I just told the players I’m delighted with the mentality

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When Burnley beat Southampton in December 2014 their manager Ronald Koeman thought his side deserved something from the game and when we beat Everton at home last season the same Ronald Koeman couldn’t understand how his side had lost.

So, it probably comes as no surprise that he didn’t think his Everton team deserved to lose today, this time at Goodison Park although it was not a view shared by the Clarets’ boss Sean Dyche.

“I am disappointed with the result but not the commitment and the belief of the players, because I thought that was totally different today and what you need to win a game,” the under pressure Dutchman said.

“But in these circumstances, you need to score the goal in the first 20 minutes. I thought we started well but we missed some good chances, and you know, if you analyse Burnley, if you go behind it’s really tough. They drop even further back, they are defensively and physically strong and you need to be at your creative best, and that wasn’t at the level that we needed to get at least one point.

Embed from Getty Images“We tried everything. We tried to create chances, we had many crosses, we had some headers, and good chances. We were unlucky; they blocked every shot. That’s the situation the team is in, but the way we fought and the commitment we had today is the direction to go and to continue in.”

Dyche knew who deserved to win the game and he was purring about the goal that won it for us. He said: “We have spoken about how we can move forward and that was a great example of that. I don’t know how many passes it was, but it is a tremendous goal following a fantastic crossfield pass from Robbie Brady.

“We are not remotely trying to make out we are the real deal, but the question is can you fight it out when you need to and can you be effective when you play. We can play and it’s finding that balance, and there was a lot of that on show today along with some real muck and nettles defending and good shape, so I am very, very pleased.”

He added: “The side is developing and I just told the players I’m delighted with the mentality. It’s difficult in the Premier League anyway, but it’s difficult to come to these places and piecing everything together to deliver a performance.”

Aware of the current situation at Goodison, he said: “There is a bit of noise around here at the moment, but they are still a very good set of players and you have to be on your guard. We just keep edging it forwards and I feel we did that again today.

“I thought we absorbed the second half well. It’s not easy. You are 1-0 up and you have to do the basics well and I felt we did that.”

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