Noticed that he had the highest amount of interceptions in the league this weekend. a side to his game that I haven't paid much attention to.

What a player he is.

I'm not too surprised at that. His defensive work has always been underrated. He's intelligent enough to read the play, and if you watch carefully he gets across the pitch pretty swiftly to cover others out of position. Also an interception of his that lead to Cahill's red card and essentially our current position in the table...

Cleared one off the line as well.

He seemed to love the adulation he got from the fans in his warm down at bollewood on weds night. His quality has never been in doubt. He is the best player in a claret and blue shirt I have seen in my lifetime.

2 omelettes later, now look at him.

I thought he was solid yesterday and showed a different side to his game.

So glad we've got him fully fit and firing. Really feels like a new signing.

A mix between a Belgium Kante and David Silva

Cork has done wonders for him!

One off the line suggests he is following his orders too!

RVclaret wrote:I thought he was solid yesterday and showed a different side to his game.

So glad we've got him fully fit and firing. Really feels like a new signing.

There was nothing to suggest he wasnt fully fit for the most of last season. It was the formation and style of the play that was the issue and left Defour on the bench and if we move back to 4-4-2 again this season he will struggle to get in the team

Now he's Dyche fit he can cover more ground to make key interceptions for the clarets.

Devils_Advocate wrote:There was nothing to suggest he wasnt fully fit for the most of last season. It was the formation and style of the play that was the issue and left Defour on the bench and if we move back to 4-4-2 again this season he will struggle to get in the team

Looked to do ok in the 4-4-2 yesterday

Big difference between starting with a 4-4-2 and setting up like we did last year compared to reverting to it when we are throwing on attackers because we are behind.

Anyhow I dont necessarily have a problem with him playing in a 4-4-2 but I reckon Dyche does and its him who picks the team and so 4-4-2 with a fully fit team means no Defour in my opinion

Need to start thinking of a new contract if he will sign one, don't want him going into his last year.

I watched when he came off at Wembley and every member of staff and player made a point of congratulating him on a job well done. Great to see he now looks to have really settled and fitted in with the group

Devils_Advocate wrote:There was nothing to suggest he wasnt fully fit for the most of last season. It was the formation and style of the play that was the issue and left Defour on the bench and if we move back to 4-4-2 again this season he will struggle to get in the team

I agree that it was the formation, but staggered that anybody could possibly imagine Defour struggling to get in the Burnley team.

Our most talented player by some distance and as this thread is discussing, has defensive qualities too.

I'm pretty sure that Dyche now realises that he needs to build his team around Defour as long as he is fit.

Notice when he makes a pass he is instantly getting himself into space so he can have the ball back if needed, very intelligent, unselfish, brilliant footballer.

Was talking to some Belgians in a pub in Gent on Saturday. They really rated him. The only thing that they were critical of was my pronunciation of Defour.

3putt wrote:I agree that it was the formation, but staggered that anybody could possibly imagine Defour struggling to get in the Burnley team.

Our most talented player by some distance and as this thread is discussing, has defensive qualities too.

I'm pretty sure that Dyche now realises that he needs to build his team around Defour as long as he is fit.

He shouldnt struggle and I am one of Defours biggest fans and was consistent in pushing for a 4-5-1 formation last year and in defending him against the all the idiots who criticised him as being uninterested, not a Dyche player, feigning injury just because he wasnt one of Dyche favorites in the second half of last season

What i do think is if Dyche played 4-4-2 it would be Cork and Hendrick in midfield. I am not giving an opinion on whether that is right or wrong but that is what i think Dyche would favour.

Always pronounced defooor for me although I suspect that is wrong.

InDefourTopPlayersInDeWorld?

gandhisflipflop wrote:Always pronounced defooor for me although I suspect that is wrong.

You need to be Flemish to make them noises. Impossible

Devils_Advocate wrote:He shouldnt struggle and I am one of Defours biggest fans and was consistent in pushing for a 4-5-1 formation last year and in defending him against the all the idiots who criticised him as being uninterested, not a Dyche player, feigning injury just because he wasnt one of Dyche favorites in the second half of last season

What i do think is if Dyche played 4-4-2 it would be Cork and Hendrick in midfield. I am not giving an opinion on whether that is right or wrong but that is what i think Dyche would favour.

Well I hope you are wrong Devils_Advocate, Cork and Defour are already forming a great partnership. Cork and Hendrick would not be as good.

3putt wrote:Well I hope you are wrong Devils_Advocate, Cork and Defour are already forming a great partnership. Cork and Hendrick would not be as good.

