Christmas Gifts Cost Clarets Dear

[Footymad]

Handing six points on a plate might be considered a wee bit excessive, even for this time of the year. - External Link (http://www.clarets-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/christmas_gifts_cost_clarets_dear_941067/index.shtml)

[The Bedlington Terrier]

The script won't load so here goes..
‘Tis undoubtedly the season of goodwill, the annual season for giving.

Unfortunately, the spirit of the season has been taken a little too far by the players of Burnley Football Club in their festive fixtures at Everton on Boxing Day and at home to Manchester United on Saturday evening.

Defeats in both those matches were the direct result of Dwight McNeil and Charlie Taylor respectively gifting possession to their opponents in Burnley’s own defensive third of the field. In each case, the gifts resulted in goals from which Burnley were unable to recover.

Such sloppiness has been an unwelcome recurring theme in the first half of what is turning out to be a curiously “start, stop” season for the Clarets, one in which both victories and defeats have tended to arrive in batches of two or three at a time.
Similar defensive mistakes occurred in matches against Liverpool, Chelsea and Crystal Palace, on each occasion, Burnley fell behind and were unable to respond.

Possession may be nine tenths of the law, but it is ten tenths of Premier League prosperity. To squander it so carelessly and in such dangerous positions is asking for trouble to be visited upon the Clarets’ house.

Perhaps even more puzzling is that the guilty parties have been players who can usually be relied upon to discharge their tasks with efficiency and aplomb.

Mistakes happen, of course, and those committed by Burnley in past matches have been swiftly rectified in subsequent games. But I would urge Sean Dyche to emphasise the need to concentrate and respect the sanctity of possession.

The Boxing Day match against Everton was tedious in the extreme and is probably best glossed over. For the record, Sidibe’s cross after pouncing on McNeil’s hesitancy found Calvert-Lewin’s head for the only goal.

Against perhaps the worst Manchester United team since the post Best, Law and Charlton days under Frank O’Farrell in the seventies, Taylor hesitated in almost identical fashion to McNeill and the ball was swiftly ushered to the feet of Anthony Martial who made no mistake from close range.

To their credit, Burnley rallied in the second half and had periods in which they posed a serious threat the United’s lead. The introduction of the fit-again Johann Berg Gudmundsson provided much of the impetus behind those periods of pressure.

Their quest for an equaliser was not helped by every Claret’s least favourite official, Mike Dean, whose infuriating indulgence of United’s attempts to break up play resulted in the award of a number of imaginary free kicks; coupled with the disregard of a credible penalty claim for a handball by Harry McGuire, shortly before Marcus Rashford scored on the breakaway with the game’s last kick.

So, Burnley’s half-term report shows a return of twenty four points and although the successive defeats have seen them slip to thir****th place in the table, if the second half of the season replicates the first, Burnley can look forward to a tally of forty eight points and the comfort of mid-table.

The report however must also carry a cautionary note to concentrate harder and cut out the defensive blunders.

Christmas match reports presented by Dave Thornley, who contributes regularly on behalf of Clarets Mad. (TEC)

[sinkov]

I feel a bit for both Taylor and McNeil, players are losing possession like that all the time at every level of football, most of the time their team-mates will rescue the situation, but if they don't then it's more crucial for us, because we're unlikely to recover from going a goal down at Goodison or against Man Utd, but that's not Taylor or McNeil's fault.

The United game was so depressing I haven't read much about it, but what bit I have read doesn't contain any criticism of Pope for the first goal. When Martial was played in I fully expected to see Pope coming rapidly off his line and closing him down, instead he was just stood there immobile, frozen like a rabbit in a car's headlights, inviting Martial to take his time and pick his spot. I thought it was a shocking bit of goalkeeping, but maybe I'm being unfair, as far as I'm aware no one else has picked up on this.

And Hendrick, dear god what a joke, Williams was having a field day in the first half, doing what he liked on our right flank, while Hendrick, our first line of defence on that side, seemed away with the fairies, totally oblivious to the mayhem Williams was causing. What was the matter with him, couldn't he see the problems Williams was causing us ?

[Norder]

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"Defeats in both those matches were the direct result of Dwight McNeil and Charlie Taylor respectively gifting possession to their opponents in Burnley’s own defensive third of the field. In each case, the gifts resulted in goals from which Burnley were unable to recover"


true that those mistakes led to us conceding soon after - rather than later maybe - from something else somewhere else, at some other time - perhaps at a more distant and so little noticed point in the Game... .

https://i.imgur.com/slP2NMV.gif

link up and running....http://www.clarets-mad.co.uk/news/tmnw/christmas_gifts_cost_clarets_dear_941067/index.shtml


Cheers Dave.

;D