Where is he?

In hindsight we would of been better spending this afternoon looking for him than watching the game.

Really being missed at the moment.

Missing Ward isn't the reason we're losing games.

Massive miss because Taylor is simply not good enough. Bad situation when he has to be one of the first names on the team sheet.

Murger wrote:Missing Ward isn't the reason we're losing games.

Murger is back

Go on, what is the reason why we are losing games? Bang average championship players?

The Stephen Ward that’s 34 next year ? Surely it’s time we moved on ?
Problem is Dyche signed, as his replacement, an absolute duffer. I sense a theme here.

NL Claret wrote:Murger is back

Go on, what is the reason why we are losing games? Bang average championship players?

Haha, stalker is back. Do you think Wards injury is the reason we are dogger?

Murger wrote:Haha, stalker is back. Do you think Wards injury is the reason we are dogger?

Great to have you back on the board and could not resist a nibble.

In answer to your question, no. I think we have a team of championship players who are easily found out. Yourself?

NL Claret wrote:

Great to have you back on the board and could not resist a nibble.

In answer to your question, no. I think we have a team of championship players who are easily found out. Yourself?

Dyche to put it bluntly. These are his players and his tactics.

I actually thought our current left back was one of the better players today (along with Gibson), not hard I know, but when you have to take into consideration the dreadful,shambolic,idiotic,pathetic, couldn't give two sh!ts performance of Mee, Taylor was basically doing the job of two people today and it isn't the 1st time this season it's happened

THEWELLERNUT70 wrote:I actually thought our current left back was one of the better players today (along with Gibson), not hard I know, but when you have to take into consideration the dreadful,shambolic,idiotic,pathetic, couldn't give two sh!ts performance of Mee, Taylor was basically doing the job of two people today and it isn't the 1st time this season it's happened

As much as every man and dog always quote him as being one of our better players we:

Pretty much always lose when he plays and
Conceded the first important goal after 1 minute when he gives them a needless corner

He’s a championship player

Taylor played well today covering for others but he’s no wingback and struggled as an attacking full back

Ward has been an absolutely massive miss this season but if we’re going to play with 5 at the back the system needs wingbacks - we have around 2 weeks to buy some if they’re to have an impact this season

Unfortunately it’s not going to happen

Hibsclaret wrote:As much as every man and dog always quote him as being one of our better players we:

Pretty much always lose when he plays and
Conceded the first important goal after 1 minute when he gives them a needless corner

He’s a championship player

Name me one player in our starting 11 today this isn't a championship player!?

Taylor was one of our best players today he isn't the issue

bumba wrote:Taylor was one of our best players today he isn't the issue

He wasn't and it is one of the issues. Stephen Ward is proving to be a massive miss.

Staggering that some people think Taylor was the best or even one of the best players today. He was shocking but of course not on his own.

ClaretTony wrote:He wasn't and it is one of the issues. Stephen Ward is proving to be a massive miss.

None of our current full backs can play in a 5. Don’t have the pace and that includes Ward.

Taylor was awful today - like the rest of the team. But I do think we have missed Ward a lot this year and part of that is because Taylor is (at this stage) not good enough for this league. He gets out of position a lot, loses his man and cannot cross a ball....for a full back that’s a bit of a problem !

Where in the League would we be had Ward not been injured ? The longer he is out the better he becomes ...would his presence have improved the woeful stuff the other 10 serve up weekly ?

ClaretTony wrote:He wasn't and it is one of the issues. Stephen Ward is proving to be a massive miss.

He must of made at least three last minute tackles from other people's mistakes an was the only one trying to get down the line and attack.

If we want to attack a full back today it's Lowton his performance would of been criticised on a Sunday up towneley

randomclaret2 wrote:Where in the League would we be had Ward not been injured ? The longer he is out the better he becomes ...would his presence have improved the woeful stuff the other 10 serve up weekly ?

To be fair he is comfortably better than Taylor, so he may have improved us a little but ultimately it’s shuffling deckchairs on a sinking ship.

randomclaret2 wrote:Where in the League would we be had Ward not been injured ? The longer he is out the better he becomes ...would his presence have improved the woeful stuff the other 10 serve up weekly ?

It's down to multiple factors and our left back is just one of the reasons. I think those who think Ward is missed rated him very highly while he was playing because he's been excellent for us. Whether he will be again remains to be seen.

bumba wrote:Name me one player in our starting 11 today this isn't a championship player!?

Tarkowski.

FactualFrank wrote:Tarkowski.

League Two performance today

Pimlico_Claret wrote:League Two performance today

I assumed he meant the player full stop, not on today's performance. Just the player overall.

FactualFrank wrote:I assumed he meant the player full stop, not on today's performance. Just the player overall.

Overall, as most of our team, top end Championship.

Taylor is barely Championship standard, million miles away from Ward and along with Hart never even attempting to catch a cross, a key reason why we are stuffed.

jedi_master wrote:Taylor is barely Championship standard, million miles away from Ward and along with Hart never even attempting to catch a cross, a key reason why we are stuffed.

Who signed them both (at considerable cost) ?

SkiptonClaret wrote:Who signed them both (at considerable cost) ?

You’re preaching to the converted on that one, both shocking signings.

jedi_master wrote:Taylor is barely Championship standard, million miles away from Ward and along with Hart never even attempting to catch a cross, a key reason why we are stuffed.

