....against one of the top teams in the league with arguably the most in form striker in Europe.

The comment 'who can blame him with championship standard players around him' ....you can only

. Check the league table and our points tally out you whopper.

Tough game, we're obviously feeling a few injuries at the minute, but despite how strong spurs were, they still benefited from some questionable reffing.

We'll probably lose at United though guys.....just prepare yourself for that catastrophic situation.

Or maybe just try and enjoy another fantastic season, stay positive, get behind the team and enjoy the ride

boiledclaret · Post by **boiledclaret** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 9:10 am

Pope 6
Bardsley 6
Taylor 6 (Had to hold rather than get forward due to zero movement in front of him, when he did get forward he looked ok)
Long 5 (His lack of speed of thought and turn of pace at this level were very noticeable, unfortunately)
Mee 6 (Pick of the back 4)
Gud 6
Cork 6
Defour 7*
Hendrick 5
Arfield 6 (Tried to get us moving, limited against this level of opposition)
Subs, Barnes 6 (Started brightly, could have had a pen) Vokes 6

Too many players missing in key positions and it was noticeable. Credit were credits due, they looked a really good side.

HiroshimaClaret · Post by **HiroshimaClaret** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 9:15 am

Didn`t watch it. Haven`t watched it yet, but we do seem to be FAR better set up to play away from home this season. MOST if not ALL our good football has been reserved for away from the Turf.

COME ON YOU MIGHTY CLARETS!!!!!

p.s. the above ratings are scary but about par for what I expected to see before even looking after what you all describe as a `bad day at the office`. The only surprise is that Mee seems to have been dragged down too.

Wood and Hendrick DO seem to need a `rest`.

strayclaret · Post by **strayclaret** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 9:46 am

Pope 6
Bardsley 5
Long 5
Mee 5
Taylor 6
Gudmundsson 6
Defour 6
Cork 5
Arfield 5
Hendrick 4
Wood 6

Barnes 6
Despite Ali’s cheating, beaten by a technically superior team.

Burnleyareback2 · Post by **Burnleyareback2** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 10:15 am

Surprised at the ratings for Taylor, I’d be offering Ward a pay rise this morning.

superdimitri · Post by **superdimitri** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 11:15 am

Burnleyareback2 wrote:Surprised at the ratings for Taylor, I’d be offering Ward a pay rise this morning.

Dyche won't, he even said he did well in the post match interview.

Defour was better than average. Particularly in our best spell, don't think it's unusual at all with that performance to say he's better than average when other players we're abysmal.

Mee worthy of criticism, poor captaincy and bad mistake leading to their goal. If there's one player you don't gift chances to it's Kane.

As for ratings in general it seems there's a few of people who think they should rate players based on how good the opposition is. Shouldn't be like that, certainly not if you want Burnley to be able to compete against them.

I don't care if we play Barcelona, if we play poor we make the other team look good. None of this "the other team was better than us" malarkey here. I want the team to move forward. Playing Tottenham isn't a cup tie anymore.

Lancasterclaret · Post by **Lancasterclaret** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 11:19 am

I think the performance that Spurs put in, and particularly Harry Kane would have beaten all but one team in this division and I think it shows how far we have come and how much other teams respected us that they put that performance in.

We could have been beaten by far more, and the only positive I can take from it is that its a good learning experience for us. I don't think we were on our usual game as well, but a lot of that is down to how well Spurs played and how well they pressurised us.

Pope 5 - kicking was v poor
Taylor 5 - tough game for him
Mee 6 -
Long 5 - never recovered from giving away the pen
Bardsley 6 -
Arfield 5
Cork 5 - completely closed down all the time and just couldn't get going
Defour 6* - busy, but another who had to work really hard just to get a sniff
Hendrick 5
JBG 6
Wood/Barnes 5

Think it wasn't a sending off, think it was a pen and think we were robbed of a goal and a pen, but the better team won tonight and Kane was simply unplayable.

Oh, and Tarks was in the JHU bogs as well at half time.

SalisburyClaret · Post by **SalisburyClaret** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 11:29 am

Pope 5 - poor distribution and pathetic for the penalty
Bardsley 6 - ok
Long 5 - fairly poor but penalty was harsh
Mee 5 - not a good day
Taylor 7 - defensively far better, nothing going forward
Gudmundsson 6 - rubbish set plays
Defour 6 - went missing for a large part of the first half
Cork 7* - competed well throughout often with little help
Arfield 6 - did ok
Hendrick 6 - just not happening
Wood 5 - looks knackered

Barnes 7 - better than Wood.

Claretto · Post by **Claretto** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 11:47 am

quoonbeatz wrote:
Taylor - 6 very much still finding his feet, decent going forward

What exactly did he offer going forward?!

claretspice · Post by **claretspice** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 12:04 pm

Both early decisions could have gone either way, as could the later two decisions to disallow a goal and not award burnley a penalty, but for all we were unlucky with decisions there's no doubting that the superior team dominated the game and won deservedly. Even had the game been 11 v 10 after 6 minutes, there's no guaranteeing that Spurs in that mode wouldn't have won regardless.

