Burnley: A good club to be here on an emotional day for the side, but a decidedly tough team to play on it - the kind that needed to be dissected precisely rather than bombarded with passion.
Here are my ratings:
Schmeichel: 6 - Faced with a difficult decision throughout of whether to play out from goal kicks or send everyone upfield, he chose the former. Playing out like that will surely cost us a goal or two over the course of the season, and he got away with a few near-misses today. But on the other hand is probably an important component of the new playing style.
Ricardo: 7 - Solid defensively and always an outlet on the right hand side. Couldn’t find the space to be exceptional.
Evans: 7 - Usual controlled performance, covering a lot in behind against testing Burnley counterattacks.
Soyuncu: 6 - Given a tough day by Chris Wood. Couldn’t gain dominance with the ball in front of him and kept getting targeted with the ball in behind him. Needs to learn how to deal with this sort of threat.
Chilwell: 6 - Far more himself than he was against Liverpool, but still not back to his best. Too many passes astray or backwards and continues not to link up with Barnes particularly well.
Perez: 5 - Just when it feels like we’re on the verge of a breakthrough, he slices a clearance into the air or skews a goalscoring opportunity over the bar. Frustrating, and still not looking like a source of 10+ goals and assists.
Tielemans: 8 - Not perfect by any means, but looking more and more comfortable as the controller of our build-up play and a midfield general. Also read the game well enough to get into position to score the winner. My choice for our MOTM.
Ndidi: 7 - Got bypassed quite a bit when Burnley triggered their direct counters, but was there to mop up when they were slowed.
Maddison: 6 - Quiet today for whatever reason. Couldn’t generally find space or effective forward passes. Was alright but not greatly influential today.
Barnes: 7 - First half he struggled to influence, until finally he ran at his man and ended up crossing excellently for our opening goal. Inconsistent through the game but looks our best wing option at present.
Vardy: 8 - Opposing fans made that absolute classic mistake of taunting him. It so often doesn’t end well. Looks an absolute menace under Rodgers and contributed to build-up play well too.
Gray: 7 - Lively to begin with and combined well to cross for the winner, but faded late on under Burnley pressure.
Praet: 6 - Largely the victim of a tactical battle that left him outnumbered. Couldn’t influence the game.
Morgan: 6 - I’ve seen comments from some that they couldn’t understand this substitution. Personally I was calling for it! There was so much space in our central defence for Wood to attack and Rodgers clearly felt it needed plugging. Credit then to Dyche for changing things up himself and targeting central midfield instead. A good tactical exchange.
In Dunge’s VAR corner, it has to be said that this was an occasion when it worked. True, it was accidental. True, the ball might have gone in anyway. However, neither of these things are relevant. Evans had a genuine chance of clearing the ball and was denied this by a trip from behind. It was a foul, missed by Jon Moss, and cleared up on review. Indeed, the reaction from the players on the pitch suggested that they all expected that outcome.
Also a note on Burnley: Some at the start of the season predicted them for relegation. They certainly do not look bound for that. They were tough, capable and tactically aware. Meanwhile, Chris Wood has really come on since his time here. In particular, he looks so much more mobile and caused us a lot of problems today, well deserving of his goal.
Player ratings vs. Burnley
posted on 20/10/19
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 5 minutes ago
"I’m not suggesting Pérez isn’t a good player True, I’m just finishing it increasingly frustrating watching him turn out performances like yesterday when asked to play wide."
I just think he needs a bit more time to settle in, now any talk of Gray playing instead, well that's just crazy, let him stay a super sub.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah sorry, I think I lost my mind there for a minute.
posted on 20/10/19
Nothing much to argue about there Dunge, although I also think 5 for Perez is harsh. He should be given time.
Burnley are a very tough side to play, work hard and well drilled, no way should they be in the relegation mire. It would not have been a travesty if they had got something out of the game.
posted on 20/10/19
Good analysis as usual.
Watching live I had Ricardo down as MOTM. I just think he’s developing as a superb all round player and was always available as an outlet. Watching the post match analysis I can see that Youri could equally be given the gong.
