Scott Parker cannot be blinded by Burnley win v Sheffield Wednesday - summer signing needs dropping | OneFootball

The Clarets boss will have a huge task on his hands 🟣

Burnley's 4-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday last Friday evening was their third-biggest win of the season, after recording two 5–0 victories away to Plymouth Argyle and at home to Cardiff City at opposite ends of the campaign - but the win over the Yorkshire club may have papered over some cracks.

The Clarets kept themselves ahead of Sunderland in the race for automatic promotion with their victory that saw fan favourite Manuel Benson get on the scoresheet alongside others - but a suspect first-half could have seen the game go a completely different way.

Bashir Humphreys, their usual left-back, wasn't in the matchday squad, which raised some eyebrows amongst the Turf Moor faithful - and with Lucas Pires playing instead, it was an eye-opener as to how the Clarets may have to change their tactics if the Chelsea loanee is out for the medium-term.

Why Scott Parker may have to find ways around playing Lucas Pires for Burnley

Pires endured a rocky start against Wednesday, with the Owls having the better of the first half at Turf Moor, and it looked for all the world as though the visitors would take the lead and finally end Scott Parker's superb defensive run by handing them their first conceded goal in 12 Championship matches.

But Marcus Edwards' trickery fired the Clarets into a 1-0 lead, and with Wednesday boss Danny Rohl aiming to get his side firing and find an equaliser, that left gaps that Burnley exploited. Goals from Josh Brownhill, Connor Roberts and Benson saw them win 4-0 in the end - and it looked like a strong team performance on paper.

Whilst Pires had a say in the third, his wobbliness was not unnoticed at left-back. Six of Burnley's nine conceded goals have come when he's been on the field of play, and if they are to continue their defensive excellence to keep the pace with Sheffield United in the automatic promotion race, they may need to find an alternative to the Brazilian at the business end of the season.

The Brazilian has his moments and isn't a player that can fully be relied upon when gunning for the Premier League - and that will be massively missed, with Humphreys being ruled out for a short while.

Pires does boast attacking talent in spells, though. He registered two assists on the opening day of the season against Luton Town - but with nothing since then, he's been looking for that end product ever since.

He did feature in both the 5-0 win over Plymouth and the 4-0 win over Wednesday too, indicating that his presence allows Burnley to play in a more attacking sense - but also featuring in bore draws against Portsmouth, Stoke City and Derby County. There's the notion that he could be one of the culprits when things aren't going Burnley's way.

Humphreys tends to play in the grittier games against leading sides in the division, and it's unknown as to how Burnley will fare if Pires features against the likes of West Brom, Bristol City and Sheffield United if Humphreys is out for that long.

The win against Wednesday was emphatic, but there's no denying it would be a different game if Burnley had conceded early on during a spell where Pires looked anything but assured at left-back.

Over the course of the next 12 games, everyone might feel more comfortable seeing less of Pires as the promotion race heats up.