Burnley 0-1 Saints - Reaction

[eurosaint]

A cold and windy Saturday night in Burnley is not the place to expect flowing, creative football so grinding out 3 points for me, is a big positive !

Bouncing (well, scrapping!) back from a spirit crushing defeat to Spurs is also a plus !

If we manage to get the likes of Loftus Cheek and Sessengnon (which is rumoured) then the future will look distinctly brighter !

COYS💪

 

[Colinjb]

That was exactly what we needed. 

Brilliantly worked early goal to split open a stubborn defence, wonderful play from KWP and Adams (so unselfish) to set up Ings. From then on, thoroughly professional and organised.

Burnley were never going to lend themselves to us attempting expansive play so very pleasing that we could stay firm and deprive them.

Our season has now begun.

[hasper57saint]

Over the many years I have watched Saints, this sits in the bottom decile of entertainment. I think of the times when we have played brilliantly and lost. At Turf Moor we played awfully and won. Was disappointed with Djenepo as the proverbial  ‘couldn’t trap a bag of cement’ springs to mind.Romeo my MOTM. Again there was inconsistency and Ralph knows what he has to do.Adams worked his socks off with the assist the only highlight of his game. I wish we would leave him or Danny in our bit of the centre circle when defending corners. We permit the opposition to pile all of their outfield men in our half. The three points are accepted and I’m really glad not to be a Shitehawks supporter this morning. Kevin Friend again. The break may give Ralph the chance to improve the fitness of a few players who appeared to be off their pace last night. At least the sun is shining up here in North Shropshire. COYS

[John B]

10 hours ago, verlaine1979 said:

Spot on. We were absolute toss and nicked three points by virtue of being ever so slightly less awful. If you're watching that as a neutral, you'd say both teams are likely to be well in the mix for relegation.

I dont care if we  were toss I just want us to win

Winning breeds confidence 

We were good against Spurs but lost

 

 

[hypochondriac]

11 minutes ago, John B said:

I dont care if we  were toss I just want us to win

Winning breeds confidence 

We were good against Spurs but lost

 

 

We had a decent first half against spurs and then a terrible second half. 

[Totton Saint]

11 hours ago, LeG said:

Vestergaard motm. What was wrong with Djenepo tonight??  

Yes - last match he did an amazing dribble along the goal line

[Sarnia Cherie]

11 hours ago, Bananaman said:

Literally... where would we be without Danny Ings? Also, if I was Tella, i'd be fumin' at Stewie for not playing me in at the end. 

That's my concern too. If Ings picks up an injury or has a dip in form, then where are around 20 goals a season coming from? Not from anyone we currently have, that's for sure. Armstrong had a couple of chances near the end of the game to pass to a better placed team mate but didn't. Burnley have long been a jinx team for us. 49 years since we last won at Turf Moor so a pleasing result. However, the club needs to have a look at last night's win. Yes, it is a welcome 3 points, but Burnley had a long list of injured players and their bench consisted mainly of youngsters with no Premier League game time under their belts. If we are to have a half decent season then the club needs to get a move on and strengthen the squad. 

[John B]

Just now, hypochondriac said:

We had a decent first half against spurs and then a terrible second half. 

Yes I know but our overall stats were better against Spurs than against Burnley where we hardly had a shot on Target

[danjosaint]

Just need to find that balance, last week we were to gung-ho with our high line , last night Ralph reined it in a bit , noticeably by keeping Djnepo in check , it was far more important to give us the win than performance especially given were trying to recruit and the difference between a player looking at the table and seeing us rock bottom which we were and at least competing could mean him signing or not , however if we don't recruit 3 more players I think were in a lot of trouble this season, we wont come up against crap teams like Burnley much more, even the Fulham, West broms offer a lot more attacking threat 

[itchen]

8 hours ago, Micky said:

Purely game management, we were one nil up, he's going to take as much time as he can.  I watched it on sky and on one of his throws you could hear the Burnley bench complaining to the ref.  At the end of the day, if you are one nil up away from home,  your going to slow the game down at every opportunity. 

Unfortunately, he takes as long when we're one nil down. I have rarely seen us take a quick throw to catch the opposition by surprise, especially on that side of the pitch. There must be a reason as clearly the players have been told to play like this. It just doesn't seem to work.

[SNSUN]

10 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

I think that was actually a really good move. Vestergaard was decent which he has a tendency to be from time to time. 

I said a while ago, if Salisu proves to be decent, then Vestergaard is fine as a 4th choice CB if we can’t sell him. He’s clearly better than Danso as 4th choice which is what we had last season.

11 hours ago, Lets B Avenue said:

I must have dreamt us winning there in 2006 and 2007.

That stat was from Sky. So maybe it meant first top flight win at Turf Moor since 1971 and I misheard.

