Dave's take on a Canary beating...
Dave Thornley writing for Clarets Mad reflects on a dismal showing from the Clarets at Carrow Road yesterday. It is widely known miners used to put Canaries down the pit to see if trouble was brewing; Dean Smith’s tactical masterclass provided Burnley with the answer. Trouble has duly arrived, and another relegation now looks inevitable on Sean Dyche’s CV.
Two deflected shots have, in all probability, signalled the end (for the time being) of Burnley’s tenure in the Premier League: Anthony Gordon’s for Everton on Saturday lunchtime, gave the Toffees a victory over Manchester United, a club currently so dysfunctional that they make the Royal Family look like the Waltons, and consequently hoisted them four points clear of Burnley.
This was followed yesterday afternoon by Norwich’s Lees-Melou who, in almost identical circumstances, deceived Nick Pope with a deflected effort to put the Canaries one-nil up against the Clarets.
It is misleading, however, to pin Burnley’s woes on malign fate. After the surge of optimism following last Wednesday’s thrilling win over Everton, defeat at Carrow Road exposed the sobering reality that Burnley have lost five of their last six games, and that sort of form can only take the team in one direction.
There was no lack of effort from the players yesterday, but equally no sense of conviction that the loss of that early goal could be overhauled. When Burnley needed to show calmness under pressure, they responded with a display that was frenetic, disjointed and incoherent. We have seen this from Burnley too often this season and it will prove their inexorable undoing.
Too many misplaced passes; too many long balls which are inevitably won by the defending team and merely invites more pressure; too many poor decisions; why did Josh Brownhill take a first half free kick from the edge of the “D” when Maxwel Cornet is far more suited to that role and offered far too little in the way of game-changing creativity.
The best Burnley could offer as an attacking threat came midway through the second half when Cornet slid in at the far post to connect with Dwight McNeil’s probing cross, only to see the ball go wide of the post. It looked at first sight to be a missed sitter, but the replay showed the ball taking an unhelpful bounce and struck Cornet on his shin. That said, the Ivorian should nevertheless have scored.
It is a sad indictment indeed that this was the best Burnley could offer against one of the League’s most accommodating opponents.
No “escape miracle” will happen, because that little square in the midfield where players like Joey Barton and Christian Eriksen pull the strings and run a game is occupied for the Clarets by two journeymen footballers called Brownhill and Westwood.
The heartbeat of the team where guile, aggression and twenty goals a season stems from are missing from our starting line-up, and that is one of the main reasons the Clarets will be relegated from the EPL this season.
Norwich’s Timo Pukki, who was a threat on the break throughout the game, put matters beyond doubt with a neatly finished second goal late on, to complete a miserable Sunday afternoon for the Clarets. I could have sworn Pukki was offside, but Charlie Taylor had failed to step up and the goal stood.
Sean Dyche will ensure that his players do not give up the fight in their remaining fixtures, but it has been evident for some time that the tools at his disposal are inadequate for the size of the task he and his team have been presented with.
Lots of questions now need to be answered; player retentions and contracts need to be resolved, the question of ALK debt remains unclear and is the Clarets financial future under threat. Perhaps Alan Pace could step up to the podium, address the fans and provide some reassuring answers? (TEC).
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