Sheffield United is a must win or Kompany has to go

[bobinho]

The most stupid thread I've seen this season.

Any of you 'sack him, jerks' go on today? We weren't very far away from getting all three points, and I thought we played well. Their first goal would have taken some stopping and was well worked. Their second was down to an individual mistake. Yeah, I'm gutted, and that's to say the least. I thought we'd end up with a point. There were way more positives than negatives - pity some of you are too stupid to see this.

Anyway, like I said, I'm gutted. On the bright said, I'm off out for a meal, and a couple in the local later - life carries on, old chum.

Not a million miles away from what I saw apart from the first goal. We had FOUR men taking on the lad who supplied the ball into the box. FOUR! That should have been enough stopping. They simply HAVE to stop that ball coming in. Four out there on the one man means we are light elsewhere, and they should know that. **** poor decisions, **** poor defending. Along with the mind blowingly bizarre substitutions, that’s what cost us.
We were in it until the 85th minute….

[Wile E Coyote]

Distasteful this talk of having Kompany sacked. He earned the right develop a team in the prem, and given time he will succeed.
Yes its tough going at the moment, but so what.
I would rather trust Vincent Kompany with our future prospects than take pot luck on bringing in someone who knows nothing about the set up just to have a go at changing things. Its about time fans thought about loyalty to the man who brought us up, instead of the crazy over reactive nonsense.

[Hipper]

Many reasons to stick with Kompany, but for me he has changed and become stubborn, and lets be fair he is starting to look totally out of his depths. So for the people that feel he could get us promoted again,when we go down, would you really want to see him back in the PL with us.

When we got promoted in our first season with SD we had a side that cost peanuts, and whilst we got relegated, that side showed more fight and discipline after 13 league games than we have

I don't think he's become stubborn. He's started to recognise some truths. Certain players that he hoped would be key are not up to it, notably Cullen, perhaps Roberts too. Al-Dakhil has so far failed to convince and I'm also not too impressed with Beyer and certainly not Zaroury. He's learning to get the best out of Berge. In my view only Berge and Foster are at the moment Premier League players of the required standard.

What I don't get from VK is that it was obvious from the moment we saw his squad play at this level they looked completely inadequate. This was camouflaged to some extent by our tough start but now we've played the lesser teams we've found them to have certain necessary qualities that we don't seem to have. Surely as someone who has played in this league for a long time he should have known this?

It will be interesting to see if we attempt to correct the short comings in the January window. If we don't and we bring in more of the same it means there is a different agenda then simply staying up.

[Boss Hogg]

Nothing to see here
Kompany isn’t going anywhere for years. Pace will have every confidence in his ability to get us back up if we go down.

He potted Dyche who got us promoted twice and proved himself in the PL for a number of seasons. Things change.

[Wile E Coyote]

He potted Dyche who got us promoted twice and proved himself in the PL for a number of seasons. Things change.

he did, but the lunatics amongst the everton fans were soon quiet enough when he got them playing.
They were screaming for his blood not long after he took the job after lampard .
some things take time , hopefully those tasked with making such decisions will have the belief and patience with Kompany.

[Lowbankclaret]

Some fans saying we’ll smash the Championship VK will have learned ,do you not think that after seeing us week in week out getting stuffed in The Prem the other 23 teams in the Champ will have sussed us out?

We have better players now than we smashed it last time. We are down, just use it as a learning experience from now and learn how to do it better next time.

[Lowbankclaret]

Distasteful this talk of having Kompany sacked. He earned the right develop a team in the prem, and given time he will succeed.
Yes its tough going at the moment, but so what.
I would rather trust Vincent Kompany with our future prospects than take pot luck on bringing in someone who knows nothing about the set up just to have a go at changing things. Its about time fans thought about loyalty to the man who brought us up, instead of the crazy over reactive nonsense.

100% this

[ksrclaret]

We have better players now than we smashed it last time. We are down, just use it as a learning experience from now and learn how to do it better next time.

Yeah, just write that £100m off as a learning experience. No biggie. '

In VK we trust.

[Noblelight]

No it’s not, we can win, draw or lose, but sadly I think we are going down. Not the end of the world.
Hope I’m wrong
U T C

[Anthonini]

Stop drinking beer during the game. You'll get a clearer view on the situation.

