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

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8
Pieters 7
Gusmundsson 7
Westwood 6
Cork 7
McNeil 7
Barnes 8*
Wood 6

taio wrote:Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8
Pieters 7
Gusmundsson 7
Westwood 6
Cork 7
McNeil 7
Barnes 8*
Wood 6

What tiao said

Pope 7
Lowton 6
Tarkowski 9
Mee 8
Pieters 7
JBG 7
Westwood 6
Cork 7
McNeil 6
Barnes 8
Wood 6

Pope .....8
Lowton..8
Tarks.....8
Mee......8 MoM
Pieters...8
JBG.......7
Westwood..6
Cork.......5
McNeil....6
Wood......6
Barnes.....7

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarks 7
Mee 8
Pieters 8
JBG 7
Cork 7
Westwood 7
McNeil 6
Barnes 9
Wood 5

Cork 5, was gonna say welcome back Jack where have you been

Pope: 9
Lowton: 8
Tarky: 8
Mee: 7
Pieters: 7
McNeil: 7
Cork: 7
Westwood: 6
JBG: 8
Wood: 7
Barnes: 9

ewanrob wrote:Cork 5, was gonna say welcome back Jack where have you been

Cork was decent

Pope 7. Only moment was when he went for a ball he was never going to get,
Lowton 7. Quiet game for him, but did nothing wrong
Tarkowski 8. Solid day at the office
Mee 8 as above
Pieters 8 great debut, two assists and a couple of committed challenges.
Gusmundsson 7 would have been six but his goal.
Westwood 6 worked hard all game.
Cork 6 as above.
McNeil 6 had to spend most of his time defending.
Barnes 9. Great first day of the season him, just a shame he couldn’t get his hat trick
Woods 5 needs to improve to keep Jay out of the team. Over head kick, fresh air. Cross for second just mistimed and got no where near it and lots of mis control.

Great win, really happy.

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8
Pieters 7
JBG 7
Westwood 6
Cork 6
McNeil 7
Barnes 8*
Wood 6

Pope - 8
Lowton - 7
Mee - 8
Tarkowski - 7
Pieters - 9
McNeil - 7
Westwood - 5 real stinker from westy
Cork - 7
Gudmundsson - 7 +1 for the goal
Barnes - 9*
Wood - 7 much better second half

taio wrote:Cork was decent

I thought he was good today and really got us on the front foot in the second half

Pope 7 assured, 1 smart stop 2nd half
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8
Pieters 7 had a bit of an iffy first half possession wise but grew into it
JBG 7 lightweight 1st half in challenges, but the goal and 2nd half dragged him up
Westwood 6 quite poor by his standards in possession
Cork 6 last seasons Cork
McNeil 7 a few glimpses of skill drafted him up, tired early I thought
Barnes 8* ok first half, well taken goals make him mom
Wood 6 poorest player in a claret shirt, no control, weak and didnt find a jersy often enough

3 goals, 3 points, great start

UTC

Pope 7. Much improved kicking, very solid
Lowton 7. Handled the threat he faced well
Tarks 8. Really good, gave away one unnecessary free kick
Mee 9. Impeccable. Mom
Pieters 7. Fantastic assist but struggled in the first half
JBG 8. Got better as the game went on
Cork 7. Put in a huge amount of work. Good second half
Westwood 7. See Cork
McNeil 6. Failed to cover back in the first half
Barnes 8. Maybe a little lucky on the first goal, great on the second
Wood 6. A little off today despite some nice touches

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Pieters 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8*
Gudmundsson 7
McNeil 6
Westwood 5
Cork 7
Wood 6
Barnes 8

Pope 8
Lowton 7
Pieters 8
Tarkowski 9
Mee 8
Cork 8
Westwood 7
JBG 7
McNeil 7
Wood 7
Barnes 9

Pope - 8
Lowton - 8 just about kept Redmond under control
Mee - 9
Tarkowski - 9
Pieters - 9 cracking debut
McNeil - 7
Westwood - 7
Cork - 7
Gudmundsson - 7
Barnes - 9*
Wood - 7

