Burnley v Plymouth Preview

Posted on | August 29, 2008 | No Comments

Our next preview covers teams who’ve had poor starts, both just collecting one point and both fixed in the relegation zone. It has to be said that neither was tipped as a promotion chasing side or anything, but both manager’s will have expected more after decent finishes last season.

We’ll start with a look at Burnley, who spent a considerable amount of money during the summer. Manager Owen Coyle signed no more than five players, with two of them in Martin Patterson and Chris Eagles costing in excess of £1m each. With Coyle’s men finishing in a comfortable 13th position last season, he would have hoped that his fairly big investments during the summer would have gifted The Clarets with a decent start. However, the signs have been disappointing from the first minute of the season, with Marcus Tudgay getting the first goal early on as Sheffield Wednesday romped to a 4-1 win over the Lancashire side. A defeat to Ipswich and a draw to Palace has followed and seeing as it wasn’t the most difficult start in the world, Owen Coyle knows that he needs a massive improvement from his side if they are to match last season’s finish.

Plymouth were tipped to struggle from the start, with Paul Sturrock being forced to let his best players go over the last year or so. The likes of Peter Halmosi, Sylvain Ebanks-Blake, Akos Buzsaky, Barry Hayles and David Norris have all left Plymouth – who were once a side chasing the play off places. Sturrock hasn’t seen much of the money generated through these transfers and even though he’s brought in some quality in Simon Walton and Craig Cathcart over the summer, Argyle are nowhere near the quality they were twelve months ago. This has shown in their form as well with their only point coming on the first day of the season against Wolves, while defeats against Reading and Swansea have followed.

Home side Burnley managed to sign Russell Anderson a few days ago and he looks set to be thrown straight into Owen Coyle’s starting eleven. The Clarets beat Oldham in the Carling Cup during the week and it’s thought that Coyle will look to play the same side on Saturday. Plymouth meanwhile should have full back Gary Sawyer available after he managed to make forty five minutes for the reserves midweek.

As for a prediction, we’re going to go for a home win. Plymouth looked poor in their last league game and Burnley have some good players, if they can start to gel. The likes of Martin Patterson and Chris Eagles are lethal on their day and if they can get it right, it should be a comfortable result. 2-0 Burnley.

Related posts:

1. Plymouth v Burnley Preview
2. Charlton v Burnley Preview
3. Nottingham Forest v Burnley Preview
4. Burnley v Barnsley Preview
5. Barnsley v Burnley Preview

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