[Spiral]

We're a prestige version of Dario Grady-era Crewe. Forget immediate results, see how far a young team can go type of thing. Sacking Vinny right now is an abandoned of that, then we become any other shite PL team, except we're miles from safety, and we have loads of debt anyway so what's the difference really, and we have no Sean Dyche to pull rabbits out of hats for the next decade.

[Spiral]

Stop drinking beer during the game. You'll get a clearer view on the situation.

I like the sentiment and everything but patient is the man who can watch Burnley sober

[Anthonini]

Burnley plays about the best football in the league.
Funny how 10 minutes can change the mood from awesome to unwatchable. Or boys against men.

Too bad we don't have more individual quality at the moment to do more damage. I feel bad for VK and the lads. They did great.

[Stayingup]

We have better players now than we smashed it last time. We are down, just use it as a learning experience from now and learn how to do it better next time.

I dont agree with the Kompany shoukd go line but I think your comment that we have better players now is baffling. Four played today who couldn't get into last seasons team.

[Burnleyareback2]

Slot of plastic sheet bed wetters on here already… if we don’t win next Saturday then I’m resigned to relegation so. I can enjoy the rest of the season with no expectation and look forward to a season in the best league.

To say you want Kompany out is absolutely ridiculous and a perfect example of the hideous fans that expect us to be a premier league power house.Anything over mid championship is over achieving for Burnley- just enjoy the ride

[kentonclaret]

According to Oddschecker Paul Heckingbottom and Vincent Kompany are short prices on Betfair to be the next manager out of the door.

Betfair prices Heckingbottom 20/21 Vincent Kompany 6/4. Under normal circumstances the loser of next weekend’s “must win” would be on his way. It all depends on how much faith Alan Pace and his co-investors still retain in the project.

[NewClaret]

Changing the manager will achieve nothing. Stick with it.

The posters who constantly demand whoever is our manager to be sacked are the ones who seem to spend all day on a messageboard.

Very true

[ebby]

According to Oddschecker Paul Heckingbottom and Vincent Kompany are short prices on Betfair to be the next manager out of the door.

Betfair prices Heckingbottom 20/21 Vincent Kompany 6/4. Under normal circumstances the loser of next weekend’s “must win” would be on his way. It all depends on how much faith Alan Pace and his co-investors still retain in the project.

I see I am not the only one following the betting.

[mybloodisclaret]

Yeah I don’t like managers who are dong ****. Funny that isn’t it.

Who do you want??? Pep?

We are Burnley and are punching well above our weight. You were tiresome with Dyche and you are now on Vinny.

Tell me who you want??

[taio]

It's certainly a must win game. But if we do lose Kompany should still be here.

[Shaggy]

Who do you want??? Pep?

We are Burnley and are punching well above our weight. You were tiresome with Dyche and you are now on Vinny.

Tell me who you want??

This punching above our weight is a boring argument pushed out by people who fear change.

Someone who doesn’t have 11 defeats in 13 would be nice. It’s a dire stat his position should be in peril.

[CoolClaret]

We're a prestige version of Dario Grady-era Crewe.

In your mind only Spiral.

These aren’t plucky kids from the academy to see what we’ve got with them.

It’s a pretty expensive outfit that has been hand picked by the manager that aren’t delivering results on the field.

It’s either the players aren’t good enough which is a knock on the recruitment, or the manager isn’t good enough.

Pick your poison.

[evensteadiereddie]

There's a third option, it's called "yet".
Give them time.

[randomclaret2]

Really like this post.

I thought we’d do a lot better this year, will be the first to admit that, but I also knew that wed likely struggle. As you say, we conceded possession so many times last year and each time I knew we’d be punished in the prem.

Won’t be a popular opinion but I think we’ve hugely improved on last year but are still away off.

I don’t think Kompany is perfect. I think he’s made many mistakes. Arguably today the subs were the latest. But like you I want us to back him, for him to learn, and then for us to come back stronger.

Its all about opinions of course, but I'm struggling with the idea that " we've hugely improved on last year "

[jojomk1]

"Must win game"

Win, lose or draw we are going down

[Sozturf7]

3 year project.

