Where the season may go wrong.

[Sidney1st]

They used to be a red claret though, years ago on CM.

[Tinribs]

Away results have just become a monkey on the back after going so long without one.we have played really well in many games away from home including today but just havent got the breaks.....but who gives a toss cos our home form is top six quality so f.f.s give it a rest and enjoy the fact we are staying up..
Manager of the season Mr Sean Dyche by a mile

[Nonayforever]

The season has only gone wrong in a few posters minds.
To the vast majority of BFC fans this season has gone right in so many ways.

We will stay up this season and retain a squad that will form the backbone of a decent premiership side next season.

[hampsteadclaret]

abc...can I ask you a question....you are obviously a football fan of sorts, though I must say that I can rarely identify with anything you post..

Why don't you attend a few games at Turf Moor?
I think you may live some distance away like me and many others but surely you could get to 3-6 home games a season if you planned ahead a bit.

What exactly is stopping you attending a handful of games a season at Turf Moor..?

[ablueclaret]

One must go along with the myths Hampstead.
We don't want an alternative universe creeping in here.
Ablueclaret as everybody KNOWS has never attended any Burnley match in his life, or so it is believed by those in the know.
Just who this people are and how mch they do know is anybody's guess

[Steve1956]

abc...can I ask you a question....you are obviously a football fan of sorts, though I must say that I can rarely identify with anything you post..

Why don't you attend a few games at Turf Moor?
I think you may live some distance away like me and many others but surely you could get to 3-6 home games a season if you planned ahead a bit.

What exactly is stopping you attending a handful of games a season at Turf Moor..?

I await his answer to this post,wonder what he will say?

[Steve1956]

One must go along with the myths Hampstead.
We don't want an alternative universe creeping in here.
Ablueclaret as everybody KNOWS has never attended any Burnley match in his life, or so it is believed by those in the know.
Just who this people are and how mch they do know is anybody's guess

About par for course answer,not really worth waiting for

[Blackrod]

All that matters this season is staying up even if we don't win away. To suggest we have been unlucky though and have played well away from home is absolute boll*cks.

[hampsteadclaret]

We'll do you go regularly or not?
Have you been to TM this season?
When are you visiting Lancs next?

[ablueclaret]

I rarely attend at Turf Moor unless I'm up in Liverpool at that same time as a match.
Most of my watching is away matches, in the away stands, it gives one a very good perspective I find.

[Devils_Advocate]

We'll do you go regularly or not?
Have you been to TM this season?
When are you visiting Lancs next?

Theres plenty of posters on this board who either never or rarely physically attend matches but apart from ABC noone seems to care. Pull him up on his troll/rubbish opinions but if you discount him for not attending then be consistent and pull up the rest

That goes to all the posters whose response to ABC is circa when did you ever go on a game

[lovebeingaclaret]

From my understanding of getting tickets to games most clubs are a sell out. How do you manage to get hold of tickets and which grounds.

Perhaps we can arrange a meeting at some games and have a pint discussing the game before or after.

[hampsteadclaret]

Well D_A you are making a fair and reasonable point there...but surely you are not missing the obvious point..?

I wasn't discounting anyone..I just asked a few questions.

One poster, above many others has plenty to say most weeks about the players we should pick, who we should buy, who to get rid of, what system should we use and so on...that poster is also regularly [not always] critical of the manager, his methods, his football philosophy and other aspects of how the club is run. That poster [abc] starts an awful lot of threads which are like other threads he has previously posted..they are quite repetitive. I personally find some of that stuff a bit tedious and for a poster who hitherto has himself given the impression of attending few live BFC matches I was wondering where he got his opinions and information and contributions from...to be clear...he is outspoken and I think intentionally controversial, and I was pondering what this was based on...he was vague with his reply [his choice yes] and the 'man of mystery' remains so. I hope you find that a fair response to your post.

[Sidney1st]

To regularly get tickets in the away ends, ABC must have the required number of points already, which would indicate season tickets have been purchased at some point.

How often do away games make it to general sale?

[BennyD]

I rarely attend at Turf Moor unless I'm up in Liverpool at that same time as a match.
Most of my watching is away matches, in the away stands, it gives one a very good perspective I find.

