The second match week of the Premier League season saw two newly promoted teams in Burnley and Sunderland go head to head.
In a game with polar opposite opinions surrounding the two teams it was Scott Parker's Burnley that ended the game victorious that many people did not predict happening.
Despite being the second match of the season this match still held a lot of weight to it as a potential six pointer between two teams that will likely be around the relegation battle.
In such an important game early on in the season, what are the main points to take away?
This game was all about the quality of Scott Parker as a manager. As he displayed his in game tactical awareness.
Pre-game the Clarets manager got his tactical set up perfect by setting his side up in the 4-2-3-1 set up that brought his team automatic promotion success.
This allowed Burnley to combat the energetic Sunderland midfield trio which was identified as a key area to win in order to do well in the match.
The east Lancashire outfit managed to win this battle with Lesley Ugochukwu, Josh Cullen and Hannibal Mejbri. The mix of energy and physicality from Burnley's midfield proved to be a good test for Sunderland's midfield. Add in the composure on the ball from Scott Parker's men it made Sunderland's press look ineffective at times in the match.
After the first 45 minutes with no real chances being created by Burnley outside of Lyle Foster scoring a disallowed goal. Scott Parker was tasked with making in game changes at half time and he reaped the rewards for his tactical changes and inspiring team talk as his side took the lead on the 47th minute through captain Josh Cullen.
Parker made Sunderland be the team playing on the ball instead of allowing them to play on the counter attack which gave them a lot of success against West Ham. But by being allowed to have possession it nullified a lot of the strengths that Sunderland have in attack.
4-2-3-1 tactical set up
The change back to the 4-2-3-1 set up proved to be the right decision for this match against Sunderland.
As Burnley would have analysed how Sunderland dominated the midfield against West Ham United in the opening game and would have seen how West Ham used a two man midfield against Sunderland's three man midfield.
Highlighting how effective Sunderland are with the numbers advantage in the middle third of the pitch.
The change of set up brought back familiarity for many of the players as they are used to their roles in this set up after a successful Championship campaign using the set up.
The defensive players especially benefited from the change as they all knew their roles in the team and showed the defensive strengths from their record breaking season in the Championship.
Josh Cullen - fantastic once again
Burnley captain Josh Cullen once again proved how important he is to the Burnley side.
The Irish midfielder got a goal and assist but it wasn't just being involved in both of his team's goals that made him stand out as the best player on the field.
His overall play is something Burnley will rely on heavily in every game. With their captain playing at his best ability they have a chance in most games they play with his composure on the ball and his leadership being crucial to how the Clarets play.
Cullen led by example once again after putting in an impressive display against Tottenham Hotspur in his side's first game of the season. He continued in similar vain but this time his efforts helped his side pick up an all important three points to kickstart their bid for survival.
With the recent addition of Lesley Ugochukwu to the side it relieves some of the on ball pressure that Josh Cullen would likely be under if he had a different midfield partner. Burnley can build on this solid foundation of Cullen and Ugochukwu and be a difficult side to beat especially against the teams to a similar level of them.
Weaknesses being targeted
Sunderland made it apparent that Burnley's weakness was down their right hand side. As they targeted Kyle Walker and Hjalmar Ekdal with their attacks.
This gave the Black Cats some early success creating two goal scoring chances that on another day Sunderland might have capitalised on.
But once Burnley grew into the game they made it increasingly difficult for Sunderland to find any success down Burnley's right hand side with Ekdal and Walker putting in great defensive displays.
Showing Burnley's ability to defend well even with opposition teams targeting supposed weak areas. This is a testament to the work and effort Scott Parker and his team put in to the defensive side of the game as they look to be difficult to beat for any team they face.