[tajjuk]

1 hour ago, austsaint said:

Yes, I agree...he had the energy yesterday and the pace, just not the control and touch expected of him.   It was strange to see both he and Djenepo so far off the pace.

Not sure Armstrong has the pace, he works hard but he's similar to Ward Prowse, he's not fast and at times it can cost us. The Burley left back, who is hardly lightning outpaces him pretty easily on several occasions and Armstrong had to clean him out and was lucky not to get a card. 

[whelk]

16 minutes ago, tajjuk said:

Not sure Armstrong has the pace, he works hard but he's similar to Ward Prowse, he's not fast and at times it can cost us. The Burley left back, who is hardly lightning outpaces him pretty easily on several occasions and Armstrong had to clean him out and was lucky not to get a card. 

Nearly cost us with that powderpuff attempt at blocking their shot in 2nd half. Rom would have thrown his nads in front of the ball

[The Cat]

Defensively we played well. They didn't get behind us much and Vestergaard cleared most of their crosses. Wood's a tough striker to play against but he did very well. He also broke the lines coming out of defence with the ball a few times.

Romeu was my motm. Covered a lot of ground and far better on the ball than previously. 

Going forward was, the good goal apart, fairly pedestrian. Djenepo looked very rusty. I expected to see him running at a makeshift defence and causing all sorts of problems but he seemed content to cut inside a lot and play a short pass. I did enjoy his battle with Bardsley though, I think he proper pissed him off. 

Very pleased with the win, it wasn't great but that doesn't matter. 

[Pilchards]

 

Vestergaard was good second half vs Palace and good again yesterday. It’s time to back him I think but not with a high line like against Spurs.

JWP has gone off the boil this season but he has nobody challenging him for his place.

Also at 70 minutes I would of brought on a couple of subs as Armstrong, Che and Moussa were giving the ball away constantly.

IMHO other than his goal Ings had a stinker but you keep him on the pitch because he will put your one chance away unlike Che who spooned his into the stands.

 

Edited 27 September, 2020 by Pilchards

[shurlock]

10 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

It seemed a fairly straightforward choice up against Wood, especially as he’s done that effectively in the past. Watford last year springs to mind.

IIRC, Vestergaard had a complete mare against Burnley in the corresponding fixture last season, so it was far from straightforward. I think the switch had as much to do with Stephens recent form as Vestergaard’s suitability for certain fixtures. 

[East Kent Saint]

11 hours ago, Lets B Avenue said:

I must have dreamt us winning there in 2006 and 2007.

Lineker did qualify the stat by saying "in a top flight match"  so I assume Div 1 / Prem but I don't know what matches we won in 06 and 07 ......

[vectraman]

Terrible game.

Great result.

Unexpected 3 points at a very unhappy hunting ground for Saints. 
Now go and sign the 2/3 players that we clearly need - first team ready, not squad players please!

 

[Totton Saint]

12 hours ago, Jazzfunk said:

We closed a game out. A game that felt like it lasted longer than the Apocalypse Now Redux. Clean sheet away, another goal for Danny Ings, and three points. What's not to like, other than the fact it was so narcoleptic that I felt myself falling asleep at half nine on a Saturday. Up the Saints. 

The ball seemed to spend more time with throw - ins and on the corner spot as much as it did in play. was that a football match or a new game

[Badger]

Three points are worth more than a good performance and I'll happily take them. 

The performance though does not inspire too much hope for the weeks ahead without Ralph being able to bring in reinforcements. But if we are able to grind out a few decent results it may lift team confidence again.

[skintsaint]

Rewatched extended highlights again today, Dyche overreacting to that pen shout and getting all upset about it was my 2nd best highlight of the game after the goal.

[5string]

Sometimes you've just got to win ugly.

3 pts

Next...!

[bangkoksaint]

1 hour ago, skintsaint said:

Rewatched extended highlights again today, Dyche overreacting to that pen shout and getting all upset about it was my 2nd best highlight of the game after the goal.

Wow!! You Sir should receive a medal for watching any of that again!!

[Kingsland Red]

That was some justice for all trash we've watched Burnley serve up at St Marys whilst sneaking results....

[pimpin4rizeal]

6 hours ago, trousers said:

Whilst I agree with that assessment, I thought Armstrong provided a level of midfield dynamism that was missing in the first couple of games he was out for. Don't think it'll be long before he shakes off the rustiness.

Agree some being way too harsh on armstrong, he looked the only one really capable of opening up the game.. couple of nice bursts through the middle near the end which could have set us up.. yes he made the wrong choices but no one else was close to really making things happen..

