Hello,

I am usually pessimistic when it comes to Burnley. I didn't believe we was going up under Coyle until the final whistle went. I didn't think we would stay up last season. I didn't think we would do well this season because I thought our transfer window was poor.

However, recently I have started to have funny feeling. I am starting to feel optimistic about how we are doing. I am starting to believe we could realistically finish in the top 6.

Its always worth remembering that Leicester won the league. People say that will never happen again, but they would have said its not possible before it happened. Clearly that shows anything is possible in football.

Here why I think its possible-
- Apart from City, all the other 'top teams' are struggling with form and consistency. In fact apart from City I would say we are the most consistent team in the league.
- We are very difficult to beat. We may not always look like we are going to win but we rarely look like we are going to lose.
- Apart from City, I think its possible to get a draw from the other top clubs.
- The team is growing in confidence and that can go a long way (look at Leicester).


Its unlikely but I think its possible. Why not? We are playing a style of football that a lot of people don't like but its very affective.

Top ten is possible, top six is going to be the usual top six.


EDIT - getting relegated is also possible, and probably more likely than us finishing top six.

I'm the eternal optimist when it comes to BFC but, top 10 is as good as it's going to get this season

Hmmm....err, no.

Fair enough Inchy...but which of the Big 6 clubs are we gonna squeeze out over a 38 match season..?

i don't really see it myself...7 or 8 or 9 is possible though.

Arsenal or Liverpool could collapse at any point.

All of the top 6 allowed Leicester to finish above them

Maybe only City aside we have 1 thing the others don't. 100% effort in every game.

It's 11 men vs 11 men. They may have more skilful players be able to win 4/5-0 but we can match those results with 1-0.

I said all last season. Match our home form away and we'd be on to something special. Anything is achievable.

Arsenal play Spurs after the break, we play Swansea.

There’s an opportunity to gain ground


Why not dream? Arsenal are a bunch of children who sulk if they do not get their own way. Their manager is quickly losing the plot. It could go massively wrong down there

We can dream, but I'm going to start dreaming if and when we reach 40 points.

Bloody hell lancaster. I am dreaming of a fortnight in Florida while youre settled with a weekend in Blackpool

Don't get me wrong we are playing superbly , but its a long season and injuries, suspensions and other stuff can take their toll.

Top 10 was possible last year if SD had realised how effective 4-5-1 could be away from home.

The thing to note is we have got most of the tough away games out of the way early.

And as the pressure disappears from us and increses on those below us it only opens up our chances more.

Weve 12 way games left. And only one is against last seasons top 4. Weve yet to play the abysmal palace away who we even beat last year. Weve yet to play any of the newly promoted sides away. Or other teams in or around the drop zone like swansea, bournemouth, west ham, stoke.

It really is ours to **** up.

ablueclaret wrote:Top 10 was possible last year if SD had realised how effective 4-5-1 could be away from home.

That's what gets me about our Sean, he never listens to you !

top 10 nailed on as long as bossman stays.

I'm just hoping we get another 21 pts.

Top 10 would be a fantastic achievement for this club. If we took advantage of Everton's poor season and nicked 7th it would probably end up being our most successful season of the modern era. To be classed as "the best of the rest" would be something very special.

Finishing anywhere in the top 10 will be a huge achievement. If we carry on picking up points with such consistency and playing with the great team spirit we clearly have, I believe we might just finish in the top 6. Retaining Sean is the most important requirement in meeting that challenge.

from pessimist to delusional, bypassing optimism along the way, love it

I was predicting 14th at the end of this season, and 16th last season, they are way ahead of where I expected we would, long may it continue.

everything is possible on paper, but as others have said, long way to go and wiyj twists and turns yet, but I hope you're right, playing in \Europe would be awesome

10 point lead over WHU, 8 over Everton. A lot of the other sides around us like Watford etc are quite similar to ourselves.
it's a decent platform with the pressure decreasing, you never know.


The biggest ballache will be some of the spoilt meltdown when we drop 2 points against the likes of Swansea, we could become unbearable to ourselves.

A top half finish certainly doesn't look out of the question, if we can more or less keep everyone fit and add some extra quality in Janaury.

The top 6 would be the closest to 'doing a Leicester' we could ever get.

Not sure on what it is now but top 6 was 100/1 a few weeks ago and I had a few quid on it... it's far from a racing cert obviously but I think the odds are wrong

Lancasterclaret wrote:Top ten is possible, top six is going to be the usual top six.


EDIT - getting relegated is also possible, and probably more likely than us finishing top six.

Common sense at last

Take my advice Inchy and stick to pessimism. Clearly it works, and when it doesn’t, you won’t be disappointed.

The problem we have is the more success we have the more teams will sit back and defend against us.
We are still not good enough to break teams down that defend in numbers, but confidence must be sky high at the moment.
Hopefully we can kick on with the away form against the bottom sides. The only negative last year was the 4 game spell of away games where we should of won a couple at least.

Quickenthetempo wrote:The problem we have is the more success we have the more teams will sit back and defend against us.

Imagine going to the Emirates and Arsenal parking the bus!

