Burnley must strive for consistency of performance - Celestini

Fabio Celestini has stressed one of his first tasks as Burnley boss is to get consistency of performance.

The 51-year-old has overseen two straight draws since arriving as Nicky Hayen’s successor only last week.

The Clarets generally performed pretty positively at home to Portsmouth last week, only to be held to a frustrating goalless draw.

Celestini’s side then followed that up with an underwhelming display at QPR, where Burnley were slightly fortuitous to come away with a 1-1 draw.

The fact his side didn’t lose that game at Loftus Road, however, suggests the spirit in the camp is still there - or at least that’s how Celestini views the situation.

Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Cardiff City, the Swiss boss spoke about the lessons he’s learned so far, performances, team morale and what a win would do heading into the November international break.

Here’s what he had to say:

Lessons from first two games

“First, the team is alive. Because what I said this morning to the guys, after the 1-1 in QPR, I want to see my team after the 1-1. I was on the pitch and now, what happened?

“Did they go down or are they still fighting? And the team decided to still fight together. For that, we take one point. Otherwise, you lose. That was very clear. For that, I see a good signal.

“They're fighting not just with the 0-1, but they're still fighting with the 1-1. We have one or two possibilities to maybe do the 2-1. But in the end, what I see is that after our goals too, we are together.

“We are not in a good position, we are not in a good situation. But we are together and we try to go out of this situation together. No chance to do something different, so that's the first.

“Second, I think the team has a quality, has a potential. Before, I knew for the video. Now, I know because I'm the trainer of the team. We have a big gap between the potential and the performance, but that's more confidence.

“That's my job in this moment. It's to try to give a style to the team. But I'm also a recovery player. A recovery player has to have the player at 120 per cent or 100 per cent. That's my first job.”

Heading into the international break off the back of a win

“It's very important to have two weeks with a win, with a good sensation. That's very important for us.

“At the end, we have more than 30 games left. We are working for May, because it's part, it's the process.

“What I say, we win against Watford, 0-4, but afterwards, not enough. What I'm building now is to be consistent for the rest of the season, not to do one shot.

“We can win in QPR 0-1, but afterwards, you can lose the next 6 games. And for what you win in QPR? Yes, it's good, but it's not enough.

“We have 30 games left. We must be consistent for the rest of the season now. We lose 14 games, now we have 30 games more. It's a chance. We have 90 points. Great.

“But we can't do more like up and down, up and down, up and down. Otherwise, we are really in trouble.

“I think we are working for that. To be very consistent. To take one point, one point, three points, one point, one point, three points. That's being consistent.

“Maybe when you lose one time, it's because the opponent does better than you. But you are consistent on the field.

“You put your performance on the field. That's what we are working on now.”

How long will it take to get consistent performances?

“The signal in QPR was positive because the game was not so good.

“More with the ball, but we take one point. I think the team is going the right way.

“Maybe two weeks ago, maybe we lost this game and here I see a positive signal. Very positive with our 1-0, but after the 1-1.

“Because when you score, it's easy to do that. But after you concede the goal in the 64th or 66th minute, I don't remember. And then you say, no, another time. Another time. Another time.

“You see, for me, unlucky? Luck in football doesn't exist. Just spirit and fighting and something in the air.

“Because we made the mistake in the 90th minute with Igor on the play inside and we have a one against one, but he missed.

“For me, it's not our lucky team. Because we pushed, because the energy was different. That we must understand. We go with the energy, with this fighting spirit, to try to defend in our box.

“Not perfect, but with the energy, we can take points everywhere. 1-3, I don't know. 3-1, 1-1, 3. But that should be consistent.”

So are you surprised the morale is still okay?

“No, what I said to you before, the squad has a big potential. But at the moment, we can't see 100 per cent of this potential on the field. For many reasons. Many reasons and we are here to try to help the team.

“First, individually. To see every player 100 per cent. That's our first job. Because otherwise, the team loses percents on the game.

“When you don't have percents, you don't play 100 per cent of his quality. The player must put his quality on the field.

“Largie [Ramazani], when he wins some duels with the head, yeah, it's good. I don't say it's not good. But he must have 80 per cent success in his dribbling, in his passing. That's why I'm angry with him for Largie.

“Not to win the duels with the central defender of Cardiff. That he must understand. What I'm waiting for the players, give me your 120 per cent or 100 per cent at the moment, in your quality. Go on the field, on the training. Every day. To give me this 100 per cent.

“And after, maybe we can see what happens with the sensible points. Where maybe you can improve a bit.

“But our job is first that, to improve his quality. And at the moment, I don't have many players who can play 100 per cent for the situation, for the confidence, for the results.”