BFTG - Burnley

[Hampshire Royal]

HRK hacking up the spot. Shambles.

Didn't see this from the North Stand, but if it is as you and Dyche said, it's deplorable and has no place in the game.

Whereas elbowing a player in the head and taking two kicks at an opponent is....

[leon]

HRK hacking up the spot. Shambles.

Didn't see this from the North Stand, but if it is as you and Dyche said, it's deplorable and has no place in the game.

Righto worse than diving, elbowing players in the face and constant cynical challenges?

Sorry RG but you're falling for Dyche's spin. Burnley reminded me today of a quintessential Warnock team. Speaks reams about the manager who sells himself as this down to earth honest broker type. Right.

[Ian Royal]

HRK hacking up the spot. Shambles.

Didn't see this from the North Stand, but if it is as you and Dyche said, it's deplorable and has no place in the game.

Whereas elbowing a player in the head and taking two kicks at an opponent is....

Also deplorable, if the elbow is deliberate both worthy of a red card. HRK actually got what he deserved.

[Royal Ginger]

Two wrongs don't make a right etc etc. They were a dirty bunch of cnuts, no doubt about it and Barton probably shouldn't have finished on the field, but digging up the spot is petulant cheating and i don't approve.

[Ian Royal]

Two wrongs don't make a right etc etc. They were a dirty bunch of cnuts, no doubt about it and Barton probably shouldn't have finished on the field, but digging up the spot is petulant cheating and i don't approve.

I don't get the weird "they were worse so we should be fine with poor behaviour" line coming from Leon and Hampshire.

[Jack Celliers]

It was so much better than last week. They looked good at times, but we matched them, and the penalty save was as good as a goal.

It's a pity you couldn't see the incident on the video footage, but the team did the right thing and whatever HRK did can only have helped. Gray's captain shouldn't have let him take the penalty. The shame, embarrassment and guilt of being such a despicable diving cheat has got to play on the mind of a player who has done something like that, surely, and it seemed so unlikely that he would be 100% focused on scoring.

That ref was the worst I have seen in years. You can't be a maverick referee and manage the players, trying to keep your cards in your pocket, if you get so many simple decisions wrong.

[Jack Celliers]

Two wrongs don't make a right etc etc. They were a dirty bunch of cnuts, no doubt about it and Barton probably shouldn't have finished on the field, but digging up the spot is petulant cheating and i don't approve.

It was the right thing to do.

If you have a oxf*rd of a referee making a shit decision like that, somebody has to tell him and take the yellow card.

[marlowuk]

A very entertaining game between two evenly matched good (but not very good) Championship sides; a clean sheet and a point. In other words -a step up from the Wolves match!

But, like the Wolves match, we had a poor referee who kept his cards in his pocket for too long and nearly lost control as a result. AAH has to be MOTM again for that penalty save but also for several other good saves. Burnley should have won on clear cut chances created but a draw was probably fair on the balance of play.

We looked stronger in the air - which we haven't done for some time. Kermorgant won just about every header he went for and with Hector, Cooper and McShane also in the side we were a threat at set pieces. But what has happened to Norwood? His passing was dreadful - not just the long sweeping passes - he was messing up the short simple stuff and wasting the free kicks as well. HRK had a good game and it was good to see him taking on his full back. It was a pity he missed a reasonable chance in the second half. Piazon got a bit more 'stuck in' than usual but I'm not convinced by him. Cooper made a few stupid, and potentially dangerous, mistakes but once he has eradicated those from his game he will be a very good player indeed.

Kermorgant was at the wrong end of some over-physical challenges from Burnley early on but had a good game and Rakels impressed in another short cameo towards the end. In fact the last 15 minutes or so saw a catalogue of simple passing errors by Reading in the opposition half. This was very frustrating but could, at least partially, be put down to the bad pitch getting cut up.

Finally, anyone claiming that Brian is a 'hoof ball merchant' after this game needs to get their eyes tested. We are a passing team that plays the ball on the ground where possible. We will get some goals soon; then the confidence will return; then we will see what sort of side we really have here!

[Huckleberry Hound]

The shame, embarrassment and guilt of being such a despicable diving cheat has got to play on the mind of a player who has done something like that, surely, and it seemed so unlikely that he would be 100% focused on scoring.

Never seemed to bother Andy Johnson.

[Lower West]

Special mention for Jake Coopers backwards header through the attacker's legs whilst flat on the floor in the North East corner in the first half.

Think it's best to forget the attempted dribble in the second half................

[bobby1413]

HRK hacking up the spot. Shambles.

Didn't see this from the North Stand, but if it is as you and Dyche said, it's deplorable and has no place in the game.

Whereas elbowing a player in the head and taking two kicks at an opponent is....

Grow up.

Royal Ginger is right. There's no place in football for cheating, unsportsmanlike behaviour. I don't care if others do it, or if "it's the modern game".

