Cummings and Goings with Stephen Cummings

I THINK it's fair to say that anyone asking Burnley supporters whether or not they had a good Christmas, should brace themselves and prepare to face the (possibly violent) consequences.

The last few weeks have been truly dismal for Clarets fans. Derby day disasters, injuries to key players, Stan misunderstanding the fan's frustration vis-a-vis the Jepson situation, the list is endless.

Yet some areas are of more concern than others.

For instance, the lack of goals from central midfield. With the exceptions of a wildly deflected Paul Cook free kick at Fulham and John Mullin's winner at QPR, no central midfield player has managed to get his name on the scoresheet in 25 games, or put another way 2,250 minutes of football. Which even at this boozy time of the year is a sobering statistic.

This lack of midfield firepower makes the on-going omission of John Mullin from the starting line-up all the more puzzling. Following the Barnsley game Ternent was critical of his midfielders for their lack of desire to get on the end of things in the penalty area. Which, when you think about it, is exactly what John Mullin is all about.

Infuriatingly, Mullin spent the duration of the game on the substitutes' bench -- a situation which somewhat undermined Ternent's critical stance.

Another worry is the forward line. Both Andy Payton and Graham Branch seemed strangely lacklustre against Wolves. And two goals in five games tells its own sorry story.

Meanwhile, Ian Moore continues to struggle. The million pound man is full of running and enthusiasm. However, the striker's main currency, goals, continues to elude him.

Moore's chief asset, pace, might be used to greater effect playing off a big target man. But with Branch currently out of sorts that option appears to be unavailable.

And is it just me, or would you also welcome back Andy Cooke with open arms? Whatever you thought about Cookie, he was always available and would hold the ball up to bring others into play.

Surely Ternent must have thought the Dele Adebola deal was all but done and dusted. If not, the sale of Andy Cooke represents a bad piece of business.

Still, on Saturday, the Clarets have the opportunity to ditch their poor league form as they turn the attention to the FA Cup.

A repeat of last year's fine efforts would do nicely. And whilst victory would solve none of the problems outlined above, it might just kick-start the second half of our season.