Excellent Burnley, or poor rest of the league?

C

CarrickBall

Well-known member
Luton, in 4th place, are closer points wise to the bottom 3 (19 points and 18 places) than they are to top of the league Burnley (22 points and 3 places).

Burnley really have been consistently excellent this year and will top 100 points.
 
Burnley have been excellent, I do think they'll end up dropping off a bit when promotion is confirmed.

They need 2 points a game for the last 14 to reach 100 points, which is definitely achievable for them but you always see funny results when their main motivation is gone.

I don't think they'll better Reading's record tally.
 
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Kompany seems to have quite a similar demeanor/attitude to Carrick (although easy to be like that when you're flying I suppose).

I remember when Sheff United beat them and he was very calm about it, very much "we knew we'd have games like that every now and then, important thing is how we respond".

Compare it to Sheff United's moaning and mini meltdown.

As with Carrick probably helps a bit when you've had a stellar playing career. Nothing to prove etc.
 
They've been brilliant.

They'll already be starting to make preparations for the PL next season. They've easily got promotion sewn up and it's very likely they'll win the league.

We've been on a remarkable run with Carrick since his first game in charge, and yet they've still matched us. They've been excellent.
 
Until recently, both Burnley and Sheffield United were so dominant that there were fewer points for the rest of the table. We have also seen both us and (again until recently) WBA go on a real charge after terrible starts.

Sometimes it's worth watching mid-table Premier league matches from the 90s and early 0's. I reckon the top half of the championship is somewhere around that standard these days. Fitness, skill and consistency is miles above where it was when Robbo took over us.

I think the Championship has probably 10 really decent teams. Some under-performing (Norwich, Watford), some over-performing (Sunderland, Luton, Millwall, Coventry) and some playing at or near their peak (Burnley, us, WBA, Sheffield Utd).

The division is horribly skewed by parachute payments but it's still one of the most entertaining leagues in world football, if you ask me.
 
Of course Burnley have been excellent but its hardly a surprise given the squad and resources they have. Watford and Norwich could both still go up. Sheff Utd were relegated the seasomn before last and are still favourites' to go up automatically this season.

the current system of parachute payments is skewing the league massively in favour of relegated teams and needs to be changed
 
It's impossible to say because if the entire league was almost equal then nobody would run away with it and nobody would be cut adrift at the bottom. Everyone could be equal and very good or could be equal and quite poor and the table would be the same. The table only shows the relative strength between the teams, not the strength of the league as a whole.

More strong teams reduces the chances of 1 or 2 teams dominating. I also wouldn't draw too many conclusions until the season has finished. I think it's obvious that Burnley will win the league but there are several other teams that have had excellent runs (Sheff Utd, Boro, WBA etc) and those consistent runs can really change things. Some of them have also had terrible runs but others like Sunderland, Luton etc have been fairly consistently winning, drawing and losing without stringing long runs of either together.
 
Marvanelli said:
They've been brilliant.

They'll already be starting to make preparations for the PL next season. They've easily got promotion sewn up and it's very likely they'll win the league.

We've been on a remarkable run with Carrick since his first game in charge, and yet they've still matched us. They've been excellent.
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Still think we can beat them in a month or two. Think we’re really just as good when we’re on it
 
Ironops said:
Of course Burnley have been excellent but its hardly a surprise given the squad and resources they have. Watford and Norwich could both still go up. Sheff Utd were relegated the seasomn before last and are still favourites' to go up automatically this season.

the current system of parachute payments is skewing the league massively in favour of relegated teams and needs to be changed
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Or make relegated teams appoint Garry Monk as a sort or handicap system.
 
Burnley are a class above, find it difficult to be objective about us. Having watched four full Sheffield Utd games in recent weeks, struggling to understand how they have been doing so well. Was impressed with Watford earlier in the season, but aside from that all very ordinary.
 
What's the earliest they could be promoted, anyone know?

They have a tricky run of fixtures between 19th March and 10th April that could see them drop some points:

Blackburn (A)
Sunderland (H)
Boro (A)
Sheff United (H)

Shame they play us before Sheff United as it would be nice if the had to beat United before coming here.
 
Interesting comparison with last season:

Burnley need 18 points from 14 matches to equal Fulham's points total from last season. That's lower mid-table form, so they'll pass that with ease.

Now, Fulham weren't particularly strong champions: 90 points is the joint lowest total for the title in the last decade. However, their performance in the PL shows that they were more than flat track bullies in the championship.

However, they weren't as consistent as Burnley: they lost and drew more often. So, I think consistency is what racks up big totals in the championship, but would I back Burnley to equal what Fulham have done in the PL next season? Almost certainly not.
 
Kompany and Carrick have achieved the success that they have because being calm in the wake of a defeat stops your fanbase going into meltdown and they stick by you, come the next game previous defeats are forgotten. Now take Sheffield United, their manager is rattled and its absolutely shining through their fans
 
Morton94 said:
Kompany and Carrick have achieved the success that they have because being calm in the wake of a defeat stops your fanbase going into meltdown and they stick by you, come the next game previous defeats are forgotten. Now take Sheffield United, their manager is rattled and its absolutely shining through their fans
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I wonder if this has anything to do with their pedigree as players and who they have worked with, Kompany with Pep and Mancini and Carrick with Ferguson? Sheffield Utd manager played for Darlo btw!
 
Otto42 said:
I wonder if this has anything to do with their pedigree as players and who they have worked with, Kompany with Pep and Mancini and Carrick with Ferguson? Sheffield Utd manager played for Darlo btw!
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I'd imagine it does, as players they were taught not to hit the panic button If things weren't going well. Kompany snatched the title from the jaws of defeat at City with 5 minutes to go. City didn't panic they just went for it. Carrick played under a man that most regard as the greatest manager of all time 'Don't worry lads, the refs gonna add on 10 minutes don't panic'
Heckingbotton is hideous in his demeanour, he's blaming everybody but himself for the last two defeats. I've read their fans comments. They're second in the league but they're beginning to panic and question the manager. One more bad result next weekend and boro get a decent one it could get very toxic
 
I thought Burnely were excellent against us, but I saw them at home to Watford recently and I thought it was a different team. They were a bit lucky to get a draw against a Watford who were a team we beat 10 days earlier 2-0.
 
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