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Saints V Burnley The Preview
Saturday, 14th Jan 2017 10:00

Saints travel to Burnley needing to continue the good work against Liverpool, but the dilemma for Claude Puel is should he rotate or not rotate ? that is the question.

Saints need to get something at Burnley, recent league results have not done justice to the quality of the squad and hopefully Claude Puel has realised where he has gone wrong, however with a cup replay against Norwich looming as well as the trip to Liverpool for what is our most important game in 14 years, the manager needs to temper his seemingly natural tendency to make sweeping changes and carefully pick a subtle change or two knowing he can rest a few more against Norwich.

Puel's main fault has he has tried to be too clever, rather than take every game as it comes, he has tried to think too much in advance and that has backfired on him, he needs to get points in the bag and build momentum, when he has done that he can make rotational changes will far less damage to the shape and momentum of the side.

The reality is that most of the squad are capable of playing on Wednesday and then again today, he can then rest the bulk against Norwich.

So I would like to see minimal changes, it is important to keep the bulk of the defence in situ, the game against Liverpool showed that our strength lies in keeping it tight at the back and building from there, when we have changed virtually the whole back four it has resulted in chaos.

If we are going to make a change or two for this game the midfield or attack is the place to do it.

If Puel keeps the spine of the team strong and doesn't tinker then there is no reason why we shouldn't shock the Clarets good home form.

Burnley are as strong at home as they are shocking away where they are yet to register a win and indeed have only a single point, but their home form albeit very good is not impregnable, what they do have though is belief and momentum.

They have won 7, drawn 1 and lost 3, but the majority of those wins have come against the likes of Boro, Palace and Sunderland, even Hull managed a draw there, when they have come up against the top half of the table, Liverpool aside who went down 1-0 in the second game of the season, they have usually come unstuck.

So that offers Saints hope providing they can put out a strong and organised side and this could be the key, Burnley will come at us and that will offer us opportunities to go on the break at them.

So we should not fear this game, the main danger to us is ourselves, this is a key game for Claude Puel in a key month, we beat Burnley and we move up the table and start to create a gap between us and some of the chasing sides, we lose and we are firmly down into mid table obscurity.

On Wednesday Puel showed that if he picks his best side he can get results, there is little wrong with the squad that consistency stability in picking the side cannot put right, however the manager needs to show he has learnt from his mistakes, if he wants a long term future at this football club this game is going to be crucial in either starting his revival in popularity or conversely put another nail in his coffin in the eyes of the fans.

I still back Puel, he has shown at times what a shrewd and good manager he is, but football is a results driven game, all managers make mistakes, but the difference between good and bad ones is that the good ones learn from them and don't repeat them, whereas the managers who fail repeat them continuosly, we will soon find out what category our manager falls into.

Photo: Action Images



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dixiefrog added 12:52 - Jan 14
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I think Burnley are overrated and although they've had some good results at home, they've hardly flattered against the big teams. Providing the Boss sends out a reasonable team, I'm going for a 2-0 win for Saints. The new defence pairing looks awesome and I don't see them conceding today, at the other end Jrod is beginning to fire on all cylinders and should bag one against his old club, plus a sneaky extra from the midfield should wrap up the proceedings. Come on lads three points today please.
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vanmans added 16:59 - Jan 14
Same old crap. The sooner we buy a good striker the better. Lost 4 league games in a row now. 3 of those games which you would expect us to win.
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