McNeil

[boatshed bill]

His recent comments about Cornet being off the left, seem to suggest maybe there is a role for McNeil in the centre

Or dropped, or right wing, or sold?

[Newcastleclaret93]

Or dropped, or right wing, or sold?

He might be shifted to the right. But I can see Dyche trying to use his quality in the centre

[ChorltonCharlie]

I saw this thread just popping on for a quick lurk the other day and thought when I had a moment I’d gather some info on McNeil’s season. I’ll put it out there straight away that I’m a big McNeil fan. I think he’s a cracking player and is technically outstanding in our squad. I’ve long held the view that as his game matures, he needs to be given a role in the team that allows him to take control of games. In my view that time has come, and I’d love to see him alongside Brownhill in midfield with Westwood sitting deeper. Used right with Cornet on the left I think it gives Cornet the chance to have the freedom to get forward and join a central striker. Similar on the right if we could identify a similar player to Cornet.

McNeil this season isn’t on absolutely top form. There are mitigating factors to that with teams having long since known he’s our main creative threat, and that includes Cornet who’s so far added goals but not the creativity. As a team we’re also woefully out of form. It’s unfair to single out any attacking player for under-performing without highlighting that as a team we aren’t giving attackers a platform to create. With McNeil though he is being taken for granted by some of our fans. The data freely available suggests he’s doing ok. I haven’t gone digging for these, other than using the Other 14 stats from twitter (an account that looks at the PL without the big 6). In summary:

Completed passes into the area: 6th place. No measure of how good the pass is, but clearly he is doing something right.
Successful dribbles per 90: 7th place on this list, and for context only Traore and Saint-Maximin have more for the season.
Combined tackles and interceptions: 10th place. Of course we want attacking players getting forward, but the modern game demands the best players also work hard and our team also spends a lot of time without the ball. 10th place overall is very good, and he’s our highest scoring player in this regard.
Leaders in chances created: 17th place. Not fantastic, but this is for 14 clubs of which only 2 are below us and in a team not renowned for creating chances. Dwight will be disappointed with this and will want to improve, but it’s nowhere near as bad as people would have you believe.
Leaders in pressures applied (before WHU game): 4th place and no other Burnley player in the top 20. Remember this is a player some Burnley fans accuse of being lazy.

I’m not being selective with the data. He’s not performing well in everything, but when a Burnley player appears in these lists McNeil is our most consistent representative. Of course he needs to get in more scoring positions, and his final ball hasn’t been the quality it was when he first got in the team. He is still a key player for us and the above kinds of stats are why Dyche believes so much in him.

I did write this before logging on, and can see Spice has already highlighted a lot of this, but posting it after spending 15 minutes writing it.

[warksclaret]

There were times Sunday when he looked our most composed player. Watford no great shakes at the back, particularly if Ben Foster is missing, and he might get the chance to shine tonight by playing further up the field

[KRBFC]

He's been turned into a defensive workhorse and had the quality sucked out of him by the Dyche system. He's so deep and runs backwards so much he's leggy, double teamed and starting from a deep position.

[snapcrackleandpop]

The unanswered question is, how did we get him into that central position. As part of a two, certainly with the current personnel, I don’t think it would work.

Pace talked of there being a plan over a number of windows to resolve the previous lack of recruitment, so I wonder if the aim is to move Dwight centrally. Will that ultimately mean that we look to move away from the standard 4-4-2?

Move away from 4-4-2 wash your mouth out DC

[boatshed bill]

The unanswered question is, how did we get him into that central position. As part of a two, certainly with the current personnel, I don’t think it would work.

Pace talked of there being a plan over a number of windows to resolve the previous lack of recruitment, so I wonder if the aim is to move Dwight centrally. Will that ultimately mean that we look to move away from the standard 4-4-2?

The only position apart from LW as I see it would be the old "No10" in a 4-4-1-1. We are unlikely to shift from 2 rows of 4 as our defence is based on it.