Bastien

[Bowclaret]

Think he deserves a thread of his own also after a fantastic debut for us. When fit (thought he tired badly in the 2nd half) he will be awesome for us in this set up.

Simple passes and aggressive and will only get better - quality !

Special mention for his family with us in the away end - they went bonkers when we scored

[Burnley Ace]

A good start, seems to be enjoying it, long may it continue!

[Sheedyclaret]

I thought he looked very good 1st half will only get better what a bargain he could be ...

[conyoviejo]

All very well,but let's not get carried away ..one swallow doesn't make a summer.Its a long long season.

[TheFamilyCat]

All very well,but let's not get carried away ..one swallow doesn't make a summer.Its a long long season.

Yes, he needs to pass the Tuesday night in February in Stoke test.

[gawthorpe_view]

Yes, he needs to pass the Tuesday night in February in Stoke test.

No worries, we play Stoke last Thursday in December.

[Juan Tanamera]

I don't get this "Let's not get carried away"
After being in the doldrums following a miserable relegation, why shouldn't anyone who wants to get carried away.
After watching a fine attacking display from our young, exciting players (including Bastien) no one is going to stop me getting 'carried away'

[Quickenthetempo]

Think he deserves a thread of his own also after a fantastic debut for us. When fit (thought he tired badly in the 2nd half) he will be awesome for us in this set up.

Simple passes and aggressive and will only get better - quality !

Special mention for his family with us in the away end - they went bonkers when we scored

Played very well but I'm a little concerned how his family got in the away end without 6000 points.

[bfcmik]

Played very well but I'm a little concerned how his family got in the away end without 6000 points.

I think being a player's family always gives you an automatic 6000 points

[Burnley1989]

Played very well but I'm a little concerned how his family got in the away end without 6000 points.

Careful, You’ll have folk thinking you’re being serious

[elwaclaret]

I don't get this "Let's not get carried away"
After being in the doldrums following a miserable relegation, why shouldn't anyone who wants to get carried away.
After watching a fine attacking display from our young, exciting players (including Bastien) no one is going to stop me getting 'carried away'

Think that goes for the majority of the team, and indeed the team as a unit. Pitches may be a lot better than they were, but playing quick one-two in a storm is more difficult.

[burnleymik]

Really struggling to see how he fits into our current line up. Believe there is a good player in him, but where can we play him to be most effective?

[RVclaret]

Really struggling to see how he fits into our current line up. Believe there is a good player in him, but where can we play him to be most effective?

Centre midfield, rotation with Cork, who lagged a bit second half

[Bin Ont Turf]

You're just going to have to accept that we can't play all Cullen, Cork, Bastien, Brownhill and when he gets back Westwood, at the same time.

[Newcastleclaret93]

I think he should have come on for cullen when he get carded.

That yellow card dramatically changed the control of the centre of the pitch

[Murger]

Apart from Huddersfield, im yet to be convinced by Cullen.

[KRBFC]

Still haven't seen much from Bastien to convince me he's what we need.

[willsclarets]

He might be one that takes a bit of time to settle, we’ve had a few in the past even domestically. Marney comes to mind for instance. But there’s a player in there I’m sure of it, and he’s still relatively young.
The hardest part of all this is going to be staying patient enough while players like Bastien grow into the league and squad. He may not end up being what we need, but at 600k (ish?) that’s the gamble. He might well end up being a great bargain.
At the moment he’s showing glimpses of class but he doesn’t seem to be in sync with the flow and pace of the championship.

[Zlatan]

Apart from Huddersfield, im yet to be convinced by Cullen.

Much like David Jones and more recently Westwood - the work done by Cullen goes unappreciated by those who don’t see what they bring to the team. Some players are cogs in the machine (visible contribution) while others are the oil (not usually visible contribution) these players adjust the tempo; intercept passes; create space to switch play with a simple pass etc, all easily dismissed as not important.

[KRBFC]

He might be one that takes a bit of time to settle, we’ve had a few in the past even domestically. Marney comes to mind for instance. But there’s a player in there I’m sure of it, and he’s still relatively young.
The hardest part of all this is going to be staying patient enough while players like Bastien grow into the league and squad. He may not end up being what we need, but at 600k (ish?) that’s the gamble. He might well end up being a great bargain.
At the moment he’s showing glimpses of class but he doesn’t seem to be in sync with the flow and pace of the championship.

Do we not have too many gambles though?

Would we not be incredibly more likely to gain promotion by taking less gambles?

[Burnleyareback2]

Still haven't seen much from Bastien to convince me he's what we need.

See David Jones threads

[claretandy]

When everyone's fit, Cork and Brownhill should be first choice, with Twine playing as a 10.

[IanMcL]

Bastien is very tidy.

[JarrowClaret]

Do we not have too many gambles though?

Would we not be incredibly more likely to gain promotion by taking less gambles?

If you take note of the language used by the chairman and Manager I don’t think promotion this season is in the agenda currently. That may change of course and if we get it they won’t say no but I think that allows all our “gambles” time to settle. We will see what happens after the World Cup I guess. Whatever it should be fun

[BleedingClaret]

If Jay needed to come off, to protect him from overplaying and the risk of injury, then I’d have played Bastien up there not Barnes in lieu of a new striker Ings esque that we need

[claretspice]

Thought he did just find yesterday,, could have won it on a different day at the end and his passing was crisp and accurate. I think he's the least of my worries in terms of the new players settling in. Post sending off he played in a slightly more conventional midfield role and looked more comfortable in it.

