HarryfromBath assesses the mood in the opposition camp ahead of Saturday's game by delving into their forums.

“We have navigated a path to safety” – Sean Dyche

“We were navigating a path to the play-offs two months ago, Sean”. “I hope that the fact that we have managed to scrape to survival doesn’t cover up the massive problems we have had since the turn of the year”.

Burnley fans suffered a group panic attack when they were caught up in the tidal wave of teams charging up the table in April. They are just coming to terms with this now, having safely reached the shore last weekend with a win at Wolves.

“We have gone from seventh to a relegation battle that could have gone to the last game had Kevin Doyle scored [a late equaliser for Wolves last week]. This team was knocking on the play-off door, and the way it has crumbled since the end of January is pathetic”. “We will get relegated next season with this guy in charge”.

“This relegation battle really, really shouldn’t have happened. Three to four weeks ago, I didn’t quite understand the true level of incompetence that Dyche possesses. I guess I was naïve”. “We’ve won three in seventeen, two of them against the bottom two clubs. Well done the lads today (against Wolves), but we need a change”.

“The current lack of patience amongst our fans is baffling”

“Now that the dust is settling on our campaign, can we call a moratorium on the Dyche-bashing and regain some sense of perspective? With one game remaining we stand a chance of finishing tenth in the Championship”. A minority of Clarets are supportive of the manager and they are urging patience.

“All the Prozac in the world won’t give the moaners on here a dose of optimism”. “We’ve done good this season - a change of manager and goals have stopped leaking goals in. Wait till he creates a squad of his own”. “We showed our mettle with ten men at Wolves being incredibly well organised. We need to develop the squad, but there was no lack of fight today”.

“We only have to look down the road a few miles to see where tinkering with the manager gets you”. Burnley are on their fourth manager in three seasons. One fan ironically commented: “It has gone out of fashion to support managers here. We need to change at least once every season to maintain continuity”.

“Please do not let us down in the final game”

“I’ll be gutted if we don’t finish above the chickens, so if Dyche spoils this, I’ll be mad”. “Please, Sean, we need some bragging rights. Next week is a must-win”. Burnley are one point and seven goals ahead of Blackburn Rovers, and many fans are desperate to keep it that way.

“We need to finish above our neighbours and keep momentum going”. “Thirty-three years is a long time to wait”. "Finally, I hope our own manager realises the importance of a result on Saturday to cement our position above Rovers for the first time since 1980."

“Home form is very worrying”

”If we continue in the same way next year, we could be in for a very long season. We scored fourteen goals in our first six home games. Then a change of management and in the next sixteen games we have scored fifteen goals”.

“Home form has been awful. Watching from the terraces, you can always sense the fear in the players. They need to find some way of playing with the freedom of Eddie Howe, but with the organisation Dyche brought at the back”. “The team has no creativity, no flair and no confidence”.

“I wouldn’t want to play in front of the lobotomy list which attends home games”. “Two of the last three managers played attacking football at home, but still has an atmosphere at the Turf worthy of a funeral”. “The ground is starved of atmosphere because of the dross dished up at times. It is not my idea of a good day out”.

“We are as poor as an Icelandic banker's housemaid”

Burnley fans become quite eloquent when discussing their lack of funds. “If you think that Dyche is going to be looking for two central defenders this summer with a budget similar to that an Ethiopian sheep farmer has to work with, then good for thee”. “Yes, they are nowhere near being on our Netto shopping list”.

The Tactical Overview in One Sentence

Under Sean Dyche, Burnley have prioritised defensive solidity and organisation, but Clarets think that the balance is now too defensive as goals have dried up, with attacks predictable and strikers isolated.

“I’m looking forward to workmanlike performances on a regular basis”

“Dyche’s goals record is 34-31 in 32 games. It’s not promotion or relegation, but it is so, so boring”. “He has taken a side with an embarrassing defensive record and turned it into one of the best in the league. To do this, he’s sacrificed the attacking play we saw previously”.

“We’re as boring as an Eastenders omnibus”. “Some may call it turgid”. “We’ve got flair attacking players and Dyche won’t use them”. ”We play like a Sunday league team, and our mentality is to defend from minute one in every game”.

“Under Eddie Howe, I actually looked forward to attending a match day. Now, I struggle to get myself in the car and set off”. “If he has offering play-offs, he’d have a point. He’s offering lower mid-table football rather like we’ve had for most of the last twelve years in this division, but without entertainment”.

“We might blood some youngsters for the final match”

This press comment by the manager has divided Clarets. “In normal circumstances, I might agree, but surely with a chance of finishing above our bitter local rivals, it would make the summer just that bit sweeter”.

Some Clarets want to give the “young ‘uns” their head. “We’ve only won two home games this calendar year. There’s no guarantee that the normal first team are going to win and finish above Blackburn, so we might as well give someone a chance, even if it is a token one”.

The players whom Clarets would like to see include right sided former Mansfield defender Luke O’Neill, (aged 21), former Orient right winger or striker George Porter (aged 20), New Zealand International and attacking or left sided midfielder Cameron Howieson (aged 18). These names have popped up regularly in match line-up threads.

