You have to continue to fight for all you get
Burnley travel to Bournemouth tonight and a date with former manager Eddie Howe who is celebrating his 40th birthday.
Howe was in charge of the Clarets from January 2011, when he replaced Brian Laws, until October 2012, when he returned to Bournemouth to open the door for Sean Dyche to move in to the manager’s seat at Turf Moor.
Ahead of tonight’s game, he said of his time at Burnley: “They were good times. It was a tough challenge but something that I needed. I have no regrets and the people around the club were only ever supportive to me. I’m so happy to see them doing so well now in the Premier League.
“We tried to do the best job we could and leave a solid foundation behind us for the next generation of players and managers, we tried to do that but it’s the players and the manager there now who deserve all the credit for getting the club to where they are now.
“You know what they’re going to do but it’s difficult to beat that. The confidence they got from the likes of the good Chelsea and Tottenham results early on gave them a great start and they now rightly sit in the top half of the table.”
Bournemouth are currently having their best spell of the season so far, and he said: “We’re in good shape, the players are in a good frame of mind, playing with confidence and we love playing here at home and under the lights.
“We want to give a good account of ourselves and build on the good result we had here against Huddersfield in our last home game.”
Burnley now face two away games this week as we search but that’s no problem for us according to Dyche. He said: “Home and away the Premier League is tough. We try and treat them all as clear minded as we can, whether it’s the top teams or the bottom.
“We’ve done these quick games many times in my time here and we like taking on the challenges that come thick and fast. It suits us. We believe in the way we work and the way the players look after themselves and we’ll be ready.”
He admits it will be a tough ask at Bournemouth. “They are a very good side and Eddie has done an outstanding job there and continues to do so,” Dyche said. “They had an unusually tough start, especially losing a few at home, but they are a good side and always attempting to move things forward, as we are here. It’s not easy to do that, but I have great respect for Eddie and his staff and players.
“It’s not a given being in the Premier League. You have to continue to fight for all you get and they continue to do so, as we do. They stay as a unit when things get tough, and we’re a bit like that and they are getting wiser every season.”
Dyche concluded: “Players are realistic and we are measured on a table, but that doesn’t measure performances and this season we have been generally pretty good. This season we have shown regularly that there is more depth to our performances that shows the future and says we are getting better.
“Of course, you still have to get points on the board and we’ve done that very well so far, and we have to continue to do that.”
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