Awful conditions

Pope 8 Cracking save from Redmond in 1st half. Has a great presence
Lowton 7
Mee 8
Tarks 9
Pieters 7 Great second half. Looked lost in first
JBG 7 Quality goal
Westy 6 lot of unseen hard work
Cork 7
Mc neil 7 Quiet by his standards but some class touches
Wood 6
Barnes 9 MOM Goals win matches. 2 Superb finishes and so much hard work

From watching via NBCSN here in Philly:
Pope 8 - Very happy to have Nick in goal, did fine in awkward conditions apart from tangling with Mee attempting to punch in the second half. Vital and superb save from Redmond with the score still at 0-0.
Lowts 7 - Steady enough.
Tarks 8 - Solid in difficult conditions to judge the flight of a ball.
Mee 8 - as above.
Pieters 7 - Unsure to start with, seemed to gain confidence and lovely cross for second.
JBG 7 - Took goal beautifully.
Cork 6 - Just not sharp enough today for me.
Westy 7 - Lots of break-up stuff but passing was a bit off.
McNeil 6 - Didn't really get into the game.
Wood 6 - As usual, kept trying despite not much to feed off.
Ash 8 - Two fine finishes and a typical Ash performance.

Shakes off the rust, gets us going and boosts confidence. I'm very happy with 3-0 on opening day.

Pope 8
Lowton 7
Mee 9
Tarks 8
Pieters 7
Jbg 7
Westwood 7
Cork 6
McNeil 6
Wood 6
Barnes 8

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 7
Mee 7
Pieters 8*
Gusmundsson 7
Westwood 7
Cork 6
McNeil 6
Barnes 8
Wood 6

From a good stream...

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Pieters 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8
Gudmundsson 7
McNeil 6
Westwood 6
Cork 6
Wood 6
Barnes 9

Pope 7 - one excellent save from Redmond and a decent save from a corner near the end. Distribution a bit mixed but you could see that he saw the early distribution quite often. Hopefully as he gets his match sharpness back, he’ll increase in confidence distributing early.

Lowton 7 - fine. Defensively sound for 90 minutes and provided an outlet down the right for most of the game.

Tarkowski 8 - dominant display. I’ve seen someone above highlight the foul he gave away, but keep in mind that Mee missed the tackle first which forced him to lunge to try and stop Redmond. Distribution good throughout and Tarky can be pleased with his display.

Mee 8 - couple of dodgy bits of distribution but looked every bit a captain today. Led the defensive line really well and solid as a rock.

Pieters 7 - really hard to mark him. Thought he was pretty poor in the first 60 minutes with plenty of misplaced passes and unnecessarily heading the ball out of play but got the assist with an up and under which settled him a bit, then put in a beauty for the second. After that, his defensive work and distribution was fine.

Gudmundsson 7 - another I thought was quite poor for 60 minutes but as we improved in the second half, he grew into the game and an absolutely lovely finish for his goal.

Cork 7 - good performance with plenty of endeavour. Broke out of defence on numerous occasions though does sometimes still look a little bit ponderous. No complaints about his performance though.

Westwood 6 - struggled to really make a mark on the game, but he was fine.

McNeil 6 - pretty quiet from an attacking point of view but thought it was noticeable that his defensive work was significantly improved. Didn’t look anywhere near as tired after 60 minutes and constantly tracked his man.

Wood 6 - a mix of some frustrating stuff and some good stuff, but the partnership with Barnes bearing fruits again.

Barnes 8 - 2 excellent finishes. Got nothing from the dreadful referee but stuck at it. His concentration for the first goal was great and the second one is an excellently controlled finish.

Overall, a first half devoid of quality between what looked like two poor sides but the second half, particularly from the 60th minute onwards, was much improved. A 3-0 win on the opening day provides great optimism and I’m delighted coming away from that.

