32% possession !

[jojomk1]

Against Huddersfield, and at home - can you believe it

Our midfield is becoming almost nonexistent, happy to sit a few yards in front of the back four and just cover all spaces
No strength in tackles, no height in heading duels, little forward passing

And all this leads to, is the old Dyche tactic of hoof balls up to a static front two

We have to try and get a grip in this key area where we can control our own destiny rather than hope to get the ball back from an opposition mistake

A midfield of five surely has to be looked at again

[taio]

It was dreadful yesterday. If we had 32% of the ball over the 98 mins I'd hate to think what our possession was
in the second half. We played like we were bottom of the league playing away from home.

[Aclaret]

But how can we have possession when the ball is in the air most of the time ?

[taio]

But how can we have possession when the ball is in the air most of the time ?

That's the point I suppose. But it was more than that yesterday. Cannot understand why we played so deep in the second half inviting them to come onto us. If there was ever a game in the PL to try to take control of the game and be braver it was yesterday. The Wood substitution said it all to me - really poor decision in my view.

[paulatky]

I had a big bet on relegation at 7/2 on Thursday with SkyBet.

After yesterday odds have tumbled to 15/8.

[gawthorpe_view]

Add to that, 60% passing success rate compared to Hudds 80%.

[taio]

Add to that, 60% passing success rate compared to Hudds 80%.

Didn't know that. Explains a lot. Dreadful stat.

[Rileybobs]

I noticed the passing statistic. Appalling at this level. We can’t play when teams press us, something only Defour and to a lesser extent Hendrick have in their locker. What was more disappointing is that we didn’t bother to close down Huddersfield with anywhere near the intensity they did to us.

[kaptin1]

Add to that, 60% passing success rate compared to Hudds 80%.

60%? I’m surprised it was that high...

[MRG]

But how can we have possession when the ball is in the air most of the time ?

The same way that Hudds did

[taio]

The same way that Hudds did

Only problem with that is it's wrong.

[CrosspoolClarets]

Huddersfield flooded the middle which meant all our play had to go wide, but with our two midfielders not pushing on, and our front two being marshalled by three players (including Hogg in defensive midfield) it meant invariably we had only the fullback and winger to try to make inroads, and invariably they lost the ball. The other times we hoofed it with a notable reluctance to play it around the back to lure Huddersfield out of their shape. When we did play it around the back, Mee in particular had a panic attack, such as the one where he presented them with an open goal and Tarks got back to do an amazing block.

Tactically it was a calamity, we needed more movement in midfield so Hendrick for Vokes would have been a good half time change, though I accept Sam had two good chances and a possible penalty. To be fair to Dyche though, some of his players are a shadow of themselves at present, whatever formation he plays. He needs to focus on passing on the training ground.

[Silkyskills1]

Nobody seems to want the ball. Always thought that was a pre-requisite of any footballer to want the ball. Results continue to flatter us. More than half the league games played we've ended up with far more than the scoreline suggests. The manager puts his own 'spin' on performances,highlighting miniscule parts of our performance and I can understand that. Any manager would do the same. However, the bigger picture is one of a team and manager going backwards in possibly the most unforgiving league there is.

[alwaysaclaret]

Against Huddersfield, and at home - can you believe it

Our midfield is becoming almost nonexistent, happy to sit a few yards in front of the back four and just cover all spaces
No strength in tackles, no height in heading duels, little forward passing

And all this leads to, is the old Dyche tactic of hoof balls up to a static front two

We have to try and get a grip in this key area where we can control our own destiny rather than hope to get the ball back from an opposition mistake

A midfield of five surely has to be looked at again

I've just been thinking exactly the same but would be difficult while there is no defour and no Brady, cos would simply leave us with no midfield options from the bench but as you say we're simply overrun, but couldn't have put points better myself, and needs to change and fast, is dyche the man to take us forward right now, not sure quite honestly.

[jojomk1]

I've just been thinking exactly the same but would be difficult while there is no defour and no Brady, cos would simply leave us with no midfield options from the bench but as you say we're simply overrun, but couldn't have put points better myself, and needs to change and fast, is dyche the man to take us forward right now, not sure quite honestly.

Nothing personal 'alwaysaclarert', but the Defour/Brady excuse is now becoming a bit of a bore

These guys were injured last season and should have been covered in the summer - and that is why we only had 32% of the ball yesterday

[Stayingup]

Said it a long time ago. Since the first half against Leicester at home last season we have been outplayed in midfield every game. What did we do about It? Let two midfielders go and didn't bring any in.

[evensteadiereddie]

I thought we were poor tactically yesterday.
Vokes had missed a sitter, he then scored and Huddersfield were dreadful at the back and there for the taking.
Our solution ? Sit deep, invite them to play, increase their confidence ten-fold and damn near lose the game which we probably deserved to do anyway.
It's games like these where you really do need to press home any advantage you have. Two invaluable points chucked away.

