Its not points its the way you play

[Woodleyclaret]

The word according to Pep
Cloughie used to say most fans dont care if its a 1-0 as long as you win.Huddersfield try to be entertaining but get spanked.Personally I go for Seans pragmatism,every point is a good point in the Premier League, but like Barnsey I am still seething about another crap refs blunder that took a potential win away UTC

[Colburn_Claret]

I tend to worry when we are not playing well, but can live with a poor result if we have put in a good performance. Not because I want the beautiful game, more that I know if we keep playing well the results will come, so there's nothing to worry about.

[wickdkewlclaret]

Entertainment all the way for me. I don’t mind the result as long as we have created chances and had a real go, and have got something to be proud of.

I’ve left the Turf before now after winning 1-0 thinking ‘that was shite.’

[tiger76]

Strange Pep's saying this now City are on a poor run,it does help when he has the riches of Silva,De Bruyne,Mahrez among others to select from.

At this stage of the season for teams around the bottom 3,results are the be all and end all.

[mdd2]

Unfortunately it is POINTS after the start we had. We have dropped 2 points at home against Huddersfield, 3 against Newcastle, 2 yesterday against Southampton and it is dropping points against your rivals in the drop zone that matters most. We have picked up 5 points at home from the five in the mix with us, namely Hudders, Fulham, Soton and Newcastle with Cardiff to play and this looks like it will be a massive game. In 2009-10 we managed 6 points at home beating WHU and Hull, losing to Wigan Wolves and Pompey and in 16-17 we picked up 10 from the home fixtures against the 5 in the scrap with us and 8 when relegated in 2014-15.
We are however presently playing better than our two relegation seasons, but at the moment sh+t performances with 3points/game will do for me.
Finally on this occasion if relegated by less than 6 points, the officials in the last 3 games will have relegated us-woeful the lot of them, but no the ref, the referees assistants. Ironic too that VAR is likely to have given us those points. Not sure how many it would have lost us

[Corky]

Entertainment all the way for me. I don’t mind the result as long as we have created chances and had a real go, and have got something to be proud of.

I’ve left the Turf before now after winning 1-0 thinking ‘that was shite.’

I'm sorry but that is just plain weird.

We play to our strengths but need to get results. The illogic of your view is that if Man Utd had managed to get a third goal you would have left Old Trafford happy. Really. I would have been furious which would have completely overshadowed how well we had played.

[IndigoLake]

If we're going to lose, I'd rather we lose trying to play good football. Of course, I'd rather we win playing ugly than lose playing pretty football. Much of this season we were losing while playing some abysmal stuff. I'm just glad we're picking up points now. I also think that despite our reputation for hoofing it, we're quite capable of playing a mix of football.

[scouseclaret]

Easy to say when you can afford some of the world’s best players, but the fact is, at a club like City , if you don’t put the points on the board and win trophies, you won’t last long no matter how easy on the eye.

We played some fantastic football in the Championship and it’s one of the reasons I have no fear of going back there, but for choice I’d rather see us continue to scrap it out at the top level.

[ArmchairDetective]

10 years ago if someone offered Burnley to have a chance of becoming an established Premier League side I’d have bit their arm off. Not a chance would I give up that for the sake of watching us play more exciting football.

At the moment points are all that matter.

[ElectroClaret]

POINTS....EVERY....DAY....OF....THE....WEEK.

[LeadBelly]

Agree with scouseclaret. A modicum of targeting playing pretty stuff is reserved for the few elite teams who can afford to buy the very top players with all the skills.
All the rest are battling to find a way of winning by any means they can (hopefully within the rules).

Supporters' views will vary on their personalities to some degree but I'm a pragmatist. I played 100s of games of footy/cricket/rugby/racket sports etc, etc. Every time I played, my thought was to try and win and I never gave a thought to being aesthetically pleasing.

How many teams have a pay structure offering win bonuses v how many teams have a "playing pretty" bonus?

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Wins are all that matters.
It doesn't matter how we do it, long ball, pretty football, direct football... Whichever works.

If you'd be happy watching us play pretty football and still lose then you've got some problems.

[biggles]

last ten games of the season, if you need points to avoid relegation then, for me, it's points all the way, too.
in some way perhaps the attractive football is for the spectator's pleasure and the points for the club's benefit?

[Rumbletonk]

The word according to Pep
Cloughie used to say most fans dont care if its a 1-0 as long as you win.Huddersfield try to be entertaining but get spanked.Personally I go for Seans pragmatism,every point is a good point in the Premier League, but like Barnsey I am still seething about another crap refs blunder that took a potential win away UTC

Exactly how I look at it.

What he says is also true but only if you manage at Barca, Bayern Munich and Man City

[EarbyClaret]

Points. At this stage of the season, in order to get them when things aren't going your way, you need to be able to change things around. Yesterday we had genuine options from the bench and salvaged a massive point from an unpromising situation.