He was regarded as one of Leeds best players and none of their supporters thought any different, likewise Wood.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Spijed wrote:He was regarded as one of Leeds best players and none of their supporters thought any different, likewise Wood.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

In the Championship.

Spijed wrote:He was regarded as one of Leeds best players and none of their supporters thought any different, likewise Wood.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing!

People will judge based on what they have seen from those two at Burnley which of course involves doing so after the event.

jedi_master wrote:In the Championship.

But how can you tell if any player from the Championship is guaranteed to make the step-up?

Same for every club in the PL who sign players from the level below.

taio wrote:People will judge based on what they have seen from those two at Burnley which of course involves doing so after the event.

But taking any player from the Championship is always going to be a risk. Bournemouth have done alright with a similar policy. We did last season.

Spijed wrote:But taking any player from the Championship is always going to be a risk. Bournemouth have done alright with a similar policy. We did last season.

What's that got to do with supporters judging based on their actual performances for us?

Taylor is a Championship level player. He has to think too much.
A good fb would have just given them the throw in. That is not an isolated incident though. Whenever he is put under pressure his head goes walkabout.
As said above our record with him in the side is abysmal. If Ward isnkt fit for any time we need a new lb

Spijed wrote:But how can you tell if any player from the Championship is guaranteed to make the step-up?

Same for every club in the PL who sign players from the level below.

I don’t get paid to make those decisions, but if we scouted Taylor and thought he was worth £6m and was ready for this league then we were negligent in all aspects of the transfer.

On a pound for pound basis, possibly our worst ever signing as I would assume at a high cost he is probably earning around half a million pounds a year from us,. Over a four year contract with signing on fee and bonuses we are talking in the region of a £10m outlay for a player who’s current value would be a tenth of that at most. People talk like he’s some kid as well, he’s 26 in 2019.

You think Taylor is only on £10,000 a week ?

randomclaret2 wrote:You think Taylor is only on £10,000 a week ?

I went low - if I went higher it would make me even more miffed.

Fair dos Jedi

Imagine thinking not playing finished players like Heaton and Ward is the reason we’re being pumped at home by Everton.

There’s one man, who dictates transfer targets, team selections and tactics - and he’s stood on the touchline every game.

Hopes this helps.

taylor was decent today and, although it isn't saying much, he was the pick of the defence.

ward was poor long before he got injured and is a bit old to be our saviour now.

left back isn't where our problem lies, he's currently one of our best performers. if anything its the guy to his right that's been the biggest issue this season.

Taylor started by needless giving a corner away by mis- controlling, which ultimately led to the first goal. His afternoon didn’t get a whole lot better.

taio wrote:Massive miss because Taylor is simply not good enough. Bad situation when he has to be one of the first names on the team sheet.

Taylor always looks reasonably good to me, certainly no worse than the rest!.......although i only see games on T.V.

Taffy on the wing wrote:Taylor always looks reasonably good to me, certainly no worse than the rest!.......although i only see games on T.V.

Fair enough. But I think he's below the standard we need. Poor defending today when he conceded the corner which led to the first goal. Which was obviously crucial so early in the game.

Just read the first post about Ward. Taylor was our best mon today and looking at the squad he is our only player who as pace who can attack the flanks, and hurt the opposition.

The new system suits his style. Hendrick and Barnes were static and did not give him options, every time he looked up to feed the channels the pair of em did not have the brains to make a move.

In the context of the entire game Taylor was way off being our worst performer.

The early corner he conceded was diabolically lax - but so was our realisation of the short corner, not for the first time this season.

Top Claret wrote:Just read the first post about Ward. Taylor was our best mon today and looking at the squad he is our only player who as pace who can attack the flanks, and hurt the opposition.

The new system suits his style. Hendrick and Barnes were static and did not give him options, every time he looked up to feed the channels the pair of em did not have the brains to make a move.

Best man really? The bloke is an absolute waste of space in a premier league team.

The last thing you do is give a corner away in the first minute. That is the reason we are one down immediately. Absolutely clueless.

Tell me the last time he got a decent cross into the box. I’ll remind you....it was against Aberdeen (a team that is at his level)

bumba wrote:Name me one player in our starting 11 today this isn't a championship player!?

Taylor was one of our best players today he isn't the issue

Hart 60 odd caps
Tarky capped by England
Gibson yet to prove it fully but I reckon he is
Lowton. This is about his 4th or 5th season in the prem at least
Mee 4th season in the prem

So basically all the defence are prem players except Taylor who has 4 prem wins on his cv

A fit Steven Ward was invaluable to Burnley in the Championship (remember we went on that 30 game unbeaten run).

His adaptation was seamless in the Premier and until his injuries effected his performances last season he was performing very well.

I for one would welcome his return with interest despite his age.

It's time to write off Ward and Defour. They won't get back to PL fitness levels again any time soon and in Ward's case he's probably too old anyway. In fact, we've got a full rebuild to start going off today's shambles!! Might as well get Nahki back from QPR and start planning for Rovers away next season.

jedi_master wrote:Taylor is barely Championship standard, million miles away from Ward and along with Hart never even attempting to catch a cross, a key reason why we are stuffed.

Can’t disagree with that and those are the two key changes to the team