It's good to be there
IT was always going to a tall order asking Burnley's weakened defence to deal with Stoke's set pieces in Saturday's Premier League debut.
They didn't, on two occasions, but the Clarets can take plenty of positives from their first game back with the big boys, in particular a good second half performance.
As this column was written we were still waiting to take our home bow against mighty Manchester United, a match which has Burnley fans licking their lips. We've waited a long time to renew top flight football at Turf Moor, and with opposition like Sir Alex Ferguson's reigning champions, the occasion couldn't come any bigger.
Sir Alex has had injury problems of his own in defensive positions, but Burnley at least looked to have strengthened their own back line with the signature on Tuesday of Reading's Andre Bikey.
He was set to be available for the United game despite serving out a lengthy ban ironically gained when his dismissal in the Championship Play-Off semi-final first leg against the Clarets put the Lancashire team in the driving seat in the tie.
The Cameroon international was without doubt once of the best central defenders in the Championship last term and looked quality - if he can control the temper that got him into trouble at Turf!
What Burnley have to do this season is identify teams they can beat and do their utmost to maximise the points return from those games. Outside the top four or five, they also need to make Turf Moor as impregnable as Stoke have made the Britannia.
We may have harboured some hopes that Stoke may be in the beatable category but once again Tony Pulis, love his style or loathe it, looks to have marshalled them into a tight game plan, particularly dangerous from those set pieces (and, let's face it, that's what set pieces are for, so I've never really seen it as a negative that Stoke make the most of them even if I'm not a fan of some of their play) and a solid mindset.
Burnley must look to find chinks in the armour of other clubs while keeping on playing to the Clarets' attacking strengths.
They now face a succession of very tough matches (although Everton had the worst seasonal debut in the Prem and the Clarets' face them on Sunday, I can't see David Moyes letting that continue) and must not get downhearted.
Including the United match last night, Liverpool and Chelsea, these are games against the cream and anything taken from these sides can be considered a bonus. But it's what playing in the big league is all about, so let's relish it anyway.
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Weather for Halifax
Saturday 11 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 0 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South west
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 3 C to 5 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North west
