Bournemouth deserve credit for their victory, but Burnley handed it to them on a plate

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Jonathan Woodgate’s side capped off an impressive opening week of his caretaker charge at Turf Moor after a straight forward 2-0 win.

Yet, whilst the headlines should rightly be offered to the Cherries for their cup shock exploits sending them into their first FA Cup quarter final in over 50 years, Sean Dyche will be concerned with the ease in which they won the game.

From the very first minute, Anthony Glennon, who had come in as a late left-back replacement for Erik Pieters who was found to be suspended for the fixture, was targeted by a Cherries game plan that looked to overload the wide areas.

David Brooks was instrumental to everything positive, drifting to the touchline in an attempt to open up gaps in a worryingly narrow Clarets backline. It was clear this was a pre-empted plan from Woodgate looking to take advantage of Burnley’s failure to deal with creative play in the wide areas.

Burnley looked stagnant and devoid of any real creative ideas. For the majority of the game Bournemouth looked like the Premier League outfit. There was a fluidity and plan to each and every differing build-up move from the visitors, always knowing either Philip Billing or Jefferson Lerma were going to drop in to space to provide a progressive outball.

The home side lacked this sort of vision and movement. Dale Stephens and Josh Benson both sat deep and rather than finding pockets of space when central defenders were looking for a progressive pass, they would aimlessly bypass the attacking midfield area with a long ball that they would struggle to win without a real focal point up top.

Now as much as you could point to the lack of quality in the delivery of all of the Burnley players to a man, this is a structural setup that was put in place to win this game. Ultimately, it did not look likely from the outset and there seemed to be a reluctance or simply lack of imagination to do anything other than cruise to defeat.

It is all well and good being a fairly predictable side that has a clear tactical identity, but when there is not the quality to back up the fundamental processes that are in place, then you are bound to fail and at the moment that is what is looking like the sensible conclusion.

There was a passive nature about the home sides’ play. An unwillingness to break from the clear banks of four that were not providing much defensive stability given Bournemouth do not play through the middle, nor the attacking intent because there was no one in the Burnley midfield breaking the lines.

It seemed naive to think that remaining with this setup would do anything to change the game.

At the start of the second half, Sean Dyche looked to have stemmed the tide to an extent, looking to his central midfielders to shuttle across in defensive phases in order to provide extra protection to his full backs and double up on the visitors’ dangermen.

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This worked well and, having been so instrumental in the first half, Brooks was hooked on the hour mark proving to be ineffectual against a sturdy Burnley blockade.

Yet, they failed to kick on from there. Set pieces came and the overlapping exploits of centre back Jimmy Dunne proved to be the most influential playmaking in the Clarets’ system. They were devoid of any real quality in the final third when it mattered.

It begs the question of what exactly can change?

Burnley are not blessed with players that will naturally break the lines and play at a tempo that would disrupt Bournemouth’s style. The Cherries play at a high pace themselves and are well versed in playing through more aggressive sides.

Seemingly, this was a complete contrast and clash in styles. Jonathan Woodgate has had a superb opening week as caretaker manager of Bournemouth and has certainly put his name in the ring for the role on a permanent basis with his team flowing so well.

However, looking at the makeup of both squads and the contrast in systems this was almost bound to happen if Burnley were not able to show the quality in front of goal that they have failed to show for many a week this campaign.

Sam Surridge certainly did not aid the home sides’ attempts to crawl back into the game, as his hold up play and dynamism in the final third for Bournemouth put him well on track to showcase himself as a regular starter in the near future.

Ultimately, the Cherries outclassed Premier League opposition and could have had more on the day if they had shown a cooler head in front of goal. Burnley will have to learn quickly from this that there needs to be more of a balance to their play.

But you can have as much balance as you like, if the quality is not there when it matters, it is a lost cause before it gets going.

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