They were better than us on the day
Burnley were the winners against Crystal Palace with a third minute goal from home debutant Chris Wood, but it was a result that left under fire Palace boss Frank De Boer stunned after a game in which he believed his team were the better of the two sides on view.
“I think everyone who was in the stadium or sitting behind the television would have seen that only one team deserved to win today, and that was us,” De Boer said. “That’s football and sometimes you don’t get what you deserve, but we can also blame ourselves for giving the goal away and not scoring our opportunities.”
That goal came via a poor back pass from former Bolton player Chung-yong Lee. “Of course you don’t expect that,” the manager said. “I had good confidence in the squad today but they didn’t start with that confidence and maybe that was shown in the goal we conceded, but after that we stood up and we played how we can play, sometimes with long balls and sometimes on the ground.
Asked if he thought his side was making progress, he said: “I think so if you see how we controlled the game. Burnley are normally very difficult because of their style of play but I think we did quite well and came out of our shell.
“I cannot do anything more and we have to reward ourselves with the chances; normally if you get ten chances and four or five open ones, then you have to score and if you don’t you’ll get punished.”
Sean Dyche spoke about the loss of goalkeeper Tom Heaton, but as always he was positive and said: “I always say it gives an opportunity to others and Nick came in and applied himself really well today.
“You have to be ready to take your chance when it comes and Popey will be thrilled with that. I felt he was good at Blackburn in the cup and then again today. It’s hard enough going into a game as a centre half when it’s tight. When you are a keeper and the result doesn’t go your way, even if it’s not your fault, people question you in that weird negative way that some folk do.
“Instead they will say he was fantastic and that will do him the world of good. I thought he was outstanding in a team full of resilience in front of him on a day when, overall, they were better than us on the day. Sometimes that happens.
“Over the balance of the season I thought we played very well against West Brom and got nothing. Today we haven’t played as well and come away with a nice three points.”
Record signing Chris Wood got his second Burnley goal. The manager said: “All players, particularly strikers, want a goal, and it was a fine finish from Chris. he took it early and gave the keeper no chance.
“Strangely, that affected the game. I thought it would be a lot more cagey, but once that went in I felt it brought a freedom to their performance and they looked a lot more relaxed.
“You can’t take anyone lightly in this division and today was one of the rare times we were probably looked at as favourites. I thought you could feel that a little bit in the stadium and it wasn’t a good performance from us, but credit to them for making that happen and credit to us for defending so well to see it through.
“You need that mentality to never be beaten and always look to win and we’ve shown that many times. That showed today.”
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