Burnley are back in the elite crowd!
This mid-week we got to know the team that won the gold medals of the Championship. It was Vincent Kompany’s Burnley, who, after a 1-0 triumph over Blackburn, turned out to be inaccessible to competitors. Thus, a year later, the Clarets return to the cohort of the strongest!
Nearly twenty years have passed since the Premier League was formed, until the modest Burnley, under the leadership of Sean Dyche, briefly looked into the elite. He stayed there for a year, dropped back to the Championship, then returned, even made it to European competition once and dropped down again in the 2021/22 campaign. Whatever one may say, the Clarets, who have little financial resources, have been jumping above their heads for a long time - sooner or later this would come to an end.
During the time of Sean Dyche, Burnley adhered to the defensive model of the game, which turned into a banal “bus” in matches with the giants. A sort of old-school football from a position of weakness. And last summer, the club was headed by ex-Manchester City footballer Vincent Kompany, who worked fruitfully under the leadership of Pep Guardiola and learned the vision of the game from the Catalan. It’s not surprising that the Clarets have changed beyond recognition with the Belgian specialist.
With two rounds to go in the Championship, Burnley have earned 95 points, scored 82 goals (second in the league behind Michael Carrick's Middlesbrough) and conceded just 34 (a record). Now the Clarets play in a dominant manner and still focus on home matches. Just last weekend, the Clarets suffered their first loss of the season at Turf Moor, and even then, in the status of the Premier League member already. The leaders of this team are 23-year-old Nathan Taylor (17 goals), 26-year-old Manuel Benson (10) and unfading Jay Rodriguez (9).
So far, they’re not on the radar of top clubs, so Burnley can not only keep their leading players, but also buy new ones. Recently, the club has been focusing on the Belgian-Dutch market, which is well known to Vincent Kompany. But the coach himself will soon go on promotion. For example, Chelsea are already interested in him. While Vincent is in the team, the Clarets are unlikely to face an early relegation to the Championship. In their first season in the elite, they will probably finish in the 12-16 places.
However, the competition in the Premier League is so high that even Burnley, which has changed for the better, will sooner or later become a weak link in it. At the moment, the team is enjoying a moment of triumph, but only time will tell how long it will last.
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