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Dross and Defeat at Home to Hull City!

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The Clarets terrible form, especially at home continued in front of the live Sky cameras last night at Turf Moor. In an absolutely awful game played under cold, wintery conditions with little action at either end, Burnley were effectively outclassed by Hull City and unable to break through their three centre halves defence and 3-5-2 formation which at times even became 5-4-1. The first half was memorable for one Wallace effort and the second half for no efforts whatsoever worthy of a mention! To boos from the home crowd, Burnley walked off the pitch at the end having lost to Hull for the first time in eight games. A Quinn goal in the 66th minute was enough to seal all three points for the Tigers and finally dash any realistic hopes of Burnley reaching the play-offs. Sean Dyche was simply left open to criticism and questions will be asked as to why he made so many changes, five in all whilst dropping players like Lafferty and Long who had been solid, reliable and improving in recent games. Wallace, Duff and perhaps most surprisingly Mee all made a return to the starting eleven after returning from injury. Basically the ploy didn`t work and in the end Hull enjoyed 58% of the possession and never looked in danger of conceding a goal. The defeat sees the Clarets still in 11th spot but with a mountain to climb now. Sixth placed club, Nottingham Forest having now played the same number of games are a massive nine points clear of the Clarets with only nine games left to play this season. Perhaps most depressing for Clarets fans is our shocking home form with no win at Turf Moor now in five games. It looks like the season is over. The only thing that Burnley fans can now look forward to is perhaps finishing in the top ten above Rovers whilst hopefully beating them at Ewood Park in our next game this Sunday! We need a massive tonic somehow; it`s all too depressing at the moment.

Team Sheet

Sean Dyche certainly made some controversial changes for this clash and both Danny Lafferty and Kevin Long must have wondered what they had done wrong to be dropped to the bench to make way for a returning Michael Duff and Ben Mee. Ross Wallace too made a surprise return after suggestions he was still not fit to play. The line-up was as follows:

Grant, Trippier, Shackell,Duff, Mee, Kacaniklic, McCann, Edgar, Treacy, Wallace, Austin

Subs: Jensen, Lafferty, Long, Bartley, Vokes, Ings, Paterson

Full Match Report

It was a cold, cold night in Burnley with snow flurries threatening as Tyne & Wear referee, Eddie Ilderton got the game underway in front of Burnley`s lowest gate of the season. The fact it was a wintery night and the live Sky cameras were there anyway probably contributed to the low turnout although it might also have had something to do with the fact that performances have been generally poor of late especially at home. Whatever the reason the atmosphere suffered and Burnley just couldn`t seem to get into top gear. The game soon deteriorated into a scrappy, dire affair with Hull`s three centre backs effectively snuffing out what few attacks Burnley could muster. Austin was crowded out and the approach play was basically non-existent with the midfield seemingly running into brick walls time-and-time again. This was certainly not the spectacle Sky would have been hoping for and most neutrals watching this game not to mention Burnley and Hull fans were probably finding it difficult to keep awake. The freezing conditions were not helping and to be honest both sides suffered with Hull also creating few chances in a dire first half performance. Hull though nearly took the lead as early as the first minute when Quinn headed wide after just 33 seconds. That however was virtually Hull`s only meaningful attack until late in the first half when Michael Duff came to the rescue to block a George Boyd effort heading towards target. Alex Bruce also fired a volley wide just before the half-time whistle blew. So three memorable attempts by Hull to break the deadlock effectively that`s two more than Burnley! A shot unleashed by Wallace from distance was the only memorable effort Burnley fans could enjoy in the entire 45 minutes. His 25 yard effort forced Tigers keeper, David Stockdale into making a good save after diving high and to his right to deny the Scottish winger. McCann from the resulting corner then headed over. Hull City effectively closed shop in the first half and were quite happy to sit back and watch the Clarets struggle to break down their defence. Burnley were knocking the ball sideways and backwards but rarely forwards and the flow was pedestrian at times and extremely boring to watch. The Tigers got men behind the ball with some ease and found no difficulty in soaking up what little pressure there was. It was a relief when the first half whistle brought an end to a drab, depressing first 45 minutes.

The second-half started positively for the visitors who now sensed they could take the initiative and get their noses in front against an ineffective, lacklustre Burnley side. Grant was forced into save at his near post after Boyd touched the ball to Gedo and with Austin looking increasingly isolated and frustrated up front, Hull gaffer, Steve Bruce sensed blood and just past the hour mark made a double-substitution bringing on Koren and Simpson to replace his son, Alex and Gedo. The change had almost an instant impact. Koren found Simpson on the edge of the box and with his first touch he squared the ball to Quinn who thumped the ball home past Grant in the 65th minute to give Hull a 1-0 lead. Now it was all uphill for the Clarets who ‘huffed and puffed` but rarely looked like getting the equaliser. Burnley`s attacks now seemed to rely on deep crosses into the box, a tactic which Hull soaked up with some ease. Sam Vokes who had come on from the bench in the 54th minute saw a header loop just wide of the far post and then he got in a dangerous cross that found Austin at the back post. Austin though in his only memorable effort in the entire game headed the ball into the ground and wide of target. That was it; another game lost on home soil and no win now at the Turf in five games. Not an inspiring set-up for Burnley`s next game away to deadly rivals, Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park this Sunday.

