Tonight’s Assessment

[claretspice]

We looked under-prepared, which we were. So we were always going to give something away in that respect - but I was pleased at how well we kept going in the final quarter given our relative lack of 90 minutes.

Our big problem last night was that last night (particularly without Defour) called for a centre forward who can take the ball in, create a bit of space and link the play with a bit of craft and guile. Vokes can do this, Wood doesn't - he likes to run in behind and down the sides, and Aberdeen were't offering any space for that last night, so he was neutralised and it left us without a focal point.

You can cope with that if you're playing neatly through the units so don't require a centre forward in build up play, but we were neither fit enough nor classy enough for that last night, and Westwood doesn't slip people into pockets of space anything like as effectively as Defour does (still looking forward to seeing Lennon and Defour link up ).

[Real Talk]

We were miles off the pace last night and played the game like it was a pre season friendly, whereas Aberdeen were playing like it was a Cup Final, especially in the first half. Fair play to them, they made it very hard for us by closing down well in the first half and sitting extremely deep in the second. Our limitations were laid bare again though.

Hendrick isn't a number 10 and you can't play him behind Wood as neither of them looks to impose themselves on the game. We made it very easy for Aberdeen until Vokes came on. His first action was to win a header and then shove their CB on the floor giving away a free kick. I was really happy when he did that - it was like he was saying "you've got a challenge now" because Wood offered absolutely nothing physically. We missed Barnes for his nuisance factor and Brady / Defour for their quality on the ball and at set pieces.

Having said all that, and I mean no disrespect to Aberdeen at all, they needed a joke of a penalty to score. That says it all to me. We were miles from our best, they were at it 100% and it took a poor decision from the referee for them to score. I'm expecting a much improved performance next week and if we get that we'll win comfortably.

Aberdeen were not 100%, don't know why Burnley fans would assume that. If you played us a few seasons ago with a performance like that you would have been cuffed. We've got quite a few new players and had a CB who hadn't played for 15 months play LB due to injuries and the fact we haven't sorted our 1st team 11 out yet. You should win at Turf Moor but I doubt it will be as easy as you think and the gap in quality between the better SPL team and the 'smaller' EPL teams is not as large as many anticipated. There is a gap, of course due to ££££, but not it's relationship to how more more you guys pay in salaries and transfer fees.

[Andingle]

The commontator's on REDTV suggested last night was the best that Aberdeen had played for many years !

[Lancasterclaret]

We looked short of match fitness, but still created the best chances and still should have won.

If Aberdeen don't get the softest penalty you'll ever see, and the referee actually booked any of their players (or in the case of the right back, sent them off) then Aberdeen don't score.

I get that we've got the money from the premier league and better players, and I thought Aberdeen had the edge on us with fitness, desire and that extra week of pre-season training, but in my opinion a very under par Burnley still looked the best team on the night. Their keeper made a great save at 1-0, and the final ball from us was poor all night.

Both teams will have another week of pre-season under their belts by next thursday and I'll be disappointed if we don't go through from here.

[houseboy]

No cup final for me min. I didn't even consider going when asked.

One doesn't frequent backwaters like Burnley. No appeal whatsoever.

Have you really any idea how sad and bitter you sound. Why don't you just come out and say 'I hate the English' and have done with it. nothing else you have said makes any sense.

[Real Talk]

The commontator's on REDTV suggested last night was the best that Aberdeen had played for many years !

Those commentators are awful. Many Dons fans turn on mute. We've played a lot better in the past few seasons.

We beat Celtic away last game of the season which was a much better performance. We've beat Copenhagen 4-1at home, drew with Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, beat Groningen and Rijeka (top croation team that beat Ac) etc . Those were far better performances.

[Zom Zom]

......

[RalphCoatesComb]

Assessment...

They tried to bully us physically

Soft penalty

Quality equaliser

Under-par performance

90 minutes away from the next round

[Zom Zom]

Summary of the team that finished 7th in the self proclaimed greatest league in the world:

Your Revered Manager;

Did he think playing a 'Mickey Mouse team from a Mickey Mouse league' meant that it was not necessary to get his players fit a few weeks earlier?

Your Captain:

Deary mee....Owned within 15 minutes. Shirked away from any contact with Sam Cosgrove every opportunity thereafter.
Only looked an accomplished 20+ million player when playing a square ball with time on his hands. Not a leader of men. Should do the decent thing and add a 'K' onto the end of his name.

Rest of your players:

The one from Iceland has a weird centre of gravity, kept falling over for no reason. The rest of the carthorses were neither here nor there due to not having a leader on the pitch. Only Vokes when he came on looked up for the challenge.


your support:

For a tema that haven't played in European completion since the Magna Carta, a severe lack of boisterous behaviour, especially since you'll probably had a good few pints during the day.

