By The Longside
August 28 2006

Tonight Burnley lost to Hartlepool United in the first round of the Carling Cup. Turftalker gives his analysis of the match and criticises manager Steve Cotterill's decision making during the evening.

 

Well, well, well - I have only been back in the country for a week and I have already seen the Clarets lose twice. Perhaps I should get a ticket back to the USA sharpish!

I was going to write an analysis piece during the weekend about the Wolves game but time, rather a lack of it, prevented me from doing so. Needless to say a lot of what I am going to write this evening is similar, except on Saturday I was concerned by Captain Wayne Thomas' performance more.

Tonight I have two broad points to raise and I hope you will discuss these on the messageboard.

1: A lack of penetration - where is the final ball?

Tonight we really suffered, like on Saturday, from the lack of a final ball. I sent a text to a mate at half time explaining that we were passing the ball around well, it was lovely to watch - but we needed penetration. It is all well and good passing around, but it has to go somewhere. What is more, as the evening progressed the clarets resorted to long balls that really failed to have any threat on a Hartlepool defence that was more than adept at handling straight long punts up.

The statistics are clear. We had one shot on target and that was on the 85th minute and came from a header! We are just not working the opposition goalkeeper enough.

So what causes this? A number of reasons. Clearly we must first praise the Hartlepool defence. They were strong, put in the key challenges and well organised. Second I think we need to look at our lack of wingers. There is little doubt Alan Mahon can thread a pass or that Steve Jones has pace to burn. Kyle Lafferty can cross the ball excellently and is rapidly growing in confidence. But none of these three are wingers. I would much rather see our strikers up front and Alan Mahon behind them threading the killer ball.

The results though of this scenario is our tendency to be far too narrow. The game was crying out for fast, varied balls in to the box and until the last 20 minutes we just never looked like doing this. We have too many central midfielders at the club, and we need to look at shipping some out to bring in some old fashioned wingers who can pass, run at men and even go past them.

My final point here is about Alan Mahon. Clearly a talented player, my concern is that he is used well. From right to left wing and in the middle he played this evening and this does nothing for consistency. First the rest of the team did not seem to know where he was at any particular point; second he got more and more frustrated at a lack of support and came deeper for the ball and finally a wandering player is alright if the rest of the team is set up to cover their movement - too often we left gaps where he had once been. I do not want Mahon to become the luxury player we cannot afford, but if in 10 games we are witnessing similar problems we could legitimately say that.

2: The Manager's decision making.

My next point is a hard one to make. I like Steve Cotterill and think he has done some great things with the club and will continue to do so. But tonight I feel his decisions did not help our cause. Inevitable some games you make right choices and others you do not - that is life. But I ask the question does the manager know his best team and if not, does it matter?

We have more options available to the manager than ever before, but can this become a negative. So far we have had numerous different set-ups in the 5 games of the season and very few injuries to justify this. Yes squad rotation helps motivate some players, but is there not a point when you need a settled team and system?

Second this evening I think it was a mistake to constantly place the strikers on the wings. Lafferty can cross a ball, but is more potent in front of goal. Jones can run at a man, but I would prefer he did it in the box. not near the half way line. Having said this, he is more effective on the right than Elliott, so it could be best choice available

Finally the decision to bring Elliott on for Foster was baffling. Foster had looked solid and while I could understand the need to get more width and crosses in from the right, placing Elliott at right wing back was clearly destablising - it lead to Wayne Thomas being exposed too often. I would have considered removing one of the strikers as it was not working with three up top on this occasion. 

Next up we face Crystal Palace and the suspension of Wayne Thomas will force more changes on the clarets. I personally would pick the following side:

Jensen

Foster           Duff           McGreal           Harley

Jones           O'Connor           Hyde           Mahon

Lafferty           Gray 

(I am aware that this team falls in to many of the traps I mentioned above e.g. lack of wingers. However with a lack of options at the club, this was the best I could muster for this next game. My only hope is that players would stick to their positions and that the two people on the wings can come in and support the strikeforce as much as possible.)