Anywhere in the top 10 would be an amazing achievement. Top 17 would be great

cricketfieldclarets wrote: Weve yet to play the abysmal palace away who we even beat last year. .

I wouldn't be so quick to write off Palace. They've looked like one of the best teams in the bottom half for a few weeks now, and were quite unfortunate not to pick something up at Wembley over the weekend.
Now they have most of their best players back, and under Hodgson, they look capable of beating most teams in the division. They appear sunk on 4 points, but statistically they're 6 points off safety with 27 games to go. If they beat the teams around them then that point difference will soon be erased.

Top 10 would be a great achievement, 7th would be amazing. Anything other than bottom 3 is an achievement when compared against our budget.

Im not delusional. I know that to finish in the top 10 would be very difficult. I just keep seeing other teams fail while we continue to impress and think "why not". Take each game as it comes, continue with the same consistency, and anything can happen.

Why not dare to dream












Of course if Dyche goes I predict we will go down

The top ten currently has Burnley, Watford, Brighton and Huddersfield. Is this because of the distortion of the league table after just 11 games or is it that the Premier League is not as good as its cracked up to be.

nil_desperandum wrote:I wouldn't be so quick to write off Palace. They've looked like one of the best teams in the bottom half for a few weeks now, and were quite unfortunate not to pick something up at Wembley over the weekend.
Now they have most of their best players back, and under Hodgson, they look capable of beating most teams in the division. They appear sunk on 4 points, but statistically they're 6 points off safety with 27 games to go. If they beat the teams around them then that point difference will soon be erased.

I cant agree on that. We should be looking at 6 points from them again this season. Theyre in dissaray. And hodgson is like moyes at sunderland. He even said ahead od the west ham game he doesnt know how to win a 6 pointer.

If we were blowing teams away or even winning convincingly I might agree. But every point we've secured this season has been hard fought. That's not a criticism, that's what we have to do. But over a long season which we're not long into, a few matches will slip away and the opposition's superior quality will tell. We're lucky to have a man in charge who knows how important it is to fight for every scrap, but now then it won't be enough. As much as our squad is improving, it is not by any stretch one that can realistically hope for 6th spot.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:I cant agree on that. We should be looking at 6 points from them again this season. Theyre in dissaray. And hodgson is like moyes at sunderland. He even said ahead od the west ham game he doesnt know how to win a 6 pointer.

I would also hope that we might get 6 points from them, but they are far from in disarray - or at least by my definition of "disarray".
Since September when Hodgson had got them set-up, they have beaten Chelsea, and outplayed Newcastle at St James Park, (but managed to lose 1-0). They were far and away the better team in the 2-2 draw against WHU, (having no fewer than 20 shots with 10 on target, [Hart had a blinder]), and they had more shots on target than Spurs at the weekend.
You may remember that despite having half their team out, they totally outplayed us at Turf Moor, but gifted us a goal and at that point couldn't score a goal.
Their current points tally is poor, but I still think that they have a reasonable chance of staying up.

Dare to dream I say! Just got £25 on with Ladbrokes at 150 to 1 for a top 4 finish. Team spirit and will to win will go a long way in a league full of overpaid mercenaries I reckon.

Even better odds with Stan James as it goes but I couldn't work out the registration process online.

That's Ladbrokes £25 better off then.

I think Palace could well stay up.
They're certainly looking much better over the last few games
without necessarily getting the points on the board.
But they've got 4 games coming up that they could win or get a good few points from
and if they do that it would lift them close to a few other teams.

Top six for us however might not be achievable but I wouldn't bet that
much against it - nor for it either.
If we can stay relatively injury free and say get a few more decent players in
January then it still could be possible.

If we did then it would be an amazing achievement.
But I'd be reasonably happy if we stay up, delighted if we manage a top ten place.

On paper we only need another 18-21 points to stay up from 27 games.
At present that sounds very achievable.

But we all know football is a funny game and it is folly to make predictions.

Who would have said Palace would go six games without scoring or getting a point?
Who would have predicted 3 wins, 2 draws and one defeat for us from our first six away fixtures?

Not many if any.

A good number 10 and another winger with pace and no reason we cant aim for sixth. As Sean Dyche admits we need to improve up front.

HatfieldClaret wrote:That's Ladbrokes £25 better off then.

Or £3500-ish worse off with a bit of luck! Keep the faith!

Looking at the bottom 3 and the way they can get points, I fear that it will be one of those seasons where 40 points
may not be enough.

We’re looking good this year. We’re proving that steady, methodical improvement is much more effective than wholesale changes and expecting instant results.

Some say the the football may not be glorious to watch. But really who cares when Sam Vokes comes on and does what he does best.

If we keep it tight at the back, there’s not many teams that will get through. City did because they are exceptional.

We’re here on merit. Through hard work, graft and continued improvement. Long may it continue.

a triple of Palace, Bolton and Sunderland all staying up would be an interesting wager

No reason that Burnley can’t finish 7th and not fantasy to dream of higher than that. They are such a tight unit and if they can keep the momentum vs Swansea then who knows?

ablueclaret wrote:Top 10 was possible last year if SD had realised how effective 4-5-1 could be away from home.

Ha Ha! Cork and Wood are making 4-5-1 work. You really do need to watch some games!