I apologise to Dave’s regular readers for providing a late read to his latest episode in this season’s match reports, I can assure you all it was worth the wait.
It is futile to draw comparisons between contemporary players and teams and those of yesteryear, but doing so helps stimulate the memory and add context to the events unfolding before one’s eyes.
The question therefore begs, is this the best Burnley team I have seen in fifty-five years of supporting the club?
The 1972-73 team of Dobson, Casper and James may rightly be advanced against it, as might those of 1991-92; 1999-2000 and more recently Sean Dyche’s teams of 2015-16 and 2017-18. But for the sheer fluency of their play and the consistency of their performances, I am prepared to acknowledge Vincent Kompany’s 2022-23 Burnley team as superior to them all.
On Saturday afternoon and at home to Preston North End, the Clarets completed a tenth consecutive League victory in a manner and a style that at times was breath-taking in its intricacy, its purposefulness, its cohesion and the pace at which it was all executed.
Confidence, flair and footballing brio oozed through every one of the Clarets players yesterday, all were at, or close to, the peak of their form and it was simply too much for Preston, who can draw comfort from the knowledge that this display would have been too much for many a Premier League team.
Star of the show was Nathan Tella. What possessed Southampton to conclude that they could manage a Premier League campaign without the services of so precautious a talent? I, along with all Clarets fans are grateful that they did.
Once he had put Burnley ahead in the 12th minute, nipping in at the near post to head in Josh Brownhill’s flighted cross, there was never any doubt as to the destination of the three points.
Despite Burnley’s complete domination of the game, it is to Preston’s credit that they clung on to the Clarets’ coat tails until almost an hour had passed at which time Tella scored twice in the space of a few minutes to complete his hat-trick and snuff out any remaining embers of hope left flickering in Preston hearts.
Both goals were almost identical, originating from long balls propelled into the heart of the Preston defence. Ashley Barnes won the ball, slipped it to Tella, who wrong-footed a defender and fired low into the bottom corner.
Then a long ball from Aro Muric, whose vision and passing range is superior to many a midfielder, found Tella via a flick off a defender. This time Tella’s shot went under the dive of Woodman in the Preston goal.
After the third goal had put the contest way beyond any reasonable doubt, the game drifted to its natural conclusion, although Tella might even have added a fourth to his tally had he shot himself when bearing down once again on the Preston goal. Instead, he tried to tee up a tap-in for Lyle Foster, which was intercepted by the outstretched leg of a Preston defender.
Had the score been level or a one -goal margin at the time, so generous a gesture might have drawn a rebuke from the manager, but this time it mattered not.
There now seems little to stand in the way of Burnley and a return to the Premier League, a return with a squad brimming with exciting, skilful and confident players. How far can this team go? I don’t know, but I’m looking forward to finding out.
I will leave the final word to the gentlemen who occupies the seat next to mine in the Jimmy McIlroy sand; at one point during the first half yesterday he turned to me and said “we’re too good for this division”. He’s right.
Editor’s note: I cannot possibly add to those comments Dave, bring on the Hornets. (TEC.)
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Originally Posted by Supersub6
