Circling the drain
Plus: 'Like a new signing'
Happy new year! Burnley are basically relegated after twin 3-1 defeats. Let’s get into it.
Circling the drain
There might be more than half of the season to go, but hope is now ebbing away fast.
While the table might say Burnley are within catching distance of Watford - and the Clarets have a game in hand at home to the Hornets - the situation is extremely bleak.
Maxwel Cornet’s stunning free-kick was the only highlight of a dire display on Sunday.
With Newcastle United widely expected to try to spend out of trouble (Kieran Trippier is now being linked and he would be an outstanding addition) losing at Elland Road leaves Burnley sat a massive eight points behind Leeds United, who are in 16th spot.
There is a lot of football to play but it already looks very much like three teams from the bottom four will be going down to the Championship at the end of the season.
And one of the four just happens to have recently became the world’s richest club.
Even though Sean Dyche led us to a couple of top-10 finishes in recent years - and we will never forget that European campaign - there is a sense this has been on the cards.
Last season, Burnley survived due to there being three even worse teams. It does not seem as if that is going to happen this time, unless something remarkable happens.
Playing the blame game might make us feel a bit better but it seems rather pointless.
Myriad factors are at play: Dyche appearing to be totally out of ideas; key players under-performing; Cornet being the only regular scorer; stupidly cheap goals being given away every single game; a chronic lack of investment in the squad over years.
Pick your favourite. The confluence of these chickens all choosing the same time to come home to roost ensures Burnley are beginning to depressingly drift towards the drop in much the same way they did after Brian Laws replaced Owen Coyle in 2010.
It may be bordering on heresy to question Dyche’s position but let me ask this: Would any other Premier League clubs be putting up with the lack of tactical plans we show?
All season, it has been square pegs in round holes and blind hope Cornet bails us out.
I want to be clear. I am not calling for Dyche to be sacked. He has enough credit in the bank that he will very likely have the opportunity to decide when he leaves the club.
But I do think there is a conversation to be had. There appears to be an assumption that Dyche would be the best man for the job of getting Burnley promoted again.
Is that right, though? Relegation would not improve Dyche’s lack of tactical flexibility.
It would not change the fact so many players - for the second year in a row - have contracts that are expiring soon. James Tarkowski is sure to leave (though he might not be missed if he keeps performing so poorly, and with Nathan Collins already here).
Club captain Ben Mee is yet to sign a new deal, though talks are supposedly ongoing.
Jack Cork, Jay Rodriguez, Matej Vydra, Ashley Barnes, Dale Stephens, Aaron Lennon, Erik Pieters and Phil Bardsley will be free agents at the end of this season too.
The squad remains in need of a substantial rebuild with lots of other players having their best days behind them. There does not seem to be much of note coming through from the youths or development squads to replace them in the near future either.
After almost a decade in the job, does Dyche have the appetite for that next chapter?
And we are certainly burying our heads in the sand if we think relegation was ever a part of the Alan Pace masterplan when he bought the club just over 12 months ago.
‘Like a new signing’
I assume people describing the return of Dale Stephens, who is apparently still a thing, as “like a new signing” last week were joking. We only have jokes now.
But I don’t think others were when they said the same about Aaron Lennon.
To recap: Lennon is a 34-year-old who, before the trip to Manchester United, had scored once in the Premier League since 2016. A surprisingly sprightly performance at Old Trafford, where a good goal breathed confidence into Lennon after an ineffective start being played as a striker for no obvious reason whatsoever other than that he used to be fast, did not change the fact he is a player who has contributed little for us.
I’m sure I’ve said it before: I have nothing against Lennon. He seems like a solid enough bloke and it’s admirable the way he’s spoken about his mental health issues.
But that we ever need to rely on Lennon is a sign of the paucity of options we have.
Hey, you know what would really be like having a new signing? Actually buying someone! Maybe someone better than the players we have! It’s a radical idea, I know.
With Cornet now off to AFCON, the need for quality additions has never been greater.
Podcasts and quiz question
The next analysis show will be out as soon as Natalie and the team can bear to record.
Look out for the next preview show for the answer to our latest quiz question below:
How many members of the current Burnley squad are also former players of Leeds United - and who are they?
Birthdays and anniversaries
Birthdays of note this coming week include Brian O’Neil, who will be 78 tomorrow.
It is a full decade exactly since we played #OnThisDay, losing 2-1 away to Reading.
Tweet of the week
Thought of the day
Didn’t think it would come to this… but I miss Josh Brownhill.
That’s it for this week, drop me a line with your thoughts for the letters section.