We kept going and I was super pleased with that
Burnley and Southampton fought out a 1-1 draw and while the visiting manager was talking about his team’s performance and how they unfortunately dropped two points at the end, the home manager certainly had the referee on his mind.
Saints’ boss Ralph Hasenhüttl saw his side lead for almost 40 minutes before we grabbed a late equaliser from the penalty spot. He said afterwards that the mood wasn’t good in his team’s dressing room.
“Finally Redmond did, it was a fantastic goal and it was clear that in the end at 1-0 then the game is always alive for Burnley. They try anything to come back and in the last situation the penalty is a pity.
“You have to say that they also had a few chances before that so we have to take this point whether it is fair or not. Both sides had chances to score so it had been a big step, it was only a small one in the end but an important step.
“It’s difficult at the moment [to take positives] as it feels like we lost the game but maybe after one or two days we can say ‘ok we are still unbeaten’ and we made two points against tight opponents. Now we have a home game against Cardiff, we lost this game in Cardiff so we want to be better and that’s our target that we’re facing next week.”
We might have finally got a penalty, but it was always the case that Sean Dyche would want to speak about the one we didn’t get in the first half. “I have absolutely no idea, whatsoever, why that penalty wasn’t awarded,” Dyche said.
“I’ll just reiterate that when players fall naturally, I don’t think they are getting penalties. I think I’ve been honest enough to speak about that this season, when results have gone against us, such as when Harry Kane should have had one and West Ham should have been awarded one, and I just don’t know where the game is going.
“Dives get given as penalties and real falls are not getting given and just because Ashley hasn’t thrown his arms in the air and rolled around 10 times, he gets nothing. The keeper comes out trying to do his job. the centre forward gets there first and toes it past him, and the keeper brings him down. It is impossible, in my opinion, that that is not a penalty and I just don’t understand it.
“I hope somewhere down the line there is a watershed moment, and maybe today was that day, where the PGMOL, the Premier League and all the other governing bodies involved look at it and say ‘woah, wait a minute, where are we going?’
“I always differentiate between gamesmanship and clever play. That has always been around, but I am on about blatant diving. Today was, in my opinion a blatant penalty that didn’t get given and, alarmingly, I later found out he was booked for simulation. I cannot believe he gets booked after all I speak about in the Premier League, with players falling everywhere and never getting any punishment, I really can’t. What I am worried about for the game, and the bigger picture, is that referees are now giving the dives. I have no clue anymore because that is completely confusing and I hope it’s confusing enough for fans to go ‘hold on, we’ve all had enough of this’.
“I am probably the most outspoken one on this, and I understand that, but that first penalty today is precisely why I am outspoken. To add to that, in theory, because Ashley has gone mad at the decision, he could have been sent off, and that would have been ridiculous. I just hope today was enough for people to say let’s have a look at this because it has to change. Will it? I don’t know.”
In the second half, he saw us having to fight from a goal down and finally win a penalty taken by Barnes. “I must mention the mentality of Ashley, to remain calm and focused,” he added. “To have been not given that penalty and then being booked for simulation is incredible. So to then get a last minute penalty after seeing so many chances stay out, and slot it home, was fantastic for him and I thought we deserved more than a draw today.
“We kept knocking on the door and had some golden chances. We’ve had some hard knocks, recently, that have cost us and we would all have gone home very aggrieved had that cost us. Tomorrow I’ll look at this result differently and think we should have won and had two penalties, but our mentality to see through all that was absolutely superb and I commented on that to the lads at the end.
“That relentlessness is flying back into the squad and everyone has seen that drive and will to win. In some ways, it’s nice to be aggrieved and scratching our head that we haven’t got more. I’ll take the points, but it shows that we are not settling for less. We kept going and I was super pleased with that.”
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