[Royal Ginger]

Special mention for Jake Coopers backwards header through the attacker's legs whilst flat on the floor in the North East corner in the first half.

Think it's best to forget the attempted dribble in the second half................

I second this. Pearce doing this against Bristol was the exception to the rule, most of the time when a CB attempts a mazy run sphincters clench as they did on this occasion. He's got the tools but needs some direction.

Speaking of giving direction, anyone else see Quinn blowing his top at Piazon in the first half on the half way line? He was not a happy ginger.

[Top Flight]

You're right about Norwood. He doesn't look a good player at the moment.

If his set pieces are so good, why has he not scored from a free kick? Why has it taken us so long to score a goal from a corner. Where are his defence splitting passes that put a striker through? I think Norwood has the materials. Technically he is a good player. But he is not effective. He is not using those qualities to make a difference in matches.

Players like Osborn, Caskey, even Harper have used their technical ability to far greater effect than Norwood seems to. It probably isn't all Norwoods fault. It is a team game after all. But it seems a few players aren't using their attributes to best effect at the moment and Brian will have to coach it into them.

Having said that, I thought it was a good tactical performance. Brian set the team out well. That was the best result we could have hoped for with the players we've got. We didn't have a striker out there who could stretch a team and as a consequence we didn't stretch Burnley. It was difficult to create chances against them. But he set us up well and made us difficult to beat. It was a well earned draw.

[Hampshire Royal]

Didn't see this from the North Stand, but if it is as you and Dyche said, it's deplorable and has no place in the game.

Whereas elbowing a player in the head and taking two kicks at an opponent is....

Grow up.

Royal Ginger is right. There's no place in football for cheating, unsportsmanlike behaviour. I don't care if others do it, or if "it's the modern game".

Thanks for the advice, I will try to grow up. I suppose it takes someone like you to point it out to me. Of course, you're absolutely right, HRK shouldn't have done something as petty as scuffing up the penalty spot and, as Ian said, he received an appropriate punishment for it.

All this happened, of course, after the ref warned Barton two or three times in the first half for his 'over-robust play' without receiving punishment of any sort. I understand that Dyche was mentioning HRK's faux pas because he is biased for his own team, but he really should have said something in his interview about his own team's faults. Don't you think?

[Royal Ginger]

You're right about Norwood. He doesn't look a good player at the moment.

It's a whole lot of sideways when it goes 'right' and gifting it to the opposition when it goes wrong. He's having a dip. Still my player of the season so far.

[Binfield Royal]

Dull, dull, dull.

[Royal Ginger]

Words hurt you know, i'm trying! *runs off crying*

[Jack Celliers]

Dull, dull, dull.

You? or the game?

It was anything but dull. With a shit ref and a pantomime villain, two reasonable sides, it never drifted. It was good stuff. In a week when there are rugby internationals and the first legs of champions league ties, it was good to watch some competitive and entertaining sport.

[ayjaydee]

Put my thoughts on the match thread by mistake, here they are in the right spot.

Hard fought game full of errors from both sides and the ref. Burnley had the better chances and should have won but we deserved a point if nothing more.

Al-Habsi 9 MotM several good saves including the pen. Nothing wrong.
Gunter 7 same old Gunter
Obita 7 defended fairly well
Cooper 5 awful passing and gifted them a break
McShane 8 rock
Norwood 5 awful dead balls and poor passing
Hector 5 tries to bring it down but awful passing
Quinn 7 busy but not really sure what his role was until Norwood went off.
HRK 8 caused loads of problems but never anyone in the box
Piazon 5 lightweight and soft
Kermorgant 5 isolated and doesn't look like scoring

McCleary 5 off the pace
Rakels 7 little service but looks bright

Ref. Awful. Had no control at all. I don't really like the red card used for handbags, but it's the way it's used and when you kick out not once but twice you have to walk.

Yet again a team who fouls almost every break we get and barrly gets a card. Two or three times kick the ball away, nothing.

Not sure if it was a pen or not but it looked like a Johnson dive special may have been contact. Had no control of our players. Pushing and shoving everywhere. HRK hacking up the spot. Shambles.

It looks like none of the players believe we can score.

Burnley were as bad as us, but got some sitters (and spaffed them all).

Good point in the end.

Is it Kermogants fault that he was isolated. As many other posters have noted he won almost every header and it's hardly his fault that the players around him failed to capltalise. Don't normally have too many arguments with your posts but 5 is a derisory mark for his performance in this game.

[Soul Man]

Dull, dull, dull.

You? or the game?

It was anything but dull. With a shit ref and a pantomime villain, two reasonable sides, it never drifted. It was good stuff. In a week when there are rugby internationals and the first legs of champions league ties, it was good to watch some competitive and entertaining sport.

Well said that man! It was good stuff.