It is a season’s work for clubs like us
Burnley travel to The Hawthorns tonight with their manager Slaven Bilić facing us for the first time since a 1-1 draw at Turf Moor three years ago this week when he was in charge of West Ham .
Speaking ahead of tonight’s game, he said: “We knew that especially our first three games were very difficult on paper (against Leicester, Everton and Chelsea), but then we played the worst in our fourth game (against Southampton).
“But every game is difficult, we have to accept that as fans, as a team. It’s not giving up, not at all, it’s about finding a new motivation. We have to accept that every game, whoever we play against, we enter that game as a big, massive challenge and test for us, thinking positive, of course thinking brave, not being scared of them, no, but knowing that we will have to out-run them, out-focus them, that we have to be better than them in those things that you can influence. Definitely that’s motivation, that’s determination, that’s togetherness, that’s craziness in a positive way.
He added: ” We have gone up a level and we want to stay at that level for as long as possible. Every game we have to be more determined and more motivated than our opponent. That should be our advantage and the game against Burnley is a good opportunity for us knowing that we will have to match them in the things they are really good at. Directness, second balls and competitiveness. We have been working on that during the break.
“They have zero points, they are not in a good situation, but they have a know-how. They are not panicking with the situation, they are not happy, but they are not panicking. They have a know-how, they have a great manager who never gives up. He is a proper man. They may not have the points, but they will arrive as a confident team who know what they have to do.”
We picked up some great results in the latter part of last season but are still looking to get off the mark this season and Sean Dyche said about that: “I talk about it a lot and I talk about it openly with the players; the last one doesn’t guarantee the next one.
“That applies equally if you’re having a tough run, because you’re having a tough run it doesn’t mean the next one’s a tough game. You can change everything at any given moment in football. I remind the players of that. We are experienced with that. We know that you can have tough spells in the Premier League.
“I think we have the make up and the mentality of how you come through those spells. It’s yet to be seen this season, of course, but it’s part of the challenge. We’ve got a group that have been through it before. That doesn’t guarantee anything, but it means they’ve got that bit of experience.
He added: “We know that one tough run doesn’t make your season. It is a season’s work for clubs like us. I’ve always said that. We’ve proved that down the seasons. When we had a tough start in the Europa League season it wasn’t until Christmas we really fired, and we did fire. When you look at the second half of that season, I think we were top five for form and points.
“I have said every season it’s a re-start and we’ve shown that this season. We’ve had to re-model from within. We’ve had to try and look after players within. We haven’t spent big money, so we have to keep re-modelling the thinking inside the building. If you expect there to be no challenges within that, I think you’d be naïve.
“I understand the challenges and the players understand that. They know it’s no breeze going through the Premier League season, but we have got experience here of that and we understand it.
“The calmness that comes, the focus that comes, the attention to detail on the training ground and then delivering in games, that’s our focus now, because if you get that right, you’ve got a way better chance of getting points on the board.”
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