I personally think Jack Cork has been woeful this season. I know the whole team haven't produced much either but he just isn't up to scratch. He seems so weak on the ball, constantly losing it. There is no physicality to his play and is getting completely bullied out there. I think this was masked a bit last year because he seemed to rely on Defour and was able to let him have the ball more to dictate our play.
I don't think we played too badly today. The first ten mins reminded me of the burnley of last season but we can't expect to compete 90 minutes like that against a very good Chelsea side. Its been mentioned a few times on the site that we need a stronger more dominant midfielder and I think this has got to be a priority in the Jan transfer window.
That being said there were some good positives from today. I hope with Brady and Defour being back we can push on a bit!

he's looked very much off the pace and a shadow of himself last season........but to be fair the same could be said about all the players (other than Hart) and also the crowd. Poor all round at the minute

He started off really promisngly today, but seemed to fizzle out fairly quickly.

I think he is just physically too weak and it feels like the first couple of seasons in the premier league where we were bullied both physically and mentally. I remember thinking last year was one of the first times I've seen our squad compete physically and not get bullied around but we seem to have reverted back

At times today, he was almost a one man midfield for us - after 4300 uninterrupted minutes, give him a break!

He wasn’t woeful this season when he was scoring clinching goals in Europe.

Jack Cork hasn't been good since Steven Defour got injured last January

He like many of the others are lazy when they pass the ball and also turn into trouble trying to do too much. Hendrick is the same.

We get picked off by world class players like willian and morata for simple errors

Cork was shocking today. Had a great chance to shoot and didnt. Lost it constantly and was weak in posession.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Cork was shocking today. Had a great chance to shoot and didnt. Lost it constantly and was weak in posession.

I’ve just mentioned this in my ratings. I need to see a reply before making any accusations however he appeared to avoid shooting

If it’s one in first half he couldn’t get it out of his feet. He was better than Mee, Lowton and Tarkowski who were all poor yet again.

Awful performance and has been poor all season. He is now looking like the player we had on loan all those years ago

Steve-Harpers-perm wrote:If it’s one in first half he couldn’t get it out of his feet. He was better than Mee, Lowton and Tarkowski who were all poor yet again.

There were two. That one and one outside box in second half.

Doesn’t anyone think Hendrick could be that ball carrying, more physical midfielder to compliment Defour?

Iloveyoubrady wrote:Doesn’t anyone think Hendrick could be that ball carrying, more physical midfielder to compliment Defour?

His best games have all come there

I’m my opinion our best midfield displays this season so far were when Westwood and Hendrick partnered each other in midfield in Europe

Looks like he's tired does Jack - I wonder if hes carrying a bit of a knock, as it can give that appearance.Footballers are adept about concealing minor ailments as they don't want to lose their place in the lineup.

No mention of any injury on this thread. The way he had his hands covering his face for a long spell after going down indicated some sort of long term lay off.

dermotdermot wrote:No mention of any injury on this thread. The way he had his hands covering his face for a long spell after going down indicated some sort of long term lay off.

He was also limping after the match and went home with a medical box provided by the club. No crutches though or visible support for the injury (looked like a turned ankle) so hopefully not a long term lay off, if at all.

theroyaldyche wrote:He like many of the others are lazy when they pass the ball and also turn into trouble trying to do too much. Hendrick is the same.

We get picked off by world class players like willian and morata for simple errors

I agree. It was a poor ball to Hendrick, but when you find yourself surrounded by 3 players, never mind Chelsea you get rid into touch, you don't try and dribble through them.
The other thing we fail to do is pass and move. You should always move into a position to get a return pass so that the player on the ball has an easy option, we appear to stand still and watch a team mate in the ****. Simple stuff we should be doing second nature on the training field.
Hopefully the return of Brady and Defour will see our ability to hold onto the ball for longer improve. Despite the first goal on Sunday, I still think Hendrick would be better alongside Defour in the middle, he moves the ball a lot quicker than Cork, and is a lot more active.

I think we are being harsh on heroes.

Jack Cork is one of the best central midfielders that I have ever seen play for Burnley. I think I'll let him him off a bit of a downturn in form. One of the first names on the teamsheet if I'm picking the team.

Colburn_Claret wrote:I agree. It was a poor ball to Hendrick, but when you find yourself surrounded by 3 players, never mind Chelsea you get rid into touch, you don't try and dribble through them.
The other thing we fail to do is pass and move. You should always move into a position to get a return pass so that the player on the ball has an easy option, we appear to stand still and watch a team mate in the ****. Simple stuff we should be doing second nature on the training field.
Hopefully the return of Brady and Defour will see our ability to hold onto the ball for longer improve. Despite the first goal on Sunday, I still think Hendrick would be better alongside Defour in the middle, he moves the ball a lot quicker than Cork, and is a lot more active.

Can you imagine if every player surrounded by 3 players put the ball into touch?

Who'd pay to watch that? Also, it's automatically giving away possession.

