I know there’s a bit of a backlash this morning about what’s a penalty and what isn’t, what’s offside and what isn’t, whether refs are biased to the big teams and so on, but...

For the second time in two years, little old Burnley have been to the theatre of dreams, and come away disappointed at only getting one point!

Now I don’t always get things in the right perspective, but bloody hell, how far have we come?

Great times.

But we know some will still be moaning........

The great thing about last night was we were defensively outstanding against a side in excellent form with great attacking ability. Masterclass from Dyche and the players. And to think not long ago some people had foolishly convinced themselves the answer was to sack Dyche. For some reason they've been quiet of late.

Absolutely, Just a few mistakes cost us, and I'm including the referee in that.

taio wrote:The great thing about last night was we were defensively outstanding against a side in excellent form with great attacking ability. Masterclass from Dyche and the players. And to think not long ago some people had foolishly convinced themselves the answer was to sack Dyche. For some reason they've been quiet of late.

. thinks it was a good performance from the defence but would hesitate to use the words “outstanding” and “masterclass” in a game where they let in two goals in five minutes.

. wrote:. thinks it was a good performance from the defence but would hesitate to use the words “outstanding” and “masterclass” in a game where they let in two goals in five minutes.

Taio was referring to the vast majority of the game against Manchester United away and therefore he has no hesitation in using words like outstanding when he considers the broader perspective. Taio respects Jeremy Bentham's right to hold a different view.

taio wrote:The great thing about last night was we were defensively outstanding against a side in excellent form with great attacking ability. Masterclass from Dyche and the players. And to think not long ago some people had foolishly convinced themselves the answer was to sack Dyche. For some reason they've been quiet of late.

Maybe that's because for the best part of a year, we were a million miles from performing like we currently are.

taio wrote:The great thing about last night was we were defensively outstanding against a side in excellent form with great attacking ability. Masterclass from Dyche and the players. And to think not long ago some people had foolishly convinced themselves the answer was to sack Dyche. For some reason they've been quiet of late.

Oh they will be back they expected a defeat last night and were poised. Quick glance through the match thread and no shock to see some of them not attending again must be addictive this being angry in an armchair.

Great couple of points on the road at sides that are going really well, but we should really have won both of them considering how well we played and the position we had last night.

But still very happy with our improvement in performances but we have to make sure we keep these levels of performances up.

Murger wrote:Maybe that's because for the best part of a year, we were a million miles from performing like we currently are.

Yes much improved. Which is why those who backed Dyche to turn things around were correct and those who wanted the opposite were wrong.

The performance was outstanding. All over the field we played well. It wasn’t just a 10 man defence, it was proper football. We scored two and could have had more.
Only downside is, again, going into our shell and throwing away points to an injury time goal.
This happens far to often against the “big6” and needs working on.

I only see games on TV but to me it's like having been watching two different clubs. In the first part of the season that playing for each other, backing each other up and being prepared to run through the proverbial brick wall seemed to be inconsistent if not missing altogether. Now it seems to have all come back and we're playing as a team again, not as a collection of individuals. Whether this is just due to Heaton coming back into the side or some other factors I dont know but we certainly seem better organised with him between the sticks.
Added to that the form of some players has improved immeasurably ... certainly Taylor( written off by a number of amateur managers on here) had, for me , his best game last night.

The good thing is when you can see the progress.

In terms of writing anyone off, rewatch the Wolves game and compare to last night. It was clear we werent good enough and had to improve. We certainly have.

There are people on here still moaning about how Coyle left and how poor Brian Jensen was. People like that really have an axe to grind and become bitter.

It is important that when you see change in front of your eyes you acknowledge it. In the first 18 or so games this season Taylor was not good enough in my opinion. Over the last 6 he has been much better.

You can see the coaching from Dyche and it probably helps that he has a challenge to his position too

taio wrote:Yes much improved. Which is why those who backed Dyche to turn things around were correct and those who wanted the opposite were wrong.

I criticised Dyche earlier in the season, and rightly so (and I will never fogive him for throwing the Europa away) but I was never one to call for him to be sacked. I said he was living on past glories a bit yes but I did state clearly that I didn't want him sacked but that he should be given time to try to turn things around then re-evaluate if things hadn't improved. They have and I'm glad. I never wanted to see him go but we couldn't carry on the way we were and if things hadn't changed I wouldn't have been overly sad at his sacking. I'm glad he's still here and I'm glad he turned things around. It's easy with hindsight to say 'I was right' but things could have turned out differently. I'm glad they didn't.

Great performance by the lads, but why do I always hope for more? After we scores the second I was sure we would concede two in the dying minutes.
Hendrick made a poor mistake (which somewhat tarnished his good game) while Lingard was covered, and I cant help thinking SD could have used at least one of his remaing subs (even both) to interrupt the flow of the game.
Ah well, maybe I’m one of those miserable sods myself

Colburn_Claret wrote:But we know some will still be moaning........

Moaning? I dint think so. Regretting maybe a couple of dubious refreeing decisions in the last two matches. One definitely wrong. But good point at Watford and a really good point last night. I am moaning a little though as I backed us to win.