I can't think of a PL team better set-up than we are to make maximum us of Peter Crouch's attributes. If you take yesterday's game, Vokes off the bench and we almost certainly don't equalise.

The way we are playing now, like last season, we're going to be competitive in most if not all games. That ability to steadily pick-up points, even in games where on paper we should be second best, will hopefully be enough to see us over the line.

It won't necessarily be pretty but I tend to agree we do play a bit more football than we are often given credit for.

[Stayingup]

Part of the problem.at home is that the onus is on us to take the game to the opposition. Of course there sre exceptions and we are just not creative enough to do that in many games. But away from home the midfield in particularly gets more joy. Hendrick yesterday particularly and Westwood were very ineffective
On the creative front Taylor and McNeil.look to be building something special.

[FactualFrank]

When you're near the bottom it's not the way you play, it's the points.

When you have unlimited money to buy players and my 6 year old nephew could get Man City into the top 2, it's the way you play.

[wickdkewlclaret]

I'm sorry but that is just plain weird.

We play to our strengths but need to get results. The illogic of your view is that if Man Utd had managed to get a third goal you would have left Old Trafford happy. Really. I would have been furious which would have completely overshadowed how well we had played.

Not illogical at all, course I wouldn’t be ‘happy’ as you put it, but proud that we had taken a team like Man U to the death and scored two goals in the process, hence having a real go.

I think you have completely miss understood my post to be honest.

[dsr]

What is often forgotten is that playing pretty passing possession football, but doing it badly, is just as boring as playing hoofball into space. Football isn't about artistry and style - that's ballet. If a winger uses twinkletoes skill to beat three men and play an inch perfect pass back to his goalkeeper, that isn't entertaining - if he lobs it forward to Peter Crouch who wins a header and creates a goalmouth scramble, it's not pretty, but it's entertaining.

The entertainment, basically, happens in the penalty area. There are ways and means of getting it there, and a sublime 15-pass move is more entertaining than a long ball, I don't deny. But a sublime 15-pass move ending in passing it out of play for a throw-in, is less entertaining than effective long ball.

[SGr]

Results business.

Sad to see some Burnley fans still believing in entertainment over results. Eddie Howe was entertaining here, we outscored all 4 divisions. We went nowhere.

We’re better placed as supporters than anyone when it comes to seeing the difference. Can see the opposite effect happening at Chelsea - a club that was all about winning now giving Sarri and his 0 trophies a license to build a team that cares more about languid possession than challenging for anything.

Burnley does not need approval from middle aged former professionals in order to compete at this level. Results are all that matter.

[houseboy]

Unfortunately it is POINTS after the start we had. We have dropped 2 points at home against Huddersfield, 3 against Newcastle, 2 yesterday against Southampton and it is dropping points against your rivals in the drop zone that matters most. We have picked up 5 points at home from the five in the mix with us, namely Hudders, Fulham, Soton and Newcastle with Cardiff to play and this looks like it will be a massive game. In 2009-10 we managed 6 points at home beating WHU and Hull, losing to Wigan Wolves and Pompey and in 16-17 we picked up 10 from the home fixtures against the 5 in the scrap with us and 8 when relegated in 2014-15.
We are however presently playing better than our two relegation seasons, but at the moment sh+t performances with 3points/game will do for me.
Finally on this occasion if relegated by less than 6 points, the officials in the last 3 games will have relegated us-woeful the lot of them, but no the ref, the referees assistants. Ironic too that VAR is likely to have given us those points. Not sure how many it would have lost us

You are right about Watford and United but a penalty not given in the first half of a game means nothing at that stage, we may have gone on to lose. The Southampton 'penalty' is all ifs, buts and maybes but we definitely would have won at Watford and United but for the bad decisions.

[Burnleyareback2]

I don't mind losing if I know we have worked hard and played with effort. It's the games such as pre Christmas that I hate, when I feel the team and individual effort isn't there.

There are 2 players I currently haven't warmed to as I don't think they apply to the effort and put the,selves on the line to win

[tiger76]

Results business.

Sad to see some Burnley fans still believing in entertainment over results. Eddie Howe was entertaining here, we outscored all 4 divisions. We went nowhere.

We’re better placed as supporters than anyone when it comes to seeing the difference. Can see the opposite effect happening at Chelsea - a club that was all about winning now giving Sarri and his 0 trophies a license to build a team that cares more about languid possession than challenging for anything.

Burnley does not need approval from middle aged former professionals in order to compete at this level. Results are all that matter.

No team has ever won points for style,Coyle and Howe were entertaining in their own ways,Coyle had success at 2nd tier level,but was ruthlessly exposed at the top table,and we where heading for the third tier under Eddie,if you could guarantee a mid-table finish year-on-year,then certainly entertainment becomes a factor,but for any of the lower half PL teams,which most seasons will include us,then survival is paramount i'm afraid.

The spurs team arguably could be classed as entertaining,but as yet they have won diddly squat,i wonder how many of their fans would swap style for silverware,a good number i'd wager.