Turf Moor hero Clarke Carlisle is convinced Kyle Walker will prove a canny signing by Burnley.<\/p>\n
While they sit in the bottom three during the international break, Carlisle<\/a> says he’s seen enough so far this season to suggest Burnley<\/a> can beat the drop.<\/p>\n And key to that target, says Carlisle, will be former Manchester City<\/a> captain Walker<\/a>.<\/p>\n The former defender, who played over 150 games for the Clarets, told Tribalfootball.com: “He’s spent a decade or more at Manchester City, and you can be of the greatest pedigree, the greatest quality with all due respect, coming to Turf Moor is a very different proposition.<\/p>\n “Going from Manchester to the town of Burnley is a very different proposition, even though it’s only 15 miles down the road. So yes, I expect his quality to contribute on the pitch but in a wider kind of you know, embedding yourself in the team and in a different unit, it’s going to take a little bit of time.<\/p>\n “Which is why I was so impressed by those first few games, you know, that there was some key personnel that were changed, especially in the defensive unit, yet there still wasn’t a decimation of those defensive standards.<\/p>\n “The one thing I will say about Kyle Walker is that for the entirety of his career, his pace has corrected errors and now he’s getting to an age where his pace isn’t as consistent or as on call as it was. So I think there might be one or two situations in a team and as a unit that maybe aren’t as domineering in possession as Manchester City were, where it will cause one or two more problems for the team than Kyle is used to.<\/p>\n “But that being said, he’s still possessed of such quality that he’s a threat going forward and defensively.”<\/p>\n Defensive strength<\/p>\n Indeed, Carlisle believes the defensive strength shown by Burnley so far is a base that manager Scott Parker and his players can build from.<\/p>\n He added, “Oftentimes you see sides come out of the championship with a great defensive record, but when they step into the Premier League, they still get systematically destroyed by that step-up in level. <\/p>\n “And I thought that the first three or four games at least showed that Burnley still have that defensive solidity to make the transition.\u00a0And that in and of itself is very encouraging.”<\/p>\n