As an aside, VAR is shite. Still too slow. I’ve no idea what’s happening with offsides and I thought they were showing replays. If this is the future, it needs significant work before its used effectively. I’d be taking it away at the end of the season for a couple of years to clearly define all the rules impacted by its introduction. Also, the referee was shite.

Great result and all did their bit.
Joint top!

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Pieters 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8
Cork 8
Westwood 7
JBG 7
McNeil 7
Wood 7
Barnes 9

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8
Pieters 7
JBG 7
Westwood 6
Cork 6
McNeil 6
Barnes 8
Wood 6

Pope 7 managed the conditions well, couple of regulation saves, kicking decent considering the conditions
Lowton 7 once or twice looked out of position, but going forward was a threat, although saying that his final ball not quite as good as we have come to expect from him,
Tarkowski 8 Just the kind of day him and Mee relish, howling gales lots of headers, no fuss roll your sleeves and crack on with it, nothing fancy just proper solid defending.
Mee 8 Same mark as Tarks although he doesn't have to roll his sleeves up, cos he doesn't have them even on a day like today. El Capitano super job.
Pieters 7 I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt today, thought positionally two or three times he was not aware of what was going on behind him, also perhaps not helped out by Dwight either. He looked a bit knackered after 60 minutes, having said that he stuck at it and the cross for Barnes second was bob on.
Gusmundsson 7 Does what he does and you hardly notice him, then he gets on the ball and he makes things happen, great finish for the goal.
Westwood 6 Uncharacteristic performance from him, gave the ball away and chose the wrong options on a number of occasions
Cork 7 Better from Cork, got about the pitch with purpose and linked play well.
McNeil 7 Not a lot of possession and played narrow, got caught out positionally but is still learning, carries the ball forward really well, need to see him further up the pitch
Barnes 8 (Mom) the kind of player no centre half likes playing against, days like today are made for Barnes, took both his goals well and had a Barnestormer
Wood 6 Standard Wood performance, not bad, not great, sound enough today.

First half dour, created little, to many long punts from Pope, second half, got the ball on the deck, passed and linked up really well and got meaningful crosses in the box. A super solid effort all round, continued where we left off last season. UTC.

Pope 6
Lowton 6
Tarkowski 7
Mee 7
Pieters 7
JBG 7 (+1 for goal)
Cork 7
Westwood 6
McNeil 6
Barnes 8 (+2 for goals)
Wood 6

MrTopTier wrote:Pope 7 managed the conditions well, couple of regulation saves, kicking decent considering the conditions
Lowton 7 once or twice looked out of position, but going forward was a threat, although saying that his final ball not quite as good as we have come to expect from him,
Tarkowski 8 Just the kind of day him and Mee relish, howling gales lots of headers, no fuss roll your sleeves and crack on with it, nothing fancy just proper solid defending.
Mee 8 Same mark as Tarks although he doesn't have to roll his sleeves up, cos he doesn't have them even on a day like today. El Capitano super job.
Pieters 7 I am going to give him the benefit of the doubt today, thought positionally two or three times he was not aware of what was going on behind him, also perhaps not helped out by Dwight either. He looked a bit knackered after 60 minutes, having said that he stuck at it and the cross for Barnes second was bob on.
Gusmundsson 7 Does what he does and you hardly notice him, then he gets on the ball and he makes things happen, great finish for the goal.
Westwood 6 Uncharacteristic performance from him, gave the ball away and chose the wrong options on a number of occasions
Cork 7 Better from Cork, got about the pitch with purpose and linked play well.
McNeil 7 Not a lot of possession and played narrow, got caught out positionally but is still learning, carries the ball forward really well, need to see him further up the pitch
Barnes 8 (Mom) the kind of player no centre half likes playing against, days like today are made for Barnes, took both his goals well and had a Barnestormer
Wood 6 Standard Wood performance, not bad, not great, sound enough today.

First half dour, created little, to many long punts from Pope, second half, got the ball on the deck, passed and linked up really well and got meaningful crosses in the box. A super solid effort all round, continued where we left off last season. UTC.

No need for me to watch MOtD now.

