Tweet
In the entire 2008/09 league campaign Burnley manager Owen Coyle used 21 different outfield players. In just 6 league matches Jim Magilton has already used 21 different outfield players. Have we had a series of serious injuries meaning that we’ve been required to play so many different players? Have we brought in a number of better players since the season started meaning it is necessary to drop the poorer players and start with these instead? Faurlin, Taraabt and Pellicori were all added to the squad before the season started only Watson and Simpson have come in since the campaign began. Understandably Magilton has played both Simpson and Watson but has there been a need to have played so many different players so far? Balanta, Hall and Rowlands have begun the season only to be left out through injury and Faurlin started the season late after recovering through injury. Maybe these are sound reasons for changing the team but what reason is there for having used 5 different strikers in just 6 games? Is there a reason for not trying Vine from the start yet (6 substitute appearances in a row)? What reason is there to continually use Taraabt as a striker but then haul him off every match? Why has Taraabt started all 6 matches but the likes of Helguson, Agyemang, Pellicori and Vine not be given a run in the side? Coyle’s team suffered from injury and loss of form just like our own - Anderson out for 9 months with ACL injury, Penny bought and dropped after just 1 match, Berisha bought and sent out on loan, Kalvenes returned from injury only in January, Van Der Schaaf bought and only picked 3 times, 7 players picked up more than 5 yellows card so they had suspensions as well as 5 separate sending offs – not forgetting that Burnley lost five matches in a row during Christmas but still Coyle only picked 21 outfield players during the entire season.
Including the league cup and pre-season Magilton has played something like 15 matches, which is plenty of time in anyone’s book to work out what your best XI is. Pick your starting XI, list a natural replacement for each of the starting XI and run with it for 5 or 6 matches. If you are fortunate enough to have had better players brought in or unlucky enough to have suffered from injury only then change. If you believe that a player’s best position is upfront play him upfront and not on the wing. If you believe a player is a centre midfielder play him there don’t play him on the wing. If you believe that a midfielder is a right back then don’t play him in midfield. It’s not just about the sheer number of players that Magilton has used but also the number of various positions each of those has played. Unlike Sousa and De Canio, Magilton has had the luxury of a pre season and the luxury of having a much better squad than either Sousa or De Canio had.
After 6 matches last season, the 4 teams that finished in the play off positions all had more points than we do now (having said that Dowie’s QPR had more points than we do now). The odd point here and there is easy to regain but if we already playing catch up after 6 matches how many points may we be behind after 12 or 18 matches? The 1 point that we are currently worse off than Burnley were last year could easily become 10 over the course of a 46 matches season if no improvement has been made. After 12 matches last season Burnley were on 19 points so to stay in touch with this we need 12 points from our next 6 games. Can we really win all 3 of our home matches against Palace, Barnsley and Preston? And if so can we pick up points away to Cardiff, Swansea or Newcastle? To have any chance of a top 6 finish we are going to have to.
Conceding only 5 goals in 6 matches isn’t a bad record the problem for us is the one clean sheet in this time. By leaking goals in 5 of the 6 matches we’ve dropped points as a result. Last season after 6 matches we had conceded more goals but had achieved 6 more points including being thumped by Sheffield United. No team so far has looked like beating us by that sort of margin but by keeping clean sheets in 2 of those 6 matches it meant we picked up valuable points. 7 of the 12 teams who are currently above us have all conceded more than we have but are in those places because they’ve kept clean sheets at the right time and scored more than they have conceded. Last season Birmingham went up with a brilliant defensive record but scored fewer than 11 other teams including Norwich who were relegated. They won 17 matches by the odd goal including 7 matches in which they won having conceded in the game and 10 matches where the won 1-0 - that’s achieving 30 points having only scored 10 goals. This shows the importance of having a solid defence and attack that can score at the vital moment – using 7 different defenders in the first 6 matches won’t bring understanding and consistency and 5 different forwards won’t get confidence and rhythm.
Stop the meddling, shore up the defence and give the players the consistency they need.
Including the league cup and pre-season Magilton has played something like 15 matches, which is plenty of time in anyone’s book to work out what your best XI is. Pick your starting XI, list a natural replacement for each of the starting XI and run with it for 5 or 6 matches. If you are fortunate enough to have had better players brought in or unlucky enough to have suffered from injury only then change. If you believe that a player’s best position is upfront play him upfront and not on the wing. If you believe a player is a centre midfielder play him there don’t play him on the wing. If you believe that a midfielder is a right back then don’t play him in midfield. It’s not just about the sheer number of players that Magilton has used but also the number of various positions each of those has played. Unlike Sousa and De Canio, Magilton has had the luxury of a pre season and the luxury of having a much better squad than either Sousa or De Canio had.
After 6 matches last season, the 4 teams that finished in the play off positions all had more points than we do now (having said that Dowie’s QPR had more points than we do now). The odd point here and there is easy to regain but if we already playing catch up after 6 matches how many points may we be behind after 12 or 18 matches? The 1 point that we are currently worse off than Burnley were last year could easily become 10 over the course of a 46 matches season if no improvement has been made. After 12 matches last season Burnley were on 19 points so to stay in touch with this we need 12 points from our next 6 games. Can we really win all 3 of our home matches against Palace, Barnsley and Preston? And if so can we pick up points away to Cardiff, Swansea or Newcastle? To have any chance of a top 6 finish we are going to have to.
Conceding only 5 goals in 6 matches isn’t a bad record the problem for us is the one clean sheet in this time. By leaking goals in 5 of the 6 matches we’ve dropped points as a result. Last season after 6 matches we had conceded more goals but had achieved 6 more points including being thumped by Sheffield United. No team so far has looked like beating us by that sort of margin but by keeping clean sheets in 2 of those 6 matches it meant we picked up valuable points. 7 of the 12 teams who are currently above us have all conceded more than we have but are in those places because they’ve kept clean sheets at the right time and scored more than they have conceded. Last season Birmingham went up with a brilliant defensive record but scored fewer than 11 other teams including Norwich who were relegated. They won 17 matches by the odd goal including 7 matches in which they won having conceded in the game and 10 matches where the won 1-0 - that’s achieving 30 points having only scored 10 goals. This shows the importance of having a solid defence and attack that can score at the vital moment – using 7 different defenders in the first 6 matches won’t bring understanding and consistency and 5 different forwards won’t get confidence and rhythm.
Stop the meddling, shore up the defence and give the players the consistency they need.
Comment