That’s one of the best results the team has produced
The Clarets finally got one over on former England boss Roy Hodgson who had enjoyed an unbeaten run against us previously other than a League Cup tie against Fulham back in 2008.
Hodgson admitted, after the game: “I thought they played very well in the first half and had we gone in at half time a goal behind I don’t think we could have had too many complaints. But I think we were a little bit unlucky in the second half. We controlled the game much better, we passed the ball better and we asked a lot more questions.
“But, of course, they scored from a set play which I wasn’t expecting them to score from but it was always going to be a tight game. Both teams worked hard and defended well so I think it was always going to be one of those games where if a team got 1-0 in front they’d have a great chance of taking the three points.
In the first half the quality of our passing and moving was nowhere near as good as it should be so we wasted 45 minutes. In the second half we managed to find that. By that time we were looking much more likely in terms of winning the game but when you go a goal to nil down against a team like Burnley, or any team in this league for that matter, they know how to defend it, they work very, very hard and you know you’re not going to create an enormous amount of chances. You’ve just got to hope that any chance that comes your way, you take.
Sean Dyche was a happy man after this win. “That’s a fantastic result,” he said. With all the noise that’s going on around the team and the fact we are very stretched, as stretched as I’ve seen us in my time here, that’s one of the best results the team has produced and one of the best results I have had as manager.
“You are asking these players to go out game after game now and just keep going and keep going. The physicality shown there, the effort and the commitment, and also some really good play, makes it a great night.
“We know that sometimes you have to edge these tight games. We played well against Watford the other night and found a moment and we found another big one with Ben’s header tonight.”
With all the injuries, he admitted: “We’ve had to change it because we looked at the team and we’ve got Vyds up there, who has a different way of playing between the shapes, just because he’s not that physical presence. We wanted to get Dwight on the ball as much as possible, but we also wanted to keep a good structure behind that.
“We got the goal and then it becomes ‘can you see the game through with your mentality?’. We lost Corky and then it’s the risk and reward of putting one of the young kids on, or going with Kevin Long, who is more rounded, and changing the shape. We went for that and thankfully saw it through.”
The win has taken us to eighth in the table, for now, and the inevitable questions about Europe. ” It’s a big challenge,” he said. “We are thin on numbers and we are having to put everything in every performances, but we are open minded. You saw tonight a fully committed team tonight, as am I, so let’s see where we can go.”
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