Pope 6
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 8*
Mee 8
Pieters 7
JBG 7
Westwood 6
Cork 6
McNeil 7
Barnes 7
Wood 7

ewanrob wrote:Cork 5, was gonna say welcome back Jack where have you been

Thought he played really well today

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8
Pieters 7
Gusmundsson 7
Westwood 7
Cork 7
McNeil 7
Barnes 8
Wood 7

Pope 7
Lowton 8
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8
Pieters 8
JBG 7
Westwood 6
Cork 7
McNeil 6
Barnes 8
Wood 6

Very difficult conditions to play in today but I thought we kept them to a bare minimum and all of the back four did really well. Cork the pick of the midfield for me and the first goal from Barnes was superb from him.

Pope 7
Not much to do but 1 smart save and one delightful ping
Lowton 7
Stifled redmond
Pieters 8
Solid in defence, initially hesitant on the ball but the cross was delightful and lots of passion
Tarks 8 MoM
Never troubled and composed on the ball
Mee 7
Never troubled, led like a captain
McNeil 6
They stifled him and his threat going forward wasn’t there today however tracked back well and beought it out of defence a few times to help ease pressure
Westwood 5
Thought he was poor today and think that led to JBG and McNeil really being in the game for 50mins
Cork 7
Battled and was in the thick of it whilst not having that extra bit of quality to lift us on that first half
JBG 7
I was going 6 until that sublime solo goal
Wood 5
I like Wood and on another day could have two himself (the offside goal and Barnes should have laid it off to him for a fourth). Runs the channels well but can play better than he did today.
Barnes 7
I thought he was worse than wood for 50mins then he scores two absolutely quality goals / finishes. The first lifted him and he was an effective menace after that. Should have set wood up for a fourth but hey ho can’t really blame him trying to take it on for his hat trick on

Pope 8
Lowton 7
Mee 7
Tarkowski 8
Pieters 7
JBG 7
Cork 7
Westwood 7
McNeill 6
Barnes 8*
Wood 7

Westwood 5
Thought he was poor today and think that led to JBG and McNeil really being in the game for 50mins

you must have been watching a differnt game. he was superb

Probably shouldn't post it here as I seldom rate the players, but I have to say I\think Charlie has a fight on his hands to get the shirt from Pieters.

ClaretAL wrote:Probably shouldn't post it here as I seldom rate the players, but I have to say I\think Charlie has a fight on his hands to get the shirt from Pieters.

That's exactly how it should be and how we want it

Pope - 7
Lowton - 7
Mee - 8
Tarkowski - 9
Pieters - 7
JBG - 7
Cork - 7
Westwood - 7
McNeill - 7
Barnes - 8
Wood - 6

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8
Pieters 7
Johan 7
Westwood 6
Cork 8
McNeil 6
Barnes 8
Wood 5

MDWat wrote:Pope 7 - one excellent save from Redmond and a decent save from a corner near the end. Distribution a bit mixed but you could see that he saw the early distribution quite often. Hopefully as he gets his match sharpness back, he’ll increase in confidence distributing early.

Lowton 7 - fine. Defensively sound for 90 minutes and provided an outlet down the right for most of the game.

Tarkowski 8 - dominant display. I’ve seen someone above highlight the foul he gave away, but keep in mind that Mee missed the tackle first which forced him to lunge to try and stop Redmond. Distribution good throughout and Tarky can be pleased with his display.

Mee 8 - couple of dodgy bits of distribution but looked every bit a captain today. Led the defensive line really well and solid as a rock.

Pieters 7 - really hard to mark him. Thought he was pretty poor in the first 60 minutes with plenty of misplaced passes and unnecessarily heading the ball out of play but got the assist with an up and under which settled him a bit, then put in a beauty for the second. After that, his defensive work and distribution was fine.

Gudmundsson 7 - another I thought was quite poor for 60 minutes but as we improved in the second half, he grew into the game and an absolutely lovely finish for his goal.

Cork 7 - good performance with plenty of endeavour. Broke out of defence on numerous occasions though does sometimes still look a little bit ponderous. No complaints about his performance though.