Have you only one song? Burn e lee, heard that for around first few minutes, than nowt, nada, nothing until you went with england shyte a few minutes from time. Almost as if you're inwardly embarrassed and unsure how to support a team.

You reminded me of Inverness Caley, a small team with one repetitive chant thrown in to limelight and no idea how to react.


You people on here:

Funny how you've now classed an away draw as a good result after you'd under-rated us proeviously as being a non-entity?



Overall:

We outclassed you first half, second half was 50-50.

Finish the the job down in your pokey bee hole. You're not up to much.

Yeah. Lol!

Aberdeen look like a lower league side playing out of their skin in a cup tie. I've seen it myself when we were lower league and City or Spurs rock into town.

We would be all bull and bluster for 45 minutes as your lot were, after that, class takes over the tiring home team and the better team stamps some authority on the game.

The thug Cosgrove will spend more time in the stand than on the pitch this season if last night is anything to go by. Which is a shame, because he is a talent.

Forget it rumpus, you've had your moment in the sun, and your bravado will be handed to you on the same plate that your team has it's arse returned on next Thursday

[Colburn_Claret]

I expected us to be poor, and we were, so in that case a draw was a God send.
It doesn't need saying that we need to improve. Getting our players back fit is essential, but we could also do with at least 3 new players quickly.

[quoonbeatz]

We played well last night in what was effectively a competitive pre-season game. First half we looked lively, played some good passing football and created some opportunities albeit without testing their keeper. The penalty was a joke - expect hundreds this season if thats the benchmark.

Second half we dominated and got what we deserved with a superb equaliser.

Good, fair result in the end and some good early sigms from our team which was by no means at full strength.

A great day, superb atmosphere at the ground and in the city; the locals were top people. Looking forward to the return.

[claretspice]

We played well last night in what was effectively a competitive pre-season game. First half we looked lively, played some good passing football and created some opportunities albeit without testing their keeper. The penalty was a joke - expect hundreds this season if thats the benchmark.

Second half we dominated and got what we deserved with a superb equaliser.

Good, fair result in the end and some good early sigms from our team which was by no means at full strength.

A great day, superb atmosphere at the ground and in the city; the locals were top people. Looking forward to the return.

I think you're being a tad generous if I am honest, although I certainly agree it needs be looked on as a competitive pre-season game. I think even Dyche has agreed we were a bit sluggish for long periods.

One thing I would say is that whilst we passed the ball around the middle third neatly enough, we had the same problem last night we've had at times last season when confronted with a deep, narrow defence - we struggle to get into the final third and we neither have the ability to cut through packed defences nor to go round them. We frequently find ourselves in decent enough if slightly deep crossing positions, with far too few players in the box to make that a viable option. We need to find ways of dealing with that.

We need to see more from the likes of Gudmundsson, Lennon and Hendrick in getting into goalscoring positions, and we also need Cork and even occasionally Westwood making similar incursions.

We also need to start finding ways to get a bit more fluency across our front line so that we can cut through teams. For long periods last night, there was a lack of movement, as there often is, and so we didn't create space. There's no reason why Hendrick shouldn't move wide left at times to allow space for Gudmundsson to come inside and even make real cross over runs in order to link up with Lennon, given that they both prefer the right side. Wood is the other part of this dilemma also needs solving - he just doesn't do enough when the ball comes into him with his back to goal to be much use as a focal point to our build up against these sorts of teams who sit deep and deny space in behind or down the channels. His touch isn't great, he doesn't have the ability to drag a centre half deep to create gaps behind for others like Vokes does, and nor does he have any great cuteness in his passing. He's a great goalscorer and that definitely shouldn't be devalued, but there are nights and days when you need a more all-round contribution.

We're going to increasingly see teams making life hard for us in the way Aberdeen tried to, and its not being critical to say we need to evolve to deal with that a bit better. In the end last night we just when old-school, direct 4-4-2, which of course has its place, but we'll need a more sophisticated plan B on occasions. Last night, it might have involved Vokes for Wood at half time and see if his greater skill on the deck and ability to come short could help us make more of our decent approach play.

[DCWat]

In summary, we need to learn how to play when possession is in our favour.

[Willy]

We were far from poor especially in the 2nd half where Gudmundssen ran the show,Cork got into more forward positions and we used the full backs well.

In the first half we opened them up a few times on both flanks with Lennon looking particularly dangerous.
At the time, for the penalty I thought their forward threw himself to the floor and did this a few times throughout the match.

In the 2nd half we played some neat football and got round the back a few times and how we only scored one goal is beyond me.
Aberdeen could have nicked a couple of goals too however,once when Mackay-Steven (their best player by far) delayed playing an earlier pass on the counter-attack and once when Lindgaard made an exceptional save when Ben Mee inexplicably decided not to try and head the ball.

