Burnley boss Sean Dyche taking it 'one day at a time' with walking wounded

Sean Dyche admits he is taking it “one day at a time at the moment, never mind one game at a time” as he assessed his walking wounded.
Charlie Taylor receives treatmentCharlie Taylor receives treatment
Charlie Taylor receives treatment

Burnley beat Sheffield United 1-0 at Turf Moor on Tuesday evening, but were again without Dwight McNeil, Jack Cork, Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Matej Vydra, while Jay Rodriguez was absent with a knee problem suffered at Leeds on Sunday.

And to make matters worse, Charlie Taylor was forced off in the first half with a hamstring injury, suffered after being shoved by Blades forward David McGoldrick.

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It remains to be seen if any will recover to feature against Fulham at Turf Moor on Sunday, and Dyche said: “We’ve been stretched so far this season, every time we get everyone back, we get more injuries, which is a real challenge for us.

“Unfortunately that’s happened again, so then you’re operating with different players in different positions, we’re asking a lot of Erik Pieters to play wide left at the start, he has then to go to left back, and Josh Benson – a young central midfield player earning his spurs – has to go wide and do a shift for us there.”

On Taylor, he explained: “Unfortunately, he’s fouled, but the referee doesn’t give a foul because he doesn’t go sliding all over the floor, and as he breaks away from the foul, he pulls his hamstring.

“If the ref had blown for a foul, he wouldn’t have pulled his hamstring. We’ll have to wait for more news on that.”

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And on his absentees, he added: “Jay jolted his knee, so we’re hoping that settles down, Vyds tweaked his back and is still struggling, although we don’t think it’s serious. Dwighty has a strain which is settling nicely but we can’t risk him. Johann is still on his way back to full sharpness. Corky is going along nicely, he’s getting stronger.

“We’ll have a roll call, we’re one day at a time at the moment, never mind one game at a time, look at things as it goes.”