"Dyche got the results" - Burnley FC frustration at "strange" Scott Parker approach | OneFootball

Our Clarets' fan pundit has criticised Parker's style of play amid poor form

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Burnley manager Scott Parker's style of play has been blasted after the Clarets' less-than-impressive recent run of form and poor performances given the array of talent in their squad.

Parker was appointed as Burnley manager in July, in the wake of the Clarets' relegation from the Premier League and Vincent Kompany's departure to Bayern Munich, with the main aim of taking the club back to the top-flight at the first time of asking.

The 44-year-old has had a mixed time in charge at Turf Moor so far, as his side currently sit in a respectable fourth place in the Championship table, but he has come in for criticism for their lack of goals and poor attacking set-up that has led to a recent downturn in results, with Ruud van Nistelrooy also being mooted as a potential replacement if the club see fit to sack him.

Parker's side began the new season on fire, with a 4-1 win over Luton Town and a 5-0 thrashing of Cardiff City in the opening two games, but they have won one of their last five outings, with draws against Hull City, QPR, and West Brom and a loss to Millwall before a win last time out against Swansea City to end their poor run, thanks to a stoppage-time penalty from Jay Rodriguez.

The statistics behind their performances this term certainly back up supporters' frustrations, and while they still sit in the play-off places, they are 11th in the league for goals scored despite their wealth of attacking talent.

According to Sofascore, the Clarets are 21st for big chances created and ninth for shots per game, while FotMob has them 21st for expected goals (xG), and 18th for touches in the opposition box, and FLW's Clarets fan pundit, Ben Livingstone, was disapproving of Parker's tactics when we asked him if he likes the playing style that he deploys at the club.

“Being completely honest, the playing style is pretty poor,” Ben told FLW.

“It’s very similar, in a way, compared to Sean Dyche. The difference is that Dyche got the results, he knew his football wasn't great, although to be fair I thought his football when we got promoted from the Championship both times was quite good.

“It wasn’t all anti-football that he adapted to when he was in the Premier League.

“Dyche backed up everything with results, and it’s a results-based business at the end of the day.

“We played fantastic football under Vincent Kompany in the Championship. We got brilliant, brilliant results.

“We played alright football under Dyche, and got brilliant results, got promoted when nobody expected us to, the first time especially.

“The football under Scott Parker just seems very stagnant. There is nothing that suggests his side are going to keep improving.

“It’s got a little bit better in the last two games, but the standards have been so low that any sort of average performance looks like a fantastic one, because of how bad we have been.

“I think it’s just a really, really strange style of football. Fulham and Bournemouth fans warned us of it, that he would strip the quality out of every single attacking player.

“Both times he got lucky that he either had Aleksander Mitrovic or Dominic Solanke. We don’t have that kind of striker that will get you 30, 40 goals.

“I struggle to see where the goals are going to come from this season, I really do.

“There’s just nothing going forward, it's not like we’re creating clear-cut chances. We have the second-lowest xG in the league, and we’re fourth.

“That is not sustainable. Most of our goals were scored in the first two games."

Parker has responded to Burnley fans' concerns with positivity

The Clarets have been unable to turn their dominance of possession into wins in numerous games so far this term, and supporters at Turf Moor voiced their frustrations in the form of boos in the aftermath of their 0-0 draw with QPR last month.

Burnley had 75% possession against the Hoops, with 22 shots on goal, but their wealth of attacking options in Zian Flemming, Luca Koleosho, Jaidon Anthony, Jay Rodriguez and Andreas Hountondji all failed to find a breakthrough at home against a side that currently sits bottom of the second-tier.

Parker admitted that he understood fans' concerns in his post-match interview with the Burnley Express, but insisted that his players will get it right in front of goal eventually.

He said: "I understand everyone’s frustration. I think if the players could boo and I could boo…there’s a frustration there, I get it, totally.

“I always judge a human being and a team on when they cross a line they give you absolutely everything.

"Of course, there are always elements and I will always be the first to be critical in certain moments, but when they’re trying and show pure desire, pure passion, I will never, never sit here and criticise, even if we had lost the game 2-0.

“I will be critical in certain moments if we show a lack of quality, but those players were brilliant in that sense.”

That result was followed up by a 1-0 loss to Millwall, a 0-0 draw with West Brom, and then a 1-0 win from the penalty spot over Swansea, so it is clear that he has not yet solved their goal-scoring problems just yet.

Things certainly need to improve as soon as possible for Parker and the Clarets, or they may begin to slip down the table, and he could lose his job just months after being appointed.