Boxing Day in Burnley

BURNLEY

V

DONCASTER ROVERS

Merry Christmas Everybody, and what could be more festive than Boxing Day in Burnley?  Its got a certain ring to it, I believe, and up in those hills, I doubt there will be any difficulty in finding a Shepherd.  Wise men could be more of a challenge in Lancashire, but by arranging for a visit of some Yorkshire men, that too can be ticked off the list. 

Doncaster have a good record against Burnley over recent seasons. Unbeaten in fact, although at Turf Moor, draws have been the order of the day.  This season, with Rovers hitting a bit of form and Burnley stuttering at home, the Yorkshiremen will be looking to go one better than that.  But something about Burnley's record makes me think that that feat will be far from plain sailing.

BURNLEY 

We are still still capable of making a run but it's going to be crucial now, the next few games as to where it takes us - Eddie Howe

Burnley have the 5th best away record in the league, but the 4th worst home record.  Its one way to end up mid-table while really frustrating your support. 

The first match I saw would warm the cockles of Rovers' fans hearts.  The Clarets struggled badly to a narrow 1-goal victory against a 9-man Brighton.  I can understand a side struggling to score against a 9-man side as they pack their defence.  But, if the 9-men stretch the defence of the 11-men unduly you have to wonder what is going on.  Brighton, in the end deserved at least a draw and, on what I saw, Burnley on that day deserved the igmony such a result would bring them.

The next set of highlights I watched saw Burnley lose out to a last minute route 1 goal.  Again, I can't rave about either team's performance and 0:0 looked fairer.  There were a couple of moves that showed what Burnley can do though.  Sam Vokes, Jay Rodrigues and Chris McCann showed how well they can combine in a great move early in the second half but I saw too much shooting from range.  Like they did against Brighton, the clarets struggled to find ways around or through the defence.

At the back, it looked very organised and Burnley certianly gave Pompey a puzzle to be solved.  Good movement got them in on goal on a couple of occasions but, more worryingly, there were a couple of occasions where brute force proved more effective than it should have done.

There was a better performance to be seen at Upton Park though.  Burnley's goals were far more typical of them.  Good balls into the box finished off by unstoppable headers.  The defence still looked disciplined but vulnerable to good movement, although they seemed more competitive in this one.

So, Burnley are organized and my prove difficult to break down.  But I didn't get the impression there was that much imagination to break opponents down.  There's work to be done before the run that Eddie Howe talks about is going to happen.

DONCASTER ROVERS

There's absolutely no point in getting the victories against Southampton and Leicester if we can't go away from home and earn a point and be hard to beat - Dean Saunders.

Absolutely correct Dean!  Unfortunately that's what Rovers have been doing - getting really good results against good teams and then falling down against teams who, if they are to get out of their current situation, they need to beat.  Still, things have been upwardly mobile at the 'moat over the last few weeks and Dean is clearly understanding why Rovers haven't made more progress.



It's rare that there is a quiet week off the pitch at Donny this season and this week has proved no exception.  First, the Chairman makes clear what we always knew.  Billy Sharp is up for sale.  The 3 Million asking price is a snip for a player who has 9 goals in 13 starts so far this season.   I think Rovers have been tentively trying to sell their star player since the end of last season.  That's not a criticism.  When you hear of plans to half the wage bill, its obvious the Billy's wages will be part of that cut.

We also learned of Dean's 8th, 9th and 10th signings as three Frenchmen (well, kinda) were signed from Greek sides Panathinaikos, Giannina and Panetolikos. 

Damien Plessis, a defensive midfielder is the only one of the trio to have enjoyed English experience before, playing for Liverpool.  The other two, Mamadou Bagayoko and Habib Bamogo are forwards who have played international football for Mali and Burkina Faso respectively.



El-Hadji Diouf.  Another 18 months?

Rovers added to this news with word of an agreement in principle that El-Hadji Diouf will stay for another 18 months.  Intersting one that is.  Undoubtedly good for the Rovers as there has been little to contradict Dean Saunders ascertion that Diouf is the best player in the championship.  But how does it stack with the shop-window experiment working for the players that it brings in?  Do the players Rovers are bringing in really want to end up in Donny for a couple of years? 

My guess is they won't think of it in this way.  More they will think that if Donny is good enough for Diouf, its good enough for them.  The more I think, the more I believe Diouf is seen as very important to the success or otherwise of the McKay experiment.