If so, how come it screwed yours up?

[Devils_Advocate]

Well D_A you are making a fair and reasonable point there...but surely you are not missing the obvious point..?

I wasn't discounting anyone..I just asked a few questions.

One poster, above many others has plenty to say most weeks about the players we should pick, who we should buy, who to get rid of, what system should we use and so on...that poster is also regularly [not always] critical of the manager, his methods, his football philosophy and other aspects of how the club is run. That poster [abc] starts an awful lot of threads which are like other threads he has previously posted..they are quite repetitive. I personally find some of that stuff a bit tedious and for a poster who hitherto has himself given the impression of attending few live BFC matches I was wondering where he got his opinions and information and contributions from...to be clear...he is outspoken and I think intentionally controversial, and I was pondering what this was based on...he was vague with his reply [his choice yes] and the 'man of mystery' remains so. I hope you find that a fair response to your post.

He talks absolutely sh*t but every time you or anyone else dismisses his opinion just because he doesnt go to matches whilst not questioning the obviously decent % of the people on here who also dont attend games brings it down to targeted bullying and absolutely shys away from taking him on about the rubbish he talks

For the first year in many i have barely attended a live game but through Kodi I have seen every game but one live and i believe my opinion is just as valid as the fans who trek the country watching us even if i am not as passionate/obsessed as many on here

[Sidney1st]

He talks absolutely sh*t but every time you or anyone else dismisses his opinion just because he doesnt go to matches whilst not questioning the obviously decent % of the people on here who also dont attend games brings it down to targeted bullying and absolutely shys away from taking him on about the rubbish he talks

For the first year in many i have barely attended a live game but through Kodi I have seen every game but one live and i believe my opinion is just as valid as the fans who trek the country watching us even if i am not as passionate/obsessed as many on here

Couple of key points to consider about ABC -

1- keeps insisting on moving a defender into CM, first Edgar and now Tarks.
Edgar was hailed as the complete footballer virtually by ABC.

2- makes comments about youth players and their ability when you can't see them play unless you attend the matches personally

3- they very very rarely, if ever, have anything good to say about Burnley's achievements and even if they do its brief and critical.

4- guaranteed that when their first post appears there will be another 2-3 others, sometimes with the same point just regurgitated and phrased slightly differently.

5- if the team is on a good run, ABC usually doesn't post, bit like some others who only surface when a game or two has been lost.

Now you know this, you'll probably have a slightly better understanding of why some people on here have no time for ABC.

[Devils_Advocate]

Well done youve just made a great case for why he talks absoluie sh*t but where in that should it matter whether he goes on the actual game or not. Anyone whose only critic is "were you on the turf today" belittles every other genuine fan who cant make it (inc you)

[Sidney1st]

No, I tried to explain why some people have no time for ABC.

[hampsteadclaret]

I wouldn't want to be involved with anything that was perceived as 'targeted bullying'.

I asked him a couple of things, he chose not to say much.

That's me done on this thread.

[CnBtruntru]

I love the fact that this board is very green recycling old junk, regarding the original post by Ablueclaret "The return of Gray has seen the return of 4-4-2 the system we just aren't able to compete with at this level"
Never laughed so much.

[ablueclaret]

Just a little repost to Sidney.

(1) I have always said SD is a very good manager, well at least from year two, that he is however rigid, conservative, re-active and often in my opinion doesn't use his squad to the full is I believe also the case. I believe he can become a great manager if he becomes more adaptable and uses the framework rather than relying on it.

(2) I have always advocated the club having a holding midfielder after advocating Alexander's move there in OC's era. That we never purchase one is a continuing frustration for me hence the desire to get someone to play there. Over time I have advocated Mee Edgar and Tarka there, Tarka I believe could do an excellent job there, the other two were stop gaps.

(3) I often do post several posts at once often they get deleted sometimes not, yes I tend to bring up the same issues dressed in different ways because I happen to believe in them.

(4) I don't think I can be accused of hiding if we win mainly because my arguments are about improving performance, my Raison d etre is maximisation of potential. I was probably the first on here to say we could get into the top 10 of this League. My frustrations and comments are because I believe we could be better, not any hope for relegation.

