"How naiviety left Burnley on the brink of relegation"

[ClaretinBudapest]

Great article by Greg Lea:-

"The two main issues on display against Newcastle - attacking bluntness and defensive brittleness - have dogged Burnley throughout the campaign.

Start with their inefficiency in the final third. For all their tidy approach play at times, only Sheffield United (9.6) are averaging fewer shots per game than Kompany’s men (11.3). Burnley also rank second-bottom for shots inside the box (6.3 per game), bottom for attempts inside the six-yard box (0.8 per game), and top for the share of shots from outside the penalty area (37%). Unsurprisingly given those numbers, Burnley have the worst cumulative xG in the divison (40.92).

Their shortcomings without the ball have been just as damaging. Newcastle are not the first team to have sliced through Burnley at will. There has been a naiviety and fragility to their performances all season. The last few weeks had brought an improvement, but in Saturday’s must-win encounter; Burnley reverted to type.

Put simply, Kompany’s side have been too easy to play against. They average just 16.1 tackles per game, the fourth-lowest figure in the division. The only three teams that make fewer challenges are those that typically dominate possession and win most of their matches - Manchester City, Arsenal and Aston Villa.

It is hard to shake the feeling that, in many ways, Burnley have been architects of their own downfall. Their commitment to playing out from the back has been hailed as admirable by some, but Burnley are not good enough at it. Twice in recent weeks, errors from Muric with the ball at his feet have led to opposition goals.

Off the pitch, Kompany may regret making so many changes last summer. Burnley spent more than £100m on 15 recruits following promotion. In the process they unwisely jettisoned many of the players who had got them into the Premier League in the first place. Some have since been brought back into the fold, but a lack of cohesion early on contributed to Burnley’s dismal start to life back in the top flight.

Following Saturday’s thumping by Newcastle, the Clarets need a miracle. Anything other than a victory over Tottenham on Saturday would send them down - and even that would not be enough if Nottingham Forest were to beat Chelsea. Kompany was linked with the Spurs job 12 months ago. Now he must begin planning for life back in the Championship."

[kritichris]

That just sums up what we all see but how come VK can't?

[Swissclaret]

Whilst the article makes some valid points - the obvious ones - in fairness we have been on the receiving end of some bad decisions, whether it be the match officials or VAR. Without those, and the errors by Muric, we could be looking at survival.

The other point that should be acknowledged is that a lot of the sides in the PL are simply better than us. Yes we spent £100 million on 15 players, so we are told. Arsenal spent £105 million on one player.

[malwayne]

I think it’s the way we lost games, and how we came to be in that position. Naivety should not have occurred ,with all the experience Kompany is supposed to have, in his career to date. I’d call it stupidity with a capital S , and stubbornness to accompany it.

[army88]

Great article by Greg Lea:-

"The two main issues on display against Newcastle - attacking bluntness and defensive brittleness - have dogged Burnley throughout the campaign.

Start with their inefficiency in the final third. For all their tidy approach play at times, only Sheffield United (9.6) are averaging fewer shots per game than Kompany’s men (11.3). Burnley also rank second-bottom for shots inside the box (6.3 per game), bottom for attempts inside the six-yard box (0.8 per game), and top for the share of shots from outside the penalty area (37%). Unsurprisingly given those numbers, Burnley have the worst cumulative xG in the divison (40.92).

Their shortcomings without the ball have been just as damaging. Newcastle are not the first team to have sliced through Burnley at will. There has been a naiviety and fragility to their performances all season. The last few weeks had brought an improvement, but in Saturday’s must-win encounter; Burnley reverted to type.

Put simply, Kompany’s side have been too easy to play against. They average just 16.1 tackles per game, the fourth-lowest figure in the division. The only three teams that make fewer challenges are those that typically dominate possession and win most of their matches - Manchester City, Arsenal and Aston Villa.

It is hard to shake the feeling that, in many ways, Burnley have been architects of their own downfall. Their commitment to playing out from the back has been hailed as admirable by some, but Burnley are not good enough at it. Twice in recent weeks, errors from Muric with the ball at his feet have led to opposition goals.

Off the pitch, Kompany may regret making so many changes last summer. Burnley spent more than £100m on 15 recruits following promotion. In the process they unwisely jettisoned many of the players who had got them into the Premier League in the first place. Some have since been brought back into the fold, but a lack of cohesion early on contributed to Burnley’s dismal start to life back in the top flight.

Following Saturday’s thumping by Newcastle, the Clarets need a miracle. Anything other than a victory over Tottenham on Saturday would send them down - and even that would not be enough if Nottingham Forest were to beat Chelsea. Kompany was linked with the Spurs job 12 months ago. Now he must begin planning for life back in the Championship."

Well imo they made that far more complicated than it is / was

We got punished from day 1 because we let the opposition deliver ball into our box un opposed
( recepie for disaster )
We don’t track players runs and centrally we wernt competitive at all for several months hence why we are bottom of the league.

Playing out from the back has cost us a time or two but the basics are what’s cost us overall

It’s really not complicated.

[malwayne]

It is for some .

[Turf_Forever]

There is clearly a philosophy to play a certain way, and to give it an extended period of time to come good. If that means yo-yo for a few years then so be it. Pace and VK must be aligned on that or we wouldn't be at the bottom of the table still doing the same thing.

[ballcock]

There is clearly a philosophy to play a certain way, and to give it an extended period of time to come good. If that means yo-yo for a few years then so be it. Pace and VK must be aligned on that or we wouldn't be at the bottom of the table still doing the same thing.

You are extremely nieve to think that Pace is sat there with his fingers crossed hoping this crazy experiment is going to come good, in a few seasons time.

Pace will be very concerned at the way this season as ended, and I like many are surprised Kompany as kept his job

[barrie_burn]

Just wait & see what develops in the summer,who goes and who stays,then give us half a dozen games in the
Championship and see where we are.I'm quite looking forward to next season.

[kritichris]

'm quite looking forward to next season.

It's all we have to look forward to, apart from going up Blackpool Tower, I've never been up there.