The experts on here...sheesh!

Think if you look at stats since JC's return, he'll have covered the most ground and at a guess completed the most passes during matches. Maybe wrong, and I know stats don't always tell the whole story, but that's how it looks to me. I think Cork is playing in a slightly more advanced role of late, and for me he's better when playing slightly deeper. My only criticism of Cork is that he can appear a little too laid back at times. With the experience he's got at this level he should be more of a leader, but hey it's a small criticism.

Chip Harrison wrote:Can you imagine if every player surrounded by 3 players put the ball into touch?

Who'd pay to watch that? Also, it's automatically giving away possession.

The experts on here...sheesh!

If he'd put it into touch they wouldn't have scored. It isn't rocket science.
We're trying to win, if you want to watch the 'beautiful game' from our squad, you're watching us get relegated.
I suggest you try and learn some more about football before you try making sarcastic comments that just show yourself up.

Colburn_Claret wrote:If he'd put it into touch they wouldn't have scored. It isn't rocket science.
We're trying to win, if you want to watch the 'beautiful game' from our squad, you're watching us get relegated.
I suggest you try and learn some more about football before you try making sarcastic comments that just show yourself up.

How many games do you think we are going to win if we out the ball into touch deliberately because we have opponents around us?

ashtonlongsider wrote:Think if you look at stats since JC's return, he'll have covered the most ground and at a guess completed the most passes during matches. Maybe wrong, and I know stats don't always tell the whole story, but that's how it looks to me. I think Cork is playing in a slightly more advanced role of late, and for me he's better when playing slightly deeper. My only criticism of Cork is that he can appear a little too laid back at times. With the experience he's got at this level he should be more of a leader, but hey it's a small criticism.

I recall some years ago that Paul Cook came in for similar criticisms, and my feeling was that a player who is more involved in the play than another may well appear to make more mistakes (or on a good day would appear to boss the game!) but really it's just proportional to their involvement.
And he also was criticised in some quarters for being laid back (or not bothered!) when in all probability he was busy paying attention to the game and what he could/should do to affect it.
I think those might just be the outward signs of extensive experience of professional football !!

His form is poor, of that there is no doubt, but I think it's unfair to suggest he doesn't have the quality any more.

Players go through purple patches and bad patches, it's normal.

Needs a couple of weeks off, then he can come back better than ever. As others have suggested, I'd drop Hendrick back into Cork's position and play Vydra or Barnes in the 'hole'.

ashtonlongsider wrote:Think if you look at stats since JC's return, he'll have covered the most ground and at a guess completed the most passes during matches. Maybe wrong, and I know stats don't always tell the whole story, but that's how it looks to me. I think Cork is playing in a slightly more advanced role of late, and for me he's better when playing slightly deeper. My only criticism of Cork is that he can appear a little too laid back at times. With the experience he's got at this level he should be more of a leader, but hey it's a small criticism.

I'm sure that's true, but in fairness he's the only one of our central midfielders to have played in a real box to box role since he came back to the club so it wouldn't be a surprise.

He's a fine player, and he'll come good again. I agree with Tony that he played his best football before Defour got injured as part of a nicely balanced midfield with Hendrick adding legs - but he has had some good game since, and he will do again. He's a good player.

At the minute he does seem low on form and possibly confidence - it looked to me like that first half chance was one of those where the ball never sat perfectly for him, but a player full of confidence would hit it regardless (we've seen some similar chances fall to Hendrick) (as an aside the second half chance to shoot involved a ball played too far across him - he'd have had to hit it left footed). But he does look to be struggling physically too - there were too many occasions when Chelsea got beyond him, and watching him try and make up the ground was painful viewing. He isn't quick at his best, but I've never seen him look like he's running in treacle like that before. I thought that Dyche was wrong to take Hendrick off before him.

It may well be that he needs a bit of a break. Whether that involves Hendrick dropping back and Vydra or someone coming in, or Westwood coming in so we keep that central 3, I'm not sure - there are pros and cons either way - but if he did do himself a mischief on Saturday, it may not be a bad thing for him to have a fortnight off.

He's just had a fortnight off. Legs have gone.

Chip Harrison wrote:How many games do you think we are going to win if we out the ball into touch deliberately because we have opponents around us?

A lot more than we will trying to dribble through 3 Chelsea players in our own half

ashtonlongsider wrote:Think if you look at stats since JC's return, he'll have covered the most ground and at a guess completed the most passes during matches. Maybe wrong, and I know stats don't always tell the whole story, but that's how it looks to me. I think Cork is playing in a slightly more advanced role of late, and for me he's better when playing slightly deeper. My only criticism of Cork is that he can appear a little too laid back at times. With the experience he's got at this level he should be more of a leader, but hey it's a small criticism.

Looking at the recent stats it appears that Westwood generally makes more passes (and more forward passes) than Cork, ~ 50% more in some matches, which was a bit surprising.