[burnley007]

Distasteful this talk of having Kompany sacked. He earned the right develop a team in the prem, and given time he will succeed.
Yes its tough going at the moment, but so what.
I would rather trust Vincent Kompany with our future prospects than take pot luck on bringing in someone who knows nothing about the set up just to have a go at changing things. Its about time fans thought about loyalty to the man who brought us up, instead of the crazy over reactive nonsense.

Thank God there's someone else out there saying this.

What do people want? Back to Dyche days of battling little Brexit Burnley? Not for me, I'm really enjoying seeing these players progressing, you can see each player's improvement and growth in each game.

[CoolClaret]

Thank God there's someone else out there saying this.

What do people want? Back to Dyche days of battling little Brexit Burnley? Not for me, I'm really enjoying seeing these players progressing, you can see each player's improvement and growth in each game.

It’s fine to be optimistic and enjoying seeing a younger side develop but have some respect with what Dyche did which with each passing game looks more and more impressive.

‘Brexit Burnley’ - get a grip.

[burnley007]

It’s fine to be optimistic and enjoying seeing a younger side develop but have some respect with what Dyche did which with each passing game looks more and more impressive.

‘Brexit Burnley’ - get a grip.

It's not what I thought, but I was sick of being accused of it. We will become a much more exciting team, but will we be more successful? I'm not sure yet.

[Lowbankclaret]

Yeah, just write that £100m off as a learning experience. No biggie. '

In VK we trust.

We have better players, you saying we don’t?

[Boss Hogg]

We have better players, you saying we don’t?

We have two to three sellable players that are worth more and plenty that are worth less currently. Koleosho is the only one from the £100 million Some of last seasons are worth more than we paid though.

As for better players from the £100 million:

Delcroix No
O Shea No
Tresor No
Ramsey No
Amdouni Jury’s Out
Trafford No
Brunn Larsen Yes ( Loan)
Koleosho Yes
Berge Yes

[CrosspoolClarets]

All this talk of player x being worse than last seasons player y is crackers. An example is Amdouni vs Tella. Amdouni is one of the top scorers in Euro qualifying and also the leading scorer in last seasons Europa League (or Conference League). He is proven quality and every game he seems to have a shot tipped around the post.

What some people forget is the standard of goalkeeping - chalk and cheese. These keepers in the Championship would have kept out loads of our goals. Plus the defenders would have put the shooter under more pressure.

Take the example of Elysee the young Palace kid who is meant to be a potential worldbeater. Possible goal of the month yesterday (until today’s cracker) but actually he has only bagged 5 in over 60 games for Palace.

That’s how hard it is in this league - if Koleosho bags 5 and Amdouni or Foster bags 10 this season, they will go for £50m each, health and fitness permitting. I don’t think they are far off figuring out how to score against these keepers.

It’ll be the same for Tresor but we are bedding in some quicker than others.

[Vegas Claret]

look how much Kompany improved Barnes, that was universally recognized by everyone. He will massively improve these young players, it's just going to take time. If you go back 10 years or so and say 8 of those would be in the PL but there will be tough times with a few relegations every last one of us would have signed up for it. The flap on some people is unreal

[mybloodisclaret]

This punching above our weight is a boring argument pushed out by people who fear change.

Someone who doesn’t have 11 defeats in 13 would be nice. It’s a dire stat his position should be in peril.

Let's change every week then?

[fidelcastro]

look how much Kompany improved Barnes, that was universally recognized by everyone. He will massively improve these young players, it's just going to take time. If you go back 10 years or so and say 8 of those would be in the PL but there will be tough times with a few relegations every last one of us would have signed up for it. The flap on some people is unreal

He didn't massively improve Barnes. Barnes was just playing at a lower level for the first time in years, so naturally found it easier, just like the likes of Roberts and Brownhill did. He was actually a better player in his first few seasons in the PL under Dyche.

[Vegas Claret]

He didn't massively improve Barnes. Barnes was just playing at a lower level for the first time in years, so naturally found it easier, just like the likes of Roberts and Brownhill did. He was actually a better player in his first few seasons in the PL under Dyche.

