We always talk about how Finkler was a "luxury" player, the kind of guy who you could only get the best out of when he had other great players around him doing the dirty work. Could Burns be sort of similar in that regard? I still think he's definitely less lazy than Finkler and they are a different type of player I know, but I can't help but feel that he only plays well when the rest of the team are playing well. In the 14/15 season he was incredible and showed how devastating he could be at A-League level, but the rest of the team around him was great too. Moss in net, a mix of Siggy, Dura, Manny, Doyle and Boxall at the back (what I'd give to have a defence like that again, oh boy). Riera and Lia screening the defence, A-Rod and Bonevacia, Wee Mac and Krishna supporting Burns up top, Cunningham off the bench - what a team. Compare that to our current state, and Burn's current form. If that's the case then maybe that's just the kind of player he is, but I don't buy it when people say that he's just not as good as he was then. He's in the prime years of his career, his skills haven't regressed, he's just not showing them often yet because the rest of the team is shark and he needs good players around him/players in form. Thats the difference between him and Krishna I reckon, Roy will bust his gut regardless of whether we are shark or not and still looks class. I don't think Burns has that ability. Rant over, goodnight folks
good post
burns is absolute quality and getting the best out of him should be the priority for any a-league coach.
i personally think he does best in a front 2 where he can concentrate on finding space on the right hand side and picking the ball up in the best positions an also not worry so much about protecting the right back when we don't have the ball. look how deep burns was when we were defending last weekend. is that where you want your best attacking weapon?
right now, he's receiving the ball very slowly and often in a blind alley. he is easily closed down and outnumbered and therefore it is hard for him to impose himself on the game. if he is part of a front 3, the team needs to be more direct so he can be fed like how (a proper functioning) victory feed kosta. if you watch victory play, they are less effective when they slow things down, but when they feed leroy george and kosta quickly they are at their best. on the other hand, when they feed berisha early, they fall to bits and this is what brisbane recently made them do by getting their wide players to defend deep in front of the full backs.
they phoenix under merrick were very narrow and kept the ball in the middle for long periods before seeking to release the ball forward and wide into space quickly. it was like 'dinky dinky dinky boom!' the 'boom' was either a wide pass or a through ball. this is where burns flourished. unfortunately, merrick's reign turned into 'dinky dinky dinky dinky dinky opps'.
when merricks team were at their best. burns didn't really have to defend, he would just seek to find wide space when we didn't have the ball. even though he was not defending as such, he was finding space out wide which had the bonus effect of doing a bit of a job killing options for opposition full back or at least making him second guess. a player does not always have to be behind the ball and ready to tackle in order to be effective defensively.