Match Stats

Burnley: Grant, Trippier, Shackell, Duff, Mee, Kacaniklic, McCann, Edgar (Bartley-63), Treacy (Vokes-54), Wallace (Ings-84), Austin

Subs Not Used: Jensen, Lafferty, Long, Paterson

Booked: 0

Hull City: Stockdale, McShane, Hobbs, Chester, Brady, Elmohamady, Bruce ( Koren – 64), Meyler, Quinn (Rosenior – 86), Boyd, Gedo (Simpson – 64)

Subs Not Used: Jakupovic, Faye, Fathi, Proschwitz

Goal: Quinn 66

Booked: Yellow Card for Bruce 62

Possession: 42% Burnley, 58% Hull City

Ref: Eddie Ilderton (Tyne & Wear)

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17 comments

  • turfmanphil says:

    Awful,awful game and a big,big worry!

  • Couch Potato says:

    Not a very enjoyable evening on the couch. But I thought Duff, Mee and Wallace all played okay on recall, and I posted what follows here earlier, in response to tmp’s comparisions of ‘ull and us since we both got relegated, during which he made a mild suggestion that we lacked their ambition, and in response to VR’s thought he’d not renew his season ticket… Where does Hull rank in table of Britain’s biggest cities? I seem to recall it’s 8th. How many FL teams are there within 25 miles competing for fans’ and TV money? Considerably less than for Bfc! What is the actual difference in their player budget and ours at the moment? Dunno. Last year is the final one of para payments for us. In Fletch’s book Magical he suggests UCFB, now with a second campus at Wembley, will be earning Bfc that much by then. I was very impressed that attendance was over 10,000 last night given the weather and given that many Bfc fans can’t get to night games. Keep the faith! Up the Clarets! Clever move, tmp, the get VR worrying about whether he’d get a seat on the Turf if we did get promotion one day. I’m not a season ticket holder and only managed one game there that season, the really entertaining 4-2 over Spurs, featuring a Modric goal quite the equal of his goal at OT in the Champs League last week. (On that, fascinating that Graham Poll said he’d have yellow carded Nani’s high stud contact in the PL but red carded it in Champs League. Maybe UKIP will take us out of Champs League as well as out of EU?) Back to earth… I thought Hull were depressingly negative for a high-placed side. But is our difficulty with generating creative play to unlock packed midfield and massed ranks of centre backs down to managerial tactics or players or injuries? Onwards to Ewood… they say the darkest hour is just before the dawn.

  • turfmanphil says:

    The fact is Burnley are capable of getting 20,000 plus gates in the Premier League and they should be striving to get them again! West Brom surrounded by many Midlands club saw the light in their yo-yo years spending on players to get promoted again. Now they have consolidated and their average gates are not that much higher than 20,000!

  • Claretdale says:

    Not a great watch at all! Hull were very compact, but we had no attacking threat whatsoever. The half chance that Charlie got in injury time was the only time I remember him having the ball in the box! To balance it – I also thought Hull offered very little going forward – but as the away team this is more acceptable and will probably go down as a good away performance. Frustratingly, we have managed to lose a nil-nil game, although it was a good finish from Quinn. Dyche has said that the players showed to much fear – which seems strange. From our current position – It would take something incredible for us to go either up or down. The players in theory should be able to play their football without fear. Also, if they had fear last night – What about Sunday???? For me, I would try new things out for the remaining 9 games. We need to find a way of getting service back to Charlie as we were before Christmas. If we cant, he will be wanting to leave in the summer!

  • Couch Potato says:

    Number of clubs within 25 miles of WBA is? Numbers of people within 25 miles of WBA is? Number of clubs within 25 of Bfc is? Number of people within 25 miles of Bfc is? If we’d stayed in PL since last time would we still be selling out each home game? Or would fans savings have run out and recession have taken its toll as well?

  • turfmanphil says:

    Why 25 miles? Most people live away and travel in anyway? 50 miles by car is reasonable and a quick spot check suggests over 15 clubs in that radius around West Brom. Burnley’s natural gate is about 14,000 when playing well, 20,000 when in top flight, that is preferable to the dross we are playing now with sub-11,000 crowds! The gates will only tumble even more and turnover will drop. Fair Play=less competitive for the Clarets but the Board have only themselves to blame whilst the likes of West Brom are now laughing all the way to the bank.

