We need to get the fitness in
Burnley’s pre-season continued yesterday with a 1-1 draw at Nottingham Forest and, as was the case in the game at Preston four days earlier, it proved to be a satisfying ninety minutes for the two managers.
Coming up against Mark Warburton has become something of an annual event. We beat his Rangers team in each of the last two years, 1-0 in 2015 with a Scott Arfield goal and 3-1 last year when Andre Gray bagged a hat trick.
This time it was Nottingham Forest and Warburton’s team avoided a third straight defeat and he said: “I am really pleased as I thought, in the first half especially, we were really good. it was a great test for us as we knew what Burnley would bring in terms of their quality, organisation and physicality.
“Sean Dyche sets his teams up well so it was a great test for us and I thought in the first half we responded and I am delighted with that. We showed good energy, good quality and we matched them all over the park.
“In the second half the substitutions slowed things down for both teams but it was a good exercise and a good way to end pre-season. You can play lower league opponents and stroll to victory and say all is rosy but you want to test yourself. Girona tested us and today was another tough test.
“It was pleasing for us to match them, we are disappointed to concede at home as you always are, but I think we are in good shape for the start of the season.”
Sean Dyche saw the Clarets fail to win for the first time this pre-season. “We need to get the fitness in and first half it was a real hard shift because they kept the ball well and tried to be productive,” he said. “In the second half I thought we gathered our thoughts a little bit and looked better tactically and the game came back in our favour.
“The players worked very, very hard on Thursday. It was a double session and very hard on the legs. They carried a little bit of second day fatigue and you could notice that first half, whereas second half they looked a bit stronger again, so we were pleased with that.
It’s like the legs recovered and we looked more like ourselves, partly the tactical, partly the physical, but it was good on all levels. I’m pleased with the players. There were a couple of tweaks but nothing major, so that’s good. We’re getting closer.”
It’s back home now to completed the pre-season and Dyche said: “Tuesday, we still want to get minutes into players (against Celta Vigo). The idea is if we can get the whole group as fit as we can ready for the first game of the season, then you’re in good shape, because then you can put players in, take them out, move the shape etc.
“Without that true fitness, it’s difficult to do that because you end up going for the players who are the fittest because we all know the Premier League is very demanding physically. We’ll see how Tuesday goes. That might be slightly different, and then by Saturday (v Hannover 96) you’re looking to look roughly, not always the team you think, but roughly what the team might be.”
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