Opinion: Burnley's lack of threat a cause for concern in one-sided Newcastle United defeat

You never want to admit defeat but, on the face of it, a 2-0 defeat at St James’ Park is about what one would expect. It’s par for the course, you could argue.

But for Burnley, what was most disappointing is how – 10 minutes aside – they utterly failed to trouble Newcastle. It all felt a little bit too comfortable and routine.

The scoreline suggests this was a pretty tight game, especially when you consider Newcastle had to wait until the 75th minute to add their second goal of the game.

But in reality, it was as one-sided as we’ve witnessed in a Burnley game so far this season. Even more so than the 5-2 humbling at the hands of Tottenham. At least on that occasion the Clarets carried a threat.

The true story

The Expected Goals (xG) metric – which measures the quality of a side’s chances – backs up that point too, with Newcastle boasting 3.09 compared to Burnley’s 0.80. For comparison, Spurs only managed an xG of 1.67 during their heavy win at Turf Moor at the start of September.

Had Newcastle been as ruthless as they were against Sheffield United last weekend, this defeat would have been a lot heavier. That’s what was most concerning.

I described this as Burnley’s worst performance of the season so far and I stick by it. Burnley could barely keep hold of the ball and, a bright start aside, failed to gain a foothold in the game. It was one-way traffic for 80 minutes.

That wasn’t the initial feeling inside the ground right from kick-off, where the Clarets went straight onto the front foot and took the game to Eddie Howe’s men.

Luca Koleosho was their main attacking outlet, beating Dan Burn for pace twice in as many minutes before producing presentable opportunities in the Newcastle box.

The first just eluded Aaron Ramsey at the back post, while the second was pulled back into the path of Zeki Amdouni, who was thwarted by a sprawling Nick Pope.

Initially you felt Amdouni ought to have done better with his effort, but on reflection the ball was behind him and he had to adjust just to get a shot off at goal.

But in an attacking sense, that’s pretty much as good as it got for Burnley. That was until late on when the visitors produced a late rally inspired by the 18-year-old Wilson Odobert, who was brought off the bench for his first Premier League outing, but by then it was too little, too late.

Under pressure

One mitigation we must factor in is just how effective Newcastle’s pressing was. It’s an important part of their game anyway but it was clear to see they ramped up the intensity another notch or two to deal with Burnley’s patient passing out from the back.

Initially, Kompany’s men dealt with it pretty well. But as soon as one pass went astray, the mistakes began to creep in and they never really recovered from it.

We must pay respect to the quality of opposition as well. The Magpies are clearly enjoying a good spell after an indifferent start to the season. But Burnley made it too easy for them at times and too often caused their own problems.

They also struggled to lay a glove on them in an attacking sense. At one point towards the end of the first-half it felt like Burnley hadn’t even reached Newcastle’s final third for a good half an hour or so. It probably felt that way because it was true.

Despite Newcastle’s dominance, it’s also frustrating that both of their goals could have been easily avoided.

Miguel Almiron’s strike, a superb arrowed effort into the top corner from range, came after Aaron Ramsey had been caught dawdling on the ball in Burnley’s own half. Yes, the finish was special, but Almiron shouldn’t have been left in that position to begin with.

As for the second, Ameen Al-Dakhil was also guilty of giving the ball away in a poor area of the pitch before bringing clumsily lunging in on Anthony Gordon inside the box. There could be no complaints with the referee’s decision and Alexander Isak stepped up and sent James Trafford the wrong way.

To Burnley’s credit, they didn’t allow their heads to drop and came back at Newcastle, who seemed happy enough to settle for a 2-0 win.

Al-Dakhil almost atoned for his error for the penalty by seeing his header tipped over the bar by Pope from Josh Brownhill’s corner. Odobert had previously threatened with his drive and willingness to take on a man down the left flank.

Improvements needed

But we’re clutching at straws here because there weren’t many positives to take from this one. Even if there were, it’s time for the results to do the talking, starting with Luton Town on Tuesday night.

Given both sides will continue to be tipped for relegation, this would have been a big game irrespective of its timing. But given the Clarets have taken just one point from their first six games, the fixture takes on a whole new meaning.

It’s been a brutal start to the season for Burnley, the fixture list hasn’t been kind at all, facing just one side in the bottom half of the table.

But it was the performance, not necessarily the result, that worried me most on this occasion.