We demonstrated so much more desire and commitment today and it was great to see. Given that Wood has admitted he has been in his comfort zone, I wonder whether his attitude affected the rest of the team, even just a little. I’m not sure that’s the case but it just struck me as a possibility given the change in attitude today.

Maybe not part of the problem, but I did hope his transfer would give the team a bit of bounce and motivation.

That was a huge point today and sets the performance benchmark- continue at that level and we will be fine.

UTC

Burnleyareback2 wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:00 pm

Maybe not part of the problem, but I did hope his transfer would give the team a bit of bounce and motivation.

That was a huge point today and sets the performance benchmark- continue at that level and we will be fine.

UTC

If we'd have conceded would you have still said the same based on the performance level?

I thought the performance was solid defensively but we are going to need to be much better with the ball and in an attacking sense to have any chance of staying up.

Today was nothing to do with Wood, past or present. Move on.

Possibly, there looked to be a huge fight in the players today, if we had lost 1 nil I think I’d say the same.

Away at Arsenal considering the lack of games, injuries and Covid losing 1-0 would still be decent.

I felt that today was the real Burnley.

I suggested the same in another thread and was shot down.

Can't help but think that something was definitely not right - the incident on being subbed
v Wolves, then his swift departure and then an excellent display away from home in his absence
against a top 6 side.

Coincidence ?

I'll leave you all to interpret that.

His transfer has forced Dyche to change up the team selection and today it has seemed to work wonders.

Hopefully we get a couple of bodies in and Cornet comes back with the same fire in his belly. If this happens we’ll be absolutely fine.

The performance today has cemented my belief we will survive, along with the Wood sale

Our front two hardly created a thing today, so I think the answer is no. Although his departure does force an opportunity for a change of direction which may be a good thing.

I think there is less pressure on the team away against clubs like Arsenal. We played well away at Chelsea and Liverpool and we are setup to be tight defensively.

The pressure is when the team are at home against the likes of Watford and after 60 minutes it's 0-0. Turf getting restless etc and the confidence starts to drain away.

I think the players are a credit to the club and they will put their bodies on the line but unless something changes we don't have enough goals in us to win games. The players will know that, the fans know it and I guess the strikers at the club will be very conscious of it.

We've only lost 8 games the same as West Ham, Leicester and Palace. We've conceded fewer goals than Man Utd and you have to go up to 9th before you see a defence as good as ours.

We can't score and we didn't today so nothing has changed really.

A couple of good signings could change everything.

Yes

I’m in the getting shut of Wood was a great move camp. When he was in form he was effective but made us one dimensional .
Maybe the performance today was due to the move galvanising the lads again .
Only my point of view but I hope Be-Heddie Howe fails miserably At Newcastle . Didn’t like his methods at our club and hate everything Nufc now stand for.
Such a shame for fans of what is a great club . Sad sign of the times that owners like these are tolerated.

Wonder what Newcastle, Norwich and Watford fans felt about our result today.

Suspect they are concerned, if anyone can fight their way out of a relegation spot it’s is.

Dead Wood

I don't think Wood was part of the problem but losing him
has forced Dyche to rethink things and made us have to play a different way
rather than looping it up for Wood. Not that we actually created than many
clear cut chances or looked like scoring. Maybe if McNeil had looked up
and see JBG unmarked and put in a good cross rather than shoot then we
might have won it.

I think we now have 12 home games to complete and it feels as if
how we perform in those 12 games will determine whether we stay up
as we'll probably need to win half those games to stand a chance of staying up.

It's still a tall order but not impossible.

if you didn't notice we played better football today in patches than we have done for the majority of the season with Wood in the team then........

Wood was great for us upto this season when for some reason it all changed and he clearly wanted away. We sensibly let him go. Now we need to find a replacement who is better unless he is called Maxwell and we already bought him

Vegas Claret wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:23 am

if you didn't notice we played better football today in patches than we have done for the majority of the season with Wood in the team then........

I don’t think we really played any better with the ball than we did with Wood to be honest. The front two battled hard in the first half and we created some opportunities from their industry, but on the flip side we didn’t have an outball throughout the entire duration of the second half when it felt like we were playing with 10 men.

I’m not overly upset with Wood’s departure, but other than Cornet he was our only goal threat, and despite his poor form was integral to the way the team plays.

