claretspice wrote:Reading these posts, especially those from about post 44 onwards, you'd wonder how on earth it is we sit 12th in the league, 9 points clear of the drop zone and in a remarkably comfortable league position for a newly promoted club of modest relative resources.
And that is because, in large part, these posts are knee-jerk, hysterical nonsense.
We don't need to replace 6 or 7 players this close season, and all the players named by Braindead above have proved this season that they are more than capable of contributing at this level. As we try and improve the team, of course, one or two, perhaps 3 or 4 will get replaced. But it isn't urgent that we do that - we've competed rather well as it is this season, if we're honest. And the idea we're a team that gets ridiculously strung out is, frankly, nonsense - we're one of the most compact teams in the league. That's why we've been so utterly brilliant at home.
That isn't to say the team can't or doesn't need to be improved - we should always be looking to improve and we do need to add more strings to our bow or else teams will work us out and we won't be able to repeat the same trick next season. This summer's priorities will probably be replacing Michael Keane (or actually Tarkowski), replacing Gray if he goes and/or bringing in another striker capable of linking with the midfield better and completing the total overhaul of our midfield by bringing in another midfielder to replace Boyd. It might include one full back, probably a left back, who is expected to be a regular. But any other players we sign will be back ups.
But we shouldn't discard, or disrespect/ignore the talents of the players who get us here. Vokes, Barnes, Arfield, Warrd and Lowton will all have big roles to play for us next season. And so they should, because along with the likes of Heaton and Mee, they establish the essential characteristics of this Burnley squad - maximum effort being the minimum requirement and all that. We'd be utter fools to chuck all that out and think we're some how big enough and strong enough to do without that underdog spririt. There's a real need for perspective and appreciation of what we have got in these discussions.
We have been an absolute shambles away from home all season long, blown out in most games. I don't think it's knee jerk to suggest anything negative about the away performances/results because I think many recognise however good we have been at home we will need to be much much better to pick up points away from home for next season because it's unlikely we'll replicate the home form of this season again.
The problem for me isn't the results or the last minute goals we concede on a regular basis it's the performance as a whole away from home nearly every week. We've had a long time to come up with something away from home and change things to progress and I think we all saw the Swansea game which wasn't even competitive tbh. I honestly have no idea where our next win away from home will come from, I don't see a genuine transformation from the away performances early on, the Swansea game was very much the same stuff served up at Soton.
We've added new players and ones we all wanted like Brady and we still look a million miles off being competitive away from home on a regular basis. I personally believe in the players, I think we have players to be competitive away from home, I believe we have players capable of providing Gray service on a more regular basis, I think we have players capable of stringing a few passes together, ultimately I believe Dyche should be doing a lot better away from home with the tools at his disposal. The system is completely wrong, the whole game plan needs re-thinking away, it hasn't worked away from home all season long yet we're still persisting with the same old same old. 28% possession at Swansea, what are we trying to achieve? I honestly don't know, parking the bus with a narrow set up to allow cross after cross to sail into a target man like LLorente is just suicidal football. Long punts up to an isolated striker like Gray who is terrible in the air is again, suicidal football and surrendering possession. Stats don't mean an awful lot but 28% possession for me is a telling one, zero pressure on the ball, too happy to sit in and try cling on. It's a negative way to play. We were playing against Swansea not Chelsea, we are still above Swansea in the league yet the negative away mentality and system made us look leagues apart (no exaggeration). The subs against Swansea were bizarre, I'm all for parking the bus and timewasting to scrape out wins in the final 5-10 minutes, but to sub on an extra central defender and change the entire shape for 20-25 minutes at 2-2 is completely baffling. If you give quality players the freedom of the pitch, 72% of the ball, all the momentum in the world and the home crowd behind them, what on earth do you expect to happen? Those quality players 9 times out of 10 will pick you apart. It's like when a League One/Two club draws a PL side in the FA Cup, the small club park the bus hoping to scrape out a replay/get lucky it ends up that once the PL side gets the first goal, the floodgates open and the smaller club cannot react. Why are we waiting to concede to then react and chase a game? Why are we not attempting to press and be on the front foot from kick off?
Fans are happy too continue to make excuses for our failings, like after the Leicester game ''They were Champions last season'' it's a vicious circle of lame excuses and playing down the quality of players we have now. We are not a League One side anymore, we have international players, we're 12th in the PL. Yet fans are seemingly happy to continue to witness the lack of progress away from home which will ultimately lead to relegation in the long run if it isn't sorted. 6 months in and it hasn't been sorted and I'm yet to see progress despite signing upgrades in January.