I disagree 100%. I also didn't see much improvement if any in Brownhill at all

[Quicknick]

Thread title is ********. Come what may VK is, and should be, here for the long run. I'm old enough to remember the travesty of Adamson being hounded out when his "team of the 70s" was struggling in the top flight after promotion from league 2. Disgraceful and a massive backwards step when he eventually went.

Totally agree with you about Adamson, Tufty.

[Bullabill]

We have two to three sellable players that are worth more and plenty that are worth less currently. Koleosho is the only one from the £100 million Some of last seasons are worth more than we paid though.

Koleosho is a four syllable player.

[Shaggy]

Let's change every week then?

Stop being ridiculous.

I was very much pro VK until the last month or so, where it’s blatantly obvious that he’s made a huge Horlicks of this season with the recruitment and the fact we are actually getting worse.

11 defeats in 13 is not acceptable at any level in any league don’t care who you are, that level of failure is worthy of the manager being removed.

I do t understand some people are actually happy and want him to remain even if we beat Derbys embarrassing record. We are on our way to doing that.

If Alan Pace has any sense he will be drawing up a list of replacements just now.

[mikeS]

A win on Saturday would transform the team. Some of them have only experienced failure and must be pretty low. Three points will lift the players, the club, our fans and our prospects but it needs to start now.
Defeat after defeat is pretty demoralising for anybody.

[jedi_master]

The same argument I was making about Dyche when he was ridiculously sacked applies just the same here. We are more than likely getting relegated (I would say it's probably above a 90% chance now). As a result (see this as defeatist if you wish, to me it's realism), we should be thinking "Who can get us immediately back up next season?". Just as I felt Dyche would have guaranteed promotion so I didn't see the point in dispensing with him, the same is wholly true of Kompany.

Kompany has made an absolute dogs dinner of our transfer window and I bet privately would admit that. He's young and learning and this is why he is at Burnley. He committed to us when we wanted him to, and now needs to earn his stripes all over again. I am absolutely relaxed about the idea of relegation, even if it inevitably means we will lose 3 or 4 of our better players again (I have almost no connection to this squad anyway, so I couldn't care less about that prospect). There is nobody I would want to bring in to try and save this dumpster fire by changing system, personnel and more than likely failing anyway. That would leave us in an even worse state of disarray than we are now. Better the devil you know and all that.

I am more than content as a Burnley fan to bounce between the Premier League and Championship. At least that means I will enjoy one in two seasons because I take almost no joy watching us at this level anymore. It's an absolute farce and circus.

[lakedistrictclaret]

I agree with almost all of that, jedi_master, except that I would like to hang on to most of our better players.

[ClaretOfMancunia]

VK still has my backing. I see consistent improvement from game to game. I have confidence he'll take us back up again next season. I have confidence he'll develop and improve this crop of high potential kids. I'm willing to give him the time to pull this off, even if it means relegation this season.

[Clovius Boofus]

look how much Kompany improved Barnes, that was universally recognized by everyone.

That was forgotten about after a handful of games into this season by some on here. The same regarding the way we stormed the Championship. I'm afraid we have gathered a fair amount of shite plastic fans.

Let's not forget that some of those very same people, on here, were shouting for Dyche to be sacked after a Boxing Day defeat in torrential rain at Hull during our 2015–16 Championship winning season.

[Big Vinny K]

I’d rather take the whole package - good and bad.

There’s plenty of people on this messageboard who could not wait to get rid of Dyche - the most successful manager in the last 40 or 50 years and someone who brought more revenue into the club during his tenure than the total brought in by every other manager in our history. And still many fans weren’t happy.

I just don’t understand those who say last season is now forgotten. Supporting Burnley for me is always in the context of the bigger picture and relative to not only to the previous 50 years of supporting them but also to the relative size of the club compared to others.

Seen comments on this and other threads by fans saying they dislike phrases like “punching above our weight”.
Well the simple fact (it’s not an opinion) is that we are. By any financial metric you want to think of - including the summer transfer spend - we are.

Of course £100m (I’m sure it is not as high as this) is a significant amount but you cannot take one statistic in isolation without considering the wage bill, previous years spend etc as well as what the other teams in the division are spending (take a look at little old Bournemouth’s spend last year for example).

