Tom Heaton is back in training!

https://youtu.be/ybtlJ64oLUU

He told us about six weeks when we were at Old Trafford which is three weeks ago so looks as though he's on schedule.

That is fantastic news. Will be interesting to see both how Pope's performances are affected over the next few weeks knowing he has some serious competition again and also how Dyche re-introduces Heaton to the squad / team.

Pope not done a lot wrong so far, I suppose it always concentrates the mind when you have someone on the bench who really can push you for your place.

Goobs wrote:That is fantastic news. Will be interesting to see both how Pope's performances are affected over the next few weeks knowing he has some serious competition again and also how Dyche re-introduces Heaton to the squad / team.

With the length of time Dyche places on players to get fully match fit I'd be very surprised if Heaton is ready before the end of March/beginning of April.

He's a goalkeeper

Pope playing so well means the Club can let Tom take his time rehabilitating and not risk injury.

Brilliant news!

No sign of him diving there.

Guessing he's still some way off

UpTheBeehole wrote:He's a goalkeeper

I suspect that in terms of fitness levels all the players have to train to the same level, regardless of where they play.

Lancasterclaret wrote:No sign of him diving there.

Guessing he's still some way off

He isn't bloody Zaha

Excellent news. I doubt he will feature before August. At which point would be great to see him back.

Popes earnt his shirt this year. And Heaton has for the last 5.

Spijed wrote:I suspect that in terms of fitness levels all the players have to train to the same level, regardless of where they play.

You would be absolutely correct.

Excellent news, bloody excellent!

Id play pope until.end of season

grear news. i think pope plays until the end of the year with MAYBE having heaton start the last game if he is fit. as for next year, i think heaton gets the nod. pope is more commanding in the air but heaton has great instincts.

Think people are forgetting how good Heaton is England international before the injury straight back in for me when fit pope as done very well but let's get back into the real world utc

Yes Heaton was getting regular call ups but he was never going to displace the current favourite, Hart and probably wouldn't even now that Hart isn't doing much at West Ham.

Plenty of people are surprised that Southgate has overlooked Pope though.

Great news.

Great news. Hope he’s back playing soon.

Delighted to see Tom back in training. I will breath a huge sigh of relief when I see him diving about confidently. A shoulder dislocation must weigh on the mind of a goal keeper and he will need to get his confidence back.

It'll probably be another 4 weeks at least before we can see Tom
even close to 'back in contention'
He'll probably need a least a 2-3 weeks to get close to
the fitness levels required so I don't expect much this season
although hopefully he'll be fully fit and challenging for a place in the team
from April time.

But good news to hear he's back in training.
Let's hope he's as good as new.

Great news, the best Burnley goalkeeper in over 50 years.

Still.

Super news!

Welcome back to the camp Skip!

Go on Tom lad

Hope he reads this Board as he will realise how popular he is. Well done Tom and well done Nick for having covered in such an admirable way

Tom will be back for the Bournemouth game .no question

Excellent news. When fully fit I would be surprised if Heaton didn't resume as our No1. A long way to go I know, both from a mental and physical point of view. That said, for me he's our most important player and all credit to Nick Pope whose been admiral and proved himself a PL goalkeeper in Tom's absence.

ashtonlongsider wrote:Excellent news. When fully fit I would be surprised if Heaton didn't resume as our No1. A long way to go I know, both from a mental and physical point of view. That said, for me he's our most important player and all credit to Nick Pope whose been admiral and proved himself a PL goalkeeper in Tom's absence.

I don't think a captain can replace an admiral !

AshevilleNCClaret wrote:grear news. i think pope plays until the end of the year with MAYBE having heaton start the last game if he is fit. as for next year, i think heaton gets the nod. pope is more commanding in the air but heaton has great instincts.

Not sure Pope IS more commanding in the air than Heaton, Asheville... and certainly for someone of his height. I feel Heaton is more commanding, generally, and hence why a captain. What I would say though is that teams are less likely to launch crosses or lobs into the mix knowing how tall Pope is..... something we didn’t quite grasp ourselves at Crystal Palace

Anyone any idea how long shoulder injuries usually take to "fully" heal for a goalkeeper ?

Whenever Shoulder injuries are mentioned I think of all the trouble Austin has to put up with, and he's an outfield player.

UpTheBeehole wrote:He's a goalkeeper

Ordinarily I'd agree but he is a goalkeeper with a shoulder injury. I work out with weights a lot and got a shoulder injury (I fell down a flight of steps coming out of a bar in Spain - yes I was drunk) and it took me nearly a year to get back to where I was before the accident. Of course I didn't have the kind of support Heaton has but neither did I have a dislocated shoulder. If he is back before long that will be a great statement about our back room staff.

The major question we all are asking I suppose is, given Pope's pretty damn good performances, will Heaton get back in even when he is fully fit or will he have to wait his 'Dyche' turn?

houseboy wrote:Ordinarily I'd agree but he is a goalkeeper with a shoulder injury. I work out with weights a lot and got a shoulder injury (I fell down a flight of steps coming out of a bar in Spain - yes I was drunk) and it took me nearly a year to get back to where I was before the accident. Of course I didn't have the kind of support Heaton has but neither did I have a dislocated shoulder. If he is back before long that will be a great statement about our back room staff.

The major question we all are asking I suppose is, given Pope's pretty damn good performances, will Heaton get back in even when he is fully fit or will he have to wait his 'Dyche' turn?

The argument being put forward was that Heaton would have to be as fit as the outfield players. That's not true.

In fact you could say that Heaton always has an extra bit of puppy fat - he's got a big arse and his jowls can sometimes look a bit big. It would be silly to demand that your goalkeeper be able to run the same as an outfield player, it's a completely different game.

