Right then, onto the goals. Unless I'm wrong, I don't think Andre Gray scored against us last season- so in that regard at least it could have been worse. When Andre Gray was rumoured to be going to Bristol City people were throwing stats about his conversion rate and all of that stuff. I've said it before, I don't like stats in general because they're used as the basis of an argument- but seeing as we're going with them he's the Top Scorer in the Championship now. You don't get there by accident, and up against Dan Burn tonight it wasn't pretty. I'll have to watch the first Andre Gray goal back, but I think Joe Lewis may have been able to do better for it. As I said, I'm not saying that with 100% certainty, but that's the impression I got. What Dan Burn's doing for Andre Gray's second I just don't know. The ball is played through with the intention of going through to Gray and Burn didn't go with it in favour of pushing up and I think trying to play offside- god knows why. I'm not putting it 100% on Burn because Tim Ream should have covered the run better- but he wouldn't have had to if Burn had defended it better.
Then the 2nd Half happened. Ross McCormack scores goals, it's mental to think he hadn't even scored for nearly the whole first month of the season. Now I think he's (joint) 3rd Top Goalscorer in the Division. It was a quality finish, and it's just a shame we couldn't get another one with all the pressure we had in the 2nd Half. Burnley's 3rd was against the run of play in the 2nd Half, so in a way it was completely going to happen- because we're Fulham. I think it was Arfield who gave Christensen a bit of a run around before he put the ball in and Taylor finished it off.
I don't have any objection to Joe Lewis starting, it caught me a bit off guard- but with Andy Lonergan being revealed to be out for "4-6 weeks" it makes a lot more sense and I'm fine with it. As I said, my first impression was Lewis should have done better for Andre Gray's first goal- but on the whole I'm fine with his performance today. There was definitely a lot worse.
We're not going to be playing against Andre Gray every week, I'll open with that. With that said, if we're serious about the Playoffs as Kit keeps insisting we have to be playing players who are capable of going toe to toe with the best players in the Division. Dan Burn simply isn't. Andre Gray must have thought it was Christmas when he saw Burn in the line-up, and sure enough he destroyed him. He did make a good goal-line clearance at 2-1, I'll give him that- but when we properly went for the Formation change bringing on Kacaniklic I'd have taken off Burn instead of Ream. Also, I've just seen Dan Burn's "Haters" tweet- is it really so hard to admit you should have done better and move on? If you're a Professional Footballer and you play badly do you really think you won't get criticism?
It wasn't the best night from a defensive standpoint, I think this was much better indicator as to how Kit's new formation will work against proper quality opposition- of which we should be taking points off if the Playoffs are our goal as Kit has kept saying. I've already had my say with regard to Ream doing better for Andre Gray's second, but I do think it was harsh for him to be taken off instead of Burn. Before people talk about Ream and Burn, and Ream getting more leniency because he's a new signing (an argument I've seen on Forums)- I've criticised Tim Ream a lot since we signed him. In fact I've criticised Tim Ream to the point where he blocked me on Twitter. I just need Stearman and all Three Centre-Backs from today will have done so.
James Husband was pretty much a non-entity in today's game, he got down the line well but he was shut down pretty well for the most part- so credit to Burnley on that front. Ryan Fredericks has shown what he's capable of on the pitch, but his body seemingly doesn't like doing it that often. I make that three injuries in around 2 Months. This is the first time it may properly come back to bite us though with Jazz Richards out until after the International Break as well. SEND FOR KAY!
The Midfield was almost non-existent in the First-Half. That's really all that can be said about it, in the 2nd Half when we switched to a 4-4-2 we immediately got more into the game, and that allowed us to put a substantial amount of pressure on Burnley. Tunnicliffe did "ok" today, he was by no means the worst player on the pitch today- and in general I thought he did fine. The thing with Tunnicliffe, a lot of the work he does goes unnoticed. I was talking about it when he first came back into the team, his role as an individual is almost secondary to the role he plays in balancing the team and doing the leg-work that others may not necessarily be doing. Cairney got the Assist for McCormack, and in the 2nd Half I thought he did pretty well as we tried to press them and get back into the game. Jamie O'Hara was another pretty neutral party in the game today. His performances are definitely dropping a bit as of late, which is one of the primary reasons I didn't want him playing today because I don't think his fitness levels are great.
Ross McCormack's such a weird player for us to have. We were effectively playing 5-4-1 in the First-Half as a result of McCormack dropping too deep and that in turn isolated Dembele. He's obviously being asked to play that role, which is fine when we're on the front foot- but the First-Half showed the other side of that and it isn't a good one. As I've already said, Dembele was completely isolated in the First-Half. In the 2nd Half he definitely got into the game more and looked a lot more dangerous, he just couldn't quite get a break.
Matt Smith coming on and giving us another option up-front was a good move from Kit. Smith's the sort of player where the direct impact he has on the game can vary a lot, but he ALWAYS gives Defenders something to think about which is why he's best coming off the Bench and changing the Striker dynamic. Kacaniklic came on and I thought did fine, unfortunately he didn't have the impact he did coming off the Bench against Reading- but I'm still quite Pro-Kacaniklic getting a run in the team and tonight hasn't dissuaded me from that point of view. As I've already said, Christensen should have done better for the 3rd Goal- and apart from that there wasn't much of note from his performance.
I've been a lot more critical than I thought I'd be to be perfectly honest. Despite what I've said, we definitely weren't awful- and playing against almost any other team we'd have gotten another goal in the 2nd Half. We also showed in the 2nd Half we can compete with the best teams in the Division, the problem being it was just the 2nd Half. You just have to give credit to Burnley for remaining as defensively sound as they did. I'm willing to give Kit's new formation some more time, but as I said at the time during my Bristol City Review- it really wasn't a good indicator. If we are serious about getting the Playoffs we need to turn our pressure into goals in the sort of situation we found ourselves in during the 2nd Half.
Thanks for reading as always, we've got the quick turnaround of games- and the Birmingham Preview's going up on Friday. I said it in the Preview as well, the Birmingham game is much more winnable- especially considering the current run they're in the middle of. Similar in many ways to Reading and Boro- and if we don't at least get a point off of them the questions over Kit have to be asked. Thanks again for reading, I hope you have a good rest of your week and come back again on Friday. WE GET TO DO IT ALL AGAIN!
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