Stottie

Everton getting close now these past 2-3 minutes.

Rondon close again. Great pass in from Atsu.

I mentioned them being not very good in the Relegationometer thread, but it is clear that they have way too much luck to be in any danger.

Quality delivery and dead balls are under-rated. See Marc Albrighton. The "under-rating" exception is when the team is poor and the player in question becomes the sole point of creativity, Charlie Adam at Blackpool or that truly woeful defender at Stoke who had the huge long throw.

Mad game!

What a goal!

3-0. Probably a fair reflection on the quality on show, if not the chances or share of play each side had. We had some chances and good positions, but our players aren't very good.

Indeed

HT. Went to sleep for their goal, but otherwise not too bad. Well it wouldn't be if Perez was more clinical. We're controlling the ball and passing it to feet in a manner that would have been unthinkable a month ago. Just got to keep plugging away.

He's been fantastic and our whole style of play has changed since he came on early in the second half against Watford. Since that was a forced change, I would be hesitant to give Rafa credit for the timing or the way it has played out, but he is a Rafa signing and is basically giving us what we thought we were getting from the Ki highlight reel. If anyone is bored at work reading this, contemplating "what if Shelvey hadn't got injured?" might kill a few minutes.

Tyler was on an international feed. I got it in Japan. We often get Japanese commentary now though, due to Muto. I don't know much about the lad who didn't play, Gudmundssen?, but without him Burnley looked like a pure hoof and hope team that can't even defend corners.

I reckon that if he were playing for Huddersfield or Crystal Palace, you'd think he was completely shit. However, when we play well, it is because the team is operating an effective system that is not reliant on individuals to make something happen. If we had highly skilled, free-spirited players, perhaps Rafa's system would emasculate them, but they all cost money that the club will not spend. The "work hard and do what you're told" approach therefore suits the rag-tag collection of players we do have. Perez frustrates me most when he's in a good position, in the box for example and loses it trying to beat another player. That's one situation where you want to be watching in the ground, not on tv, because then you can see where all the other players are. I seem to remember the rule of tiki-taka was that the man in possession should always have two options. I get the impression that our forwards often do not even have one option.

I was wondering what happens with VAR in that situation. Because the temptation with VAR will be to play the advantage every time knowing you can take it back if need be. btw, Understat recorded the Yedlin cross/shot and the Ritchie efforts as separate when calculating expected goals. Two scores for the same attack shouldn't happen. It also gave the Burnley (Vokes?) chance at the death, a cross about six inches too high to someone inside the six yard box, a higher expected goal score than the Ritchie miss. No-one is ever going to score from a cross that is too high. The Ritchie one will be a goal at least eight times out of ten. I like the expected goals stat, but that's not a very clever way to calculate it.

Their Plan B was bring on a third big man and send the keeper up for a corner.

Yes! Great win. Completely deserved. I was bricking it of course, but mostly because we started the game with nine points. Joss was unlucky and wow, that Ritchie miss. Hope the press don't turn on Dyche because the longer they play like that, the more likely they'll be one of the three.

Two from set pieces!!!!

I didn't see the Huddersfield game after reading a "they were amazing, could have been three or four" match report in the Guardian, had a look at the xG on Understat, which said "0.6", the same as Wolves. So two goals from two half chances.Maybe not an amazing renaissance after all.

Another from Mitro. Great volleyed finish.

Is that six games with Pardew, one with McClaren, and three with Rafa, the first his first game? Rafa's been good at breaking curses, so I am quietly confident about this.

Ulloa went from a starter to a sub under Ranieri, who partnered Vardy with Okazaki. Ulloa had scored one in two in that Leicester purple patch at the end of Pearson's reign.

I don't want to get sucked into this discussion, but our average attendance and the number of times our games are televised should be enough to justify any small discrepancy in our favour regarding wages vs. Brighton and Huddersfield. We may have a smaller commercial revenue but that is because someone plastered Sports Direct all over the place and didn't pay for it.

We've got a good bunch, that's for sure. You could also put this in the Rafa thread, because coaching is a huge aspect, but one thing that has been disappointing this season is our set pieces, for and against. We've conceded loads from them, again against Bournemouth, and not really threatened in spite of Lascelles and Fernandez being good targets and Ritchie and Shelvey being good strikers of the ball. For all our striker troubles, we've scored eight times from open play, which is only one fewer than Tottenham (!) Unlike them, we missed the one pen we got and have done little with set pieces. As it happens, our games feature joint most corners by both teams, so all the more reason to improve at them. https://www.windrawwin.com/statistics/corners/england-premier-league/

Still three. They have points on the board and a gap at the moment, but I can see Brighton being sucked back in later in the season. They were poor against us and are putting up horrible shot/open play numbers. Fewest shots and second most conceded.

Spoke too soon.

Comical dive from Shaqiri still gets a freekick.