JimmyMac'sMate wrote:Think people are forgetting how good Heaton is England international before the injury straight back in for me when fit pope as done very well but let's get back into the real world utc

And our two regular full backs Ward & Lowton back and we might start winning a few games again,not been the same since we lost Ward & Lowton to injury.

houseboy wrote:Ordinarily I'd agree but he is a goalkeeper with a shoulder injury. I work out with weights a lot and got a shoulder injury (I fell down a flight of steps coming out of a bar in Spain - yes I was drunk) and it took me nearly a year to get back to where I was before the accident. Of course I didn't have the kind of support Heaton has but neither did I have a dislocated shoulder. If he is back before long that will be a great statement about our back room staff.

The major question we all are asking I suppose is, given Pope's pretty damn good performances, will Heaton get back in even when he is fully fit or will he have to wait his 'Dyche' turn?

Play Pope for the rest of the season assuming he remains fit and give Tom as much time as possible for the shoulder to heal and be as strong as before if that's a realistic expectation.

With a World Cup coming up I don't think Heaton will be happy if Pope continues to play ahead of him

England? He's got to get fit before anything else and not break down just because he wants to play in the WC.

I'm sure Tom will follow recovery instructions knowing the seriousness of his injury.

UpTheBeehole wrote:The argument being put forward was that Heaton would have to be as fit as the outfield players. That's not true.

In fact you could say that Heaton always has an extra bit of puppy fat - he's got a big arse and his jowls can sometimes look a bit big. It would be silly to demand that your goalkeeper be able to run the same as an outfield player, it's a completely different game.

That's absolutely true mate. Ha ha. Have you ever seen the Harry Enfield clip of the football game (Arsenal v Liverpool I think it was supposed to be), the whole thing is comedy magic but the shot of the goalkeeper in a flat cap smoking a pipe whilst leaning on the goalpost is hilarious.

It doesn't really matter if Heaton is happy or not about Pope getting picked ahead of him.

Pope has earned the right to be first choice regardless of who's waiting on the bench and we could still be some way off before Heaton is ready to play.

Pope spent his time as reserve and has stepped in and done a job to such an extent that we haven't missed Heaton.

Sidney1st wrote:
Pope has earned the right to be first choice regardless of who's waiting on the bench and we could still be some way off before Heaton is ready to play.

Pope spent his time as reserve and has stepped in and done a job to such an extent that we haven't missed Heaton.

ClaretTony says he's 3 weeks away.

Heaton should be more than ready for his first game back in the starting XI against Southampton on 24 Feb.

UpTheBeehole wrote:ClaretTony says he's 3 weeks away.

Heaton should be more than ready for his first game back in the starting XI against Southampton on 24 Feb.

That's barring any issues.
Either way Pope has earned the right to stay as first choice for the rest of the season.

I think he's made some rash errors. The 4th at Man City, the foul on Bernardo Silva was silly, didn't cover himself in glory for Bournemouth's goal, and he was hesitant for Liverpool's winner.

His kicking is getting worse every game, and bearing in mind a lot of our play depends on the ball sticking high up the pitch, we need a goalkeeper who can consistently drop it in the right area every time. Half the time Pope's kicking is into the stands or straight to the other keeper.

Yeah but he also needs the others to make themselves available for him.

Plus if the players know hes going to knock it down the middle more often than not why aren't they making an effort to get there?

Like I said, it's his position to lose and as it stands hes doing alright.
He will get better and earlier on his stats were amongst the best in Europe.

Sidney1st wrote:It doesn't really matter if Heaton is happy or not about Pope getting picked ahead of him.

Pope has earned the right to be first choice regardless of who's waiting on the bench and we could still be some way off before Heaton is ready to play.

Pope spent his time as reserve and has stepped in and done a job to such an extent that we haven't missed Heaton.

Pope started very well but he's looked shaky behind a weakened back four. One great thing about Heaton was his consistency, last year he was making top saves week in week out and it just became some sort of ridiculous normality that I accepted. Pope has been very impressive but he just doesn't give me that assured feeling I got with Heaton. He's very good in some areas but I do think he's let in a couple of soft ones. He's still young and learning his trade so it's completely understandable and he should be very proud of himself, but Heaton would be back in for me when properly fit.

Tom Heaton is my favorite ever Burnley Keeper for his positioning ,confidence, fearless approach and being an integral part of the defence Unit without being a showman or hothead. Burnley are very lucky to have him and regardless of how well Nick Pope or anyone else might have done I can't wait to see England's number one back. UTC

UpTheBeehole wrote:The argument being put forward was that Heaton would have to be as fit as the outfield players. That's not true.

In fact you could say that Heaton always has an extra bit of puppy fat - he's got a big arse and his jowls can sometimes look a bit big. It would be silly to demand that your goalkeeper be able to run the same as an outfield player, it's a completely different game.

Sorry but i disagree. Keepers have to be the most agile on the pitch and as a result they havr to be quicker and fitter. They havr to get down and back up again very quickly. Heatons save at home to southampton last season (and away against the same team but in a different way) showed exactly this.

As a kid I played both im goal and outfield. And even at that level I can assure you the goalkeeping training was far more intense. To be expected too given that so much focus and importance is on one players shoulders. No pun intended.

No coincidence that we have seen such great results with heaton and pope. In a team that works incredibly hard, theyre probably drilled the hardest.

Before the next game take a look at the pre match warm ups and compare the physical demands pre match of both.

They are both 1st choice Premier League keepers. Anyone thinking Pope will be happy to be a no.2 again for any long period of time is just living in cloud cuckoo land. Also from a financial point of view it doesn't make any sense in keeping both keepers who are knocking on the England team door, I think come the summer we will cash in on one of them, probably Pope for a decent size transfer fee.