|
Basically, I banged on about the need for a couple of centre halves and a midfielder, about the need for leadership, etc, etc.
I’d also come to the conclusion that I didn’t rate Brian Jensen as a keeper, and put us down as a team with real cause for concern over the next nine months.
Not much has changed in the last week, but instead of placing us amongst the bracket of clubs who will keep on eye on the relegation zone, I now feel pretty confident that we’ll be all right. We’re unlikely to threaten the play-offs, but we ought to be safely marooned in mid-table by late March.
The signing of David May promises to be the reliable, experienced and unflappable centre half that we’ve been crying out for. His pedigree is excellent, and as long as he is able to readjust to playing regular first team football after such a long time in reserve team action, then he will give us sterling service. He was not faultless on Saturday – and nor was he when he appeared against the Clarets last December – and he will need time to readjust to the pace and intensity of the first division.
His arrival leaves us, arguably, just a couple of players short of being a real force in division one. Unfortunately, without those further acquisitions, then we will remain a team with a leaky rearguard. May is our only recognisable first team defender, with Arthur - horribly out of form - and Branch - an honest utility man who will do a job as a stop gap, but who does not have the natural instincts of a centre half – to play along side him. Should May be injured, we could concede a hundred goals, which is relegation form.
We will score goals. In Little, Ian Moore, Blake, Chadwick, Taylor and Alan Moore, we arguably have an attacking sextet as good as anyone in the division. With one of the two line-leaders added to the side of the last two weeks, probably at the expense of Alan Moore, we will have added a cutting edge to the neat football and flair which have characterised the team when in possession thus far.
The problems will come when we are not in possession. Contrary to some terrace opinion, Paul Weller is a good first division footballer. Opposition or neutral observers often describe him as spiky or abrasive – at odds with his perceptions amongst some sections of the Turf Moor audience. He is a decent passer of the ball, with good ball skills and a good engine, capable of supporting the man in possession and keeping our football flowing. Tony Grant is a more intelligent footballer, and is the best long passer of the ball on the clubs’ books. Richard Chaplow is a young talent with plenty of potential.
But none of these are true midfield generals, and it is unfair to expect them to fill that role. In an ideal world they would all be competing for the same place in the team, with an enforcer alongside them. All of the above prefer to play in a more advanced role, and none are bone-crunching tacklers. Many of Burnley’s problems over the past twelve months stem from the failure to replace Kevin Ball. Ball may not have been the greatest on the ball, but he was an insurance policy – always providing cover when other players go forward.
Without someone to screen the midfield, the back four can be exposed. When full backs venture forward and the opposition break forwards, or even when they break through the centre, a centre half has to go and deal with danger. This inevitably creates gaps, regardless of the quality of the centre half. If we are to challenge the upper reaches of the division, then filling this vacancy is the new priority, and reported attempts to sign Michael Stewart, Alex Rae and John Eustace are evidence that Stan has tried to address this.
Stan would also like to sign another centre half, probably a younger player, to play alongside May – a player in the mould of Adrian Madaschi, who trialed at Gawthorpe recently. But the difficulties will lie with the bank balance.
To start the season unable to fill a substitutes bench was almost as embarrassing as some of the defending against Palace, and sends out entirely the wrong message to any prospective acquisitions. If we are so short of cash that we can’t afford more players than we now have, then fair enough – although we really ought to have followed Ipswich’s path and gone into administration. The difficulty comes in reconciling the current protestations of poverty with Barry Kilby’s confident remarks about nine or ten players arriving, made only two months ago.
Something there doesn’t add up. Either our chairman was worryingly naïve in his expectations of players wage demands, or something has gone badly wrong that we don’t know about. Even if we are waiting for wage demands to drop, then it is of paramount importance that we have sufficient players to fill the bench at all times.
Without sufficient cover on the bench, mid winter could prove long and hard once injuries and suspensions really kick in. Players will be forced to play out of position in order to cover absences, or play when less than one hundred percent fit simply to ensure that we can field a full side. Stan will have to use every ounce of his footballing nous and experience to make us competitive this season.
Expectations must be matched accordingly. We have problems, and the frustrations which go with those problems stem from the mixed messages coming from off the field. They are not the players’ fault, and if anything is guaranteed to knock morale within the camp, it is supporters who are too quick to criticise the players with whom our hopes rest.
Already, murmurings have been made about the contributions of the likes of Weller, Grant and Branch. All of those have been unfair. This season, with the club clearly in a state of flux, the need for supporters to do precisely that – support – is stronger than ever.
With the current squad, it promises to be a tough season. It will not be dull, there will be plenty of goals and we will probably ‘throw the odd one in’ - much like last season, really. And what’s more, if we end the season with a similar result to last season, safely ensconced in mid-table, but with stage one of the rebuilding process complete, I for one will be a happy man.