Defour has shown he’s a class act
KATERINA LEE’S CLARETS VIEW
TO be honest, Saturday’s match against Huddersfield promised great things given both our positions in the league. The reality of it was it didn’t really set the world on fire.
Someone that did spark interest enormously was Stephen Defour. Now, he was truly unbelievable throughout the entire match. Even if he lost the ball at any point, you can put all your money on the fact he was chasing after it and winning it back only moments later.
Defour has a quality that you just can’t measure when he’s on form and this weekend he was so deserved of man of the match it’s untrue.
Apart from that though, flat is the only way to describe every other component of the match. Maybe we were cancelling each other out, but seeing as I’ve seen much more of a feisty meeting with Huddersfield in the championship, it’s fair to say a lot more heat was expected.
It seems that so far this season we are competing with Huddersfield as the ‘giant upsetters’ (not quite giant killers), so that in turn bodes well for our upcoming match against Everton this weekend.
A real worry we could have going into the game is that Michael Keane pretty much knows our every move. It would be likely to be on the end of everything, much like he was when he actually played for us. Then again, we never had Chris Wood up front when Keane controlled from the back.
We aren’t really complaining with a draw from last weekend, but it would certainly be nice to add them as another away win (or even draw) and continue what is probably going to be a record season away for us, with jumping the gun of course.
This begs the question though - are we no longer the Fortress Turf Moor? The ground and team at home that people dreaded to visit, and for good reason. Perhaps it’s too early to tell, but I’m sure by this time last season it was already looking promising for us. Give it a few more games.
Thus far, no real qualms with how we’re playin. What would have been a worrying set back last season, losing Tom Heaton, has only been a little blessing in disguise in the form of showcasing Nick Pope’s talent in net.
Ok, a bit of attention is needed in the final third, but our midfield is still as solid as a rock. Hendrick had a good game on Saturday, and let’s not forget Matt Lowton.
Right now, it’s pretty much all smiles in Burnley, which is a bit unnerving in the top flight and a feeling that’ll take some time to adjust to.