Interesting. I'll admit I've not watched a lot of Burnley this season, but everything I saw yday and in the games I did watch made me think you absolutely DO want to press Trafford. He looked very uncomfortable.
I think Christie is just so important to the press and our style of play. When Christie isn't 'on it', the whole style of play looks ineffective. Also the nicking of the ball on the halfway line from Senesi is crucial to our style, and that's just not Mepham's game, so losing Senesi after 12 minutes was a major blow.
Another thing was that we looked so vulnerable on our left side, especially first half. Kerkez isn't as disciplined as Smith and it leaves gaps behind us, I feel like Burnley were deliberately targeting that and better sides would've hurt us. If fit, I prefer Kelly there in this system/style because it makes up for the lack of numbers when our front 5 all bomb forward.