We’re active in the way we are playing
The visit of West Ham tomorrow brings David Moyes back to Turf Moor where he was first in the visiting technical area for our home game against Preston back in February 1998 when an Andy Payton goal gave us a 1-0 win in the Auto Windscreens Shield.
Tomorrow he is here with West Ham for a second time having replaced Manuel Pellegrini at the end of 2019 for a second spell in charge and he brings his team in fourth place in the table.
“We always go into every game considering the opposition and, for example, we’ve got an incredibly tough game at Burnley,” he said. “Burnley are renowned for how they play and Sean Dyche has done as good a job as any manager in the Premier League when you consider over ten years with what he’s got available to him.
“I think everybody would expect Burnley to find a way of making sure they’re not in the bottom three, which Sean does most seasons. I think he will be finding it a bit tougher because the Premier League has got stronger, that’s my feeling. But Sean is a real fighter and his team do brilliant things.
They find a way to stay in games and make it really difficult for you. They go into away games and are really difficult to beat. Turf Moor has never been an easy place to get a result. We played well there last year so I hope we can do so again this season.”
Dyche will be looking to engineer a second league win of the season and at yesterday’s press conference said: “There is a real authenticity to the way that we work here, and the players can take a lot of credit from that, and I am proud of the work that they have put in.
“We trust that we have a group of players that we know can deliver, and they know when to deliver, and now it’s just about finding the moment and finding the balance.
“I think the players know that they have to make things happen rather than to wait for them to happen. We are trying to be proactive, and we want to go in the right direction all of the time, and they are aware of it.
“The busy period this year is not as busy as we’ve had down the years as we have an extra day between certain games, but generally of course it’s busier with more games. We are equipped to go through that.
“We hope with the three game week, we can get through that and get good results going into then true Christmas period, and generally the mentality is good, and I’ve never questioned it this season. I’m trying to work with the team I’m working with.”
It’s West Ham and Moyes with Dyche adding: “David has got a club pulling in the right direction, with the players, fans and feel of the club. Stuart Pearce is there, he’s a good friend of mine. There’s a lot of good people working there and I’ve a lot of respect for them. But he knows, and we know, that respect goes out of the window when the whistle blows, but after it comes back in again, we’ll have to get on with it.
“We’re active in the way we are playing, and he (Moyes) probably thinks we’re a side right up for the challenge, but they are having a good season and we’re not far away. They’ve become a strong outfit, particularly this season, but we have to be ready, and we will be, to take it on.”
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