Clarets v Villa Match Thread

[Anthonini]

I am quite happy with the way we have played, especially second half. You have to take into account the level of opposition and the teams that are going to be round us won't have the pace and power Villa have up top. We have plenty of room for improvement with both players and manager. Have to give it time for these players to gel and Vinny to sort out his team and tactics. I wonder if he sometime overthinks things due to the depth he looks into the opposition.

Seeing the difference in quality with the players we did well as a team. Nothing to be ashamed of. Even their benchwarmers would be our absolute key players. We could pressure them and had our chances to hurt them. At this level we got to be more efficient.

Also I liked Delcroix's first performance with some crucial interceptions. Looked like he's been playing there for years. For the price we paid for him he's a bargain. Fits in the team perfectly.

What can you do vs players like that Diaby dude... Just too good. Unplayable.

[Cooclaret]

To say you are someone who started a thread criticising ‘boo boys’ last season I think its fair to say that seems a bit hypocritical now.

He’s a plank that swings his opinion based on what will a) be the most controversial b) entertainment

[fanzone]

Trafford absolutely abysmal for the first goal and the third didn't look to have any pace on it from where I were sat but could be wrong on that one.

Berge isn't a good player and looks like a cart horse unfortunately.

Foster looks a class act, as does amoudini and the number 30. No idea what his name is.

[GetIntoEm]

Where have all the foster haters gone? Clear man of the match. Gonna be a top player

[Foshiznik]

Our season will not be defined by these first two games. Our players and most importantly our leader will not allow that to happen. We’ve just got to get through this difficult spell whilst the players gel and we play the better teams in the league. I am extremely confident we will be looking up rather than down the table at the start of 2024.

[Commy]

People need to lower their expectations. We aren't going to turn up and roll over teams like Villa with so many new players in the team. People moaned about the age of our team under Dyche and now they are moaning that inexperienced players don't look up to scratch. They are good players and will learn and improve but we have to give them time. The defence were under pressure because the midfield didn't do their job but they were up against extremely good players. Al-Dakhil has the tools to go all the way to the top but he is only 21 and, other than 2 caps for Belgium, hasn't played at this level but he was being swamped with their fast breaks. They absolutely battered Everton last week so at least we put up a bit of a fight and had them rattled at the start of the second half. Their manager looked worried so we must have been doing something right.

[Greekclaret]

You’re a wet wipe!

What evidence are you even basing that ridiculous statement on

Brilliant use of words there, wet wipe, how insulting.

Not sure why you’ve commented, the above post wasn’t aimed at you or in response to you. Strange.

Was in response to another user who was saying I was whining for saying Delcroix was poor, which I thought he was especially in the first half.

[Pickles]

People need to lower their expectations. We aren't going to turn up and roll over teams like Villa with so many new players in the team.

There's not a Burnley fan on the planet expecting that.

[taio]

Where have all the foster haters gone? Clear man of the match. Gonna be a top player

Very few people on here hated Foster. In fact I can only think of one poster. The overwhelming majority knew he needed time.

[Commy]

Trafford absolutely abysmal for the first goal and the third didn't look to have any pace on it from where I were sat but could be wrong on that one.

Berge isn't a good player and looks like a cart horse unfortunately.

Foster looks a class act, as does amoudini and the number 30. No idea what his name is.

Koleosho. Only 18 and he looks like a star in the making. I think this was only his second professional match and he did cause them problems in the second half. Loads of room for him to improve.

[Commy]

There's not a Burnley fan on the planet expecting that.

There is if you listen to some of the whingers on here.

[chekhov]

Here for the overreactions. Good that Pickles and Greekclaret have kicked things off nicely.

You could have added Coolclaret too!

[Twistedbyknaves]

Villa a very good side.
I can’t understand though how we ended up with our only fullback in Roberts effectively playing in midfield for large parts of the second half, while cork and brownhill don’t get a look in.

Pleased to see Foster bag one. I think we are being a little too quick to sideline the experienced players in order to play those who can increase in value though. I appreciate the business case but we still need to compete. Youth is good when combined with experience.

[Shaggy]

Very few people on here hated Foster. In fact I can only think of one poster. The overwhelming majority knew he needed time.

Tell you what Foster has looked pretty sharp in the 2 games this season and that was a top notch goal today.

He is a good one.

[claretspice]

That was a wake up call and emphasised the concern that we are a bit soft centred.

