Alarm bells should be ringing for Scott Parker and his future at Burnley FC | OneFootball

Things went from bad to worse for Burnley at the weekend as they were beaten 1-0 by Millwall, ending their unbeaten league run

Although Burnley reside in the Championship play-off places, most Clarets fans are starting to warm to the fact their league position has probably lulled them into a false sense of security.

A 1-0 defeat at Millwall on Sunday was the final straw for a lot of Clarets fans, a lot of whom are now asking for the club to act and sack Scott Parker, although given the faith shown to Vincent Kompany last season, it seems likely those cries will fall on deaf ears.

Taking the league table at face value, some fans would argue 'What have Burnley got to complain about?'

But the league table is a complete fabrication of reality for Burnley supporters, who are growing uneasy at the brand of football Parker has brought with him.

Perhaps that's in part due to being spoiled by the football witnessed in Kompany's Championship title-winning season, but even without drawing comparisons to that campaign, the underlying numbers make grim reading for the East Lancashire outfit.

This past weekend's defeat in South Bermondsey could prove to be the straw that broke the camel's back for Parker, who now faces a monumental battle to get the fans back on side with an international break looming large.

Burnley FC attacking stats in 2024-25 season paint a grim picture

As alluded to earlier, the league table lulls you into a false sense of security and makes you believe that all is rosy at Turf Moor, when that almost certainly isn't the case.

Boos rang out after a 0-0 home draw to QPR in late October, and Sunday's defeat was a continuation of those struggles.

Burnley amassed an xG tally of 0.2 at The Den, and even that seems generous considering they didn't manage a shot on target in the whole game, and it's not just a problem they ran into on Sunday, it's one which has plagued them all season.

The Clarets have amassed a seasonal xG tally of 12.1 - that's the second-lowest tally in the division - ahead of only Plymouth Argyle, who reside in the bottom three, which shows how deep the problems are.

Parker's side have created a paltry 16 big chances this season, again the second-fewest in the league, while their shot on target average per game is marginally better at 3.2, with that only the third-lowest in the league.

For a promotion chasing side, those stats make truly horrific reading, and there are few signs to suggest they'll turn it around playing the way they currently are.

Scott Parker faces a battle to turn Burnley FC fanbase back onside with him

Aside from the attacking stats, the rest of Burnley's game is fairly good.

On average, they concede the joint-fewest goals per game in the league (0.5), while their seven clean sheets also ranks among the league's best.

They tend to dominate the ball a lot, averaging the league's third-highest rate of possession with 58.5%, but the problem Burnley fans have now is that they're not seeing their team do anything with it.

Modern football is sometimes glamourised, and despite becoming heavily stat driven, it's ultimately an entertainment sport and fans want to see goals an action, not 500+ sideways passes a game which Clarets fans are currently enduring.

Their lack of guile in the final third is definitely a worry, and has been for months, but the most concerning aspect is that nothing has been done to solve the issue over the last two months.

Fans are rightfully now starting to ask themselves whether Parker is the man who can stem the negative flow and get Burnley back to the Premier League, and after Sunday's defeat, alarm bells will certainly be ringing that they could remain in the Championship for next season.