Defence

“Our back four is as good a unit defensively as anything in this division. I’ve lost count of the number of games where we’ve said [keeper] Lee Grant had only one save or almost nothing to do. The problem we all know is getting the ball from defence to the final third with any kind of menace, and I think Dyche is on to something with the way he’s recently set up”.

Burnley supporters have been pleased with the calibre of their defending. However, with David Edgar returned to Canada, Michael Duff suspended, and Ben Mee injured, Burnley are without at least three recognised centre-halves for Saturday’s game.

“Lee Grant for me is the player of the season. He is consistently excellent”. The former Derby and Wednesday goalkeeper “often parries crosses and shots straight to opponents”, and is “still tetchy on crosses, but consistently good overall”.

“Dougie Freedman spotted that Charlie Austin scored the same type of goal every week, that goal being a cross he scored with his head. Right back Kieran Trippier seemed able to find him every time he crossed their halfway line”. “Arriving late and whipping them crosses in worked well”.

The former Manchester City youth player is “one of the best full-backs in the division”, and “has the ability to run on to the ball from deep”. “Trippier wouldn’t find the same space in midfield”. “He’s great going forward, which is rare under Dyche, but he gets run ragged at the back”.

At left-back, Northern Irish international Daniel Lafferty is “more composed than he has been”. “His passes are a bit astray in moments where we could counter-attack”. Against Wolves, he “was turned a couple of times by Stephen Hunt, but was okay as a whole”.

Former Budgies, Barnsley and Derby man Jason Shackell “was signed as a mobile central defender who was decent on the ball and left-sided”. “He gets bullied too often” and “dominated by centre forwards”. Against Wolves “he won most of the balls he went for and played a captain's part”.

“Kevin Long might be 22, but has competed well despite having next to no football. He has all the physical attributes. He isn’t slow and he is a massive unit. He’s made one or two mistakes but will prove a good Championship player”. The Irish centre-back has played on loan at Accrington, and was a late withdrawal from the Wolves game with a minor injury.

Midfield

As this next fan highlighted, a huge part of Burnley’s problem up front originates in midfield: “We don’t play score enough goals in midfield because our midfield doesn’t play high enough up the pitch to score goals. This has an impact on our forwards who are starved of the ball and have to feed on scraps.

“Notice how often our forwards receive the ball when they are moving back towards our goal. This isn’t ideal at all, but it’s not a huge problem if the midfield gets beyond them. This rarely happens because we have set up with a midfield close to the back four to deny the opposition attacking space”.

“A lot of the late goals we’ve conceded are a result of the intense pressure that comes from midfield and even the strikers giving the ball away cheaply”. “Strengthen the midfield and you strengthen the defence”.

“We’re safe. Drop Marney. Bring anyone in but Marney”. “He gives the ball away so often, and can’t pass to a man five yards away”. “He can be great with a decent passer, but with Edgar and McCann, he looks headless chicken-esque”.

“God forbid he’ll ever make a forward pass”. “The game was passing him by in the first half and he was frequently caught in possession against Wolves”. Irishman Chris McCann is in his eighth season at Turf Moor. “He made two nice passes, but even those were sideways”.

He is being considered as an emergency centre-back on Saturday. “Didn't McCann play centre-half against Ipswich at home a few years ago? If I recall correctly, he had a stormer too. However, if you move him back into defence, you will create almost the same problem in the middle of midfield”.

“[Former Hammer] Junior Stanislas and [ex-Preston man] Keith Treacy tend to drift out of games”. Burnley supporters have been highly critical of both wingers. “Treacy: we’ve tried! God knows, we’ve tried!”

“Stanislas has no defensive capability. He’s a lightweight”. “Treacy should not be anywhere near the first team until he loses a couple of stone. He has proven all season that he cannot be bothered to get fit”.

Strikers

Burnley’s fortunes this season have been too closely linked to those of their striker Charlie Austin. The former Swindon marksman is out for the season after an appendix operation. He had scored 25 goals this season in 37 games, but 20 of those came in the first 17 games.

“Austin is lethal on the end of a cross, and I think that’s the reason we have so many wingers. We don’t have a Plan B or C – a decent target man to play off, or a strong enough midfield to thread the ball through”.

”The team has adapted to play to Charlie Austin’s strengths, and if we play hoofball, it’s because of him. Without Charlie, maybe the lads will have to play football, and 80% of balls into the box won’t be on Charlie’s head. The team is going to have to get more creative, and spread the goals around”.

“Dyche needs to drop the idea of Danny Ings being a fulcrum – a number 10. He’s not ready for that responsibility and his decision making under pressure lets him down”. With Charlie Austin like to be sold this summer, Clarets are looking for a successor to both him and Jay Bothroyd.

“Scoring goals is a knack which Ings doesn’t appear to have”. Twenty-one-year-old former Bournemouth striker Danny Ings is a prospect but he is a very different type of striker. “Danny’s runs from deeper on to the ball are better than his movement with his back to goal”.

