IT is not just four out of the first five games that have been lost by Burnley this season - there have been plenty of other losses.

The biggest loss is obviously the ITV Digital money and the current problems can all be dated to that collapse.

Also lost is the confidence of a number of key players, players who have done it in the past, will surely do it in the future but are really struggling at present.

But arguably the most worrying loss for the club must be the 2,000 plus fans who have disappeared from the stands at Turf Moor.

Okay Sheffield United and Crystal Palace may not be the most attractive of opposition but the fact that on both occasions the crowd dipped below the 13,000 has to be a great cause for concern.

That figure had always been passed in the first two seasons back in Division One and you have to go back to the visit of Luton Town in March of the promotion year for the last crowd below that level.

The problem is clearly not season ticket holders because, despite the uncertainties of the summer, almost 12,000 have again shown admirable loyalty.

But that impressive figure needs to be backed up by a significant number of walk-ons.

The problem is that no one who was at the game on Saturday will have been down the pub that night telling their mates what they had missed.

The performance of Dimitri Papadopoulos did excite but the lack of chances continues to be a greater worry than the lack of goals.

If you are making a host of opportunities and the strikers aren't putting them away, that is something you have to accept and get on with.

At least you can have confidence that the shots will start going in at some point down the line.

But at the moment the keepers that are facing the Clarets could take advantage of the good weather, set up a barbecue in the back of the net and prepare the post-match meal.

Having failed to beat two of the promoted sides this season, Saturday offers the chance to get the season going against relegated Derby County.

Their financial problems are so great they make Burnley look like high rollers.

Reported debts of £30million are unlikely to be reduced as long as the keep paying the wages of the likes of Ravanelli and Kinkladze.

Another positive omen is that Pride Park was the venue for one of Burnley's most memorable recent wins, a third round FA Cup success in December 1999.

Andy Cooke got the goal that day but as the travelling fans won't care how the ball goes in.

As the song goes: "All we are saying, is give us a goal!"