GOING three down in 10 minutes gave the Clarets a mountain to climb against Accrington Stanley.

But as I have said before these friendly games are based on getting the fitness levels right for when the season begins.

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For John Coleman and his assistant Jimmy Bell it was to recognise the 14 years’ service they have given to the club.

And their players made it an occasion to remember by being wide awake from the word go.

Getting good habits in these friendlies is important, and when we finally got going it was good to see ‘the Juke’, Lukas Jutkiewicz, get on the scoresheet, and the new signing Jelle Vossen also getting off the mark.

It is always good to see strikers score, especially a new one.

The saga around Jason Shackell not playing again, with this time a different injury (a back problem) has had a lot of Clarets fans asking me ‘Is he going?’.

Well I can’t answer that, but if he had been on the pitch against Accrington I feel we would have won the game as the back four really looked vulnerable.

Michael Keane was not involved having just returned to Gawthorpe after being away with England Under-21s this summer, but will start to feature more.

Rio Ferdinand has tipped the former Manchester United youngster to become a full international. That will give the lad a massive confidence boost, and I quite agree with Rio. He is definitely one to progress.

I would prefer him to be alongside Shackell than replacing him in the line-up because Shackell will talk to the lad and make him into a better player.

Manager Sean Dyche knows he has to strengthen his squad, but it is just taking time to get the players in.

He is a shrewd operator though and I have every faith in him to get the right players.

In the meantime these pre-season friendlies give opportunities to players bidding for a place in the manager’s starting XI, and after last night’s game against Glasgow Rangers there is another being played behind closed doors today.

I expect the Clarets chief will have already started to formulate in his own mind who he wants to play and where.

But there is still time for people to change his mind.

He’s had three games now and from here he will be working on formation and style.

The only signings they’ve had so far – Voss and Matt Lowton – impressed me, despite defeat at Accrington.

The manager is giving nothing away about future signings, but I believe that two or three new faces could be arriving at Turf Moor.