Burnley, An Insider's Perspective

by   |   05/04/2022  10 Comments  [Jump to last]

For those who don't know me, I'm from and live in Burnley but support Everton due to my Scouse father. Anyway, seeing as this game is so big, I thought I'd give you a few bits of 'inside information' on our next opponents.

For 2 or 3 seasons, Burnley fans were constantly telling me how Dwight McNeil was the "best young winger in the country" and they were convinced he should be in the England squad. However, this season, things have gone sour for Dwight. He's not scored a League goal and the fans are infuriated with him due to his "laziness", poor finishing and being completely one-footed (left).

Many of them have wanted him dropping for a while now, and he was subbed off at half-time on Saturday. His place could possibly be taken by Cornet and Dyche will play Shithouse Barnes or Jay Rodriguez up front with Weghorst. Either way, Dwight is no longer flavour of the month amongst Burnley fans.

In defence, they are still without their Captain, Ben Mee, so will almost certainly play Nathan Collins alongside Tarkowski. I haven't seen much of "Collo", as they call him, but he appears to be another Burnley defender in the same mould as Mee and Tarkowski. Strong, committed, good in the air but poor on the floor and can be turned when brought out of a deep-lying position. But like I said, he's barely played so it's hard to judge.

As for Tarkowski, despite Dyche claiming he's had a "strong season", he's made many a fuck-up that have lead to goals or chances. He refused a contract extension last year and is a free agent in the summer. A lot of the fans have criticised him many times this season, despite claiming he was "international class" for the last 5 years!! He's obviously going to nail Richarlison tomorrow and we could possibly use this to our advantage by baiting him.

Up front, Maxwell Cornet started like the proverbial House on Fire but is without a goal since before he left for AFCON. And Wout Weghorst, despite playing well overall, is having a barren run after a bright start. He had 1 goal and 2 assists in his first 4 appearances but is without either in his last 5/6 games.

They will both almost certainly score on Wednesday night!

Overall, Burnley are still the same team they've always been. They work hard, they're aggressive and direct but this season those "little things" have been going against them. Normally they can grind out a point or hang on for all 3 but this season they've found a way to let those games slip.

Nick Pope had a sloppy start to the season (but appears to have found his form again) and they've had injuries and issues at centre-back that have seen them concede unusually soft goals.

To me, they look like a team that has run its course under the current manager and are slowly winding down. It just seems flat and uninspired. Even the fans are talking about how they wouldn't mind a return to the Championship after watching some of the dross they've sat through this season. Not all of them by any means, but a few. And a lot are definitely, definitely tiring of hearing Dyche regurgitate the same old stuff week after week. Reminds me of us and David Moyes, in some ways.

Sorry for rambling on but I thought this piece might be of interest given the importance of the game.

Anyway, I'm sitting with my cousin and my best mate tomorrow, in the exec box, surrounded by Burnley fans who just love to dish it out when they win a game. Wish me luck.

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Reader Comments (10)

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Lyndon Lloyd
1 Posted 05/04/2022 at 23:50:54
Collins was sent off at Brentford and is suspended so Burnley are short-handed at the back. Hopefully an advantage for us.
Jerome Shields
2 Posted 06/04/2022 at 00:11:09
Dyche was flavour of the month as a potential Everton manager, amongst some ToffeeWebbers at one stage. He would have been mincemeat at Finch Farm on the above article
.
Everton will have to be professional with no errors to get through this fixture. They just have to win

Ben King
3 Posted 06/04/2022 at 00:46:29
God we need to win this….
Nicholas Ryan
4 Posted 06/04/2022 at 01:35:40
"God, we need to win this".... actually we don't. We need NOT TO LOSE this!!
Jamie Crowley
5 Posted 06/04/2022 at 01:53:37
Nicholas I respectfully disagree.

We need the full three points. We simply have to distance ourselves from the others in the relegation pack.

Our upcoming schedule after this fixture is brutal. We have to bank points to cushion that distance between us and the "unfortunate others".

If we don't, we'll be playing nervous and not to lose moving forward as we'll be so close to the drop, which is a recipe for disaster.

For me this game is very simple - our back line can not give up any "direct" goal. Burnley play direct football. We can't allow direct balls bypassing midfield to become a danger. And I'd argue the key to that is to win every single second ball in our own third.

When they launch a long one, and one of our CBs heads it, an Everton player has to get on that second ball, like every single damn time.

Mike Gaynes
6 Posted 06/04/2022 at 04:23:49
Lee, thanks for the look from the Burnley angle. Most valuable.

I'm with Jamie and Ben. We must have the full three points.

And to Jamie's point about the second ball, we must have Gordon in the middle of the pitch. I know it's not his position, but if we don't have some go-get in that area, we are gonna get-got.

Lee Courtliff
7 Posted 06/04/2022 at 07:32:59
Apologies, I thought he was only serving a 1 game ban. Kevin Long will play in his place, a player who has been at Burnley for over a decade and only made about 50 appearances!!
Lee Courtliff
8 Posted 06/04/2022 at 08:07:23
According to my mate, Collins only had a 1 game ban so he's back tonight.
Ray Roche
9 Posted 06/04/2022 at 09:06:47
Collins is playing, according to the BBC
Lyndon Lloyd
10 Posted 06/04/2022 at 19:28:41
Yes, I was wrong about Collins. His red at Brentford must have been deemed to have been an attempt to play the ball rather than a cynical denial of a goalscoring opportunity.

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