Sports'Be careful what they wish for' - Journalist sounds warning to Burnley amid impressive PL season
Missing out on Europa League football next season would be “a blessing in disguise” for Burnley, according to journalist Kieran Gill.
The Clarets still hold out faint hope of qualifying for Europe in 2020/21 after beating Norwich on Saturday but, in a piece for the Daily Mail, Gill wrote that Sean Dyche’s team may be better off without the addition of European football to their schedule.
The journalist wrote: “An own goal by Norwich’s Ben Godfrey eventually confirmed the win for Burnley, ensuring they remain in with a shout of qualifying for the Europa League next season. But would that be a good thing? Dyche has already complained about his squad’s diminishing size and his club’s reluctance to back him with money to spend.”
Gill added: “Maybe missing out on the Europa League would be a blessing in disguise for this Burnley squad. That was put to Dyche and he did not disagree.” He concluded by saying: “For Burnley, another win, another step towards Europe, but they’d better be careful what they wish for.”
Gill makes a fair point in arguing that the Clarets could find it difficult to juggle domestic and European commitments next season if they finish seventh. A similar scenario two years ago meant that they had to begin their 2018/19 campaign at roughly this time of year and the addition of six Europa League qualifiers to their schedule (they didn’t even make the group phase) led to something of a domestic hangover which left them in the Premier League relegation zone at Christmas.
Also, as the journalist pointed out, Dyche has had to contend with a very thin squad in recent games due to multiple injuries, often being forced to include substitutes with zero senior experience and sometimes not even being able to name the full complement of nine subs since the Premier League restart. The addition of European football would surely test their threadbare squad depth even further.
Alas, it is more likely than unlikely that Burnley won’t be in Europe next season. They currently have 54 points and can only finish as high as seventh, something which would be beyond them if Wolves get a result against Crystal Palace and/or if Sheffield United beat Everton tonight (as per Sky Sports).
Indeed, even an improbable repeat of their seventh-placed finish from 2018 might not translate into a Europa League place – if Arsenal were to finish in their current position of 10th but win the FA Cup final, they would go into Europe and the seventh-placed finisher would miss out.
As Gill has said, it should not be any great blow for Burnley if they miss out on Europe given their lack of squad depth – they are guaranteed a top-half finish anyway, a marked improvement on last season’s 15th place – while their chances of qualifying for Europe are slim as it is.
Burnley fans, do you agree with Gill about Europa League football potentially being a burden? Comment below with your views!
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