Chris_R

"And none of those reasons will include enjoying seeing our left side get roasted and conceding goals because of it." And yet, that's what's happening.

It really isn't, when he's so fundamental to us conceding so many goals and chances, and us having no option down the left flank because he's such a slow, limited footballer. It's like if you put an actual dwarf in goal, you couldn't say "it's just one individual selection, so quite a small factor in our results" when teams would mercilessly exploit that game after game.

There isn't though, is there? Livramento, who's looked excellent every time he's played, doesn't play because of Burn Hall, who Chelsea fans were gutted to lose, didn't play because of Burn Targett, Villa's player of the season before he joined us, didn't play because of Burn It's got nothing to do with who the other player is, or their fitness or availability, he just insists on playing Burn no matter what. And TBH I can't see that changing, because he's shown no sign at all of wanting to change it. It's like he thinks this is some kind of tactical masterplan, us going 3 at the back when Trippier goes up, like there's no way we can deviate from that, no way we can play differently. Even though literally every other team in the world manages to play without a giant left back, and despite how shaky Burn is against pace. Love Eddie, love Burn frankly too, but this stubbornness in the face of clear evidence is awful and he needs to try something else. But he won't.

Burn can only be in for his height, in every other respect he's a worse player than Livramento. So the answer is "be taller than Dan Burn", which is fairly tricky. I'd be fucking livid if I was in Livramento's position and I was being blocked from playing simply because I wasn't tall enough. Normally at least you can ask the manager what you can work on, but "grow 12 inches" feels somewhat unachievable. Especially for a position that doesn't normally need height.

Oh look, Burn destroyed for pace and we concede. Again. Who could possibly have foreseen that?

I think the Burn issues is that Howe doesn't want to be seen to drop a player because of fan backlash. He doesn't want the players to think the fans pick the team, or for the fans to think they can pick the team. The problem is, Burn deserves dropping. And has been holding us back for a while. So if he won't drop a player who's had a stinker and the fans have got on their back, then he's also not going to drop him if he plays well (as he is capable of), so we're left with either waiting for Burn to get injured, or waiting for him to play badly and the fans NOT have go. That latter isn't going to happen, and Burn seems the fittest player at the club, probably because he's largely incapable of running at any speed. The other issue is even when he DID get injured, he just walked straight back into the team, seemingly his height is all-important - so I guess our other 3 players who can play left back are left waiting until Burn stops being tall.

Really? When did he last not play a fully fit and available Dan Burn?

People criticise because they want things to be better. You can complain without being unhappy. Comments in a match thread, as has been said, are based on people's passion and emotional investment into what's happening. Nobody is going to think in the heat of the moment "Oh it's OK, he's a human being who's trying his best" when someone misses an open goal or whatever. And to be honest, I don't want our fans to be like that. We NEED passion. Sure, step back and calm down afterwards, but in the moment? I don't want us to be robots dispassionately accepting people's faults, not here and definitely not at the match. There's a line of course, nobody should be berated as an individual. I was massively critical of Dan Burn during the Luton match but that's critical of his limitations as a footballer. I would never make that a personal attack and it should never become one. But it's absolutely fair and valid to say "Player X is shit at this particular thing" or even "he should never play there again because we have better options". And in the heat of the moment, a misplaced pass or shot can 100% be called out and castigated without that affecting our overall view of a player. Moments turn matches.

Not sure anyone hates him, or even dislikes him. He seems like a great bloke. He comes across really well, talks well, seems intelligent and works hard. He's a local lad living the dream, and he's been integral to the last 2 years where he's done a lot of good stuff. He has a unique attribute in being massive that can really help us out in some circumstances. However, it's become clear his deficiencies are too large to carry him in the team and without the protection of a strong midfield and a willing runner ahead of him who can track back, he's too exposed. Nothing wrong in people pointing that out.

Trippier had a loss of form, from being otherwise fantastic. There was a very high chance he'd come out the other side of a bad patch. Burn's problem is he's really, really slow. He's always been really, really slow and will never get any faster. As others have said, previously we've had players who can get back and help him out. Recently that's not been the case and that's why he gets rinsed.

Especially as we bought Targett, have Hall on loan and Livramento has played excellently there. Burn keeps getting picked despite there being better options, seemingly just because he's tall. Must be infuriating being one of the other lads and being unable to get a game despite knowing you're clearly a better footballer. Normally a player can go to the manager and ask what they need to improve on, but 'be taller than Dan Burn' isn't really something they can go away and work on.

Burn pulled his shoulder. Probably one of the most blatant fouls you'll see. You can argue the player could have stayed on his feet but that's irrelevant, once Burn pulls him, every player will go to ground and rightly so. I'd expect ours to do the same.

In the match thread, there were plenty of comments from people very surprised / disappointed that he came out for the second half. Today's result was entirely avoidable.

Should not start again unless there's an injury crisis in defence. Too easily exposed by anyone with any pace. If I was an opposition manager, I'd just stick my fastest player against him and tell them to run around him. Not past him, because he can stick a leg out, but just run around him because he's got zero acceleration.

Seriously getting fucked off with Dan Burn now. Baffled at why he's absolutely undroppable when he's so thoroughly flawed. He's been found out too many times, he can't cope with pace and enough's enough.

Went to lace his boots up for the second half and his leg fell off.

Yeah he's a one-trick pony. We gain a bit of height and stature, but lose a hell of a lot going forward and are vulnerable against pace. I think he's a great bloke, but I'd rather we played a traditional fullback who could run in both directions.

Lots of people blaming us for playing poorly, but maybe there's credit to Luton for not letting us play well? When we do that to other teams and the commentators / other fans say they didn't play well against us, we're often raging at not getting enough credit. I think there's an element of that here, Luton have stopped us playing as they have against many sides this year. That's not to say we can't do anything about it and that we can't improve and cut out some individual errors, but let's not just dismiss the role the opposition have in how we've (not) played. They've harried us into misplaced passes, pressured us deep, made us make mistakes.

Schar just gave up on tracking Barkley. Love the bloke, but that was shit. Left him to tap it into an empty net.

Whenever Anthony G picks gets to a loose ball in the box, I can't believe no commentator has yet taken the opportunity to shout "GORDON'S ALIVE!" Really needs to happen.

I'd at least have Isak on the bench. Luton have already shown us they're not going to just roll over this year. Don't start him, by all means, but we need him as an option if he's fit enough.

They were a big draw in L1 for some of the smaller teams. Nobody gives a shit about them in the Championship, that's their level. Leicester, Leeds and Southampton all far bigger clubs than they are over the last 20-30 years, which is the only relevant time period for spectators - maybe even less.

This.

I heard the barber nicked the top of his ear, and he's now out for the season.

I'll bow to your superior knowledge. Derbies aside, if this lot were playing in my garden I'd close the curtains.