I thought yesterday he should've come on earlier, for Vitinho when Barnes came on to allow us to manage Blackpool's physicality in the way we did Huddersfield's second half pressure, whilst keeping Jay and Tella up front. As it was the two goals came whilst he and (more so) Churlinov were adapting to the game, with Blackpool already in the ascendant. By the time he was able to impose himself it was 3-3.

[dougcollins]

Not to forget Muric being encouraged to give the ball back to them by the crowd.

Totally agree with your Bastien observation.

[GDK]

Very early days but Bastien reminds me a bit of Arfield, which obviously is a decent complement. He seems technically good, fairly mobile and athletic, and keen to keep the ball moving quickly.

It took us a while to find Arfield's role in our team, with him never really being strong enough to be one of a midfield two. I wonder if Bastien may be the same, being more suited as a wide midfielder tucking inside, but we seem to have a lot of players competing for those spots all of a sudden.

We have done well to hurriedly assemble a competitive squad and it may well take a full season to work out how it all fits together.

[fungus_the_bogeyman]

I think he’s going to be good for us. Can play all the midfield roles, more robust and physical than many of our other signings, and very good technically. Looks a player.

[louieollie]

I think he will long term be one of the better signings for many reasons, a bit like an album you listen too and immediately love but soon tire of. Bastien will be the album you aren't sure about , you like most of it but not all of it at first and then over time it becomes a prize album in your collection .

[Swizzlestick]

I think he’s going to be good for us. Can play all the midfield roles, more robust and physical than many of our other signings, and very good technically. Looks a player.

Yeah this is a good point about his physicality - he does look a bit stronger and more resolute. Wasn’t an ideal situation, but I thought he did ok yesterday.

[KRBFC]

If you take note of the language used by the chairman and Manager I don’t think promotion this season is in the agenda currently. That may change of course and if we get it they won’t say no but I think that allows all our “gambles” time to settle. We will see what happens after the World Cup I guess. Whatever it should be fun

We must be the first relegated PL club in history to not be aiming to bounce back at the first opportunity.

[boatshed bill]

We must be the first relegated PL club in history to not be aiming to bounce back at the first opportunity.

Well that's because they all spout the same rhetoric.
This is a very new project with a very young team.

[RVclaret]

We must be the first relegated PL club in history to not be aiming to bounce back at the first opportunity.

Unfortunately the squad was left in the way it was after years of neglect and it left us in the need for a complete rebuild. I think the aim is still promotion (Kompany wants to be in and around play offs by the World Cup break) but the rhetoric from him and Pace is that it doesn’t have to happen this year.

[JarrowClaret]

We must be the first relegated PL club in history to not be aiming to bounce back at the first opportunity.

Sorry the way I worded it was poor, I think everyone aims to be promoted at the first attempt, if you listen to what is said I don’t think it is a necessity for us at the minute and actually we might benefit from having this year to bed all the changes in and allow players like bastien, Benson etc to get used to the league if they can.

[KRBFC]

I like how we're all for giving these players ages to settle and then judge but when it came to Dane Richards, Diego Penny and other shite we've had it took us 20 minutes of viewing to say they're shite and nobody argued otherwise.

[JarrowClaret]

I like how we're all for giving these players ages to settle and then judge but when it came to Dane Richards, Diego Penny and other shite we've had it took us 20 minutes of viewing to say they're shite and nobody argued otherwise.

I never did that personally but yeh football fans are the worst I agree.

[AlargeClaret]

If anyone ( even the Pace fan boys) seriously thinks our target isn’t to bounce right back at the first attempt they must be more delusional and possibly suffering some mental blackout than it appears . While personally I think we’ll come good ,in fact very good , AP and VK saying “ it’s not the be all and end all if we miss out” is nothing more than PR speak . A very poor season would see VK out of a job for starters and as for the loan repayments…

[ksrclaret]

I like Bastien. He looks like an intelligent footballer to me who reads and anticipates very well. His appreciation of space is clearly very good.

The negatives so far seem to be owing to a big difference in physicality and pace compared with what he's been used to. I hope and expect him to become a key player for us when he's had time to adapt, although I'm not sure what his best position is yet.

[fungus_the_bogeyman]

Bump. This guy is going to be a player for us. What a cameo!

[RVclaret]

Excellent cameo as you say and a very well taken goal

[NewClaret]

Goal and an assist

[Hedontplayforyou]

Signs that he is starting to grow in this group, I like the look of him

[fungus_the_bogeyman]

Superb ball for the fourth too. Looks like he has a bit of everything. Strong, technical, versatile, keeps it simple, can finish. Only going to get better. Really exciting player.

[Spiral]

Understands that inside forward role really well. Always takes up really good positions.

[tiger76]

Can't deny his impact from the bench, and Vinny has a tough dilemma over who to select for Tuesday, mind you that's a nice dilemma for him to have.

[jedi_master]

Good player, a bargain at £800k. I hadn’t realised he’s only 25 either.

[spt_claret]

Understands that inside forward role really well. Always takes up really good positions.

He's a huge part of why Maatsen looks so impressive. His movement and energy is top notch and the way he tucks inside and draws his man is what kept giving Maatsen space.
I still think he's naturally a box to box midfielder with a slightly more attacking/creative than defensive edge but he's clearly got a very rounded skillset and I've been saying he'll be good for us with patience. Actually think he'll do better than Cullen if I'm being honest.

[boatshed bill]

I like how we're all for giving these players ages to settle and then judge but when it came to Dane Richards, Diego Penny and other shite we've had it took us 20 minutes of viewing to say they're shite and nobody argued otherwise.

Well, it was obvious immediately they started that neither of the two you mention were actually footballers.
Cut the negativity, we've had a great day...enjoy it.

[BurnleyFC]

Good cameo from him today and an excellent finish for his goal.

That’s more like it.