(5) Yes I do think the Championship the best English League because it is the most competitive with something to win or lose, but a club has to strive for the best it can achieve or else it it will fail.

(6) Yes I think our recruitment policy has been hopeless at times, and yes I advocated we keep out of the European market because we are naive, for me recruiting ambitious young players is the way forward. SD because of his pragmatic rather than romantic bent looks to recruit ready made players.

(7) I am because of my family's long association with the club, a romantic at heart. I was introduced to the club in its heyday when we really could play football and shock and awe our opponents, what I see now is highly effective but just hasn't got that zing which takes you to the edge of your seat.It is a great achievement to have got back Into the big-time and SD deserves all the credit he gets, but for me style is as important as substance, one without the other is like unleavened bread and sometimes that is what we are watching, football half- baked, in part of course the consequence of the capitalist culture.

[Sidney1st]

1- re using the squad, he got us promoted using 18 players I recall from the first time.
I don't think he used too many more last time either, so what's the issue if he doesn't need to use them?
Also, I think I'm still waiting for your idea of a squads composition, because you flip from too many wingers, to not enough etc.

2- we haven't really needed a specialist CDM though, so your continued insistence that we move another CB into that position is amusing.

3- yes we've all noticed you like to flog certain issues repeatedly, even when they don't get deleted you'll make another post.

4- you don't hide per se, we just don't get the multitude of posts flogging your agendas.
You certainly don't vanish like other posters have done in the past, who then reappear crying when we've lost a game.

5- I agree on all of that.

6- it has and it hasn't been hopeless.
I think we've been unlucky with injuries to the players we've signed, both UK based and those from abroad, namely Defour.
The way you go on you'd think the players we signed from the British leagues were all a success when they haven't been.
We've had more injuries this season then we did last time round I think, however it hasn't been as damaging this time round when Marney did his knee again.

As for signing younger players, are you ignoring the signings we've made in the last couple of years in that area?
Some of these lads are currently out on loan and making a name for themselves, some have made first team appearances, O'Neill and Aygei.
We'd all like to see promising young players breaking through, but it takes time and right now we need to stay in the PL for a sustained period.
During that sustained period younger players can be blooded in gradually like they have been.
With the new academy/training facilities opening imminently things will progress, but it all takes time.
One thing I do think is the club needs to be more ruthless at times in regards to the young players, and cut them adrift sooner when its clear they won't make the cut.
Its felt at times that the club has persisted to long with some former youth players and this has been proven by the paths their careers have taken when they've gone, mainly downwards.

[No Ney Never]

Well done youve just made a great case for why he talks absoluie sh*t but where in that should it matter whether he goes on the actual game or not. Anyone whose only critic is "were you on the turf today" belittles every other genuine fan who cant make it (inc you)

Attending the game in person matters if your assessment of a individual player is to be comprehensive. TV follows the game and not the player. If you wish to give a credible critique of an individuals performance over 90 minutes then you have to be there in person to do so.
When some people talk about SD seeing the players everyday in training, it is the vast number of aspects to a players game and how it fits in to the framework and the affect of that individuals game on how others in the team have to play their game that they are talking about.
Similarly, there are many aspects of a teams performance that is not reflected on TV in the same way that they can be seen when evaluating the whole of the pitch at any given moment.
Everyone is entitled to an opinion, but some carry more weight than others.

[lovebeingaclaret]

All that needs to be decided abc is do you drink lager or bitter?

[ablueclaret]

I'm afraid nobody including the manager sees the full extent of each players performance, you could only do that busing video evidence, however it only takes a pair of eyes and a reasonable knowledge of soccer to see a players strengths and weaknesses.

[lovebeingaclaret]

You appear to suggest that SD doesn't watch the video of each game.

As well as all the other gismos at his disposal.

You are obviously of the opinion that your eyes and knowledge are greater than SDs.

Yet your eyes do not view the game, only a TV screen.

What are your qualifications regarding football?
Which professional outfit have you been associated with?
What was the highest level of football you played?