Whilst I like both Westwood and Tarks,I thought they were poor on the ball last night.

I am still to be convinced by Wood and Sam has constantly proved to be a more attacking threat and holds the ball up quicker.

One thing that did disappoint me in our performance was where we played the ball into feet only for the receiving player to immediately play the ball back to the passer without making better use of any possible space around them.

Before the match I was confident we could nick it but wasn't as confident for the home tie where a decent result may have allowed Sir Sean to tinker.
The match is finely balanced and whilst I think we're slight favourites it is far from over.

[Royboyclaret]

In summary, we need to learn how to play when possession is in our favour.

The big problem there DCWat is playing that way is not something that can be taught, either a player has that capability or he doesn't. So I guess if we played away at Aberdeen again with the same team in two weeks time when our players are fitter, we would have exactly the same problems.

Try as he does Westwood is not the type of midfielder to take a couple of opponents out of the game with a drop of his shoulder and create time and space for a teammate in the way that Brady and Defour can do. It's no coincidence that our optimum performances came when those two were regulars in the side. That short period (did it start with Arsenal at home?) followed by Bournemouth away and then the first twenty five minutes at Leicester before Brady's bad injury, we totally dominated the opposition. That also plays to the strengths of Wood, who looks ten times the player in that formation and also JBG who clearly is a far better player on the right hand side.

For that short time we looked a beautifully balanced side and the sooner we have those two players back at our disposal the better for all concerned.

[DCWat]

Fully agree, Royboy. Problem we have, for me, is that the depth (or lack of) means how we want to play, changes.

[Royboyclaret]

Aye, you're right. I suppose the ideal scenario is unearthing two players with similar qualities to Brady and Defour, and therein lies the problem.

Sometimes a perfect line up where all the players complement each other just seems to happen and I felt we had that back in November last year.

The only other Burnley sides where I felt that way was in '59/'60 and '73/74.

[DCWat]

We were playing some great stuff before the injuries. It was the mixed football that Dyche talks about and some of it was lovely to watch.

[Royboyclaret]

Particularly remember the games around Bournemouth away (where Robbie ripped them to shreds) and the following game at Leicester before he was injured. Defour was also supreme at that time and the best part was they played with a belief that they KNEW they were good and on the verge of something special.

I genuinely believe without the two bad injuries we would have finished ahead of Arsenal in sixth place.

[quoonbeatz]

I think you're being a tad generous if I am honest, although I certainly agree it needs be looked on as a competitive pre-season game. I think even Dyche has agreed we were a bit sluggish for long periods.

One thing I would say is that whilst we passed the ball around the middle third neatly enough, we had the same problem last night we've had at times last season when confronted with a deep, narrow defence - we struggle to get into the final third and we neither have the ability to cut through packed defences nor to go round them. We frequently find ourselves in decent enough if slightly deep crossing positions, with far too few players in the box to make that a viable option. We need to find ways of dealing with that.

We need to see more from the likes of Gudmundsson, Lennon and Hendrick in getting into goalscoring positions, and we also need Cork and even occasionally Westwood making similar incursions.

We also need to start finding ways to get a bit more fluency across our front line so that we can cut through teams. For long periods last night, there was a lack of movement, as there often is, and so we didn't create space. There's no reason why Hendrick shouldn't move wide left at times to allow space for Gudmundsson to come inside and even make real cross over runs in order to link up with Lennon, given that they both prefer the right side. Wood is the other part of this dilemma also needs solving - he just doesn't do enough when the ball comes into him with his back to goal to be much use as a focal point to our build up against these sorts of teams who sit deep and deny space in behind or down the channels. His touch isn't great, he doesn't have the ability to drag a centre half deep to create gaps behind for others like Vokes does, and nor does he have any great cuteness in his passing. He's a great goalscorer and that definitely shouldn't be devalued, but there are nights and days when you need a more all-round contribution.

We're going to increasingly see teams making life hard for us in the way Aberdeen tried to, and its not being critical to say we need to evolve to deal with that a bit better. In the end last night we just when old-school, direct 4-4-2, which of course has its place, but we'll need a more sophisticated plan B on occasions. Last night, it might have involved Vokes for Wood at half time and see if his greater skill on the deck and ability to come short could help us make more of our decent approach play.

absolutely there's room for improvement but in the context of what it was and where we're up to in pre-season, it was a good performance. there had been one meaningful friendly before the aberdeen game and most player only played an hour.

i'm confident we'll be a lot better this week and a lot better by the start of the season.

[claretspice]

absolutely there's room for improvement but in the context of what it was and where we're up to in pre-season, it was a good performance. there had been one meaningful friendly before the aberdeen game and most player only played an hour.

i'm confident we'll be a lot better this week and a lot better by the start of the season.

Perfectly true, but some of these issues are longer standing. If there's any cause for concern, it is probably that.