“He can improve if he can run with his head up and be more aware”. “With Charlie Austin leaving, we know we’ve got a lad who has scored only three goals a season for us”. He was man of the match for many Clarets in the Wolves game. “In a team of slugs, he looks like Usain Bolt”. “There aren’t many players in this team who make supporters get off their seats”.

“Turf Moor loves a trier”. Former Scunthorpe striker Martin Paterson “worked hard and showed intelligence” on Saturday. “Pato was the one who made a difference. His energy, enthusiasm and effort rubbed off on others against Cardiff”. “He’s not the player he was and didn’t offer a huge amount”. “He can't keep onside to save his life”.

“Sam Vokes lacks pace and guile for me, which is a great pity as he is a trier”. The former Wolves striker and Welsh international was “often isolated” against Wolves. “I feel sorry for the big lad. The midfielders didn’t provide him with enough support”. “It was tough for him on his own, He is not a good enough target man to be used solely in that role”.

Burnley Fans' Views on ITFC and the Game

“Fantastic win over Wolves avoiding a tough 90 minutes against Ipswich to ensure our safety”. “Based on this year’s home form, Saturday isn’t exactly a banker”. “McCarthy has taken Ipswich from the bottom of the table to a comfortable mid-table finish. If the season started when he took over, they would be nearly in the automatic positions”.

“Mick has sorted Ipswich out. Massively. Which is why I really don’t want to be needing a result against them in a week’s time. I was never confident of needing three points against them. I think they will be up there next season”. I will update the forum with their more immediate views on Saturday morning.

“In Venkys we Trust”

“I worked in a place many moons ago that was 90% Rovers fans during Jack’s millions. The older genuine supporters were sound and had a good sense of humour about themselves which I think all genuine supporters have.

“Unfortunately the new fans were an obnoxious selection of swaggering cocks and cockettes, who all repeated the same joke ad infinitum with sneering faces about what inbred thickos all Burnley fans were”.

“My Dad worked in Blackburn during the 80s and when we played Orient, the days building up to that game knowing that we would in all honesty be extinct if we went down. Them *******s were MERCILESS and were dying for us to go out of the league!”

“What goes around comes around and all of that... Let them rot and let know what it's like to suffer the pain we did. Here's to them never beating us again!” “I love it that they have turned into the biggest comedy club in the whole of the UK. I have no sympathy for them whatsoever”.

“Mind you, they are always good for a laugh. Remember when they constantly banged on about how we were insignificant and their true rivals were Man Utd. Utterly deluded”. “They've given it. Now let's see if they can take it. A few seasons down the divisions will do the arrogant p***ks good”.

“To hell with them. I can't decide whether I'd prefer them to go down this season or carry on bleeding to death for another miserable couple of years or so. Either way, the balance of power has changed and I’m loving every minute of it”.

Websites

The best forum for Burnley supporters by a long way is clarets-mad.co.uk. Some additional material was found on burnley.vitalfootball.co.uk.

BillBlue added 12:08 - May 2 Thanks Harry. Good as always.
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StowTractorBoy added 15:06 - May 2 Thanks for that Harry good to know that Burnley have moaners as well and I love their passion for hating Blackburn. I do think that Burnley fans need to get realistic with their ambitions. Burnley has a population of around 74000 and with lots of alternatives in Lancashire I believe they do exceptionally well to sustain their position in the Championship and indeed sustain their attendances. I have been there 4 or 5 times and never seen us win but we have had some real injustices up there. I missed the win when the parachutist hit the roof as was at Lords watching Essex. Thanks again Harry.

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JCBLUE added 06:55 - May 3 Cheers Harry, ready for the weekend now!
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HarryfromBath added 10:51 - May 3 Thanks for the feedback, and to everyone for your kind comments. It really has been some season. StowTractorBoy, I suspect that Burnley fans deep down feel that they will end up in League One in time. With Grant and Austin likely to leave this summer, they are fearful that the spine of the team will be broken up. A couple of threads benchmarked their populations against towns like St Helen's and Skelmersdale, noting how they had overachieved, if anything. Their resentment of Blackburn is both deep and sincere.

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bugledog123 added 15:35 - May 3 Thanks Harry - really enjoy your analysis. Hope you can do it next season.
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NoCanariesAllowed added 18:57 - May 3 Interesting insight again, Harry. I find it intriguing just what this bonkers season has done for fans of Championship clubs and how they perceive their current status. The guy who mentions that Burnley could yet finish 10th has hit the nail on the head. There are so many fans looking at the POSITION their club is in and not the POINTS that separate them. Burnley were in a relegation battle last weekend, but in the strictest mathematical terms, so were we, and half of the division for that matter! Perhaps they should spend less time thinking about what Sean Dyche has 'done wrong' and what he's done right compared with some of the other clubs in far worse positions going into the final day.

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Tractorog added 00:53 - May 4 Great work Harry. A delight to read as ever. It's funny how PJ and Roy used to bang on about our remoteness being a hindrance to signing new players, but here we see the other side... Being in the north west means there are too many clubs fighting each other for match day crowds. We on the other hand have a good catchment area. It's funny how working for Mick attracts good players, but players found our " location" a problem when they were approached by Roy or PJ. I think we all know why.

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