Why Burnley have slumped from heights of last season
The 2-0 defeat against Crystal Palace exposed four key faults in Dyche’s side, writes Tom Prentki
Burnley are beginning games far too sluggishly. They have taken the lead just three times, winning on two of those occasions. In the same period last year, they had gone in front eight times, winning seven. Against Crystal Palace on Saturday, they were immediately under pressure and went behind to James Mcarthur’s 16th-minute goal.
It has contributed to a slow start in a wider sense this season. Last year, Burnley had 25 points from their first 14 games. This time, it is just nine. They had won seven times already by this point, compared to just twice.
Due to their extraordinary achievement of qualifying for the Europa League, Sean Dyche’s side have played five more times and there was less business done this summer: four players in compared to seven in 2017. Those figures suggest that the squad is more stretched this time. The formerly resilient side have conceded 29 times this season – only Fulham have a worse record. That is despite the addition of Ben Gibson for £15 million and Joe Hart for £3.5million.
Hart made key saves at Selhurst Park, although he might have done more to prevent the opener, which evaded everyone and went in off the far post.
They had conceded 18 fewer at this stage last season and have only three clean sheets this term. The loss of key defender James Tarkowski, who was forced to withdraw from the England squad following a hernia operation, has been damaging, although he was on the bench at Palace.
Fans have expressed frustration with Jack Cork and Steven Defour, who were outfought by Cheikhou Kouyate and Luka Milivojevic here.
Cork is well aware of the changed dynamic in the side. “The quality just hasn’t been there sometimes and we’re letting early goals in,” said the former Swansea midfielder.
“It’s different to last season when we were usually scoring first. It’s the toughest spell since I’ve been here.” It does not look any better at the other end of the pitch. No shots on target at Selhurst Park and not a single corner before the second goal in the 77th minute.
Despite their lowly position, Burnley have only one goal fewer than at the same stage last season, although a 4-0 win over Bournemouth in September massages the statistics. Sam Vokes is the season’s top scorer with three goals, but neither he nor Chris Wood was able to make any impression here. Surely new firepower is needed.
“It’s not that easy,” said Dyche. “January is always a really, really tough period. We had a tough summer window.
“We were looking to do more business than we did. We have got some [players] that we think might be in a situation we could affect, but who knows.” Seven away wins was the key to the improbable rise to European contention last season. They have just one this time around. That has led to discontent among fans.
Dyche’s tactical approach, which at Palace was surely only an attempt to avoid defeat, has, remarkably, left some calling for his head. “We don’t have to worry about proving doubters wrong because we have been putting ourselves right for six years,” said Dyche. “We have had plenty of doubters from the outside, I can assure you.”