It’s been another absolutely outstanding week
It was another away win for the Clarets and the victory over Huddersfield left their boss David Wagner accusing his players of not being brave enough.
“We didn’t expect it to be easy today, but the story of this game is very easy to explain,” he said. “We played against a very good team, very focused, concentrated and aggressive, with a good game plan and high potential individuals. In my opinion, Burnley is the best team in the league.
“In the first half we conceded two goals from set pieces, making two easy mistakes. In particular the second set piece was poor; we created it by making three mistakes, not hitting the ball into the stands when we should.
“This was hard on us, especially after getting the momentum of our goal that pulled it back to 2-1. Coming just before half time, this was hard to accept.
“Today the set pieces were the key moments. We’ve only had two poor games defending set pieces, against Bristol City and today. Normally we are strong and focused. On the other side, we have a lot of space to develop our offensive set pieces, both the delivery and finishing.
“I don’t believe we were brave enough in the first half. We don’t want to change our identity. It doesn’t depend on the opponent, it depends on our quality.
“At half time I told the players that we had to accept the situation, but I asked the lads to show their bravery and play our style of football. I thought they did a very good job in the second half, creating good chances to score. We stood on our front foot and were able to put pressure on a very good team.
“The second half showed that there is no problem in playing with our idea against Burnley, you just have to be brave enough. Sometimes there will be mistakes and the opponent will get a chance, but on the other side we are able to create chances. We have shown that often enough.
“This is not the first game where we have missed chances, but on the other side only two teams have scored more goals than us since I arrived. We can feel we are not clinical enough, but not many teams create more chances than us. I’m totally sure that if we keep doing this in the future, we will score goals and win games. On this side, I am totally relaxed.”
Sean Dyche saw his side win a sixth successive game, three of them on the road, and said afterwards: “It was a really strong performance today, especially in the first half. I feel both teams tried to play on a tough pitch, but we’ve controlled the game in different ways today.
“We controlled it in the first half with our energy and concise play and good set plays, then in the second half we have managed the game out very well, I thought. These are all things the group have learned in order to get results.”
He saw us conceded a goal just before half time but go straight down to the other end and restore our two goal advantage with Ben Mee’s header. He said: “We don’t get too disappointed by anything that hits us and the response to their goal was really pleasing, but these are tough characters who play the game passionately, in the right way and in control and that was on show again today.
“You expect them to have a reaction because they had nothing to lose. They came at us a bit stronger in the second half, but I felt we handled it well.”
He concluded: “It’s been another absolutely outstanding week. Our mentality and physicality is strong and we thing we know what the team are all about tactically and we think we can deliver.
“It’s back to the drawing board now though. The lads will get a little bit of down time and we will work again this week and get ready to go again.”
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