Anyone who thinks we aren't likely to be in the scrap at the bottom of the table needs to have a rethink. And we need to adapt our strategy to ensure it is compatible with being inferior to 70% of the teams we play.

[BurnleyFC]

Foster was good today, as was Koleosho. I thought Gudmundsson did well when he was introduced, too.

Our centre of midfield looks miles off the pace so far and defence looks suspect as well. I hope Delcroix isn’t being made a scapegoat. He’s a centre half on his debut being asked to play left back. I actually thought he did OK and wasn’t the worst of our defenders.

[AndrewJB]

There was a lot to take heart from in that performance.

[Commy]

Villa a very good side.
I can’t understand though how we ended up with our only fullback in Roberts effectively playing in midfield for large parts of the second half, while cork and brownhill don’t get a look in.

Pleased to see Foster bag one. I think we are being a little too quick to sideline the experienced players in order to play those who can increase in value though. I appreciate the business case but we still need to compete. Youth is good when combined with experience.

That's why I think we should start with Redmond and bring Koleosho on later. Redmond would give us a bit more protection defensively as well. Koleosho is some talent though.

[Belgianclaret]

Lost against a better team today

Couldn't help thinking that Josh Brownhill's experience could have added something to our play today.

Is he carrying a slight injury? Ever present last season, not visible as yet this season

[taio]

Tell you what Foster has looked pretty sharp in the 2 games this season and that was a top notch goal today.

He is a good one.

Right on cue.

[Vino blanco]

When I saw our starting line up I was immediately concerned.....an extremely young, inexpierienced lineup which simply didn't looked balanced. No natural left back (I would have Taylor there), lacking power and balance in midfield, strikers not getting great service. Improved in second half, but still naive defending for their third. I would have Jayrod , Brownhill, JBG starting against Forest.
There were some promising performances but the manager snd the team need to wise up quickly.

[Anthonini]

Brilliant use of words there, wet wipe, how insulting.

Not sure why you’ve commented, the above post wasn’t aimed at you or in response to you. Strange.

Was in response to another user who was saying I was whining for saying Delcroix was poor, which I thought he was especially in the first half.

What did he(Delcroix) do wrong then? Thinking about it he played a solid game. Could have had an assist on Rodriguez even. Some crucial interceptions. Good on the ball and good running and positioning off the ball. Little to blame in the goals conceded. Did quite well to try and intercept the pass on the second goal but it bounces over his leg. First goal I don't know how he could have defended that.

[CoolClaret]

To say you are someone who started a thread criticising ‘boo boys’ last season I think its fair to say that seems a bit hypocritical now.

Bit different- last year was a complete overhaul and change it playing style and some of the early games in the season you could see what we’re trying to do and that it’d come good.

We’ve known that we’re gonna be playing top flight football since March/April time

We’re less than a week away from the window closing, spaffed 100 mill there or there abouts and look toothless with players being played out of position all over the pitch.

There has been no encouraging signs from today other than Foster

[Twistedbyknaves]

I totally agree Commy. I also think Benny looked poor and didn’t offer enough when we didn’t have the ball.

It’s early days and they are developing so I’d like to see the pressure eased on some of the youngsters by having a little balance of youth and experience. I think there’s probably a touch of naivety from VK as well and he will also be learning. I know he has experience of the Prem as a player but not as a manager.

I didn’t expect us to get any points from the first few games so not too disappointed at this stage.

*edit to make it clear who I was agreeing with.

[Cooclaret]

Brilliant use of words there, wet wipe, how insulting.

Not sure why you’ve commented, the above post wasn’t aimed at you or in response to you. Strange.

Was in response to another user who was saying I was whining for saying Delcroix was poor, which I thought he was especially in the first half.

It’s well deserved when you come on and hammer a player on debut in the best league in the world.

You need to go and have a little sit down and contemplate why you support the club.

[Devils_Advocate]

I see parallels with Villa's first season after they won promotion. They won promotion with a team including some really strong loan players and so they had to make a lot of signings that summer.

They bought in a lot of young players with potential and as a result really struggled that first season and only just stayed up. The second season saw those players start to realise that potential and become a comfortable mid table team and they've barely looked back since.

We have a great manager, a good strategy and by the looks of it some real potential but this season is going to be tough and will require a lot of trust and patience from the fans.

