Dave does the last week of two Cities.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

Having taken a bit of time to reflect on the last week of the Clarets’ season Dave Thornley writing on behalf of Clarets Mad provides us with his thoughts.

“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”. Dickens must have been thinking about Burnley’s past week when he wrote a “Tale of Two Cities”, the Cities in question being Hull and Manchester.

The positivity engendered by three points, three goals and Nathan Tella’s hat-trick in last Wednesday night’s victory over Hull City was given a rude awakening by a brutal 6-0 demolition at the hands of Manchester City in Saturday’s FA Cup quarter final.

This begs the question of how ready are Vincent Kompany’s re-branded Burnley, Burnley Mark 2.0 if you will, to compete effectively once they resume their place in the Premier League?

Some factors need to be born in mind; Manchester City are a superb team and the Clarets met them whilst in prime form (as they always seem to do); for the first half an hour at the Etihad Burnley competed well and even looked threatening once or twice; City, as one radio pundit I heard put it, paid Burnley the compliment of fielding their strongest team (personally I would rather they had insulted us) and the Vincent Kompany “thing”, centring on his return to the venue of so many of his triumphs as a player, was, I believe, something of a distraction.

I am not suggesting for a moment that Kompany was anything less than thoroughly professional in preparing his team, but it would take the hardest of hearts not to have been moved by the occasion and the tumultuous emotion surrounding it.

All that said, hammerings of this nature are never pleasant, especially in a season of otherwise unalloyed success. How will Kompany, and Burnley, respond?

With a maximum of a mere three wins needed to secure promotion, there can be no doubt that Burnley will be playing Premier League football next season, they have been given a reality check, a reminder to some, and a revelation to others, about the traps and pitfalls that lie in wait upon their return.

Watching from my seat at the Etihad, one incident in particular emphasised the gap in class between Burnley and their trophied hosts; mid-way through the first half Tella found himself bearing down on City’s goal; it was the sort of chance he has been putting away all season in the Championship, but as he drew his foot back to shoot, Emerick Laporte appeared from nowhere to pluck the ball off Tella’s toe-end and clear the danger.

No semi-final trip to Wembley then for the Clarets, but the principal task of the season is all but complete. If Burnley win their next two games, at home to Sunderland and away at Middlesbrough, they will be promoted. They should not, nay must not, allow their FA Cup mauling to dent their confidence or impede their progress.

Managing a football team at any level is often about how you respond to a setback. In his short time with Burnley, Kompany has had very few of those. After the last one, the 5-2 defeat to Sheffield United, Burnley reeled off ten straight league wins. This suggests that Kompany possesses the required quantity of fortitude.

With the finishing line in sight and taking into account the comprehensive battering his team took at the Etihad, recovering from this latest setback might prove more challenging. At least there is an international break now in which to reflect, re-group and re-focus.

Editor’s note: I too came away from the Etihad demoralised, I really expected us to do better but how many times will we meet the likes of Haaland and Foden in full battle cry? Just twice, I hope. (TEC.)

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[sinkov]

I think a quick peep at the City fixture list helps, in their previous game they beat Leipzig 7-0, and Leipzig are currently 5th in the Bundesliga and finished 4th last season.

[The Bedlington Terrier]

I think a quick peep at the City fixture list helps, in their previous game they beat Leipzig 7-0, and Leipzig are currently 5th in the Bundesliga and finished 4th last season.

It still hurts as a football fan to see your team get thrashed though mon ami. On the back of such a good season too. The pain is so great logic goes straight out of the window.

I know Frank Casper very well and he used to say he tried not to talk about his team's performance until 48 hours had passed, just to let the emotions stabilise and he'd had proper time to analyse it.

I need to remember that, I came home late Saturday night absolutely fuming.

The joys of being a footy supporter eh?

[army88]

It still hurts as a football fan to see your team get thrashed though mon ami. On the back of such a good season too. The pain is so great logic goes straight out of the window.

I know Frank Casper very well and he used to say he tried not to talk about his team's performance until 48 hours had passed, just to let the emotions stabilise and he'd had proper time to analyse it.

I need to remember that, I came home late Saturday night absolutely fuming.

The joys of being a footy supporter eh?

I think truth you have to accept they are exceptional in all departments and we’ve tried the opposite of all out attack for the last several games against them - we just end up defending for our lives - this time we tried playing open football against probably the best club side in the world and the end result was the same as several previous ones - we could argue they didn’t score as many goals in some of them , but each one of them could easily have been 6 against us on chances alone.

To me it just identified what we are short off and that’s an enforcer big strong midfielder who can be creative as well, it also highlighted that JBG and our Ashley can’t play at that level ie they’re not going to improve from where they are at the minute.

The squad overall is good but the step up is enormous and we’re going to need some players.

[sinkov]

The squad overall is good but the step up is enormous and we’re going to need some players.

The step up to City's level is enormous army, but Manchester City are not a typical PL team. Currently the PL is split into two, the bottom nine detached from the rest by some distance and none of them even approch City's level. Those nine are the teams we'll be competing with, and I think we're probably as good as most of them right now, 3/4 decent signings in summer and we'll be more than fine, we'll be flying.