 

[Professor]

With Burnley having to field such a weakened team anything other than a win would have been a disaster but we had to rely on luck to get it.  Of course, the goal was quality but even that came from a piece of desperate defending that started the move, rather than being the culmination of possession and control.  Burnley were very unlucky not to get a goal from their various attempts on target.  If they'd had a few more first choice players on the field you have to assume it would have been a different result.  Ralph has said he needs three signings but implies he might only be given one or two.  This start to the season shows just how important it is that the club signs three players better then the ones who are being patched into the side at the moment.  The fact that the one signing made isn't even ready to be on the bench makes our recruitment look questionable.  

[Backrow91]

Yeah it wasn’t pretty BUT it was one of those matches where the result was the priority. We were never going to go hung ho against the Burnley tactics of getting it forward quickly..... yes the squad needs additions, yes we didn’t look 100% confident, yes it wasn’t a game where we played pretty free flowing footy but clearly the work done in the week was about making it difficult for them! Me I’m just pleased we are up and running. I am sure as confidence grows we will approach different matches with different tactics and we will see more progressive play. I just hope that all is well behind the scenes and that we are looking to help Ralph with squad additions. 

[dobbo]

Why are so many going on about our attacking being poor, I look at it that we scored an early goal and then it was down to Burnley to break us down and not be left open. Big improvement in this area from the Spurs game. 3 points and we move on.

[suewhistle]

I had company on Saturday so only managed to see a short part of the first half, including the goal and a surprisingly competent Vestergard, with his good long passing and moving forward through the lines. 

I didn't expect the same result when I caught up later, but we did it, and in the circumstances I think the result, not the performance, was the important thing.

For all the talk of Burnley's injury list I have to say that our bench was nothing to write home about, and we do look a few injuries away from disaster. I look on Armstrong and Djenepo's poor performances as simply those of players who have been rushed back to play in the absence of alternatives..

[Charlie Wayman]

17 hours ago, Backrow91 said:

Yeah it wasn’t pretty BUT it was one of those matches where the result was the priority. We were never going to go hung ho against the Burnley tactics of getting it forward quickly..... yes the squad needs additions, yes we didn’t look 100% confident, yes it wasn’t a game where we played pretty free flowing footy but clearly the work done in the week was about making it difficult for them! Me I’m just pleased we are up and running. I am sure as confidence grows we will approach different matches with different tactics and we will see more progressive play. I just hope that all is well behind the scenes and that we are looking to help Ralph with squad additions. 

Great wisdom from hindsight of course. Fact is my friend we were appalling simple as that, no amount of polishing will turn doggy-poo into an ornament.

[the saint in winchester]

On 26/09/2020 at 22:06, S-Clarke said:

Both 'wide' players were dreadful tonight. Armstrong doesn't look anywhere near fit enough yet, feels like we've had to rush him back due to the injuries to Redmond etc.

Shows how desperately we need additional wide players tbh. Not fair to expect someone like Tella to be the answer.

Dan James anyone? Would probably turn down a loan with us, but would tick our boxes.

[John Boy Saint]

I watched it in a hotel bar through gin soaked eyes, I was more concerned at us keeping the lead even if Burnley weren't trying hard enough. As for the quality of Football when I saw it was a 8pm kick off on a Saturday I did think jeez thats a bit of pants game for a Saturday prime time, especially as Burnleys style of football is more workman like than finesse. But then if you are up against Little Mix looking for new band, followed by Strictly Blackpool memories, into Casualty,  then clashing with the ITV option of BGT Sky no doubt thought 8pm for our game was perfect scheduling, only hardcore nutters will be tuning in. 

At the end of the day we won the game against a dogged opponent, at a ground where we ain't done much for Donkeys years, the goal was well worked. Actually the bright spot was the fact that very quickly Che was aware of where Danny was and fired in a ball that Ings just had to make contact with, so you can hope that a little bit of chemistry is coming together there, and whilst a few on here are going "drop Adams play Long, Obafemi, etc" Maybe Ralph can see the connection between them beginning to form, and there is no doubt Adams is an industrious player with a brain between his ears.

What do I know, I watched the game on a golf weekend half cut as the buggers were trying to get me crocked for Sunday.
(I will add that we and the venue were very covid aware and secure)

[East Kent Saint]

The fact that MOTD showed about 5 mins of highlights says it all .

[Alanh]

Good response to the Spurs game from RH and the team.  Got the tactics spot on and thought we were the better team overall (mainly through first half performance).  A game against Burnely when they have Chris Wood as their target man is always going to be predictable and never going to be easy so I thought we did well to manage the game out.  The fact that OR and JWP didn't get bookings made them much more effective throughout.  Off days creatively for Armstrong and Djenepo which stifled the supply to the front two.  Hopefully they will not both have bad days too often again.

[DuncanRG]

Surprised people are complaining about the performance. It wasn't pretty but it was effective and deliberate. We weren't trying to dazzle them.

A better team would have creative ways of finding that second goal, but we're not that team. We only play well against open sides normally so it was hugely gratifying to see us get this one.