[Carwin261]

Koleosho obviously has so much potential but should be nowhere near our starting lineup.

Thought he did really well .

[Greekclaret]

What did he(Delcroix) do wrong then? Thinking about it he played a solid game. Could have had an assist on Rodriguez even. Some crucial interceptions. Good on the ball and good running and positioning off the ball. Little to blame in the goals conceded. Did quite well to try and intercept the pass on the second goal but it bounces over his leg. First goal I don't know how he could have defended that.

Worth noting I posted the comment either late first half or early 2nd. He was poor at LB.

You can all jump on what I said all you want but the fact Vinny swapped the entire defence around to put him in the centre so he wasn’t being exposed at LB speaks volumes. He got slightly better playing in his natural position but along with AAD he was in my opinion, poor.

I’m allowed an opinion, you don’t agree with it, cool.

[Greekclaret]

It’s well deserved when you come on and hammer a player on debut in the best league in the world.

You need to go and have a little sit down and contemplate why you support the club.

You haven’t quite understood that I was being sarcastic with the ‘insulting’ comment have you? Bless!

Funny how I’ve seen people slaying Kolo yet you aren’t jumping at them?

Best league in the world, not the best team in the world.

[Claretnick]

Brilliant use of words there, wet wipe, how insulting.

Not sure why you’ve commented, the above post wasn’t aimed at you or in response to you. Strange.

Was in response to another user who was saying I was whining for saying Delcroix was poor, which I thought he was especially in the first half.

You didn't just say he was poor and left it at that,you had to post a derogatory remark that he should never be seen near the team again.

[RVclaret]

There has been no encouraging signs from today other than Foster

I just can’t agree with that. Created enough openings to score a good few (as did Villa of course) through some really nice bits of football. Sure there are some big learning curves for a few players (and manager tactically) but it’s fair to say playing City, Villa, Spurs and United in the first 5 is a real baptism of fire. I wonder how these performances would have looked vs Bournemouth, Brentford, Fulham, Everton, Forest etc etc, probably have got a result at least.

[123EasyasBFC]

Don’t know why anyone in the coaching staff thought delcroix is a better LB than Taylor. He was much better at cb

[burnleymik]

They just put two onto Benny everytime he picked it up out wide and he left us exposed defensively a few times. Roberts wasn't happy with him at all.

I thought Berge did okay, but the role he is playing was too similar to Cullen and he looked better when pushed further forward second half.

Defense as a whole showed the lack of experience and to be fair to Villa they were absolutely clinical with those counters.

Koleosho came out second half really firing and he looks so dangerous when he runs at players. That said Brun Larsen looks more composed and experienced int hat position.

Foster did a lot of defensive work first half and did well with the goal.

Overall some positives, but we definitely lacked strength and experience.

[Claretnick]

We got spoilt last season with the wins, forgot how negative it gets on here with a defeats...

[Tricky Trevor]

Easy with hindsight but with them only playing Watkins up front and support coming from all angles a 3-5-2 might have been preferable to the 4-4-2 we went with.
No shame in losing to a very good team and until the offside goal clinched it we were well involved.
Better days to come.

[Flat Stanley]

Need a left back desperately. Centre back playing LB first half and a right back playing left back second half with a centre back at right back. Centre backs all look small and weak. Missed Bayer badly.

Played 4 up front all game with Berg also trying to join in as a 5th and kept getting in the way. Obviously needed a 3rd midfielder today and amazed Company didn't see that.

Defense is much worse than last season. In fact the team looks worse overall. They need time but look like too many out of their depth so far. Spent a lot of money to go backwards.

Don't understand why he has changed the starting 11 so drastically. We had two regular starters from last season in the starting 11. No cohesion.

Will be a long season if we don't sign a couple more players and improve drastically.

[Commy]

Worth noting I posted the comment either late first half or early 2nd. He was poor at LB.

You can all jump on what I said all you want but the fact Vinny swapped the entire defence around to put him in the centre so he wasn’t being exposed at LB speaks volumes. He got slightly better playing in his natural position but along with AAD he was in my opinion, poor.

I’m allowed an opinion, you don’t agree with it, cool.

Maybe they were poor because they weren't getting any protection from the midfield. They were being constantly overrun with the quick breaks. Once they were through our midfield our defence were struggling to contain them with their pace. The other option is to sit back and hit them on the break but people would moan if we did that and then let goals in. We need to find the right balance which, in the Premier League, isn't easy.

