Reminded me of Scholes the way he was dictating the speed of the attacks in the first half.

Looked on top form.

I'm glad we played a different style of football today. Packed the midfield and dominated, regardless of the red cards

He's just a joy to watch when he's on that kind of form. Unreal.

We were poor last 30
Didn't hold onto the ball at all, 9 MEN! Just keep the ball and don't panic
Easier said than done I know.
3 points!!!! UTC

agree, that formation should get us enough points

1914tyrone wrote:We were poor last 30
Didn't hold onto the ball at all, 9 MEN! Just keep the ball and don't panic
Easier said than done I know.
3 points!!!! UTC

I think it was more about the first 60 minutes, really. Imagine being part of a team that's beating the current champions of England, when you're part of a team that's actually odds on for relegation. You'd be shatting your pants! I think they're going to take huge positives from today which will help them over the next handful of games.

i can see that formation away from home, will he revert to 442 at home..next week will tell

He is immense. Think he wouldn't look out of place in a top six side.

I said it in the matchday thread, first half from Defour was an absolute masterclass

Dychefit defour. Scary.

I got stick for saying he's as good as the likes of Sigurdsson, but when he plays like he did today he's a very good player, even at this level.

I love Defour!

He was that good I almost cried.

Goalposts wrote:i can see that formation away from home, will he revert to 442 at home..next week will tell

Only against the weakest opposition. There aren't really many, so I think he'll stick with 4-5-1 for the majority.

He played well pre-season. Fully fit, bags of confidence, his immense talent is now on show.

I'd let him shag my mrs

He is a sexual beast.

Love him.

And his hair.

looked very good first half, faded a bit in th4 second (although so did jeff and Jack). That midfield three is going to get better and better and Defour will too

He still didn't last a full match!

We were wonderful first half and Defour was running the show. I thought when they went down to 9 men we should have managed the game a bit better, although Chelsea are (or at least were) the best team in England and they were going hell for leather.

Particularly after a win, I know that some of the hardcore fanboys get upset when our players are singled out for criticism, but I think we need an upgrade on both Arfield and Gudmundsson in the right-wing slot; the latter looks a handy player to have in the squad, but I think the former is a bit of a liability against the better sides. Neither have pace, which would have been really useful in the second-half as we had very little counter attacking threat. Today was sublime, but this result was achieved through both quality and graft. I think the key to staying up this season will be to acquire more players like Defour, who allow us to have spells where we control the game with possession. Not only is the long-ball ugly, but against a good side it can be counter-productive: the second goal came from us winning back possession then simply punting the ball up field so that the reigning champions could come at us again. This is the equivalent of taking a blow from the boxer's right-hand only to request that they try again with their left.

Immense talent, the haters should be eating humble pie. Feign injury they said, not dedicated they said, not fit enough they said HAHAHHAHAHA

Brilliant cross for the third goal

I'm chuffed he's firing again, I really thought he was on his bike. Said it before, if his attitude and fitness is right he'll be an absolute Claret legend.

Jezzzzzzzzzzz he ran the show , super stuff .

You can just see his quality, even if he doesn't do anything particularly special. He just seems to have more time on the ball than other players.

Defour bossed the first 45

Outstanding in that system

we missed him when scotty replaced him...but then you always will in my book

I take it that he's staying after all?

Well done to all that believed, including me and Sean, he is a treasure.

UTC!

I don't think I've ever seen anyone on here who could be classed as a "hater". Most people were just forced (eventually) to be realistic and say it was a lot of money for a clearly talented guy who spent virtually the whole of the season on the fringes of the team. It appeared there was some problem or other and that the only course seemed to be a parting of the ways unfortunately. That didn't happen for whatever reason and if he's going to be fit, keen, involved and giving his all every week like today then we've saved ourselves a shed load of money and got a very, very classy midfielder.

Differences have been sorted out and Defour looks as though he's going to give us a go.

Dyche will always pick a fit and motivated Defour, no question.

The old 'Cream always rises to the top'

CoolClaret wrote:I'd let him shag my mrs

He can wait his turn..there's a long queue!

CoolClaret wrote:I'd let him shag my mrs

I'd watch him shag your mrs.

Anyone accusing him of feigning injury today?

Newty wrote:I'd watch him shag your mrs.

Wouldn't he get too knackered after 60 minutes and have to be hauled off?

Bordeauxclaret wrote:Anyone accusing him of feigning injury today?

Class apart. Pleasure to watch and what a ball for Vokes head!

Bordeauxclaret wrote:Anyone accusing him of feigning injury today?

Yes for Cahills red!

CoolClaret wrote:I'd let him shag my mrs

Your missus would let him shag you I've heard.

The guy is an absolute genius. Never mind him shagging my missus. If he carries on playing like that, he can shag me.

Lets hope it he remains injury free but what a performance.

Indigo has it. Sign of a truly great player is that no matter where they are on the field, or who the opposition is, they look like they have all the time in the world.

I have trawled the thread and can't find use of the statement "like a new signing".

If he stays fit, and up for it like today, he's like a new signing. The "marquee" signing.

We all knew of his pedigree, up til now it's only been seen sporadically. Who's fault that is, I don't know. And when he plays like that, I don't care. We've got d4, steven d4.

Sun on Sunday saying we've lined up Charlie Adam if Steven Defour leaves.
Probably just filling column inches.

piston broke wrote:Sun on Sunday saying we've lined up Charlie Adam if Steven Defour leaves.
Probably just filling column inches.

What????? Not even fit to lace Defours boots

He (and his wife) liked something on Twitter this morning where a Burnley fan said something along the lines of 'so glad you're staying at Burnley.' Having been sure he was leaving at the end of last season, I'm pretty sure he'll now stay. Fantastic player!

He made a point of twice acknowledging the crowd support for him, when he came off. Must feel wanted and contribution valued, by everyone, again.
Good!

Last summer the usual suspects said he wasn't good enough blah blah blah.

I've yet to see the main culprit today...have they been banned?

This is what a lot of us enthused about, he's a class player, step above a lot of last seasons team and some of this seasons.
He just needed the fitness, the belief and better players around him.
Fully fit he'd walk into any team outside the top 6 and even then I think he'd easily make the squad of a couple of the top 6.

The best move for me was in the first half - and he didnt even touch the ball! The bal came to him, the chelsea player closed him down. He dropped the shoulder, shimmied and completely bamboozled the chelsea player and then laid the ball left to (I think) Cork. It was fantastic.

His first touch is class even if his first touch is a pass.

There was a spell, let`s say from the 15th minute until half-time, where he gave an absolute masterclass in how to control the pace and `direction` of a game. It was an utter joy to watch. I thought Cork struggled in the first 25 minutes BUT then also had a spell until half-time, dovetailing beautifully with the aforementioned Defour (Hendrick, Brady and Ward too) which bodes well for the season ahead.