Treacy Injury May Force Howe To Loan

Clarets fans wondering why Keith Treacy was not named in the sixteen for the Southampton game on Saturday now have their answer.

Treacy missed Saturday`s 1-1 draw against the Saints after feeling his hamstring tighten up during training on Friday.

"Keith just felt his hamstring was tight following training on Friday so we didn`t want to take any risks," said Howe.

This is yet another blow for the Clarets after already losing the services of Brian Jensen, Martin Paterson, Danny Ings and Michael Duff so far this season to injury.

With such a threadbare squad at the moment any injury gives Howe fewer and fewer options and already this season Howe has struggled to sign players on loan since the loan market opened.

Burnley play Nottingham Forest at Turf Moor on Tuesday night (27th September) and Treacy wil be assessed ahead of that game.

If however, Treacy is set for a longer spell on the sidelines, Eddie Howe could be forced to enter the loan market to find a replacement.

Howe appears to have had a 'downer' recently on his chances of signing players on loan.

Speaking to the Lancashire Telegraph after the Treacy injury, he said:

"It (Treacy injury) highlighted our lack of depth, which is a huge concern. There were no pros left over so we`re thin on the ground.

"We might have to look at loans again now.

"We`re monitoring the transfer market every single day, I can assure everybody of that.

"But it is just a nightmare time to bring players in and find the right ones that are available.

"A lot of the top clubs are keeping their players with the Europa League and the Carling Cup, so we`ve found it incredibly frustrating."

The last paragraph in the above quote is probably reference to Burnley's failure recently to sign Stoke's Ryan Shotton and Manchester United's Paul Pogba on loan.

I think the club are probably beginning to realise now a few home truths about the folly of trying to save money by reducing the squad size and having less experience to call upon. Most Clarets fans could have seen this coming and it has to be hoped that scuttling around now trying to bring in loans does eventually bring some success although to date we have failed to supplement the squad. Other clubs though are managing to find the loan players they want so some of the excuses are looking a little tired now.

The season is already 7-8 games in and the Clarets are stuggling points wise at the wrong end of the table. Now is not really the time in my opinion to be forced into looking for emergency loans. We should have sorted our squad out in terms of both quality and quantity before the season started. It's not rocket science! Each delay now with any injury and suspension so acute not only effects our promotion chances which are beginning to look more and more scuppered each day but also threatens our very survival in the Championship.

Let's hope the injury to Treacy is not too serious but even if he plays on Tuesday night, all Clarets fans will know at the back of the their minds that we can't afford any more injuries or indeed suspensions at the moment without seriously denting the effectiveness of our squad.

I am sorry but we should not be in this ridiculous situation!

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