I agree and would be happy to be wrong on this one

3putt wrote:Well I hope you are wrong Devils_Advocate, Cork and Defour are already forming a great partnership. Cork and Hendrick would not be as good.

At the moment you could push Hendrick up to play off the target man , and get all 3 on the pitch whatever the formation.
We certainly aren't short of options this season.

UTC

Colburn_Claret wrote:At the moment you could push Hendrick up to play off the target man , and get all 3 on the pitch whatever the formation.
We certainly aren't short of options this season.

UTC

The discussion was around playing 4-4-2 like we set up last year and you would have Hendrick playing upfront ahead of 3 out of the 4 strikers we have at the club?

I never said I would, I said it was an option. Don't forget our 4 strikers have very similar styles. Now if we had a fifth in the mould of Danny Ings, the option would be mute.

moot

Interview from a Belgian website. There's a link to an interview given to a crowd of journos but the link doesn't show all the interview (mainly focused on the Belgium games). However, he says he had a good pre-season and a good start in the new season. I think the text in English is reliable.



"Defour told Belgium’s DH: “I’ve adapted to Burnley’s physical game, but I have to say that our style of play has changed a bit, we play a little less with long balls, we play more football.”

Accepting that he considered leaving Burnley during the current transfer window, Defour added: “The club wasn’t really willing to sell me. Olympiacos was very interested, but Burnley asked the price paid to Anderlecht (€8m), and Olympiacos didn’t want to pay a lot of money.”

The World Cup appearing on the horizon has helped to focus Defour’s mind and he’s now committed to shining for Burnley and getting a place in Belgium’s squad for Russia. That will also involve staying fit, and Defour is hoping all the luck falls his way this season."






http://sportwitness.co.uk/steven-defour ... er-failed/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

8m is a bit of a bargain at today's prices.

May Defour be with us for a long time.

Devils_Advocate wrote:He shouldnt struggle and I am one of Defours biggest fans and was consistent in pushing for a 4-5-1 formation last year and in defending him against the all the idiots who criticised him as being uninterested, not a Dyche player, feigning injury just because he wasnt one of Dyche favorites in the second half of last season.

I remember one game not long after he came back from injury where in the first half he was fantastic, covered every blade of grass and at one point picked up the ball off one of the defenders from deep midfield, worked his way up to the left wing with a succession of 1-2 passes, then when another player crossed the ball in and it was cleared away, he won the ball back in the right back position to put an end to the counter attack.
By about the 50th minute he was obviously shattered, his performance had trailed off and was subbed off not long after. He had given 100% while his body had let him, unfortunately for him due to a lack of pre-season and so many weeks out with injury his body wouldn't let him do more.

So many people on here were saying what you have just quoted. "Uninterested, not a Dyche player, feigning injury". Couldn't believe it.

A once in a generation type player. Has just about every quality you could want in a footballer. An absolute joy to watch. Hope he's here for years to come. He wouldn't look out of place in one of the top teams in the league.

Nice interview with Defour in the BE.

http://www.burnleyexpress.net/sport/foo ... -1-8732614" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also saw a stat that he has made more interceptions (12) that any other player in the league so far (WhoScored).

Feels like a new signing - one of the biggest pluses to come from this transfer window.

IanMcL wrote:Cork has done wonders for him!

One off the line suggests he is following his orders too!

I was thinking the same thing, a little like the Jones Marney relationship, together it's like 3 players!

Newty wrote:I remember one game not long after he came back from injury where in the first half he was fantastic, covered every blade of grass and at one point picked up the ball off one of the defenders from deep midfield, worked his way up to the left wing with a succession of 1-2 passes, then when another player crossed the ball in and it was cleared away, he won the ball back in the right back position to put an end to the counter attack.
By about the 50th minute he was obviously shattered, his performance had trailed off and was subbed off not long after. He had given 100% while his body had let him, unfortunately for him due to a lack of pre-season and so many weeks out with injury his body wouldn't let him do more.

So many people on here were saying what you have just quoted. "Uninterested, not a Dyche player, feigning injury". Couldn't believe it.

It was home v stoke. Best player on the pitch first half. Ran the game. Didn't give the ball away once - absolute class. Taken off early second half

Reads the game really well, passes a football very well and has a good shot on him. Fingers crossed he stays fit for the majority of the season.

Going off the 3 games this season he's as fit as any other player at the club.

We know how good of a footballer he is, but he's shown the grit and determination that I and others didn't think he had.

