Burnley's QPR callback highlights worrying drop in standards

Eighteen months ago, Burnley delivered a performance at Loftus Road that epitomised everything that is right about the football club.

Not because of the 5-0 scoreline, that was almost immaterial given the Clarets had already secured promotion back to the Premier League.

But there was one clear moment in the game that lives long in the memory. It was when hordes of Burnley players, five, six, seven, eight, hurtled back to protect their own goal, despite their 3-0 lead at the time.

The clip subsequently went viral on social media, a symbolic nod to the then Scott Parker side that conceded just 16 goals that season and kept an incredible 30 clean sheets.

It was a side that was full of hunger, desire, effort and a willingness to give everything for the shirt. Not only that, it was a well-coached and well-structured outfit, where each and every player knew their job down to a tee.

What we witnessed in West London last night, however, was miles away.

Not because there was a lack of effort or anything, I felt the players were giving as good as they’ve got. Which in itself is slightly worrying.

But this was poor, poor stuff. Burnley were second best throughout and were fortunate to come away with a point.

Right from the off, it was clear for everyone to see that QPR were the better coached side. They were the ones that were well-drilled, pressing and hunting in packs while putting together some intricate, but incisive patterns of play from back to front. They were everything that Burnley were not.

In fairness, the Clarets limited them to very few clear-cut chances, but they worked their way into the final third time and time again and, on another day, would have won this quite comfortably had they shown more efficiency in and around the Burnley goal.

And yet, Fabio Celestini’s side somehow managed to take the lead with what turned out to be their one and only shot on target during a first-half that, despite leading, was perhaps one of the most worrying halves we’ve witnessed from them this season.

It was some strike, to be fair, from Largie Ramazani, who appeared to catch the goalkeeper by surprise with his sweetly-struck effort from range. While Pierce Charles got a hand to it, it wasn’t enough to stop the ball from nestling in the corner of his net.

Incredibly, one almost instantly became two as Andreas Hountondji slotted home seconds afterwards, only to be greeted by the linesman’s offside flag.

But in an attacking sense, that’s as good as it got for the visitors, who produced a meagre Expected Goals (xG) of just 0.10. Pitiful stuff.

And yet, bizarrely, Burnley will be kicking themselves they didn’t come away with all three points, because the goal they did concede in the second 45 was highly avoidable.

Once again, it comes down to a pretty basic goalkeeping error. Jonathan Varane’s side-footed effort was lacking in venom, yet it still somehow managed to find its way past Gregoire Coudert’s weak wrist.

The players in front of him aren’t completely absolved of blame either though, it has to be said, because Varane was afford a worrying amount of space right on the edge of the Burnley box.

While the Clarets will have been relieved to hold on for a point their performance didn’t really deserve, that’s still now only one win in 14 games, leaving them four points adrift of safety.

Even at this early juncture, that’s got to be a major concern given Burnley aren’t exactly accustomed to winning.

Last night’s result also means that Burnley have now lost a quite frankly ridiculous 20 points already from winning positions this season. If the alarm bells aren’t ringing now, when will they be?

Of course, very little of this can be attributed to the new boss Celestini, but there will be some disappointment that his side weren’t able to build on what was a solid enough opening act against Portsmouth at the weekend.

But what followed at QPR, in terms of the performance at least, will have left a lot of supporters feeling a little deflated.

Any notion of a new manager bounce or a quick fix has quickly gone out of the window. Onto Cardiff we go…