[Carwin261]

I know we’ve only played 2 games but the physicality of the opposition stands out a mile ,I thought O’Shea ,Koliosho ,Foster all had excellent games ,as previously stated Berge is so slow ,and easily knocked off the ball,a lack of experience was a big problem today, especially ,I thought Roberts was like he was early last season,and wasn’t sure where he was playing,
I would play a similar team next week ,but Muric has to start ,along with Gudmundsson,and Larsen.

[Greekclaret]

Maybe they were poor because they weren't getting any protection from the midfield. They were being constantly overrun with the quick breaks. Once they were through our midfield our defence were struggling to contain them with their pace. The other option is to sit back and hit them on the break but people would moan if we did that and then let goals in. We need to find the right balance which, in the Premier League, isn't easy.

I’d agree with that, wasn’t helped by playing a 4-2-4 formation. Left everyone exposed on the counter

[Papabendi]

It's obvious that Kompany's approach at this level is going to be different to Dyche's. We are going to have to accept that an attempt to go out, win games and try to dominate is going to see us on the wrong side of some results some of them will be heavy. It's about whether we can win enough games playing this style of play to succeed

[KRBFC]

Good lesson I think, certainly some positives. A new team against an experienced quality Pl outfit. Still think we need two or three of real quality.

The back five needs looking at, we need a consistent settled back five, one game it’s a back six then a back 5. All this jumbling of the defence needs sorting, we’ve only played two games and Al Dakhil has played three or four different positions in the team.

[Robbie_painter]

Don’t think anybody deserves criticism today,Villa are a very good side and go forward at pace.

[Goody1975]

I haven't read the rest of the thread, multiple opinions about the game.

We are far too open and the central midfield two aren't mobile enough to cover the vast spaces around them. It was far too easy for Villa to pick out the front two with balls into feet, which in turn they gave us little or no opportunity to do the same.

We need someone to shield the back four and in turn cover us when we turn the ball over up the field.

A busy week ahead but no need to panic, Villa are going to be a solid bet for the top six and have a team which have gelled together since Emery took charge.

[CoolClaret]

I just can’t agree with that. Created enough openings to score a good few (as did Villa of course) through some really nice bits of football. Sure there are some big learning curves for a few players (and manager tactically) but it’s fair to say playing City, Villa, Spurs and United in the first 5 is a real baptism of fire. I wonder how these performances would have looked vs Bournemouth, Brentford, Fulham, Everton, Forest etc etc, probably have got a result at least.

Men against boys mate.

0.69 xG vs 2.44 for Villa

Plucky half chances are just, plucky half chances.

They tore us to pieces on the counter, completely diced out midfield, dragged our defenders all over the place and scored some classic counter attacking goals.

[123EasyasBFC]

Don’t think I there is any point us signing a number 9 without having a proper number 10 behind them, Amdouni has good potential but he’s not a number 10

[123EasyasBFC]

Also for how Ekdal gets called slow, delcroix didn’t look any quicker

[dermotdermot]

That's why I think we should start with Redmond and bring Koleosho on later. Redmond would give us a bit more protection defensively as well. Koleosho is some talent though.

Redmond looked extremely poor to me.

[warksclaret]

It’s well deserved when you come on and hammer a player on debut in the best league in the world.

You need to go and have a little sit down and contemplate why you support the club.

If Villa are top 6, thats worrying. Means 12 matches out of 38 we wont get points in

[ksrclaret]

That was a wake up call and emphasised the concern that we are a bit soft centred.

Anyone who thinks we aren't likely to be in the scrap at the bottom of the table needs to have a rethink. And we need to adapt our strategy to ensure it is compatible with being inferior to 70% of the teams we play.

Absolutely.

Both the recruitment and the team we put out today was naive. Lessons to be learned.

[Dingo]

I thought we looked very good for much of the game. Considering we’re only two games in with a substantially new starting 11, there’s a lot of promise there. Sure, we were sloppy in key moments defensively, and at times the shape and patterns felt forced, similar to the start of last season with the new players. But over time that will become more fluid and the players’ understanding of what is being asked of them as well as their understanding of each other will improve significantly. It’ll be 10 games in before we start clicking properly and hopefully VK can keep confidence high until the results come. But individually I saw good moments with all our players.