Burnley v Aston Villa - Player Ratings

[Sproggy]

Pope 6
Roberts 5
Collins 5
Tarkowski 6
Taylor 6
McNeil 7
Brownhill 6
Cork 6
Lennon 3
Weghorst 4
Barnes 3

Long 5
Cornet 7 should have started.

[Claretswift]

Pope 6
Roberts 4
Collins 5
Tarkowski 7
Taylor 3
McNeil 6
Brownhill 5
Cork 5
Lennon 3
Weghorst 3
Barnes 6

Long 6
Cornet 5

[SalouClaret]

Pope 6
Roberts 5
Collins 5
Tarkowski 6
Taylor 5
McNeil 7
Brownhill 6
Cork 6
Lennon 3
Weghorst 4
Barnes 4

Long 5
Cornet 6



Awful

[strayclaret]

Pope 6
Roberts 5
Collins 5
Tarkowski 6
Taylor 5
McNeil 6
Brownhill 6
Cork 5
Lennon 3
Weghorst 6
Barnes 6

Long 6
Cornet 6
Sorry but Lennon and McNeill on wrong wings didn’t work. Should have switched them early. Injuries played their part as well.
Come on Arsenal

[ashtonlongsider]

Given our situation I would at the very least expected a harmonious performance. We needed all eleven giving maximum effort. Sorry but I didn't see that yesterday.

Pope 6-Very nervy early doors but I think it was in part down to the lack of authority from the collective unit in front of him.
Roberts 5-Plenty of effort but no end product.
Collins 5-Looked very nervous and uncomfortable, especially early on up against Danny boy and Watkins.
Tarkowski 7-Once he went off we did look a Championship side. Fingers crossed because without him I fear the worst.
Taylor 4-Always been a fan but he had a very poor game for me.
McNeil 7*-The one shining light but he can be wasteful at times.
Brownhill 6-No doubting his effort.
Cork 6-Same as above.
Lennon 3- Not his fault he was part of a poor team selection. I'd have played Lowton on the right and moved McNeil to his natural side for balance.
Weghorst 3-Struggling to find anything positive to say but lets hope he can produce in the Championship because I ain't seen a PL player in him yet.
Barnes 5-Can't fault his effort but Ash for me is no more than an impact sub these days.

Cornet 5
Long 5

[rincon]

From t.v.
Pope 6
Roberts 5
Collins 6
Tarkowski 7
Taylor 4
McNeil 7
Brownhill 6
Cork 6
Lennon 5
Weghorst 5
Barnes 6

Long 6
Cornet 7

I thought we were strangley still in the game at 2-0 down, but ultimately our lack of firepower cost us. With a few tweaks and a better performance, we can beat them at their place

[beeholeclaret]

Pope 6 steady game and unlucky with the goals.
Roberts 5 was left exposed on a few occasions which cost us goals
Taylor 5 not the best of games and had little chance to venture forward
Collins 6 some decent work on the ball taking us further up the pitch - again left exposed for the goals
Tarks - 6 played ok until his injury
Lennon - 5 below his recent high standards
Brownhill 6 battled hard and played ok in patches
Cork 6 same as Brownhill
McNeil 6 showed some good touches but been woeful in front of goal
Barnes 5 sadly ineffective starting the game as a Prem League striker - better as impact dub
Weghorst 6 - battles away admirably but end product not yet at the level we need.

Long 6 - had little chance to impact on the match
Pieters 6 - he tends to steady the ship in midfield but unable to exert influence today
Cornet 6 - should’ve started IMO but don’t know his fitness levels

[Pickles]

Pope - 6
Roberts - 5
Collins - 6
Tarkowski - 6
Taylor - 4
Lennon - 3
Brownhill - 5
Cork - 5
McNeil - 7 - Would've been 8 but should've scored
Weghorst - 5
Barnes - 3

Long - 5
Cornet - 6

[AfloatinClaret]

We got thumped by a better side; Villa were far better than I expected.
Pope - 6
Roberts - 6
Tarkowski - 6
Collins - 6
Taylor - 5 Not his best day
McNeil - 6
Brownhill - 7 Tried like hell. My MOM
Cork - 6
Lennon - 4 Not Aaron's day at all
Weghorst - 6 Another who really grafted, but the Weghorst/Barnes combination was never likely to work.
Barnes - 5

Long - 6
Cornet - 6
Pieters - 7 Another who really worked hard and for me improved things.

[Buxtonclaret]

Pope 6
Roberts 5
Collins 6
Tarkowski 6
Taylor 6
Lennon 4
Cork 5
Brownhill 5
McNeil 6
Weghorst 3
Barnes 3

Long 6
Cornet 6

[claretspice]

Tough day, when we were well beaten by a better and more clinical side but will still be a kicking ourselves that with a little more composure the first half might have been a different story entirely.

Pope - 6 - one decent save and swept up OK, on another day he'd have fancied himself to do more with at least one of the goals but you couldn't say he was culpable.

Roberts - 5 - a little exposed for a couple of the goals and only ok in possession.

Collins - 6 - looks increasingly composed on the ball but Villa played on his positioning when running in behind.

Tarkowski- 7 - pretty sound first half but we can only hope the injury is not serious.

Taylor - 5 - should have done better for the third goal and generally one who lost his head a bit in the second half after a respectable first.

Cork - 5 - not as efficient in possession as he has been and bullied a bit at times.

Brownhill- 6 - harried well and more effective in and out of possession than Cork, even if he went missing for 20 minutes after it went to 3-0.

McNeil - 7 - superb in possession, with the exception of his fluffed one on one at the end of the first half (albeit that was all his own creation). But too slow to switch onto the runners for the second and third goals.

Lennon - 5 - plenty of effort but absolutely no product.

