Burnley Fan View: Question marks remain over Clarets' midfield options

With the Hull game looming, Burnley once again face a lack of options in midfield, even with their moves in January to secure reinforcements.

With Johann Berg Gudmundsson getting his first start after injury, and Steven Defour earmarked as targeting the Hull game for a return to the team, everything was looking rosey for Burnley this time last week.

However since then Lincoln dumped us out of the cup at home and Gudmundsson was injured early in said game. It’s a shame the tackle wasn’t replayed on Match of the Day as it was a really poor and dangerous one.

It looks like Gudmundsson won’t be available for the Hull game which is a real blow to our chances, especially in a game where we can’t just sit back and allow Hull to move the ball whilst hitting them on the break – we need to take the game to them, something which we have only done at West Brom, after we fell 3-0 down in the first half.

That would free up George Boyd to return to the starting lineup on the right, and again my concern is his creativity and pace going forward. Boyd has upped his game in recent weeks and was excellent against both Leicester and Chelsea, but in games where we need to get forward and create chances he is lacking. This is more down to design than ability as he is played as a second full back rather than an out and out winger, and his chances are limited going forward.

Fortunately we have Brady to keep the other side of the field occupied, but he will have to play much better than he did against Chelsea when he faces his former club. That being said if he can have as much impact on the score as he did in his debut performance v Chelsea then i’m sure we will all be content.

Moving to the centre of midfield we are seeing the same issue rear its head again as we are running very short of options. Westwood was signed and will likely start in his third straight game since arriving from Aston Villa, who have been in very poor form since he left. I felt he was excellent v Chelsea and one of the worst performers v Lincoln. Hopefully he can assert himself at the KC Stadium.

Steven Defour picked up an injury in the Leicester game and has not featured since. He travelled home to Belgium to see a specialist in the meantime but the lack of news around his injury is worrying. I feel he must be doubtful to face Hull. If that is the case I would expect Joey Barton to play alongside Westwood, but a midfield 2 of Barton and Defour would be a real boost to our chances. Hendrick will serve the third of his three game ban against Hull.

The final question is whether to persist with 2 up front or revert back to a 5 man midfield. I don’t believe we are going to dominate possession even with 5 men in midfield and would rather we have a solid 4-4-2. This would allow us to use Gray’s pace on the break to relieve pressure, whilst also playing Ashley Barnes who has quietly been one of the best players this season for Burnley. Having an international like Vokes come off the bench is something i’d never expect to see as a Burnley fan who remembers not being able to fill the bench under Stan Ternent and Steve Cotterill.

This game is one of the biggest of the season and despite being 10 points clear of the chasing pack we really need to avoid defeat against them – there’s no doubt they will see this as 3 points they must win given our woeful form away from the Turf.

Dyche will get a reaction from the Lincoln game, and I predict we go on to win our first away game of the season, with Brady scoring the only goal.