Pope - 5 - A good double save in the first half, but I thought that had he been more decisive he'd have been able to come out and sweep up ahead of Sissoko regardless, and his kicking throughout was awful and put us on the back post (even if the wind, and a succession of back passes inside the width of the post, didn't make it a straightforward evening).

Bardsley - 6 - Used his experience to decent effect to bail Long out a few times, but his distribution was ragged and we lacked the greater quality that Lowton adds in that department, and indeed on the overlap, where his tendency to underlap rather than overlap deprived him, and to a large extent, Gudmundsson, of effectiveness on the rare occasions that we did get on the front foot.

Long - 4 - Exposed, unkindly, as raw, naïve and lacking in the finesse of a Premier League defender against top half opposition. The penalty might have been contentious, but the defending was stupid, and all night long his lack of anticipation of movement at this level was exposed, as was his lack of comfort in possession (the third goal resulting from an ill-conceived pass into Gudmundsson). If there was doubt that another centre back needs to be on our January shopping list then that will presumably now have been dispelled - Long isn't the long term replacement for either Tarks or Mee.

Mee - 5 - Did Ok for the most part, but one really sloppy error gifted Spurs their second goal at a time in the game when (although still second best) we were getting a toe hold again.

Taylor - 6 - Coped better than any of the rest of the back 4, and produced a couple of neat, arcing deliveries.

Cork - 5 - Kept on battling, but hussled out of it by Spurs' midfield and generally well below his best. If Dyche had been minded to make a change at 1-0 down, Cork off for a striker would probably have been the right reflection on the performance of our midfielders.

Defour - 7 - The best Burnley player on show, always willing to run and prompt, but picked up a needless yellow for dissent (no one now doubts he cares) and in the first half butchered our best chance of an equaliser by picking out the wrong ball: Wood was always second favourite against Lloris at the near post, and injured himself in the process, whereas a simple pull back to Arfield would have taken the keeper out of the equation and given Arfield a tap in from 8 yards. Hard to imagine it would have been overlooked had Arfield Hendrick or even Brady been the culprit.

Hendrick - 5 - Struggles in games like these where we have so little of the ball and has to spend time battling for what little ball comes his way with his back to goal, but he still produced the only two incisive passes of the first 60 minutes from a Burnley player and I thought he outshone Cork whenever he got a chance with the ball at his feet.

Arfield - 5 - Struggled to be an influence on the game going forwards, although as above ought to have been presented with a gilt-edged chance of an equaliser. Worked hard but never really in the game defensively.

JBG - 4 - He's been excellent recently, but he barely made a positive contribution in this game and his set pieces were well below their best. His partnership with Bardsley is nowhere near as effective as that with Lowton.

Wood - 5 - No great opportunity to impress whilst on the pitch, but he doesn't hold the ball as well as either Barnes or Vokes on days when we need him to battle against 2 or 3 defenders whilst we get up to join him.

Barnes - 5 - Held the ball better and gave us more of an outlet than Wood, might have had a pen, but he was too careless too often.

Vokes - 5 - Too late when he came on, but did OK and appeared unlucky not to be given his goal, although that's the sort of thing that too often gets disallowed these days.

Alli might have cheated, but the fact remains that Spurs were too good for us, as they were at our place last season. They're a team that does the basics better than anyone else in the league - they press the ball sensationally well, work as a team brilliantly and are superbly organised. In other words, they're a better version of us, and that means they're a tough outfit for us to play against even at our best.

We were well below our best as it turned out, and the injuries and suspensions we've got very much caught up with us. In the face of Spurs' pressing, we needed our passing from the back to be at its most crisp and accurate, and we massively missed the greater quality Lowton and Tarks have on the ball over Bardsley and Long. Taylor did fine, but he's still bedding in and can't be expected to know our movements as intimately as Ward does yet. That, combined with the fact Cork chose this night to have an off night, meant we were simply overwhelmed by the quality of Spurs' pressing.

We can expect more of this - earlier in the season we struggled with teams sitting deep against us at Burnley until our midfield found its groove, and that's now Stoke and Spurs who have identified that a high press can hem Burnley back in, and leave us with no option but to try and hit one isolated striker who is miles away from is teammates. That's where some more pace in the team would help us immensely, as well as that greater composure in possession at the back. Lowton and Tarkowski can't be back soon enough.

Spijed · Post by **Spijed** » Sun Dec 24, 2017 12:10 pm

claretspice wrote:They're a team that does the basics better than anyone else in the league - they press the ball sensationally well, work as a team brilliantly and are superbly organised.

Begs the question as to why they aren't doing much better than are in the Prem.