[paulatky]

We could and should have been 3-1 down at half time if they had had any quality in the final 1/3rd

[Yeovil1951]

After Vokes scored in the 20th min our stats were Shots 2 On Target 2 after Huddersfield scored in the 66th min our stats were Shots 2 On Target 2 46 min without a shot on goal When we should have tried to bury them not Defend

[Top Claret]

No excuses yesterdays performance was has awful as the stats suggest.
We needed to go into the international break with a win to give us a larger cushion against the bottom 3 with tough games coming up. We only briefly took the game to Huddersfield in the 1st half, other than that we played like an away side at Anfield

[jojomk1]

My real worry is that, given the make up of our current squad (injuries aside), these possession stats will likely not improve
Central midfield is too lightweight to get away with just two in there
It's a long time till Jan 1st

[summitclaret]

What's 1st jan got to do with anything? Its probably too late to attract the quality we need. We failed in the last 2 windows when our stock was the highest it has ever been in pl terms.

Besides the earliest anyone would come would be the end of jan. As usual.

Never mind, records with show another record annual surplus.

[Vino blanco]

We were tactically outthought yesterday, playing a poor team. They flooded midfield and pushed up on our weak two midfielders,leaving us trying to hit the wings, where Lennon was useless again. They had 28 unchallenged crosses into our box according to motd. Time to drop Lennon and bring in Hendrick/Defour to midfield.

[claretspice]

You can make a decent argument that after half time, Lennon was a more potent threat than JBG. Twice in the second half he created good chances - the first when he got down the wing and pulled back to JBG (whose shot was scuffed, but Vokes nearly turned it in), and the second when he pulled back to Westwood, whose shot was well blocked. He and JBG did fine yesterday with the scraps they got in attack, but it was only scraps.

But - there's no doubt we looked tactically short yesterday. As others have said, Hudds played something very close to a 3-4-2-1, and the net result was that Cork and Westwood were outgunned in the centre, and Barnes and Vokes were outgunned when we went centrally. Really, what we needed was either a third genuine central midfielder to help us gain control in that area of the pitch, or a second striker willing to come short and get involved in the hurly burly in midfield (which Barnes will happily do) but also with the ability to pull wide and exploit the space that was clearly there behind the Huddersfield full backs.

Funnily enough, I don't particularly want us to have lots of the ball against teams like Huddersfield. I remember us going away to WBA a couple of years ago and having lots of it, then finding we could break WBA down and being 4-0 down at half time because we'd been sucker punched. So I've no real worry about the possession stat per se - although below 40% is taking that thought to the extreme - nor indeed the fact that at times we retreated to two banks of four deep in our own half. What I am worried about is the fact that we didn't seem to give ourselves any way of breaking out of that shape to cause Hudds a real problem, or certainly not often enough.

[Vino blanco]

That's your opinion, I thought Lennon was crap.

[claretspice]

That's your opinion, I thought Lennon was crap.

You can have an opinion, that's fine.

But you can't argue that Lennon created the two chances I cited, because its a fact. It is also commonly accepted that we struggled to gain a platform yesterday to launch attacks, which presumably has to be taken into account in mitigation when debating either winger's performance.

[jojomk1]

I thought Lowton and JBG combined well in the 1st half resulting in crosses coming in from the right for the great chance that Vokes missed, and then the excellent header for the goal. What happened to them in the second half I don't understand, other than the tactics employed by the manager of sitting the whole midfield too deep
On the other side I thought Lennon and Taylor were quite simply woeful and I certainly don't remember Lennon getting any crosses in (anybody got a video of these ?)

[beddie]

It's going to get tougher as we progress. We need to bring in a top quality midfielder and forward, it will require big bucks so if I was SD I would tell the Chairman now what's going to be required, that way they the (Board) have had ample time to prepare, if they don't back him then the writings on the wall. One things for sure the current squad even with Defour and Brady back will struggle to stay up.

[taio]

That's your opinion, I thought Lennon was crap.

He was certainly below par but to be fair to him obviously wasn't on his own. We saw against Bournemouth he can still perform well but I'm afraid it's unlikely we're going to see enough of that. Inconsistency is common with natural wingers I suppose.

[IndigoLake]

It's pathetic, it really is. I'm not saying we're suddenly Man City and should be caning teams at home but we were playing a team with only 2 points that's struggling to score goals. At home against a team so out of form we should be going for it - not sitting back and letting them dictate the whole game. We were fortunate not to lose - again.

[BabylonClaret]

I thought Lowton and JBG combined well in the 1st half resulting in crosses coming in from the right for the great chance that Vokes missed, and then the excellent header for the goal. What happened to them in the second half I don't understand, other than the tactics employed by the manager of sitting the whole midfield too deep
On the other side I thought Lennon and Taylor were quite simply woeful and I certainly don't remember Lennon getting any crosses in (anybody got a video of these ?)

They heavily marked out JGB so cut the outlet. And they didnt really push a lot of men forward so we couldnt counter with long passing. Except in the final 10 when huddersfield actually had a go at winning the game.

