Opinion: Burnley showed the right response against Bournemouth, but it still wasn't enough

The Clarets, let’s be frank, have been poor all season, the points tally tells us as much. But they were especially off the pace against both Arsenal and Crystal Palace.

Not only did they lose by an aggregate score of 8-0 during those two fixtures, they also lacked the most basic principles of a Burnley side: fight, resilience and intensity.

You simply can’t get away with anything less than 100 per cent in this division, otherwise you’ll get found out.

In fact, as we’ve found out on several occasions, you can play well and match your opponents for hard work, grit and determination and still come out losing heavily. That’s just the nature of the Premier League.

But to give anything less? That’s simply unforgivable.

Much improved

So on Burnley’s return to Turf Moor, that was the overriding objective. Put on a display that the supporters could take pride in and associate with.

Thankfully, we got it. But it still wasn’t enough. To quote a famous track by The Smiths, stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before…

Right from the off, you could tell the hosts were at it. There was fire in the belly and an intent to go at Bournemouth from the first whistle.

The Clarets pressed well, not allowing the Cherries to settle. In possession, despite some of the supporters’ frustrations with the time James Trafford took to play out, Burnley built up their attacks with purpose and self-assurance.

On that subject, it was interesting that Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola pointed out Burnley’s tactic of using Trafford as the spare man to draw out the press, which creates space and options further up the pitch.

Yes it can be frustrating when it appears Trafford is simply dawdling on the ball and all the tempo and momentum looks to be draining out of their play. But it’s done for a reason.

I couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for Trafford as the jeers and groans grew louder as he took another touch and held onto the ball for another second. He’s low on confidence as it is.

But fair play to him, he stuck to his task and played his part in Burnley’s build-up play, because this was far more progressive than anything we’ve seen from Vincent Kompany’s men in a good while.

This was almost back to what we witnessed last season. The identity that has been so sorely missed was beginning to come back. Burnley dominated the ball, ending the game with 75 per cent possession, but also created chances on a regular basis. Good ones, too.

Wasteful

But this is where the positives end, unfortunately. Because a deep sense of déjà vu soon set in as opportunities came and went.

In total, Burnley created 20 attempts on the Bournemouth goal, one more than the 19 produced during the 5-0 thrashing of Sheffield United. It’s arguably as good as we’ve had from them this season in an attacking sense.

But unlike the Blades blitz, the Clarets didn’t have their shooting boots on this time around. Instead, the home side failed to record one, never mind five.

Bournemouth looked well off the pace during the early stages yet it was them and not Burnley who opened the scoring after just 13 minutes.

What an aberration of a goal it was, too. Maxime Esteve and Dara O’Shea failed to deal with what looked to be a relatively routine ball over the top, allowing Justin Kluivert the opportunity to slam home from eight or so yards out. It was an absolute gift.

To Burnley’s credit, they responded well and didn’t allow the setback to stop them from returning to their game. But to repeat, it still wasn’t enough.

Instead, with Burnley committing more and more men forward in the dying stages, the visitors added to their tally with a late second, drilled home by Antoine Semenyo via the aid of a deflection off Charlie Taylor.

Getting no help

It was just typical that Semenyo, who was fortunate to avoid a second yellow card earlier in the half, was the man to put the game to bed.

Kluivert, the scorer of the first, could easily have seen red earlier in the game for a pretty clear stamp on the ankle of Josh Cullen. The incident was checked by VAR, yet referee David Coote wasn’t sent over to the monitors to take a look. Truly bizarre.

If this wasn’t bad enough, Cullen was also denied an equalising goal midway through the second-half when he steered home from close range.

Coote blew up pretty quickly, adjudging Jacob Bruun Larsen to have impeded defender Adam Smith as he leapt and climbed to nod the ball down into Cullen’s path.

It was ‘one of those’, as the tired old pundit likes to say. Could have gone either way. Against Luton earlier in the season, it went against them. Against Bournemouth this weekend, same again. Sigh.

The referee isn’t to blame for this latest defeat though. Burnley only have themselves for a) the horrendous defending for Bournemouth’s opener and b) not taking any of the umpteen chances that came their way.

For once, there were positives to take away. For a start, the performance. But also individual displays, like that of Vitinho playing out of position at right wing, warrants highlighting.

Wilson Odobert also caught the eye playing in a more central number 10 role. He’s been marked out of games in recent weeks but with a bit more space at his disposal, he was able to get on the ball more and have far more of an influence.

But talk of positives are hollow when the results remain the same. In that case, it’s same old, same old. Rinse and repeat.