Badly timed goals, the bench and midfield: Watford 2 Burnley 1 talking points

Aside from Jeff Hendrick’s red card the real frustration from Vicarage Road was the timing of the goals Burnley conceded.

As they looked to regroup and reorganise from that blow they went behind within minutes when Troy Deeney managed to isolate himself against Matt Lowton.

For the rest of the first half the Clarets were poor. They were second to most loose balls and were being pinned back by the Hornets. They were crying out for 15 minutes with their manager and a chance to formulate a new plan, but they switched off and allowed the home side to grab what turned out to be a crucial second.

Had they gone in only one goal behind then the second half could have been a different story.

POWER FROM THE BENCH

It’s been a long time since this club fielded a bench quite as impressive as the one that sat down just before kick-off.

Extenuating circumstances there may have been, with Robbie Brady and Ashley Westwood eased gently into Burnley life after signing last week, but it was an impressive list of options for Dyche to call on.

There was over £20million worth of talent on the bench and that doesn’t include former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson and on-loan full-back Jon Flanagan, who may have struggled at times this season but was almost a league winner in 2013/14.

James Tarkowski has been excellent in Burnley’s FA Cup run but can’t get a game in the league while Johann Berg Gudmundsson excelled in the side before his injury.

Ashley Westwood and Robbie Brady cost the best part of £18million and Sam Vokes has been scoring for fun of late but still can’t get in the team.

MIDFIELD

This Burnley side is pretty strong in every department, but the depth is perhaps most impressive in midfield, which is a good thing considering the problems stacking up in that department.

Numbers were already short with Dean Marney and Steven Defour’s injuries before Jeff Hendrick’s moment of madness cost him the next three games.

That will see him miss Chelsea and Hull in the league as well as the FA Cup fifth round tie with Lincoln City.

At the moment the Clarets can manage without those three with Joey Barton and Ashley Westwood starting and Tarkowski in reserve.

But still nobody knows quite how long Barton will be available for, with a personal hearing into his FA charge for betting offences hanging over his head.

His loss will be felt - he has been outstanding since his Turf Moor return - but at the very least let’s hope it comes after that trip to the KCOM rather than before.