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Ahead of Sunday's televised game against
Burnley at Turf Moor, we spoke with Jamie, the editor of Clarets' blog
No Nay Never. He gives us his views on
Burnley's season so far, in-demand striker Danny Ings, the match itself
and more. You can also follow
No Nay Never on Twitter @nonaynevernet.
Thoughts on
Burnley's campaign so far? Have you fared better or worse than you were
expecting prior to the season starting?
It’s been about what I was
expecting so far and we’ve been competitive in most games, with our heavy defeat
at WBA earlier in the season an aberration. The last couple of games have been a
disappointment but we’d have taken being out of the bottom three at the start of
February if we had been offered it at the start of the season.
How confident
are you of Premier League survival?
Our performances against Palace
and Sunderland have been poor and we’ll have to play better to stay up, but the
three teams below us and Villa are all so poor there is every chance we can
finish above them. I’ll be more confident if we can get a win on Sunday - lose
and I’ll be worried.
Anything
Clarets' boss Sean Dyche needs to do better?
It’s difficult because his
options are so few, but he does need to use his squad more and while picking the
same team for nine games running is admirable, some of the players need a rest
and the team needs freshening up. His use of subs is also frequently baffling
and frustrating. However, we’ve got to remember he’s still relatively
inexperienced and is learning all the time.
Thoughts on
the club's surprising lack of transfer activity during the recent window?
I’m still angry. The weaknesses
in the squad are clear for everyone to see and it’s farcical we’re going into
the rest of the season with only two specialist central midfielders - if one of
them gets injured then it could be curtains. Other clubs have been blamed for
pulling out of deals at the last minute but we had all month to get transfers
completed, I don’t know why we left it to the last minute. It was naive in the
extreme to try to buy Graham Dorrans after WBA proved in the summer over Craig
Dawson that negotiating with them is a total nightmare and to offer less for
Henri Lansbury than Forest turned down in the summer makes very little sense to
me at all.
Burnley striker Danny Ings has
been the centre of lots of transfer speculation recently with the player being
linked with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Real Sociedad. Just how
good is he and can you see him remaining at Turf Moor past the summer?
He’s very, very good. The thing
about Ings is he’s much more than a goalscorer. He’s quick, can beat a man, is
good with both feet, his touch and close control are usually excellent - he’s
just a very good all-round footballer and he can score plenty of goals of all
types too. The chances of us keeping him are very slim but if he can help keep
us up I don’t mind if he moves on. It’s similar to the situation you have with
Saido Berahino in a way - he’s quite obviously destined for bigger things but
needs to keep his focus on his current club for now.
Highlight of
the season so far?
The comeback at the Etihad was
special, but Scott Arfield’s volley to put us in front against Chelsea in the
first game of the season will live long in the memory, even if they did blow us
away after that.
Low point of
the season so far?
Not even a debate here - our
performance at the Hawthorns was our worst of the season by miles and even
having a few players missing was no excuse.
Player of the
season so far?
Jason Shackell has been a rock
at the back and while we’ve been conceding too many goals in recent weeks, his
partnership with Michael Keane looks full of promise.
Anyone been
particularly disappointing?
The two summer striker signings
- Lukas Jutkiewicz and Marvin Sordell - have done very little between them, but
then any idiot could tell they’re not Premier League strikers.
Thoughts on
the first game between the clubs back in September?
I really don’t want to think
about it. We didn’t turn up and were lucky it was only four in the end.
What tactics
and line-up can we expect to see from the Clarets on Sunday?
We usually play a 4-4-2 with
Ings dropping off Ashley Barnes, but there could be changes after we were fairly
rubbish at Sunderland last weekend. We get the ball forward quickly and try to
get off to a fast start.
Prediction for
Sunday's game?
I can see Tony Pulis setting you
up for a 0-0 and it will be hard to break you down if you do that.
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