Up to 24 points

[Bigvince]

I’m not counting any chickens, just remember last year we had 12 points after Boxing Day.
And we finished on 40 points, so anything is possible for sides below us!!
Mind you I’m a glass half empty kind of guy

[Bigvince]

I’m not counting any chickens, just remember last year we had 12 points after Boxing Day.
And we finished on 40 points, so anything is possible for sides below us!!
Mind you I’m a glass half empty kind of guy

[Bigvince]

I’m not counting any chickens, just remember last year we had 12 points after Boxing Day.
And we finished on 40 points, so anything is possible for sides below us!!
Mind you I’m a glass half empty kind of guy

[Steve1956]

Your glass must be full now Vince after those last three posts

[Steve1956]

The 40 points benchmark is ancient history, mate. a team staying up hasnt needed that many
for quite a few seasons now. 35\36 will be plenty.

Looks like Watford and Norwich will be hard pushed to get 30.

Relax.

Love Electro when he's in that mood,he always gets it right...and relax.

[tiger76]

We're capable of picking up plenty of points outwith the top 6,so we'll comfortably survive,as others have mentioned the summer window is a biggie.

Of the regular starters/subs Hendrick,Lennon & Bardsley are OOC and may well move on,Drinkwater's loan spell ends,and it appears Hart will be off to pastures new either in January or in the summer.

So as a minumum we'll need a new RB,RW,and at least one CM,but ideally 2,and possibly another back-up keeper,BPF may be promoted to nr 2 when Hart goes.

And added to that we don't know whether McNeil & Tarks will attract big money offers,plus Gibson and Vydra must be getting tired of kicking their heels and they might even have to consider dropping down to the Championship to get regular footie,i note they didn't even make the bench yesterday,Gibson might be carrying a knock,but Vydra's definitely well down the pecking order.

At the extremes it's possible up to 7 members of yesterday's match day squad won't be here next season,Bardsley,Tarks,Hendrick,McNeil who started and Lennon who came off the bench,plus Drinkwater and Hart.

That's a larger turnover then we'd normally like as the newbies will take time to gel and understand the system,that's why ideally we'll do some business in January.

[Bosscat]

I’m not counting any chickens, just remember last year we had 12 points after Boxing Day.
And we finished on 40 points, so anything is possible for sides below us!!
Mind you I’m a glass half empty kind of guy

Did you wake up to Sonny and Cher's "I got you babe" this morning

[Bigvince]

Having a bit of bover with site

[Tinribs]

Draw the next 2 and beat Villa and I think we can relax a bit. I don't see us bringing in any first team starters in jan or maybe even in the summer. We have priced ourselves out of the market now. What worries me is that we appear to have stopped signing young and promising players like Pope, Tarks, Gray, Taylor etc. Interested to see how our current crop of kids develop.

You have to get the mix right I don’t think Dwight McNeil would have developed as quickly as he has if he had been thrown in with young inexperienced players.

Lots of teams have fallen by the wayside buying players for the future rather than players for now.

[ClaretTony]

If someone back at the start of the season had asked me if I'd take 24 points from 18 games I'd have grabbed it. It's a fantastic return for us at this stage of the season. There is a long way to go and there will be a lot of pitfalls but we've set ourselves up nicely here for at the absolute minimum of staying in this league for yet another year. Seven wins at this point of the season is absolutely brilliant.

[Tricky Trevor]

I’d give Bardsley another 12 months but I think Lowtons days as a starter are done. He seems to have lost his edge. SD likes big FBs so they can slide across and become CHs, in the narrow back 4 we use. That’s why I’m surprised at the Bogle links. He doesn’t look a big un.

If he pays off his bookie I’d have Grosicki, works hard, creates and scores. Can’t see it happening though.

[Vegas Claret]

How much would it cost to replace Tarkowski? Can you see the club spending £15-£20m on a defender in January as a potential replacement for someone who may not even leave? Would you like to see two Ben Gibson’s on the bench?

I would imagine the club have contingency plans in place if either are sold (I can't see either going in January) but we have Gibson, so we either replace him with someone on the bench or go with Long - I'll leave those decisions to Dyche !

[Rileybobs]

I would imagine the club have contingency plans in place if either are sold (I can't see either going in January) but we have Gibson, so we either replace him with someone on the bench or go with Long - I'll leave those decisions to Dyche !

My point being that we aren’t going to sign a replacement for Tarkowski until we’ve either sold him or know for a fact that he’s leaving. We did that when we signed Gibson but needed cover in Mee’s position anyway. We’re not going to sign a fifth centre back in January on the off chance that we sell Tarkowski in summer.

[Vegas Claret]

My point being that we aren’t going to sign a replacement for Tarkowski until we’ve either sold him or know for a fact that he’s leaving. We did that when we signed Gibson but needed cover in Mee’s position anyway. We’re not going to sign a fifth centre back in January on the off chance that we sell Tarkowski in summer.

yep inclined to agree

[ClaretTony]

I’d give Bardsley another 12 months but I think Lowtons days as a starter are done. He seems to have lost his edge. SD likes big FBs so they can slide across and become CHs, in the narrow back 4 we use. That’s why I’m surprised at the Bogle links. He doesn’t look a big un.

If he pays off his bookie I’d have Grosicki, works hard, creates and scores. Can’t see it happening though.

Likes big full backs? Happen as well we didn't get Tripps back then, a signing Dyche would have loved.

Grosicki - you can't see it happening? Given what happened, it very much won't be happening.

[FactualFrank]

Grosicki is a lazy sod.

[Tricky Trevor]

Likes big full backs? Happen as well we didn't get Tripps back then, a signing Dyche would have loved.

Grosicki - you can't see it happening? Given what happened, it very much won't be happening.

I knew someone would fire back with Tripps but he was here first and was a class act. If he wants to come back tomorrow I’ll pay his taxi for him.

[TVC15]

I knew someone would fire back with Tripps but he was here first and was a class act. If he wants to come back tomorrow I’ll pay his taxi for him.

From Madrid that could be a few quid - plus tip.

[ClaretTony]

I knew someone would fire back with Tripps but he was here first and was a class act. If he wants to come back tomorrow I’ll pay his taxi for him.

He was here first, but Dyche would love him back. He also signed Lowton, Darikwa & Bardsley, neither of whom are big. I didn't really understand that thinking from you at all.

[Vegas Claret]

i'd carry Tripps on my back from Madrid ! (full disclosure, it might take a few months)

[TVC15]

i'd carry Tripps on my back from Madrid ! (full disclosure, it might take a few months)

You get his arms and I’ll take his legs - we’ll get him back quicker !
Best player to play in a burnley shirt in my 45 years watching them.

[jurek]

I wouldn't bet against any one or two of the bottom three putting a good run
together and also any one or two of those above them (including ourselves)
having a bad run.

Currently it's looking reasonably good for us
especially after the last two 1-0 wins against Newcastle and Bournemouth.
Had we lost those 1-0 then it would be a totally different picture.

There's still 20 games and 60 points to play for so anything could still happen.
But I would like to think we're capable of getting 4 wins out of 20 and a few draws too.

But I'll reserve comment until another 10 games have passed
and we've got a few of those 4 wins.