He should be well proud of himself.

Newty wrote:I remember one game not long after he came back from injury where in the first half he was fantastic, covered every blade of grass and at one point picked up the ball off one of the defenders from deep midfield, worked his way up to the left wing with a succession of 1-2 passes, then when another player crossed the ball in and it was cleared away, he won the ball back in the right back position to put an end to the counter attack.
By about the 50th minute he was obviously shattered, his performance had trailed off and was subbed off not long after. He had given 100% while his body had let him, unfortunately for him due to a lack of pre-season and so many weeks out with injury his body wouldn't let him do more.

So many people on here were saying what you have just quoted. "Uninterested, not a Dyche player, feigning injury". Couldn't believe it.

Not sure anyone ever suggested he was feigning injury. The suggestion was that both he and the club agreed he was short of being 100% fit but there was disagreement about the extent to which he was capable of playing through the issue. Which is a quite different issue.

There were also no doubt some wider issues with his conditioning last year which probably contributed to those various niggles. Hes clearly in far better shape this season after a really rigorous pre season, so hopefully those niggles won't be so much of an issue this winter.

claretspice wrote:Not sure anyone ever suggested he was feigning injury. The suggestion was that both he and the club agreed he was short of being 100% fit but there was disagreement about the extent to which he was capable of playing through the issue. Which is a quite different issue.

There were also no doubt some wider issues with his conditioning last year which probably contributed to those various niggles. Hes clearly in far better shape this season after a really rigorous pre season, so hopefully those niggles won't be so much of an issue this winter.

There was definitely people on this board saying he had feigned injury - I won`t name the posters but lets just say they weren't the normal controversial ones.

We could do with Defour on the pitch right now against Greece.

Getting caught in possession in CM far too much in the absence of Hazard and Witsel. Dembele too static and nonchalant.

and booked lol

Belgianclaret wrote:We could do with Defour on the pitch right now against Greece.

Getting caught in possession in CM far too much in the absence of Hazard and Witsel. Dembele too static and nonchalant.

Just thinking the same - Hazard and Defour on for Mertens and Dembele i think.

This game once again showed the frailties of our national side and our lack of decent cover in certain areas.

Draw would have been fair result, but I'll take the win

TVC15 wrote:There was definitely people on this board saying he had feigned injury - I won`t name the posters but lets just say they weren't the normal controversial ones.

I'll name one.
Bumba.
Practically slandered him.

claretspice wrote:Not sure anyone ever suggested he was feigning injury. The suggestion was that both he and the club agreed he was short of being 100% fit but there was disagreement about the extent to which he was capable of playing through the issue. Which is a quite different issue.

There were also no doubt some wider issues with his conditioning last year which probably contributed to those various niggles. Hes clearly in far better shape this season after a really rigorous pre season, so hopefully those niggles won't be so much of an issue this winter.

CT very much suggested that

I seriously believe that he is ruled out with injury when he's fit enough to play.

http://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboar ... ry#p434706" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

aggi wrote:CT very much suggested that

I seriously believe that he is ruled out with injury when he's fit enough to play.

http://www.uptheclarets.com/messageboar ... ry#p434706" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

He did say that Aggi. Tony can speak for himself, but the impression i have, both from that thread and indeed from other sources, is that Tony was saying thr club and Defour both agreed that Defour was less than 100% fit, but that there was disagreement about whether Defour could play through that issue - the club being of the view Defour was being unduly cautious and declaring himself unfit when other players would have played through the pain barrier. That might well be because his past injury problems have left Defour particularly cautious and it might also reflect that our players have historically been unusually willing to play through the barrier.

Either way, its a difference of opinion not as to the existence of the injury, but the extent of it. So I think it is very misleading to cast it as an allegation Defour was feigning injury. Im not even sure in this age of scans and other diagnostic tools its possible for a Premier League footballer to feign an injury!

Belgianclaret wrote:This game once again showed the frailties of our national side and our lack of decent cover in certain areas.

Draw would have been fair result, but I'll take the win

First European nation to qualify, must be doing something right,may give your manager a chance to experiment in the last 2 qualifiers.

tiger76 wrote:First European nation to qualify, must be doing something right,may give your manager a chance to experiment in the last 2 qualifiers.

You're right Tiger, the chance to experiment is there. I however doubt Martinez is the one to do it, as he seems to be stirring into the same bucket as the previous managers. In addition, he's made a mistake by omitting Naingolan from the selection.
Also, don't forget we are in one of the easiest groups.