Burnley brought back down to earth as transfer talk overshadows chastening Sunderland defeat

But the manner of it – and the circumstances surrounding it – are perhaps cause for concern, even at this early stage of the season.

For a start, the 1-0 scoreline doesn’t give a true reflection of the game. Burnley were never really in it, never got going and were fortunate to lose by just the one goal.

Even when they ended the game with a man advantage, Scott Parker’s side continued to huff and puff without ever really looking like creating a clear-cut chance, never mind scoring.

I never thought I’d be saying that only a week on from the 5-0 rout of Cardiff City, which in itself came off the back of the hugely impressive 4-1 opening weekend win against Luton Town.

With nine goals to their name in the opening two games, Burnley were right to come into this early top-of-the-table encounter with some swagger and self-confidence.

The only problem? The Burnley side, and the bench behind it, that took to the field was night and day away from the squad that dispatched of Cardiff so emphatically only seven days previous.

How soon things can change

Rewinding another week or so, it wasn’t that long ago that the Clarets handed out 38 shirt numbers on the eve of the new season. Fast forward two games and Parker is having to name two goalkeepers on the bench and three youngsters.

Full-backs are having to play on the wing, Jay Rodriguez is playing – well, to be truthful, I’ve still no idea where he was supposed to be playing – and Luke McNally, a centre-back, was Burnley’s last roll of the dice as a final forward option off the bench. All the while, for a whole myriad of reasons, 14 – yes, FOURTEEN – players were unavailable to Parker.

It’s quite amazing how quickly things can change in football.

Dara O’Shea, Josh Cullen, Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Manuel Benson, Luca Koleosho and Wout Weghorst were all available this time last week. Now they’re not. Three of those absences were transfer related, while Gudmundsson has already departed.

When you’ve already lost Sander Berge, Scott Twine, Wilson Odobert and Anass Zaroury in recent times, that’s going to put a strain on any squad, bloated or not.

The team that took to the field at the Stadium of Light was still a competent one, but a trip to the North East – in Sunderland’s current guise – would have been a difficult task had Burnley even been at full strength. When they’re verging on depletion, not too many were surprised by the end result.

But to go back to how I started this piece, it was the manner in which the Clarets lost that will cause some alarm.

Toothless

The performance, in truth, was powderpuff, it was limp. There was absolutely nothing to get excited about.

Sunderland set the tone right from the off, coming out of the traps and exerting their superior energy levels and intensity. Burnley simply had no answer.

Despite resisting the initial waves of pressure, the Clarets still succumbed midway through the first-half when Romaine Mundle was given far too much time and space to rifle home into the far corner.

While there was a whiff of offside on initial viewing, replays soon showed he was in line with the defence when the ball rebounded to him.

A response was required but it never really arrived. Burnley managed to wrestle back some sort of control, especially in the second-half where they dominated possession, but the home side never truly looked in danger.

Burnley carried no attacking threat whatsoever, there was no cutting edge, no moment of quality from the wings. The Clarets looked short of ideas as soon as they ventured over the halfway line.

Parker’s side apparently finished the game with four shots on the Sunderland goal but I’m still struggling to recall them. They certainly weren’t any great opportunities of note.

They were even giving a helping hand when Dan Neil was given his marching orders with five minutes of time remaining, but the away side still couldn’t capitalise.

Sunderland had chances, good ones too, to double their lead throughout the game but in the end just the one goal was enough.

Early wake up call

For Burnley, this was a chastening result after the optimism and euphoria of the first two. It’s only one defeat and we’re still only three games in, that much can not be forgotten, but Burnley can’t allow this to become the norm.

Post-match, Parker cut an understandably frustrated figure. He knew he had been hamstrung by a lack of options. To have O’Shea, Cullen and Koleosho out, to name just three, made a huge difference to Burnley’s starting XI.

It goes without saying that this next week is absolutely humongous. Not just because of the game that finishes it, that being the derby at Turf Moor next Saturday, but because of what transpires in the transfer market could well be season-defining. In some ways, it’s a little frustrating there’s a cup game at Wolves sandwiched in-between. Talk about bad timing.

Having been desperate to offload players not so long ago to trim the squad, the Clarets are now in real need of strengthening. Further departures are inevitable too, starting with O’Shea. It all feels a little haphazard, a little rushed. The churn of players seems so overboard.

After the feelgood factor came flooding back during those two eye-catching victories, the Clarets can’t afford to be losing it so soon.