Rileybobs wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:30 am

I don’t think we really played any better with the ball than we did with Wood to be honest. The front two battled hard in the first half and we created some opportunities from their industry, but on the flip side we didn’t have an outball throughout the entire duration of the second half when it felt like we were playing with 10 men.

I’m not overly upset with Wood’s departure, but other than Cornet he was our only goal threat, and despite his poor form was integral to the way the team plays.

I thought/felt Westwood looked to find a pass more today rather than just thumping it forward, I might of course be wrong as my mrs often likes to inform me Hopefully someone knows where to find such stats and can enlighten us

Vegas Claret wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:39 am

I thought/felt Westwood looked to find a pass more today rather than just thumping it forward, I might of course be wrong as my mrs often likes to inform me Hopefully someone knows where to find such stats and can enlighten us

You may well be right. But there were a lot of long balls played up to Jay and Vyds, and to be fair to them they won a lot - particularly in the first half. Vyds has a good leap and is fairly useful in the air unless he’s up against a big centre half. But I don’t think we approached today any different than when Wood played TBH.

Our approach may be more telling against Watford, and I always think we’re much more susceptible when we commit bodies forward as was evident on a couple of occasions today. And I think that’s why we played safe in the second half and put men behind the ball.

Rileybobs wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 24, 2022 12:48 am

You may well be right. But there were a lot of long balls played up to Jay and Vyds, and to be fair to them they won a lot - particularly in the first half. Vyds has a good leap and is fairly useful in the air unless he’s up against a big centre half. But I don’t think we approached today any different than when Wood played TBH.

Our approach may be more telling against Watford, and I always think we’re much more susceptible when we commit bodies forward as was evident on a couple of occasions today. And I think that’s why we played safe in the second half and put men behind the ball.

even Lennon won a header !!! Vydra amazes me at how many headers he wins tbh, shame he gets bullied when it's on the deck

It has been the theory, and his exit certainly seems to have at least focused a few on the job that needs doing, rather than looking like kids with a sulk on over recent weeks.

I suspect a few players didn't like him being continually selected despite poor form. So they have everything to prove. Playing with 11 men makes a big difference even if you can't score. We couldn't score with him in the team and we still can't but at least we aren't carrying someone who offers nothing.

Row Z wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:08 pm

If we'd have conceded would you have still said the same based on the performance level?

I thought the performance was solid defensively but we are going to need to be much better with the ball and in an attacking sense to have any chance of staying up.

At last, some reality

Row Z wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:08 pm

If we'd have conceded would you have still said the same based on the performance level?

I thought the performance was solid defensively but we are going to need to be much better with the ball and in an attacking sense to have any chance of staying up.

At last, some reality

You can say that again!

Certainly didn’t help our approach play this season as his second touch was often a tackle. At least Vydra and Jay can control a ball in tight spaces / bring it out of the air. Not that it was amazing yesterday to create heaps of chances but it was slightly better.

McNeil’s late drive and shot (should have crossed) I felt was a good a chance as any in the match, maybe Lacazette aside. Clearly we need to do better going forward though and I am keeping faith in Pace to deliver.

Our team spirit certainly looked better.

However our fundamental problems still exist. We had one midfielder that completed more than 20 passes yesterday. Ball retention is going to be crucial to Burnley staying in this division, without it we have to defend for long stretches of time and obviously we create worse chances as a result. Our best football under Dyche our CMs we’re averaging close to 40 passes completed each.

Centre mid has got to be the priority this window. With striker and Right wing closely following.

I think the ball sticks to Jay much better than Wood, the only problem being than he tends to drift wide all the time ( same with Vydra ) where as Wood tried to remain in the centre. Our midfield are always slow to commit bodies forward due to being deep the problem is the ball moves faster than our players can react too. If we had a couple of players with real pace in the team we could create a heap of trouble for sides on the counter.

Our offside ticker was much better and our team play much better on the eye there’s no question.

We won’t miss Wood the £25m was good business.

I only watched the MOTD highlights, read the report and seen the stats, but it seems to me that only a lack of clinicality by Arsenal and great form from Pope stopped this being the 3 or 4 nothing tanking we all had expected.

So not sure anything really changed fundamentally did it?

Newcastleclaret93 wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 24, 2022 6:56 am

Centre mid has got to be the priority this window. With striker and Right wing closely following.

