You have to believe in what you do
Burnley returned to winning ways tonight with a 1-0 win against Stoke but they were three points that Stoke boss Mark Hughes didn’t think we deserved.
Hughes thought Stoke deserved much better than the 1-0 loss and said: “I thought we played well tonight in terms of withstanding what Burnley do by putting the ball into the channels and box at every opportunity.
“In terms of our play we had a game plan and looked to take their press out from midfield and I thought that worked really well. Joe Allen and Marko Arnautovic and Saido Berahino were breaking well as a result and I felt it was only a matter of time before we would score.
“We created a couple of fantastic opportunities when we were clean through but didn’t quite play the right pass or miss controlled and that was the disappointing thing for us because we were clearly the side in the ascendancy.
“We should have been home and hosed after the first half to be perfectly honest. Marko Arnautovic went through a couple of times and should have done better and it continued in the same vein in the second half.
“It’s frustrating because we just needed that bit of guile at the top end of the pitch to pick the right pass at the right time to take the game away from them.
“As is with the way Burnley play in terms of percentage football, if they have an opportunity to put it in the box, they will, and it’s a good strike which has won the game for them. It’s disappointing because I felt we were the better team on the night, the one looking to play and create chances, but we’ve been beaten.
“I’m much happier with the performance compared to the weekend when we didn’t compete, but we needed to and did tonight.”
There might have been sighs of relief in the stands at the final whistle tonight from supporters who saw the run of seven games without a win come to an end, but not for manager Sean Dyche. “It’s not about relief; it’s about belief,” he said after this latest victory.
“I believe in what we do here and that’s a record number of points for us over the three seasons in the Premier League and we still have seven games to go.
“You have to believe in what you do as a manager and my staff and players in terms of development and how we move forward. It’s impossible to look at that and think we haven’t moved forward, with 35 points already on the board and seven still to play.
“Now, we have to continue that mindset and to keep growing as a side. The games are getting fewer, but we still have to battle away for every inch that we can to get results.”
He added: “Under the lights here it always seems to be a vibrant atmosphere, and the team responded, so it was a good night for all.
“We had to dig deep against a very experienced side. They wanted a reaction from the weekend and I thought Mark got that. The first half was a ding-dong, end to end affair with each team trying to stretch each other, but chances were few and far between. In the second half the game settled and we scored a very good goal that was certainly worthy of winning the game.
“I thought Jeff Hendrick was right back on it tonight with a great performance and it was great feet in the clarity of the moment. The cross came so clean to Boydy and rather than think about it he hit it cleanly and found a fine finish.
“I was so pleased with many performances tonight.”
Follow UpTheClarets:Share this page :