  • Claretdale says:

    I agree with the point I think you are making CP. I havent checked but I would imagine that around half of the games in the PL season would have been slightly under the 20K mark. If we were still there now – I would guess this figure would be somewhere between 16-18K ( still better than what we are now TMP – I agree). With reference to your point TMP – Of the people who attend games at the Turf in a season – I wonder what % is from Burnley, 5 miles, 50 miles etc.

  • turfmanphil says:

    Splitting hairs,the gate in the Premier League will be 5000 or more at least than we are getting now and therefore worth striving for, not to mention the £90m plus you now get from TV revenue etc playing in top flight and getting on the bandwagon for another four years of parachute payments if we cant stay up! West Brom took full advantage of the yo-yo and it paid off! We gave up!!

  • WelshClaret says:

    A dour match to say the least. but there wasn’t much between Hull and us . A simple formula adopted by Steve Bruce of ‘park the bus’ and carry out the ‘smash and grab’ , which they did effectively. The depressing part was the total lack of creativity on show from us to break down their packed defence . Oh for a playmaker like Elliott and Robbie to both create space and opportunities for Austin and Vokes , who were ineffective because of the total lack of service. But coming back to the original point that there wasn’t much between us and Hull , and you wonder why they’re second while we’re struggling . We all know that this team can perform on their day, but at the moment it simply isn’t happening for whatever reason . We’re looking at using the rest of this season to remedy this problem and prepare for a serious campaign next season hopefully. Let’s hope it starts with our next game against the bas*ards. UTC.

  • VinRogue says:

    Season ticket renewal application in the bin. What a 2013, Saturday 3 pm kick off is my preference as an exile driving 2 and half hours each way. This year I will attend only 2 out of the 3 Saturday 3pm games, I was on hols for the Brum game. Yes in over 4 months we have just THREE 3pm kick offs at home, Palace, Brum and Bristol. There are too many negatives for me to renew, I hope Forest get promoted as I could mix and match away games Burnley, with PL football at Forest who are my nearest big club and only 40 minutes away.

  • Couch Potato says:

    Who knows VR, when I have relocated to Derbyshire in about a year, what football I will be watching where? I certainly expect to go to considerably more Burnley games than now, home and away. It will be the first time in my life that it will be practical to get to home games and back in a day on public transport. Plus loads of new away venues will be in reach. (I can feel Barnsey’s hand on my shoulder already pressing me into selling WTBM again after my exploits in that vein at the Amex!) And Forest will be just round the corner. So maybe see you there on the odd occasion? (Very odd the Rams in my family would say, very very odd indeed.) But do you really think PL tickets at Forest would be easy to come by?

  • cornwallclaret says:

    We seem to have gone from gung ho attack to dour defence. The defence is now much better but I think now is the time to be more adventurous and prepare for next season. In honesty this season is finished and we shuld be concentrating on developing the quad for next season.

  • VinRogue says:

    PL tickets for Forest would be easy, lots of Forest fans in Lincs. Boston, Lincoln City or Forest. Not a difficult choice. Back to Tuesday and the one player we have who can unlock with pace and skill was not even on the bench aka Stanislas. Yes he can be poor, but at the moment poor would be an improvement on bloody awful.

  • Grimsby Claret says:

    Forest my backside, If i had the choice of going over the bridge to watch Hull in the Prem or watching Burnley in the Championship its Burnley anyday.

  • Couch Potato says:

    That’s the spirit, GC! Meantime, 8,605 at Ewood last night for a place in a winnable FA semi against Wigan. Mind you, if anyone suggests that means we aren’t the team with problems, or that it’s further evidence that his role-model Baggies don’t face as much competition for fans as there is in East Lancs, turfman will probably redirect his ire agaist the FAC!!! 🙂 Pity poor Rovers lost.

  • turfmanphil says:

    If Burnley were stuck in Outer Mongolia, they wou;dn’t spend out on players! The negativity is engrained in them and they probably love the Fair Play ruling, it gives them plenty of excuses not to show any ambition! Maybe my dad should have been born in West Brom!

  • VinRogue says:

    I think you are missing my next season agenda, simply I am saving the best part of £2k by not enewing my season tickets. I intend to use that to watch away games at say, Doncaster, Hull, Sheffield, Barnsley, Huddersfeld, Posh, Leicester, Derby and even Forest. Add to that a few Saturday home games and that will save me a goo few quid on fuel. I could use some savings to go and watch PL football, but to do that Forest would need to be promoted. I enjoy seeing top class players and as such it would not be Forest I would be keen to see, Spurs, Man City, Liverpool is where the answer lies.

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