- Tottenham beat Burnley 2-1 in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon
- The defeat meant the Clarets were relegated to the League
- Another nightmare… which players are to blame and should Thomas Tuchel come in? Listen to the It’s all starting! Man United Special Crisis Podcast
It was perhaps fitting that on the day the Burnley Express officially called time on their international cricket career, Burnley’s time in the Premier League also came to an end.
However, that’s where the similarities end. While Jimmy Anderson may have been guilty of overstaying his welcome, his football team never looked like staying in the Premier League this season and got what they deserved.
Unlike the scenes at the London Stadium with Rob Edwards and his Luton players, there were no tears or much emotion from the Burnley players when the final whistle blew at Tottenham and confirmed their fate.
That Vincent Kompany’s team survived until the penultimate weekend of the season was due to the deduction of points and the quality of the teams around them, rather than the fight they have shown this campaign.
With 24 points, Burnley should have been put out of their misery long before Saturday afternoon. To put it in context, 34 points is the lowest total achieved by a Premier League team that was still standing when West Brom achieved ‘The Great Escape’ in 2005.
Vincent Kompany’s Burnley were relegated following their 2-1 defeat to Tottenham on Saturday
To be fair, Burnley put up a decent fight against Tottenham and took a surprise lead in the first half, but they had goalkeeper Arijanet Muric to thank for keeping them in contention in the second half.
He also summarized that Muric was the first to leave the locker room, go through the mixed zone and leave the ground long before any of his teammates.
A late call-up to the starting XI in March after James Trafford was dropped, Muric made seven more saves here and again proved his worth.
With 60 saves in nine Premier League games, his save percentage of 80.8 per cent is the best in the division and surely justifies why Kompany should have turned to him earlier in the season.
The Burnley manager insisted after the game that this was no time to sulk or complain, but the reality is that if he stays in the job he will have to decide what to do with what is now a bloated and expensive team. His own reputation has declined greatly after this season.
Vincent Kompany’s team managed to survive until the penultimate weekend of the season
“It’s the end of a chapter, not the end of a story,” were the words on Burnley’s X account after relegation was confirmed.
And from how the team was applauded and chanted by what seemed like all the traveling support, Kompany still has plenty of credit in the bank.
It has only been a year since his team achieved promotion with the gigantic figure of 101 points and with seven games remaining, a championship record. Now he must do it all over again.
