Defeat at Deepdale leaves us four points off the play-offs with six to play, but the reality is that we've left ourselves far too much work to do over the last half dozen matches.
Once again it was defensive errors that proved our undoing. Coyle again rotated the keepers and Jensen repaid the manager's renewed faith by gifting North End the winner. This came after O'Connor had levelled the scores in the first half following David Unsworth's mistake for the opener.
The defeat means the inquest into the season starts right now.
Looking at the campaign with a sensible head, a top half finish would represent a decent start to the Coyle era. But the sneaking feeling is that with a league as wide open as it has been in years, Burnley have blown a great chance of promotion by failing to put together a consistent run of results.
Errors throughout the side have cost us. Akinbiyi's misses. Goalkeeping howlers. Defensive catastrophes. Poor performances from the midfield. All over the pitch we look weak, and although we technically can still get in that top 6, it looks like Coyle will have a big rebuilding job this summer.
He knows it though, and it should be a busy summer at Turf Moor with lots of transfer dealings. If it isn't, in a league that is bound to be stronger, we may struggle to make an impact.
2 comments:
After another season of disappointment, is it time to get rid of the deadwood? As much as players like Akinbiyi are fans favourites, it might be time to look seriously and say: "If we have serious aspirations of the Premiership, these players aren't good enough."
I completely agree, although I think Akinbiyi has fallen out of favour in recent weeks with the fans following all his misses.
But we could do with a serious clear-out, I'll be blogging soon on the lack of quality in our squad.
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