4 things Burnley can take from their defeat to Southampton

A case for Jon Flanagan

This guy was in the back four for Liverpool when they almost won the league in 2014. The noises out of Liverpool when he joined the Clarets were largely ones of dismay, as they see the Scouser as a superb back up to their backline.

One weakness you could throw at Sean Dyche is that he is too rigid with his team selections. A squad is there to be used and it doesn’t always take a loss or a bad performance to change things. I’d bring him in for Matty Lowton, who is not offering too much at the moment.

Burnley fans will point to the one start Flanagan has had in the League Cup, where he was average at best, against League Two Accrington Stanley – yet the 23-year-old needs game time.

It was about this time last year when the Burnley faithful called for Stephen Ward to come in and Michael Duff to be dropped to the bench, Dyche eventually heeded this after a Boxing Day defeat at Hull City, and Burnley went on to be 23 undefeated on the way to the title.