4 things we learned from Burnley v Stoke City

Interchangeable midfield

The Burnley midfield set up as a narrow diamond against Stoke City, with Jeff Hendrick slightly advanced of Joey Barton in the centre, Steven Defour operating an acute inside left position, leaving Boyd by far the widest player out on the right.

The quartet often dropped into each other’s positions, which added a degree of flexibility to a normally rigid midfield.

This was seen in Burnley’s goal as Boyd ended up at the point of the diamond, with Hendrick delivering from out on the left. The problem is however, when The Clarets attack, all four players are invariably behind the ball, leaving the onus on the full-backs, Matthew Lowton and Stephen Ward, to attack the wide areas to support the often isolated Andre Gray and Sam Vokes.

In the first-half especially, this often lead to the home side’s attacks dying, as players turned around and played the ball backwards.

This was somewhat remedied when Robbie Brady came on after an hour, he offered The Clarets a natural option out on the left, however, it seems Dyche is still searching for his ideal starting pack across the middle.