Anthony.

[alwaysaclaret]

Proper shite and he’s Parkers favourite player unfortunately for us, undroppable and starts every game on the left, taking the place of Koleosho.

Koleosho is twice the player on the left but no, Anthony must start there.

Absolutely true, and a big problem, the fact that Parker rates him highly and he's favourite player.

[blatherwickstattoos]

He’s either bang average or shot on confidence. Sadly I think it’s the first.

[CrosspoolClarets]

The lad got 8 goals and 6 assists three years ago so must have something but last season was 10 minutes here and there, that does nothing for a player. I tend to be of the view that a player with that record needs easing back in, 70 mins, 30 mins, 70 mins, 30 mins - that kind of thing. It is too much too soon to give him 90 every week, that’s why he is fading out of games.

But regardless, Koleosho has to play on the left. Final ball or no, he is our most valuable talent up there and probably our most likely threat.

[claretspice]

It's difficult to believe that a different players change anything. The build up from the back will still be so slow that the opposition has time to get set and when we eventually pass to the wingers the ball will still be behind them, giving them nowhere to go but backwards.

I think there is undoubtedly a need for a tactical re-think. We're not playing to the strengths of the players we have - the full backs simply have to play more part in attack, and we need to move the ball quicker as you say. Better players should help though - if only in providing more quality in the final ball, which has been a part of our problem at times.

Anthony sort of sums up our problems at the minute. He's probably the 5th or 6th best winger we have on the books at this level, after Koleosho, Tresor, Ramsey and Redmond and perhaps Sarmiento. But firstly, all those wingers prefer the left so someone is always going to be out of position on the right, secondly, all except he and Koleosho (who is playing out of position to accommodate him) are currently injured or working their way back to fitness after injury or illness, and finally even allowing for the fact he'd be back up in our strongest side, he still should be producing far more than he currently is and whilst the fact he's not played much for three years is almost certainly a factor, it's hard to escape the conclusion our set up isn't helping get the best from him.

[Goliath]

I think there is undoubtedly a need for a tactical re-think. We're not playing to the strengths of the players we have - the full backs simply have to play more part in attack, and we need to move the ball quicker as you say. Better players should help though - if only in providing more quality in the final ball, which has been a part of our problem at times.

Anthony sort of sums up our problems at the minute. He's probably the 5th or 6th best winger we have on the books at this level, after Koleosho, Tresor, Ramsey and Redmond and perhaps Sarmiento. But firstly, all those wingers prefer the left so someone is always going to be out of position on the right, secondly, all except he and Koleosho (who is playing out of position to accommodate him) are currently injured or working their way back to fitness after injury or illness, and finally even allowing for the fact he'd be back up in our strongest side, he still should be producing far more than he currently is and whilst the fact he's not played much for three years is almost certainly a factor, it's hard to escape the conclusion our set up isn't helping get the best from him.

Your point about them all preferring the left is spot on and it appears to have been a real oversight by Parker and the recruitment team when they sold JBG and Vitinho.

It look like they thought Koleosho could just slot in there but we'd seen last season that he was like a fish out of water on that side. He clearly doesn't like Anthony on the right, so It really looks like they put all their eggs in one basket with that one and it's coming back to bite them.

[xxmunkyennuixx]

He had a poor game yesterday. His attacking output was negligible. That's not good enough but he added to it by backing out of challenges. I don't care what position you play at football, you compete for the ball. Needs dropping instantly. Play a kid if we have to, he's doing nothing anyway. Not working hard and backing out of tackles is contagious and breaks teams. Set the expectation and get him ****** off for a few games. We saw it with Tresor et al last year.

[CoolClaret]

Your point about them all preferring the left is spot on and it appears to have been a real oversight by Parker and the recruitment team when they sold JBG and Vitinho.

It look like they thought Koleosho could just slot in there but we'd seen last season that he was like a fish out of water on that side. He clearly doesn't like Anthony on the right, so It really looks like they put all their eggs in one basket with that one and it's coming back to bite them.

Mate I am telling you, absolutely no chance Parker wanted to sell those lads, that wasn't his decision at all.

[Goliath]

Mate I am telling you, absolutely no chance Parker wanted to sell those lads, that wasn't his decision at all.

Fair point. I do still think there was a lack of realisation that we didn't have a single right winger in the squad though. Surely we don't sell them all without bringing any in otherwise. It wouldn't make sense to do that intentionally.

I've got to the point where I wonder if it's worth putting Brownhill back there as an inside right with Roberts going outside him

[dougcollins]

I don't want to see any Burnley player avoiding the ball or jumping out of tackles.

Anthony is a loanee - if he doesn't want to play for us, send him back.

[boatshed bill]

The big thing for me with Anthony when you compare to zaroury in 22/23 is that Anthony doesn’t seem to be in control of what he’s doing like zaroury was. Zaroury seemed so calm on the ball and knew he had the ability. Anthony looks like he’s hoping the skill he tries beats his man rather than being confident it will. I don’t rate Pires but Anthony is better with Pires overlapping him, Humphreys is a cb playing left back who can’t get up and down the same

Zaroury had Maatsen with him.

[warksclaret]

Strange situation on Sunday, even if Koleosho or Anthony crossed the ball into the penalty area there was no one there. A classic case of a great cross coming in late in the game, when a hungry striker would have got across the ball and the slightest touch could have resulted in a goal. Jay was miles behind that sort of thinking making it easy for the GK to claim. It got mentioned by the commentator on how slow Jay had been to react

[Goliath]

Zaroury had Maatsen with him.

Maatsen spent a lot of the season inverting into the midfield to allow Zaroury to get the full back 1v1. When Anthony gets in that position he turns and passes back to a defender. It's not good enough and he should have been dropped by now

[dougcollins]

Strange situation on Sunday, even if Koleosho or Anthony crossed the ball into the penalty area there was no one there. A classic case of a great cross coming in late in the game, when a hungry striker would have got across the ball and the slightest touch could have resulted in a goal. Jay was miles behind that sort of thinking making it easy for the GK to claim. It got mentioned by the commentator on how slow Jay had been to react

Yes, that's Jay now. One time he would have been there.

But we know that, he's not the answer.