Westwood 6 - struggled to really make a mark on the game, but he was fine.

McNeil 6 - pretty quiet from an attacking point of view but thought it was noticeable that his defensive work was significantly improved. Didn’t look anywhere near as tired after 60 minutes and constantly tracked his man.

Wood 6 - a mix of some frustrating stuff and some good stuff, but the partnership with Barnes bearing fruits again.

Barnes 8 - 2 excellent finishes. Got nothing from the dreadful referee but stuck at it. His concentration for the first goal was great and the second one is an excellently controlled finish.

Overall, a first half devoid of quality between what looked like two poor sides but the second half, particularly from the 60th minute onwards, was much improved. A 3-0 win on the opening day provides great optimism and I’m delighted coming away from that.

As an aside, VAR is shite. Still too slow. I’ve no idea what’s happening with offsides and I thought they were showing replays. If this is the future, it needs significant work before its used effectively. I’d be taking it away at the end of the season for a couple of years to clearly define all the rules impacted by its introduction. Also, the referee was shite.

Agree with everything in this post

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 9 (MOM)
Pieters 7
Gudmundsson 7
Westwood 6
Cork 7
McNeil 7
Barnes 8
Wood 6

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Mee 8
Tarks 9
Pieter's 6 I know he got one assist (not counting the first as an assist as it was just a lump forward) but for 70 mins he was awful. Nowhere near Taylor's level. Glad to see him improve in the last 20. Hopefully he gets better from here.
McNeil 6
Westwood 6
Cork 7
JBG 8
Barnes 8
Wood 5

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarkowski 8
Mee 8 MOM
Pieters 7
Gusmundsson 7
Westwood 6
Cork 8
McNeil 7
Barnes 8
Wood 6

Pope 8
Lowton 7
Pieters 8
Tarkowski 9*
Mee 8
Cork 7
Westwood 5
JBG 7
McNeil 5
Wood 6
Barnes 8

Pope 8
Lowton 8
Tarks 9
Mee 9
Pieters 7
JBG 7
Westwood 7
Cork 7
McNeil 9 ( he will be the best player ever to play for Burnley - a bold statement, but that's what I see )
Barnes 9
Wood 6

pushpinpussy wrote:Westwood 5
Thought he was poor today and think that led to JBG and McNeil really being in the game for 50mins

you must have been watching a differnt game. he was superb

I can't believe I'm agreeing with pushpinpussy, although maybe superb is too strong of a word.

Westwood was everywhere, and I doubt it would have been 3-0 without what he did out there today.

Belial wrote: McNeil 5

Nonayforever wrote: McNeil 9 ( he will be the best player ever to play for Burnley - a bold statement, but that's what I see )

Amazing.

Pope 7
Lowton 7
Tarks 8
Mee 8
Pieters 7

Gusmundsson 7
Westwood 7
Cork 7
McNeil 6

Barnes 8**
Wood 6

Pope 7 - exudes confidence but distribution still needs work
Lowton 8 - very good today
Tarkowski 8 - apart from one moment where he dallied and gifted Redmond possession, he was commanding
Mee 7 - good first game as club captain
Pieters 7 - plays very narrow for a full back but thought he did well, a lovely assist for our second
Gudmundsson 7 - a super goal and super defensive work, but a little quiet at times
Cork 8 - fair play to him, was the best midfielder on the park
Westwood 6 - brilliant energy and aggression and covered so much ground, but thought his passing was unusually off today
McNeil 6 - a quiet game aside from a sublime piece of skill where he jinked past 3 in midfield
Barnes 8 - battled as we've come to expect, gave Saints centre halves a torrid game second half and bagged an excellent brace
Wood 6 - offside too much again and didn't hold on the ball well enough, but an willing runner as ever

Who'd have seen that coming at half time? A very scrappy and forgettable opener until Barnes capitalised with a storming finish, from which point we upped the tempo and took advantage of a fragile Saints back line. Brilliant start.