The point that crosspool makes about passing round the back is a good one. We should have been able to draw them out as they were behind but we are struggling there.

Iy was crying out for an extra bit of beef i the middle- the Wood sub was bizarre.

[BabylonClaret]

It's pathetic, it really is. I'm not saying we're suddenly Man City and should be caning teams at home but we were playing a team with only 2 points that's struggling to score goals. At home against a team so out of form we should be going for it - not sitting back and letting them dictate the whole game. We were fortunate not to lose - again.

Exactly. The worrying thing is that in the last couple of games we have failed to keep a clean sheet despite both these sides scoring less than 1 in 2 until playing us.

We are also failing to create a lot to balnce this.

[IndigoLake]

Exactly. The worrying thing is that in the last couple of games we have failed to keep a clean sheet despite both these sides scoring less than 1 in 2 until playing us.

We are also failing to create a lot to balnce this.

Yes, good point. We used to be able to rely on our defence to win us games - we can't do that anymore. Because while we're capable of scoring the odd goal, we're not keeping too many clean sheets. We cannot continue to hang in games hoping to repel every attack because unless there's a remarkable upturn in player performances, we're going to be in trouble.

I don't think anybody is debating that 7 points from the last 3 games is a good return. However, I think fans are being quite observant in pointing out that despite this good return, all is not as well as it seems. Play as we've played in the last couple of league games (or the cup game) against a better side and we'll be in for a hiding, of that I'm sure.

[FactualFrank]

One things for sure the current squad even with Defour and Brady back will struggle to stay up.

Certainly not sure for me. I think Defour back will improve us ten fold.

[bfcjg]

Since Dyche signed his new contract it is fair to say nobody in the Prem or top championship club would touch him with a barge pole such is his appalling record. I was concerned when he didn't dis the Everton story, I think the players lost something for him then. IMHO.

[burnleymik]

Lennon is good going forward, but if we are playing defensive tactics he will always struggle IMO, where as JBG is more of a work horse and tracks back more with tackles and interceptions IMO. We are lucky he can do both very well.

The midfield were definitely outgunned, but we didn't help by constantly belting it over their heads. How many times did Vokes win the header from the long ball only for us to immediately get beaten to the 2nd ball?

First 5 minutes of the match we were closing them down everywhere and were having success with it, then once they got on top we never went back to that, just the same thing of winning it at the back and hoofing it long to the front men, losing it and rinse-repeat. We made them look good and it was only their lack of clinical finishing that was the difference.

We have gotten the results this season in spite of our performances and ridden our luck a lot. The difference in a number of games has been our Keeper and some last gasp defending.

Not sure we can keep riding that luck, I think Sean has to make some changes and quickly.

[KRBFC]

I thought we were poor tactically yesterday.
Vokes had missed a sitter, he then scored and Huddersfield were dreadful at the back and there for the taking.
Our solution ? Sit deep, invite them to play, increase their confidence ten-fold and damn near lose the game which we probably deserved to do anyway.
It's games like these where you really do need to press home any advantage you have. Two invaluable points chucked away.

Sit deep and keep launching it onto the head of big 6ft 5 slow central defenders, while the entire midfield play as defenders and the strikers are simply there to head away defensive set pieces and battle for freekicks from aimless long balls. Fantastic tactics producing fantastic football, what a great manager we have.

[Steve-Harpers-perm]

Sit deep and keep launching it onto the head of big 6ft 5 slow central defenders, while the entire midfield play as defenders and the strikers are simply there to head away defensive set pieces and battle for freekicks from aimless long balls. Fantastic tactics producing fantastic football, what a great manager we have.

Like a scratched record.

[KRBFC]

Like a scratched record.

If I see s***, I call it s***, i'm probably a scratched record because I have been watching the same crapball for a long long time.

[Ooogeorgeorgeoghani]

I thought Lowton and JBG combined well in the 1st half resulting in crosses coming in from the right for the great chance that Vokes missed, and then the excellent header for the goal. What happened to them in the second half I don't understand, other than the tactics employed by the manager of sitting the whole midfield too deep
On the other side I thought Lennon and Taylor were quite simply woeful and I certainly don't remember Lennon getting any crosses in (anybody got a video of these ?)

I agree lowton had a great first half , Taylor and Lennon not quite clicking yet

[Ooogeorgeorgeoghani]

Since Dyche signed his new contract it is fair to say nobody in the Prem or top championship club would touch him with a barge pole such is his appalling record. I was concerned when he didn't dis the Everton story, I think the players lost something for him then. IMHO.

Don't think he would ever lose the respect of the players , I get the impression he is very honest with his players and that breeds respect itself

[Granny WeatherWax]

Tactics don’t help us at all. If you can be bothered look at individual pass completion rate from yesterday and Cardiff. Only cork comes out with any credit.

[Granny WeatherWax]

Top 6 should be

Lennon/brady defour cork Hendrick JBG
Vydra

We’d likely see more of the ball then but would have to pass it as opposed to hoof it.

[box_of_frogs]

Like a scratched record.

Sadly correct though.