Josh Laurent on Burnley’s ‘missed opportunity’, season opener and squad turnover

Josh Laurent is hoping Burnley can get their new season off to the best possible start and avoid a Premier League hangover.

The Clarets endured a dismal campaign last time out, winning just four games and claiming just 22 points as they were relegated back down to the Championship.

While their league campaign doesn’t get underway until next week, with the visit of title favourites West Ham, Laurent and his Burnley teammates will be aiming to start the season on the right foot with a victory in the cup this afternoon.

League One Notts County are the visitors to Turf Moor as Nicky Hayen takes charge of his first competitive outing as Burnley boss.

While Championship promotion is the be-all and end-all this season, Laurent knows the value of a win this weekend to get over the pain of last season.

“[It was] very disappointing,” he said.

“Being honest, I thought it was a real opportunity to try and stay up as well and we obviously didn't take it. We didn't take the opportunity and didn't grasp it.

“There was a point where we hadn't won a game for, I don't know, 10 or 12 games and yet we were still only four or five points adrift.

“You're thinking: ‘well, if you just need an extra two or three draws, you're two points up’. But of course, there was a missed opportunity and it ended up being quite tight up until the last four or five games, where there were a few teams involved and some big teams too.

“Of course, it's a missed opportunity. But we can't think too much about it and have that hangover and have that disappointment because it's going to do nothing for us now. We need to focus on this season and get this club back to where it belongs.”

Having not won a game of any kind, competitive or otherwise, since February, this weekend’s Carabao Cup tie against League One Notts County comes with its own pressures.

“It's important we win,” Laurent added. “We need to win a game.

“We need to win games because that's what you need to do to get promoted. That's what we're here to do. We're here to compete and win games together.

“But I keep saying it, we have to respect the opposition on Saturday. I've been in that position, I've been in their shoes and going to a bigger club and knocking them out.

“Being so early in the season, they'll be looking to stamp a mark on themselves, so they're going to be right up for it.

“We need to be up for it just as much, if not more, outwork them and show the quality that we're better players and a better team than them.”

His words come with extra meaning given the Clarets were knocked out of both cup competitions last season by League One opposition in Cardiff City and Mansfield Town respectively.

That, Laurent pledges, will not be lost on Burnley’s players.

“We need to make that known to the new boys and just the squad in general, because we don't want that feeling again,” the midfielder said.

“We've had that feeling and that feeling is not coming back here and we need to make sure that we keep a positive mood and keep a positive feeling.

“The best way of doing that is winning football matches and it starts Saturday. We can win Saturday, go into the next round and have that feeling amongst each other of a good feeling and go in again next week and work hard with each other.”

Laurent is now without one of his good friends at Gawthorpe in Jaidon Anthony, who left Turf Moor earlier this summer to move back to the Premier League.

But while the 31-year-old may miss his former teammate, he’s also delighted to see the winger bag a big move.

“I'm really happy for him,” he explained. “Both being London boys, of course, it's tough being away from family and for him to go back.

“He's been through a lot and for him to go back and be around his family again and play in the Premier League for a good club, of course, as well.

“In my opinion, he's a Premier League player. I think he's done so well for us. As a person around the place and the player on the pitch, he's done so much for the team and showed so much quality as well.

“I'm really looking forward to seeing him this year. I think he'll shine and be a big player again for them.

“I can't wait to see him playing again on Match of the Day. I'm actually going to ring him today as well to speak to him because I miss him a lot.”

Anthony is just one of several senior Burnley players that have left the club following last season’s relegation.

Maxime Esteve, Quilindschy Hartman, Florentino Luis, Lesley Ugochukwu, Luca Koleosho and Loum Tchaouna have also moved on as the Clarets undergo another major squad churn.

While it’s far from ideal, Laurent acknowledges it’s the reality of dropping out of the top flight.

“Of course, it's always upsetting to see good players go,” he said. “But you have to understand it.

“It's the transfer window and these things happen. Anyone can leave at any point.

“I wasn’t involved the last time we dropped out of the Premier League. Well I was, but I was coming in during the last week, so I wasn’t at the club to see it happen.

“But being on the outside and looking in from before, I think the last two or three times we've come down as a club, this is what's happened, so you can't be surprised.

“It's part of the job, I suppose. It's part of the description. It happens. You get relegated from the Premier League, people are going to go. People are going to leave. There's going to be a big change and that's what we've got here at the moment.”