Clarets eclipsed by a blue moon
Manchester City 5 Burnley 0, 11
August 1999
Cozzo
We played really well for an hour and should have been winning but then crumbled
into a gutless, spineless team. Team and marks in a vague sort of form-watch are as
follows:
Johnrose was excellent, especially first half. We looked a lot less
solid when he was moved out to left midfield when Branch was taken off for Lee. Man of the
Match (8).
Payton worked extremely hard with no reward. Should have scored first
half and narrowly missed with a header early in the second half (7).
Davis had a very poor game for him. He doesn't seem to like running
wide to mark his man, so it was very easy for them to pass the ball around us when Goater
or Dickov went wide (5).
Crichton made one excellent save from a deflected shot and it was
difficult to blame him for anything else except getting booked (6).
Mellon missed a couple of good chances. Played well in an attacking
role first half and then disappeared out of the game in the second when the going got
tough (6).
Little as usual was starved of service and what he got was poor
quality. He was coming so deep that he ended up losing the ball in our half a couple of
times. Not up to his usual standard (6).
West looked ok first half but gave up marking Kennedy second half.
(5).
Thomas was poor and gave away a silly penalty (5).
Cowan looked decidedly unsure of himself, which is not like him. Coped
well with Terry Cooke who was substituted. Couple of mistakes. Like most of the team was
all at sea at the end (6).
Cook got more time on the ball than in the Wycombe game. One or two
assured touches and some good tracking back first half but little creativity. Substituted
for Jepson (6).
Branch - soft, lazy bastard. Somebody punch him before he goes out
onto the pitch to wind up him up a bit. You can't play somebody who only makes one or two
contributions in a game and doesn't seem to want the ball.
Lee struggled to get the pace of the game and to make much of a
contribution. (5).
Jepson and Grant came on too late to make any
difference.
The formation was wrong, the tactics too negative and the substitutions unbalanced the
team. What was most annoying was that when things got tough too many of the players were
looking for places to hide rather than stand up and be counted.
Team: Crichton,
West, Cowan, Mellon, Davis, Thomas, Little (Grant 67), Cook (Jepson 64), Johnrose, Payton,
Branch (Lee 52). Subs not used: Armstrong and Smith.
Links
- More from this game and the home leg
