Strange squad selections cost us at Turf Moor

If our win against Liverpool last week was the night you’ll never forget then our defeat at Burnley on Saturday was the hangover to end all hangovers.

Turf Moor is a tough place for any team to go - as shown by Burnley’s results there so far this season - but I genuinely thought we’d be able to play our natural game and get a result there. The first ten minutes seemed to prove me correct too, as we looked bright going forward and carved out a couple of chances.

One Jeff Hendrick wonder-goal and a scrambled corner conversion later and that good start evaporated quickly from memory however. The rest of the game saw us gamely attempt to fight back, but we simply gave ourselves far too much to do. It was like our defeat at Middlesbrough all over again.

So what were the main reasons behind this defeat? Well I want to start off what could end up being a bit of a rant by saying that Burnley are certainly worthy of some praise. They are not a fashionable side, and certainly not one that everyone would say our natural entertainers - but they are well drilled and the way they constantly keep their defensive shape (at home at least!) against all odds is something to be admired.

I honestly wish we could be as well organised as that at the back at times, even if I would also never want to sacrifice our quick passing style of football.

Which brings me onto what I thought was one of the main reasons we lost, which is the way we set the team up. Eddie Howe is a superb manager, but he’s certainly not infallible - and Saturday proved this.

He insisted on not putting players in their strongest positions at the back - including Simon Francis at right-back, whereas he has recently looked far more secure in the centre with Steve Cook. There was also the strange decision to persist with Adam Smith as a right winger - where any sane person can see his best position is right back.

This same strange shuffling of the back four was tried against Liverpool too, and we somehow got away with it - but only because we swapped the players to their best positions after the hour mark. Against Burnley no such changes were made, and we ultimately paid the price.

One of the reasons for this reshuffle is, of course, to accommodate Nathan Aké. I would agree that the talented Dutchman needs to play, but why Howe persists on shuffling our entire defence to such a degree to do so is baffling, especially as keeping out teams has always arguably been one of our biggest weaknesses. Creating such instability really isn’t wise then, proven by the fact we’ve now conceded seven goals in the last two games.

My solution to the Aké dilemma is simple too - play him as a defensive midfielder in front of a back four of Charlie Daniels and Adam Smith as the full backs and Simon Francis and Steve Cook as the centre backs.

Dan Gosling is the obvious fall guy to make room for Aké as well. Gosling is a tireless worker, but he lacks the pace and positional sense that Aké boasts - and these are qualities we desperately need in the centre of the pitch, especially if we ever decide to play 4 across midfield again like we did this weekend.

There were positives from the defeat - Benik Afobe getting his first goal this season should do wonders for his confidence, and Ryan Fraser looked bright - but overall this Saturday was a huge missed opportunity to build on our incredible win the previous week.

What makes it all the more frustrating was that we’d shot ourselves in the foot before the match had even started. I can only hope Eddie Howe realises his selection errors from this weekend and rectifies them for our upcoming Tuesday night match against Leicester City. We simply cannot afford to give teams a head start in this division - it’s tough enough as it is.