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| David Edgar - half decent performance |
So it proved once again today as early form team Middlesbrough won 2-0 at Turf Moor.
To begin with, everything looked rosy for the home side. There was a decent crowd on, making some decent noise. We had our exciting new winger on the bench, and an unchanged line-up from the one that had done so well to bring our first three points of the season home with them from Derby two weeks ago.
Indeed, the very early exchanges of play only furthered the feeling of positivity. Within seconds Keith Treacy had made a mazy run to the edge of the area, laying Wallace out wide for a good chance to cross. The cross was easily cleared and unfortunately it was the cross, rather than the run, that set the tone for Burnley's afternoon.
From his very first touches in the game, Boro's Marvin Emnes looked like he would give us trouble, and with less than ten minutes on the clock he started the move that led to the away side's first goal of the game. Coming down Burnley's right, he gave the covering Dean Marney all kinds of trouble, before laying off the ball to be crossed. Burnley never looked like dealing with the resulting delivery, and when a Middlesbrough player nodded it down to the edge of the area, Nicky Bailey hit a tame volley into the right-hand side of Brian Jensen's goal.
Perhaps The Beast was unsighted by Ben Mee, who made a failed attempt to block the volley, but even so the Dane's response was poor. At first he was rooted to the spot, and eventually he began to slowly scramble across the goal. He never looked like saving it. What would Burnley give for a consistent goalkeeper?
Immediately Burnley lost heart. Straight from kick-off Middlesbrough flooded forwards, and it was only a series of good saving tackles that kept Burnley within touching distance at half-time. Treacy sacrificed himself to a booking for a foul on the half-way line to prevent a break, and Ben Mee, David Edgar and Brian Easton all made good challenges to stop them getting through us again.
Emnes was a continual threat, but also the best representation of the darker side to the visitors' game. Willing to go down at the slightest touch, and on one occasion spent a good minute rolling around on the floor before the referee came to the inevitable conclusion that he was fine. Joe Bennett was perhaps lucky to still be on the pitch at half-time, too. After a nasty challenge on Jay Rodriguez earned him a yellow card, he reacted to being beaten by Kieran Trippier by trying to foul him. Luckily for Bennett, Trippier stayed on his feet and used the advantage to be fouled again by Robson, who was himself booked.
That aside though, it was undeniable at half-time that Middlesbrough were by far the better side. Where they were organised, quick and positive, Burnley were slow, and unable to make the simplest of passes. The forward players had been isolated, but their movement was often poor and on the occasions they did get the ball did nothing more than give it back. Perhaps even worse was the idea to move Rodriguez to the left and Wallace central. While Rodriguez thrived last season on the left of a three, he's not a winger and so looked clueless on the left of a four, and Ross Wallace looked lost. It was obvious that it wasn't working, and so it came as quite a surprise when we came out unchanged for the second-half.
Come out unchanged we did though, and pretty much continued in the same vein. After the brief and slight promise of a foray into the final third, Burnley surrendered the ball and promptly surrendered another goal. McDonald easily beat Trippier down Burnley's right, and set up Emnes. The Dutchman's shot was saved by Jensen, but not in any meaningful way and it was up to he-who-was-lucky-to-be-on Joe Bennett to rifle the ball into the empty net from close range.
It was all over then, in truth. Eddie Howe responded immediately, giving Junior Stanislas his debut (coming on for Treacy) and switching to a weird formation that appeared to me a sort of 3-4-3, but with Trippier as side's right back and right midfielder, while Stanislas played behind the strikers. To his credit, he showed good touches - he looks to have the ability to beat men and an eye for a good through ball, too. However, he didn't really do anything to change the game and we continued to plod on towards a defeat.
Burnley did almost make an immediate response, some neat play between Trippier and McCann saw the Burnley captain unleash a shot from the edge of the area - it was decent, but Ikeme would have been very disappointed to let it in and palmed it comfortably out for a corner. That was it from the Clarets really, apart from a header from David Edgar at a corner that flew high and wide and a free-kick from substitute Zavon Hines which flew high but not wide.
Hines too showed good touches, and Burnley's other substitute Marvin Bartley did a lot to keep the deficit to only two goals. Twice with Emnes through on goal Bartley came to the rescue, once putting enough pressure on the striker to force him into a poor shot which Jensen held well, and once absolutely flying back, looking like Usain Bolt on steroids, to put the ball out for a corner.
Full time came then, with the score 2-0, and despite that I think the Burnley fans were pleased to see it. It was the sort of performance that would have seen us defeated against one of the lesser sides in this league, never mind a side of Middlesbrough's calibre, who must surely hold realistic aspirations of a return to the Premier League. While the performances of the subs, as well as Man of the Match David Edgar's half-decent performance convey some positives, generally it's hard to feel anything else positive.
Still, there's always next week. Maybe we'll get a clean sheet.