Pope stars in latest away win
Burnley have won three of the six away games to date in the Premier League this season, the latest of which came at Southampton last Saturday when a Sam Vokes goal gave us a 1-0 win.
But it was at the other end of the pitch that most people looked for our man of the match with goalkeeper Nick Pope and the two central defenders coming out on top in both the man of the match vote and the player ratings as we kept a fifth clean sheet of the season, a total bettered only by the two Manchester clubs and Spurs.
Pope’s best save of the afternoon undoubtedly came just before half time when he brilliantly got down to his right to save an effort that looked to be going into the bottom corner, but there were certainly other good saves in an assured performance.
His performance won him 58% of the man of the match vote with no other player reaching double figures. The central defensive pair came next; Ben Mee was second with 9% of the vote, followed by James Tarkowski who won 8%.
Fourth place went to Johann Berg Gudmundsson. It was his cross that Vokes headed home for the winner. It might have gone unnoticed but all of our last three goals, the equaliser against West Ham and the winners against Newcastle and Southampton, have all come from Gudmundsson crosses. He was just behind the central defenders with 7% of the vote.
It was the same top three in the player ratings. Pope was again the winner with a rating of 8.50 out of 10 but that was only just ahead of Mee who scored 8.44. Tarkowski was again third with a rating of 8.17 but fourth place went to goalscorer Vokes who had a rating of 7.89 out of 10.
The result has won Pope ten points towards the Up the Clarets Player of the Year. Mee and Tarkowski have won six and four points respectively with both Gudmundsson and Vokes collecting one point each.
Tarkowski has now extended his lead at the top of the table to seven points ahead of Jack Cork. Steven Defour remains third with Pope now just four points behind him in fourth place.
The next vote will be underway a week on Saturday after the Swansea game. It will be available within an hour of the final whistle.
The Southampton result and the current player of the year table can be found below.
MAN OF THE MATCH
58% – Nick Pope
9% – Ben Mee
8% – James Tarkowski
7% – Johann Berg Gudmundsson
6% – Jack Cork & Steven Defour
3% – Sam Vokes
1% – Matt Lowton
1% – Robbie Brady
0% – Chris Wood
0% – Ashley Barnes & Jeff Hendrick
0% – Stephen Ward
PLAYER RATINGS
8.50 – Nick Pope
8.44 – Ben Mee
8.17 – James Tarkowski
7.89 – Sam Vokes
7.83 – Jack Cork & Matt Lowton
7.61 – Stephen Ward
7.39 – Johann Berg Gudmundsson
7.17 – Steven Defour
6.89 – Ashley Barnes
6.56 – Robbie Brady
5.89 – Jeff Hendrick & Chris Wood
UP THE CLARETS PLAYER OF THE YEAR
59: James Tarkowski
52: Jack Cork
39: Steven Defour
35: Nick Pope
23: Ben Mee
13: Robbie Brady
12: Sam Vokes & Stephen Ward
10: Phil Bardsley
8: Johann Berg Gudmundsson
7: Scott Arfield
6: Ashley Westwood
5: Tom Heaton & Charlie Taylor
3: Chris Wood
2: Jeff Hendrick
Share this page :