When we look down the fixtures fans will often look at teams like West Ham as one of the teams we have a chance against. This is the club with the biggest stadium in London. It’s one of the many clubs that realised you now need a stadium of a minimum of 60,000 capacity to compete now. That’s not just 3 times as big as ours it’s probably 6 or 7 times as big in revenue. There’s one club in this league who gets nearly as many people in corporate hospitality every home game as we do in total attendance. They make more in revenue from this a year than we do from TV income !!

So you take your choice as a supporter. But personally I would not swap the last 18 months under VK for any other 18 months in my time supporting the club and that’s the reason why personally (even if we finish with single figure points) that I want him to stay and hope that next season is as good as last season.

[Shaggy]

The amount of delusion from some people is off the scale.

Who’s to say that next season we will storm the championship again?

If you are happy with the current situation then all
Power to you. You are clearly happy in any situation.

With regards to Dyche getting sacked. That was the correct decision.

[Big Vinny K]

The amount of delusion from some people is off the scale.

Who’s to say that next season we will storm the championship again?

If you are happy with the current situation then all
Power to you. You are clearly happy in any situation.

With regards to Dyche getting sacked. That was the correct decision.

It’s not delusion - in your kind of language it’s just not “being a d-ick about it”.
It’s also not being about happy about the current situation - fans are not walking off the games happy. But some are able to put things in a bit of context.

I do not think we’ll storm the championship. But you can still have a very enjoyable season getting promoted - of which I think we would have a very good chance under the same manager as it happens who did storm the championship. There are a hell of a lot of things I prefer about the championship to the EPL

And finally I’m not talking about whether it was right to get rid of Dyche at the end - I’m talking about the fans who were complaining in the seasons before every time E went on a bad run, or at the style of football, or at his signings etc

[Goody1975]

Saturday is a must win?

In terms of having a chance to stay up, certainly yes.

Sacking the manager if we don't?

Don't be daft

[ClaretOfMancunia]

The amount of delusion from some people is off the scale.

Hardly, I've seen lots of measured commentary in this thread to be honest.

Who’s to say that next season we will storm the championship again?

Who's to say we won't? Obviously nobody knows for sure but for my own reasoning; we have a talented squad, a manager who stormed it with 100+ points last time round and the Championship itself will be a weak affair if Leeds, Leicester and Saints go back up.

If you are happy with the current situation then all
Power to you. You are clearly happy in any situation.

Hardly the case, just that some can see a little further than the next few games when considering their position on VK.

With regards to Dyche getting sacked. That was the correct decision.

Not in 2014/15 it wouldn't have been?

[jedi_master]

The amount of delusion from some people is off the scale.

Who’s to say that next season we will storm the championship again?

If you are happy with the current situation then all
Power to you. You are clearly happy in any situation.

With regards to Dyche getting sacked. That was the correct decision.

If that's your opinion Shaggy, fair enough. I will counter some of this, but don't take it as an argument.

Nobody is 'happy' with the situation, find me someone who is? I think people are mostly saying that there is almost nothing that we can do now to fix this and somehow stay up this season. The club would be looking at the likes of Big Sam if we sack Kompany (if we are to assume you advocate for a more pragmatic approach, as the current one is not getting results?). The hypocrisy around the desire to revert to a more route one/defensive style from so many who wanted Dyche sacked and hounded him relentlessly on this message board is hilarious frankly. Stand by your footballing beliefs, and the manager.

If you want this style of football with all of it's risk and reward inherent, then you need to accept that this team is 90%+ likely to get relegated. We can then aim to come back and do better, and maybe then that won't be enough to stay up either. It is what it is. The Championship is garbage and with likely 2 of Leicester, Leeds and Southampton coming up this season (and us, Sheff Utd and Luton - for me - going down) we would be easily in the frame for a top two place in that league, even with another turnover of players. I am certainly not 'happy in any situation' (pulling my bobble hat over my face and screaming as O'Shea bundled his own goal in against West Ham would show you that) but I am being pragmatic myself in looking at the longer term picture and make up of our club. We have no divine right to be at this level (Dyche made us feel that way for a long time) and certainly not playing with such a young squad. They need this experience, and a year of WINNING in the level below to come back and have another go. They have absolutely no belief in themselves and confidence is non-existent.