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Issue 12: The squad - Midfielders

As the case is with the defence, a lot of players are available to the manager that can play a midfield role, but there is a dearth of quality and a distinct lack of wide players.

Wade Elliott has easily been our best player for two seasons now, and it was a huge boost when he recently signed a new deal. The right-wing is one of the few areas of the squad where we have no problems whatsoever. Indeed, with Glen Little the previous regular occupant of the shirt, right-wing has been our best position for some years now.

Moving across the field to the left wing area, we begin to find problems. There is not one left-footed winger in the entire squad, which has resulted in various players plugging the gap out there with varying degrees of success. Kyle Lafferty has performed admirably there, but he needs to play up front to get the best out of him. Robbie Blake has not impressed when tried out there. Losing Albanian starlet Besart Berisha was a huge blow, he would be a regular in the side by now had he not got injured early in the season.


At the start of the season we even tried Jon Harley on the wing, but that didn't work, and neither did playing Steve Jones there. Alan Mahon could play there but is more effective through the middle and rarely fit. Chris McCann is left-footed but is never a winger. A new left winger has been a necessity for a while now, and Coyle addressed the problem in January but just missed out on Argentinian winger Marcelo Carrusca. Playing 4-3-3 recently has only alleviated the problem of having nobody to play on the left.

Despite the concern over this position, I'm still more worried about the central of the park. The midfield is where games are won. If you win the midfield battle you invariably win the game. And our midfield simply does not dominate other sides. A midfield pairing has two jobs: to protect the defence and to support the attack. It is rare that our midfield performs either job effectively.

The three men that have made up our midfield pairing for most of the season have been James O'Connor, Joey Gudjonsson and Chris McCann. O'Connor's failings are well-documented. He is too small and lightweight against many midfields that will simply push him off the ball. However, given the opportunity, he is capable of getting forward to good effect and scoring a few goals a season.


However, Chris McCann makes a far better case for being the goalscoring midfielder, with his height coming in useful when attacking and defending set-pieces. His use of the ball is improving all the time and Coyle has already been very vocal about his talents.

Gudjonsson has been a major let down. When he first arrived I thought we had a genuine Championship midfielder on our books, but over a year since he signed he has still yet to show the form he is capable of for the club.

Other midfield options I have not mentioned include former Bournemouth men John Spicer and Garreth O'Connor, who both look likely to leave during the summer. Frankly, despite Garreth's good start and Spicer's flashes of quality, neither looks good enough for this level.

Coyle's success in fixing our problems in the middle of the park will decide whether we can mount a realistic promotion challenge next term or not. We will need another winger to support Elliott and Berisha, and at least one quality central midfield player to give us a chance of finally breaking that all-important top six.

To sign off, here's a video of one of our finest performances of recent years, when we destroyed Norwich at Carrow Road. Notably, two of our four goals came from midfielders, and we dominated them in the centre of the pitch all game.

Issue 11: The squad - Defenders

Once you have your goalkeeper sorted, your next cause for concern should be your defence.

We have plenty of defenders, but there are question marks over most of them as to whether or not they are good enough.

We can assume that Stan Varga will not be retained. David Unsworth has spoken this week about his desire to stay, but Owen Coyle may decide to let him go too. Personally, I'd keep him for another year as back-up. Steven Caldwell has flattered to deceive this season and hasn't really looked fit after his injury. Clarke Carlisle has proved himself a worthy replacement for the erstwhile Wayne Thomas.

Michael Duff is returning from injury (he made the bench in our most recent defeat) but Coyle may see him as the answer to our woes at right-back, where Graham Alexander has shown we signed him at least five years too late. Dean Stott, a young full-back, is highly thought of by those who watch the youngsters regularly, and may come through next year.

On the left, Stephen Jordan has rarely impressed at left-back but has had flashes of competence at centre-back and may be worth keeping as cover. Jon Harley, as good a left-back as there is in the league, has bafflingly yet to be offered an extension to his contract.

Harley staying is incredibly important. Good full-backs are hard to find, and we may be needing one for the right flank too. We surely won't find one better than Harley. He's solid defensively and excellent going forward, and with us likely to be fielding a new signing on the left wing, it is imperative we don't have a brand new flank that would take weeks to gel, together, and with the rest of the side.

Owen Coyle will most likely be making a new centre-back his priority at the back during the summer break. I can see him letting Caldwell go and appointing a new Captain. Duff and Harley will probably be our first-choice full-backs so we will want someone to partner Carlisle. CC's strengths are in his calm head and his tackling. He also has enough pace to cover a slower defender alongside him. His ideal partner would surely be tall and dominant in the air as well as strong on the floor. They will also need organisation skills as we concede too many goals from set pieces at the moment.

Someone like Gary Cahill when he was on loan here from Villa. Players like that are not easy to come by. Another area where Coyle has his work cut out, then.

Issue 10: The squad - Goalkeepers

I think most Burnley fans will agree that a new goalkeeper is a big priority for the club this summer.

Gabor Kiraly and Brian Jensen have simply made too many mistakes, and have probably cost us a play-off place between them.

It hasn't helped that we have been unable to play a settled back five all season, something Owen Coyle will be working on during the summer break.



With Jensen out of contract, it seems likely that we will look to bring in a new first-choice keeper and retain Kiraly as a back-up.

Of course, all goalkeepers make mistakes, so we shouldn't expect a keeper to come in that never makes any errors. That's just unrealistic.

What we should do is target a goalkeeper that can communicate with his defence, come out and claim crosses successfully, and dominate his area. Obviously, they need to be able to save shots, but if we can get a solid unit sorted back there, we should be able to restrict most teams to shots from range.

An area I would like to see us look is in Premiership reserve and youth sides. Ben Foster is probably out of our range, but there are a lot of young goalkeepers at big sides that we may be able to bring in on loan or on permanent deals.

A player we reportedly were taking an interest in was Fraser Forster of Newcastle United, but this week he signed a new deal tying him to the club until 2010. Newcastle also have Dutch youngster Tim Krul, who has played for them in Europe and looks unlikely to get into their first-team.

Whatever happens this summer though, I am absolutely positive there will be an incoming goalkeeper.