Burnley FC may hand Leeds United, Sheffield United further advantage if Scott Parker experiment continues | OneFootball

Scott Parker's Lyle Foster experiment is showing signs that it isn't working

Goals have been consistently hard to come by for Burnley this season, and Scott Parker has tried a whole host of different things to combat that, but it's now perhaps time to bring an end to his latest experiment.

Parker has been persisting with Lyle Foster on the left wing for almost two months now, and while the South African's performances haven't been too bad, he hasn't particularly helped offset their goalscoring issue.

The Clarets have been involved a whopping 11 goalless draws this season, the latest of which came at Preston on Saturday, and after Sheffield United and Leeds won their subsequent fixtures, it left Burnley languishing even further behind.

Some Burnley fans have already accepted that they're likely to be competing in the play-offs at the end of the season, but there's still a lot of football to be played between now and then, and their automatic promotion chances certainly aren't dead just yet.

If they're to keep their fledgling hopes alive, though, they have to start winning games soon, and that will require them to put the ball in the back of the net.

Scott Parker has a bold Lyle Foster call to make

When Burnley paid a fee worth up to €10m to land Lyle Foster from Westerlo, there was never any doubt that he wouldn't come in and be the clubs' premier striker for years to come, but it hasn't worked out that way.

A whole host of issues have plagued his spell at Turf Moor, and the latest issue is deemed to be the fact he's playing out of position, something which is angering Burnley fans more with each passing week.

After missing two gilt-edged chances at Preston last weekend which undoubtedly cost Burnley the three points, Parker now has a huge decision to make - does he stand by his man or accept defeat and shuffle the pack?

Costly misses in front of goal tells Parker that he needs to make a change to the side, with most calling for Marcus Edwards to come in on the right, switch Jaidon Anthony over to the left and drop Foster to the bench.

That would probably be a little harsh on Foster, who would have to watch an out-of-position Zian Flemming plug the gap at striker, but Parker now has to do what's best for the team to win points.

Sheffield United and Leeds United are starting to pull away

The main problem for Burnley and Parker that he no longer has the chance to experiment with his line-up due to the form of Leeds and Sheffield United.

These are two sides who know their best XI, their best system and what works for them, and that shows with the results they've been picking up of late.

Both sides ground out results in the last round, with Sheffield United nicking a gritty 1-0 win away to Luton in a game where they had their backs to the wall for most, while Leeds battled from a goal down late on to beat Sunderland 2-1.

With Burnley's gap to those two sides standing at five and seven points respectively, you feel if it gets much larger then it's becoming insurmountable.

Misses like Foster's at the weekend certainly won't help with keeping pace with the top-two, but for the two Yorkshire clubs, they'll be hoping Parker continues his experiment as it plainly isn't yielding the results he hoped it would do.

With those two playing each other on Monday night, Burnley's Friday night clash with Sheffield Wednesday is a must-win to at least claw one of those sides back a little.