Stoke here as we kick off the new year at home
12/31/2024 05:04 PM
It's 2025, or it will be when we return home to take on Stoke tomorrow having won four points on the road at Sheffield United and Middlesbrough over the festive period.
I'm sure we would all prefer to be top of the league but we are not too far away. We are three points behind leaders Leeds and just one point behind Sheffield United.
We are just over halfway through the season and go into our first game of the calendar year knowing a positive result could see us move up a place dependent on how Sheffield United fare at fourth place Sunderland.
I think we've done remarkably well to be where we are, not because I don't think we are good enough, but because of the incredible turnover of players that came after the season had started. I was looking back at the games on the opening night at Luton we had all of Dara O'Shea, Vitinho and Wilson Odobert in our starting line-up while Anass Zaroury, Wout Weghorst and Luke McNally came on as substitutes.
By the time we played our next game, Odobert had gone and one week on at Sunderland we saw the stark situation as Scott Parker was forced into giving first starts for CJ Egan-Riley (pictured below), Han-Noah Massengo and Andréas Hountondji. So short of players were we that we had academy players Will Hugill, Tommy McDermott and Vernon Masara on a bench that also included two goalkeepers.
I've never seen so many players involved in transfers in such a short time as followed but when Blackburn pitched up for the next game it seemed as though the players were having to be introduced to each other.
To have a start like that and build a new team so quickly is why I think it's remarkable and we've been improving as the season has progressed and I'd suggest the two games before Middlesbrough, against Watford at home and then at Sheffield United, following on from the second half at Norwich, were as good as we've seen.
With no press since the last game at Middlesbrough, there is no news on any potential injuries nor of any players possibly coming back into the squad which appears unlikely. That would suggest Parker will select from a similar squad although he could make changes to the actual team having kept the same eleven for each of the last three games.
The team at Middlesbrough was: James Trafford, Connor Roberts, CJ Egan-Riley, Maxime Estève, Bashir Humphreys, Josh Cullen, Josh Laurent, Jaidon Anthony, Josh Brownhill, Hannibal, Zian Flemming. Subs: Václav Hladký, John Egan, Joe Worrall, Lucas Pires, Jeremy Sarmiento, Luca Koleosho, Jay Rodriguez, Andréas Hountondji, Lyle Foster.
Stoke arrive at Burnley having had a first half of the season that has proved to be disappointing and one of change. The season started with Steven Schumacher in charge but after kicking off with two wins and three defeats, former Claret Jon Walters' axe came down on Schumacher with his replacement Narcís Pèlach coming in a couple of days later from Norwich.
It took him three games to win his first points; they came in a 6-1 home win against Portsmouth. There were lots of draws to follow but only two more wins, and in successive games at home to Derby and at Blackburn.
Following the Boxing Day defeat to Leeds, Walters got his axe out again leaving Stoke looking for a third manager and at the time of writing that looks certain to be Mark Robins who started the season as Coventry boss.
With former captain Ryan Shawcross currently in caretaker charge, they beat Sunderland 1-0 on Sunday at home with a Thomas Cannon goal which has left them in 18th place, four points ahead of Cardiff, the highest placed of the clubs in the bottom three.
Cannon, the goalscorer, is on loan from Leicester and has scored nine of their 24 league goals with four players having scored three times, including former Claret Ben Gibson (pictured below) who has also scored two of the four own goals they've conceded.
I always thought the appointment of Pèlach looked an unlikely fit and I do think Stoke will look a different proposition to the team that we beat at the bet365 Stadium just under five weeks ago.
Shawcross is likely to be in charge tomorrow and he said ahead of their game against Sunderland: "I just want to watch Stoke and not be bored or see teams sitting back. I want to go for it."
Shawcross, who has said he will make tactical switches for tomorrow's game, made two personnel changes for the Sunderland game although one of those was forced on him when Gibson dropped to the bench having suffered an illness.
Their team was: Viktor Johansson, Junior Tchamadeu, Ashley Phillips, Ben Wilmot, Lynden Gooch, Tatsuki Seko, Wouter Burger, Lewis Koumas, Andrew Moran, Bae Jun-Ho, Thomas Cannon. Subs: Jack Bonham, Niall Ennis, Sam Gallagher, Ben Gibson, Bosun Lawal, Michael Rose, Sol Sidibe, Enda Stevens, Emre Tezgel.
LAST TIME THEY WERE HERE
Seven of our first fifteen Championship games two seasons ago ended in 1-1 draws, three of them at home and four away. Stoke's visit to the Turf was the third of those home draws.
It came during that run of games when we kept losing leads and this one was no different with Connor Roberts opening the scoring early in the second half and Stoke equalising through Harry Clarke just three minutes from the end.
We were the better of the two sides in the first half without offering much of a goal threat but overall it had been a drab half of football. The second half started much better with both teams having chances but then we broke the deadlock.
We'd gone 1-0 in front for an eighth successive game but we'd won just three and this was another where we couldn't grab all three points. They got past Brownhill down their left and with two passes found Tarique Fosu-Henry on the right. He knocked the ball up for Clarke to head home.
With twelve games gone, it left us fifth in the table behind Sheffield United, Norwich, Reading and QPR.
The teams were;
Burnley: Arijanet Muric, Connor Roberts, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Jordan Beyer, Vitinho, Josh Cullen, Jack Cork (Anass Zaroury 89), Manuel Benson (Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson 72), Josh Brownhill, Nathan Tella, Jay Rodriguez. Subs not used: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, Charlie Taylor, Ian Maatsen, Samuel Bastien, Ashley Barnes.
Stoke: Joseph Bursik, Ben Wilmot, Phil Jagielka, Morgan Fox, Tarique Fosu-Henry, Will Smallbone, Lewis Baker, Dujon Sterling, Dwight Gayle (Harry Clarke 72), Liam Delap, Tyrese Campbell (D'Margio Wright-Phillips 90+5). Subs not used: Jack Bonham, Aden Flint, Connor Taylor, Tom Sparrow, Ben Kershaw.
LAST TWENTY SEASONS
2004/05
Home: D 2-2, Moore, Blake(pen)
Away: W 1-0, Cahill
2005/06
Home: W 1-0, Akinbiyi
Away: L 0-1
2006/07
Away: W 1-0, Gray
Home: L 0-1
2007/08
Home: D 0-0
Away: D 1-1, Lafferty
2009/10
Away: L 0-2
Home: D 1-1, Nugent
2014/15
Away: W 2-1, Ings(2)
Home: D 0-0
2016/17
Away: L 0-2
Home: W 1-0, Boyd
2017/18
Home: W 1-0, Barnes
Away: D 1-1,Barnes
2022/23
Home: D 1-1, Roberts
Away: W 1-0, Cullen
2024/25
Away: Won 2-0, Rodriguez, Brownhill(pen)
