We don’t take anything for granted
Burnley make the long journey down to Southampton tomorrow and for their manager Mauricio Pellegrino it will be the first time he’s come up against the Clarets.
Pellegrino, from Argentina, was the Southampton choice to replace Claude Puel, the new Leicester manager, last summer and he said he is expecting a difficult game against us.
He said: “I expect a really strong side, because they have been playing well and getting good results in the last few games. I think it is a team that is comfortable when they don’t control the ball, they are comfortable playing long ball and counter attack, so we have to be patient and intelligent for reading the right situation, but I feel that we have been working well this week and I feel my players are ready to play a good game.
“It doesn’t matter what happens in the score or in the way that the opponent is playing, we have to think about us, about our personality and about what we are, to try to play 90 minutes 100 per cent. This, for me, is the main target, to be a team. It doesn’t matter the circumstances.
“Sometimes, obviously, a certain stimulus will change the mentality or the motion, but we have to be mature, to be calm. Being calm and patient is not something passive. Patient is looking for another action and trying to be there for the 90 minutes.”
Sean Dyche said ahead of this game: “Expectation is built on reality, in my opinion. It’s been that way here ever since we sold Charlie and you can timeline everything back to that. He did a lot of good stuff for us and he’s a great lad and a top player, who we wish well, but he went on and has played a number of Premier League games and we’ve moved on and moved forwards.
“That’s how this club has changed with the times. There’s a scratch of luck needed along the way, but, back then, did I ever think we’d be buying players for £15 million? No, I didn’t.”
He continued: “We’ve had to move this club forwards in many different ways and selling Charlie was a watershed moment when everyone thought, ok, here’s a bit of reality because we’ve just sold the main man at that time.
“We have built the expectation from then, but the point is it’s built on reality, not conjecture and opinion. The club has been forming and moving forward and building off and on the pitch. Any rising expectation, either internally or externally, is, I think, therefore on a reality basis.”
That moving forward and building has taken us to our current position of seventh in the Premier League. Dyche added: “We have probably exceeded a lot of outsiders’ views, especially after the start we’ve had.
“Being seventh is a good start, but we still know there’s a balance to it and we know the challenge of the Premier League is very difficult and we don’t take anything for granted. The Premier League is a very unforgiving place, and our expectation always has that reality to it, which is about concentrating on the next game and simplifying everything.
“I don’t think backwards a lot, but sometimes you have to reference where we were and where we now are.”
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