Promise, uncertainty and winless run: Main takeaways from Burnley's pre-season
· Matt Scrafton · 2026-08-03 · nguồn gốc
Promise, uncertainty and winless run: Main takeaways from Burnley's pre-season
Burnley left with more questions that answers after completing their pre-season
Some promising signs, but plenty of work still to be done seems to be the widely accepted view following the completion of Burnley’s pre-season.
It comes after the Clarets brought down the curtain on their summer preparations with a narrow 1-0 defeat to Italian outfit Torino at Turf Moor on Sunday afternoon.
It was a bit of a nothing game in truth and it’s difficult to make too many snap judgements. They started off well, pressed at a real intense pace but struggled to sustain the pressure. Torino, after scoring - taking advantage of some real basic errors from Burnley - looked largely comfortable. They looked a tidy, well-organised unit though, it has to be said, with some decent pace on the break.
Defeats in isolation against a top Serie A side, a Dutch giant and a La Liga outfit are of course no great cause for panic. But what they have done is extend Burnley’s long, long wait for a win, which has got to be a concern.
Going winless in pre-season is far from the end of the world, given the Clarets only played six games and the opposition was of an unusually high standard.
But when you consider the last victory of any kind came back in February, 174 days ago, it’s fair to say there’s more than a bit of pressure on the visit of Notts County in the Carabao Cup next week.
Over the past year, Burnley have become used to losing. The Premier League will do that to you.
On their way to collecting a measly 22 points in the top flight last season, they lost 24 of their 38 league games. Further defeats to League One opposition followed in both cup competitions. As much as winning becomes a habit, so can losing.
By the time West Ham rock up at Turf Moor in a couple of weeks’ time, 302 days will have passed since the last time Burnley won a league game at home.
That’s a lot of doom and gloom to overturn in such a short space of time, especially when you consider new boss Nicky Hayen has only been in the job for little over three weeks.
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Of course, Burnley have done it before and they could well do it again - they’re the masters of the Championship, after all - but it’s by no means a guarantee.
That’s especially the case when there is still so much uncertainty hanging over the squad and still so many questions to be answered.
It’s been a summer dominated by outgoings so far and more are to be expected between now and deadline day in little over a month’s time (the window closes at 11pm on Tuesday, September 1). But there’s some important business to be done on the incoming front too.
There’s still a nucleus of a very good Championship side in there, but you do sense the starting XI is at least two or three players short at this moment in time (and that’s assuming there’s still no high-profile departures).
You also need to factor in the way Hayen wants to play and how it will take time for the players to learn his methods. I know that can be boring to hear for supporters, but Hayen’s braver approach - of constant rotations, high pressing, quick interchange and movements -
represents a completely different way of playing to what we witnessed under the more cautious and pragmatic Scott Parker.
What’s been made clear from pre-season is that there’s plenty of work still to be done, both on and off the pitch. At this minute, we’re left with more questions than answers.
There’s still plenty of time to get things done, there’s no need to panic just yet. But most importantly, they’ve got to get it right.