I thought Pérez started well and was linking up positively, but faded as the game progressed. As a stand alone game I think 5 is a fair score. It’s ok saying that he needs time, but you don’t give him a 6 or 7 just because he needs time. That’s not to say that I don’t agree with the sentiment. Imagine if we rated Vardy after 9 games. I think he has something and hope he eventually finds a niche - but he’s not found it yet. Barnes is another who frustrates, but doesn’t get the same attention because he’s young and didn’t cost a lot of money.
Chilwell was much better on Saturday. Defensively solid and plenty of running. He still lacks a bit of creativity, but that might always be the case. For me if Man City want to spend £70m on a full back from Leicester then they’re currently looking on the wrong side of the pitch.
Burnley were Burnley. Defensively solid and tough to break down. Effective with the long balls into the big men. I would, however, have been disappointed if we’d drawn against them. I think we played more football and deserved the win on balance. They will be fine and stay in the division, but they won’t progress with this style under this manager. Security in the Premier League, however, counts for a lot and they will have a few successes along the way.
Chris Wood is a player who epitomises Burnley for me. I liked him when he was here and thought he had something. He was, however, a player we evolved beyond if we have aspirations above mid table Premier League and to play a style of football that will only get you so far. Perfect for Burnley though and will get some goals leading their line.
In summary a great, hard won, three points from a tough opponent that we should be beating at home if we have any desires to be around the top six.
posted on 20/10/19
To echo Joby’s explanation, I try to give ratings based on what I see during the match. It’s not based on previous performances or a reflection of what I think of the player’s future.
With Perez, his play around the centre of the pitch isn’t too bad; but at the moment he’s a cheap jigsaw*.
He’s proven that he can contribute at this level with Newcastle. The concern for me at the moment is that he isn’t /almost/ creating stuff either. If he was hitting the woodwork or making chances that others were missing there would be less problem. Still, there remains plenty of time for him to improve. I remain convinced that these are confidence issues due to acclimatising to a new place, higher expectations and better teammates.
*Falls apart in the box
posted on 20/10/19
I agree with Dunge and Joby.
Except for the terrible jigsaw joke*.
* I liked it really 🙃
posted on 20/10/19
comment by True Blue (U9486)
posted 10 hours, 50 minutes ago
Changing tack slightly, DM mentioned VAR, they got it right for us today but so many poor decisions by the VAR overall that they are more inconsistent than the ref on the pitch.
Just watched the Spurs match, so many bad decisions that it almost makes you wonder if VAR should be suspended while they sort themselves out?
----------------------------------------------------------------------The problem with VAR is the clear and obvious bit. Take the Spurs v Watford example yesterday. If that wasn't a clear and obvious error, I don't know what is. As has also been stated, why don't referees go and check the monitor themselves?
posted on 20/10/19
Just to be clear, I thought 5 was a harsh score for Perez based on what I saw yesterday, rather than what he might get if given time.
Before VAR, we'd have got a draw from the match, and that would not have been a travesty.
posted on 21/10/19
I think five was harsh based on what I saw too. He is out of position but that's not his fault, he's a no.10 so we can only blame Rodgers for that. He's clearly not going to create chances from out wide but when in the middle he played a lovely through ball for Maddison to score against Liverpool. His link up play with Ricardo is good though and he doesn't give the ball away that often. I thought we played some good one touch stuff on the right and he was integral in that with some lovely little touches. Six all day for me.
posted on 21/10/19
He’s not out of position, Arro. I saw a heat map of his last season yesterday and it shows him as a right winger who drifts inside. You might prefer to see him in the number 10 role, but he scored and assisted plenty starting in the wide right position at Newcastle last year.
posted on 21/10/19
One thing I forgot to mention earlier was a call out to the manager. We all moaned about Puel and not changing the team to get the best out of certain players.
BRodgers has changed and the side he picked is probably our best eleven. There might be an argument around Barnes, Perez, Albrighton and Gray as to which is the best two, but I think it’s tight. It almost depends on what side of the bed you get out of. The wide forward role is still up for grabs.
(I didn’t mention the likes of Kapustka, Ghezzal and Diabate deliberately. Are they still at the club?)