Weghorst- 5 - tidy enough when we got decent ball into him but rarely able to buy us a breather when we were under pressure and weren't so constructive. Should have done better with his two first half chances.

Barnes - 5 - worked hard, the odd neat touch but not really effective.

Long- 5 - looked decidedly uncomfortable on the left of the 2 centre halves and we missed Tarkowski's leadership.

Cornet - 6 - lively and took his goals well.

Pieters - added some much needed stability.


Firstly - this is not over as a result of this result. After a tough game at Spurs, we play Villa again, and I saw enough today to suggest that with a little bit of luck we can get at them - particularly in the first half, we got at them today and they looked fallible defensively and at times we were able to gain parity in midfield too. But Villa’s front 3 were clinical at their pace caused the higher line we’ve been playing recently a bit of a problem, particularly on those occasions when we failed to put pressure on their midfield - they particularly targeted the right hand side of our back 4 (not the first team to do so recently, which is simply a function of the fact it is very inexperienced). The second goal was a hammer blow and realistically killed the game, and Tarkowski’s injury put the tin hat on things. We’ve got to hope that injury isn’t too serious and then regroup and go again. There’s a bit of football to be played yet.

Having watched it back I was a little harsh on McNeil for his chance . He should have done better but with the defender cutting out the chance to go cross goal he didn't actually have much of the goal to aim at from a tightish angle.

What he really needed, given the defender's movement was for Barnes to hold his position. Had he done so its a simple square ball behind the defender and then a tap in. Unfortunately for some reason Barnes matched the defender's run making it impossible for McNeil to pass to him and forcing him into a late decision to shoot.

But he really should be disappointing with his effort for Villa's second. He was daydreaming and that's inexcusable at this level (albeit I'm amazed someone didn't shout him out of it given how long Digne was free).

[Jambo]

Maybe should have tracked Digne but McNeil is definitely being told by the manager to hold a higher position as well. You can't be an auxiliary full-back and also a creative threat in the final third, especially when he isn't particularly quick, it just doesn't work. It's a risk if you don't come back sometimes but it is definitely a tactic from MJ to have wingers higher for speedier transitions and that means they won't always be available to cover.

Totally agree on the chance late in the first too - Barnes is hiding behind the defender for some reason and nobody seems to be pointing out McNeil ran 30 yards to steal the ball to make it for himself in the first place. As always, he never gets credit for the good things he does - sticking a peach on Weghorst's head that the big lad wasted - but we concede a sloppy goal and it's always seemingly the winger's fault. Are other fanbases like this?

Pope 6 - not at fault for any of the goals imo, all close range finishes
Roberts 4 - looked away with the fairies at times
Collins 5 - lack of pace exposed and lost without Tarks
Tarkowski 6 - we're down if he doesn't make a miracle recovery tbh
Taylor 4 - back to being bad old Charlie after recent improvement
McNeil 7 - dynamite in the first half, unsurprising head dropped later
Cork 5 - not sure where he was for the first goal...or the second
Brownhill 5 - game largely passed him by, as it did Cork
Lennon 3 - not sure what we expect from him really, well off it
Barnes 4 - link up play was OK but like AL not up to the standard now
Weghorst 4 - need more than effort at this level I'm afraid

Long 5 - not good enough, but we knew that already
Cornet 6 - good to see sharpness for the goal, hopefully fit to start v Spurs

A proper old school 'throw one in' performance. What a time to do it. On the bright side, we can't play any worse when we go to Villa.

[warksclaret]

Looking at ridiculously low scores for Taylor, why did we not replace him with Pieters. We have justifiably done this to both Roberts and Lowton in previous games this season

[spt_claret]

First game Ive been able to see since Southampton:

Pope- 6 did as good as anybody
Roberts- 5. Caught out of position in both defence and attack, he likes to wander around inside going forwards,it worked against Southampton but here left him and McNeil both isolated.
Collins- 5. Struggled badly to deal with their attacks. My partner's first game, she commented he was struggling. His ability on the ball covered up his defensive inexperience but he's only 20, will get better.
Tarkowski- 6. Best defender on a day the whole defence struggled.
Taylor- 4. Had 1 or 2 brief moments going forward but wide open defensively- he had no protection in front of him and this has been a problem with Cornet ahead of him too. Pieters does better defensively when the winger is more attacking, Taylor is the better player but needs more support on defence than he's getting in this setup.

McNeil-7 MOM. Best player we had by some distance, didn't do as much defensive work but he was the only one getting the ball going. Do think we should have flipped the wingers at halftime.
Cork- 4. After a really good run of games he was overrun here, against a very strong midfield.
Brownhill- 5 also struggled but slightly better legs.
Lennon- 4. Entirely anonymous, I've been very impressed generally by his mini renaissance this season but he was poor here. Not helped by playing on the wrong side, he is not an inverted winger.
Barnes- 5. More or less everything I'd expect from a Barnes start these days. Good servant but we're in trouble starting him.
Weghorst- 5. Some nice flicks and touches,some of which came off some didn't, but he spurned a good chance by awkwardly rushing it first time instead of taking a touch, which strikes me as lacking composure or confidence.

Subs:
Long 6. Didn't let us or himself down but was never going to shore us up either.
Cornet 6. Least he helped the goal difference.
Pieters 6. I like Erik in general, he's a solid utility and made an impact. Would like to see him in next game.

[JohnMac]

Pope 6
Roberts 5
Collins 5
Tarkowski 6
Taylor 5
McNeil 6*
Brownhill 6
Cork 6
Lennon 4
Weghorst 4
Barnes 4

Long 5
Cornet 6

They played okay first half but defended poorly to be 2 down and eventually just lost out to better quality players in all positions. The Referee was appalling but didn't affect our poor finishing etc.