Now the dust has settled...
There is much current euphoria amongst Clarets fans following the January transfer window which has seen Vincent Kompany bring in four additions to the first-team squad and three more youngsters into the Burnley Football Club Development programme.
Without trying to dampen down the fans' present joyousness it occurred to me that we have only 5 midfielders in the squad. That problem seriously needed addressing in my opinion, but Kompany has failed to do so. The lack of numbers in that area could really come back and bite us in the rear end in the demanding February match schedule overload. For instance, Jack Cork is suspended for Saturday’s visit to Norwich leaving Kompany with only Josh Brownhill, Josh Cullen, Samuel Bastien and if fit, Johann Berg Gudmundsson to fill the midfield berths.
Just to remind ourselves, the imminent challenging February schedule begins on Saturday when we play Norwich away on the 4th, Ipswich at home in the FA Cup replay on the 7th, Preston at home on the 11th, Watford at home on the 14th, Luton away on the 18th, Millwall away on the 21st then Huddersfield at home away on the 25th! That's 7 games in 25 days (about 3 and a half weeks), and we are going to need some serious contributions from deep within our newly embellished squad. The paucity in midfield options for Kompany to choose from is alarming to say the very least!
Now the dust has settled and the ‘phone has stopped ringing on Vincent Kompany’s agent hotline, here is the revised current player options from the Clarets’ 25 man playing squad:
Goalkeepers: Arijanet Muric, Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Denis Franchi.
Defenders: Charlie Taylor, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Connor Roberts, Hjalmar Ekdal, Ameen Al-Dakhil, Vitinho, Ian Maatsen, Jordan Beyer.
Midfield: Jack Cork, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Josh Brownhill, Josh Cullen, Samuel Bastien.
Attack: Jay Rodriguez, Ashley Barnes, Scott Twine, Lyle Foster, Manuel Benson, Anass Zaroury, Nathan Tella, Darko Churlinov, Michael Obafemi - assuming Halil Dervisoglu is returning to Brentford from his loan period.
It appears to me that Vincent Kompany may be about to adopt Kevin Keegan’s “Score more goals than the opposition” strategy, because injuries and suspensions to our midfielders might leave the Burnley gaffer with no other options.
Vincent Kompany has worked wonders so far for the Clarets, but I am still scratching my head as to why he did not strengthen the midfield area in what is an obvious shortage of numbers.
We kick off a demanding February schedule in Norwich on Saturday, fingers crossed our midfield five do not become our midfield one over the next 3 and a half weeks.
From: The Editor’s Chair – Clarets Mad.
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