Burnley man admits players deserve their criticism from angry supporters

Connor Roberts admits he and his fellow Burnley teammates deserve every bit of criticism that comes their way.

The Clarets were forced to face the music on Saturday following the dismal 4-1 defeat to Lincoln City.

There were angry scenes in the away end, as Burnley fans chanted “you’re not fit to wear the shirt” as the players came over to applaud at full-time.

While Nicky Hayen took the ultimate blame, losing his job shortly after the game, Roberts knows the players must take responsibility too.

“We will always go over to them,” he told BBC Radio Lancashire. “They sing what they sing, they say what they say and they’re entitled to say every word they do.

“I will not say we don’t deserve it or I don’t deserve it. They’ve paid their money and they travel, they want their team to show everything we don’t.

“At the moment we’re not doing that, so I will always respect them for still coming and still trying to support us.

“Obviously when times are good it’s a lot easier to do that, so for the ones that still come and still support Burnley Football Club when things are the way they are, it’s a credit to them and no credit to us.”

It’s been a disastrous start to the season for Burnley, who find themselves mired in relegation strife with just one win from their first 12 games.

“It’s not been acceptable for 98 per cent of the season,” Roberts added.

“I don’t really know what you want me, as the player put out here, to say to be honest. We know it’s not good enough, we know the fans deserve a million times more.

“All we have to do is get on with it now and see if we can do better in the next game.”

Roberts, meanwhile, suggested the players quickly need to wake up and realise they’re in a big relegation scrap.

“Sooner rather than later, we’re going to have to start not just winning games, but picking up results,” the Welshman said.

“In the situation we’re in, we come to Lincoln and we go 1-0 up, if we come away with a draw we’d still be a little disappointed, because Burnley coming to grounds like this and against teams like this, we used to be able to grind out wins.

“But in the situation we’re in, a point would have been good, but the second-half was glaringly not good enough from every single player.”