I really hope Dyche recognises this. Guess we'll find out soon

BobSykes wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:12 am

I only watched the MOTD highlights, read the report and seen the stats, but it seems to me that only a lack of clinicality by Arsenal and great form from Pope stopped this being the 3 or 4 nothing tanking we all had expected.

So not sure anything really changed fundamentally did it?

But surely that is what goalkeepers are for ? Also our blocking tackling, closing down frustrated them.
Regarding Wood, I did hear a couple of whispers that he was indeed becoming an irritant.

BobSykes wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:12 am

I only watched the MOTD highlights, read the report and seen the stats, but it seems to me that only a lack of clinicality by Arsenal and great form from Pope stopped this being the 3 or 4 nothing tanking we all had expected.

So not sure anything really changed fundamentally did it?

Yeah prob not best to comment purely on highlights which always favour the big teams anyway. For example, they showed Pope’s save in the first half and clearance off the line, if that went in the goal wouldn’t have stood because there was an offside in the build up (you wouldn’t see that on highlights).

Lacazette had their only decent chance of the game from open play and he probably should have scored. But then again if McNeil plays a low cross to Vydra late on instead of shooting it would have been arguably the chance of the game.

So overall, yes, quite a lot ‘fundamentally changed’. We defended very well, our ‘edge’ was back on show and while we can definitely improve attacking wise, we weren’t as hopeless as we’ve been in other games.

BobSykes wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 24, 2022 7:12 am

I only watched the MOTD highlights, read the report and seen the stats, but it seems to me that only a lack of clinicality by Arsenal and great form from Pope stopped this being the 3 or 4 nothing tanking we all had expected.

So not sure anything really changed fundamentally did it?

Pope had little to do , 2 saves I think,both he should of made . Even Ramsdale had 2 .Though they had a 20 ishmin phase of almost 100% domination . Taylor and Cornet would of helped but other than that we were nothing more than solid and organised .

It isn't rocket science.

If the big man no longer exists, you need to find options other than knocking it up to him.

We have had good results away at Chelsea, Leicester, Wolves and Southampton - all teams in the top half of the table - so it's not unusual.

We have 16 goals the second lowest in the Premiership and 3 strikers that have scored 8 goals in 2 seasons.

On the other hand we have a decent defensive record and are setup to work and hard and sit deep if required.

The problem will be when teams come to Turf Moor and we have to win.

Of course, I can say all this and Cornet could score 20 or Jay could score more than he's ever scored before at the age of 32 but sensibly speaking if we don't get a striker like Wood you would have to assume that we won't score enough to stave off relegation.

There is always the hope that we can find players and there is hope that Cornet can save us but there is little hope that Woods departure will turn us into something other than what we are because what we are is the best we can be with the players we have got.

Over the last 18months I have always thought we play better when Jay & Vydra play together up front. More mobile, better technically and I think that showed today. We were able to press higher up the pitch with those two up top and it was what the game needed. Maybe we would have made more from the set pieces if Wood had been playing, so what we gained in speed and mobility of the front line means a loss in aerial presence & goal poaching, but today showed that as good as he was for us there is a way forward without him.

Don't know but he's certainly not part of the solution, his body language hasn't been great for weeks, and that attitude must have rubbed off on the rest of the dressing room, in a relegation fight you need all hands on deck, so best to get rid, and we're fortunate Newcastle are rich enough or stupid enough to fork out £25m on him.

Correlation is not causation.

If Mee & Tarks and other have been all playing poorly all season because of Chris Wood having a bit of an attitude they need to have a word with themselves.

ClaretPete001 wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 23, 2022 11:23 pm

We can't score and we didn't today so nothing has changed really.

A couple of good signings could change everything.

So it was Wood, we needed new strikers. I’ll agree with that.

Whatever way you look at it he was never really taken to by the crowd, 3 seasons and no chant for him. Cornet had one before he played…..

Played well in previous years but not good enough this year, we should be amazed Newcastle has stumped up £27M in cash upfront.

Wood was at his absolute best when balls were being whipped across the box but that supply all but dried up this season. Instead it became floated balls which were eaten up by the opposition.

Without a decent supply his contribution was pretty worthless so it is no wonder his head went elsewhere.

Anyway we have this everytime a player moves on for bigger wages. They aren't fans so no blame attached to Wood from me.

We got a cracking deal as well.