Candid Kyle Walker fronts up about Burnley's struggles and his own form

A candid Kyle Walker has held his hands up and admitted he’s not been good enough for Burnley this season.

The right-back, Burnley’s stand-in captain in the absence of Josh Cullen, has been among those to come in for criticism following the club’s nightmare start to the season.

Seven games into the new campaign, the Clarets find themselves rooted to the bottom of the Championship table and without a win to their name.

Ahead of this weekend’s game against fellow early strugglers against Derby County, which manager Nicky Hayen has described as a “must-win”, Walker was keen to address the current situation surrounding Turf Moor.

Not only did he sit down with the local press ahead of Saturday’s clash, the 36-year-old also spoke with Burnley’s office and stadium staff on Wednesday in one of the hospitality lounges at Turf Moor.

The former Manchester City man, a serial winner under Pep Guardiola, also attended a Fan Advisory Board (FAB) meeting later in the day to speak to supporters and take any questions.

It’s understood the decision was entirely Walker’s, with the defender keen to front up and take responsibility for Burnley’s current struggles.

Here’s what he had to say to the local media:

Why do you think Burnley are struggling so much?

“I think if anyone had that magical answer, we'd have changed it a long time ago now.

“It's been very disappointing. Obviously, coming off the back of a tough Premier League season, a lot of changes within that, obviously losing the manager, Jacko [Mike Jackson] coming in and kind of taking over from that, and then obviously getting used to a new manager with new philosophies…

“But it's not an excuse. I think we've gone enough games now that, regardless if there's a manager standing in the dugout or not, we need to take accountability as the 11 players that are on the field to make sure that we get that win and turn in a good performance.”

It felt like Wrexham could have been a turning point…

“I look at the Wrexham game and I feel that you take a point away from home in the Championship.

“When talking to numerous people, Jack Cork being one of them, that you kind of win your games at home and you draw your games away, you've got a good chance of getting promoted back to the Premier League.

“Wrexham had just come off a good result at Millwall, winning 3-0 away from home, so they had the bees in their bonnets and we went there and I think we played a really good game. We played some good football and we were probably in control of the game.

“Then we go to Swansea and it's two individual mistakes in the first half, which happens in football.

“It's not blaming any of the lads here. I'm not here to blame or point fingers at anyone because, first and foremost, I'll take accountability of myself, first and foremost. But you can't account for that, can you?

“We get one back, then we concede a sloppy goal. It's not blaming the refs or anything like that, and I'm not finding excuses, but the Connor Roberts or Jamie Vardy's goal was onside and then is the goal from the [Lucas Pires] corner really a foul? But that's me nitpicking.

“We got beat on the day and we need to man up and man up very quickly.”

The significance of the international break

“I think you can look at it in two ways. You win on Saturday and you want to keep going then, don't you?

“Whereas if you're losing, you're kind of thinking: ‘thank god the international break's come’ and you can kind of go back to the drawing board and start again.

“It's a bit weird for me to be speaking like this because I've never probably experienced this in my career, where I'm saying to you that I want an international break to come, good or bad.

“But it's the position that we're in and we're not here to beat around the bush. We need to talk face-to-face and man up on it and we need a win.

“That's the be-all and end-all of it and we need to treat this game like we should every game, like it's the last one and hopefully get the win against Derby.”

What’s your message to fans ahead of this weekend’s game?

“I understand, first and foremost, because I've been a fan and I've been fortunate to play the game for many, many years.

“But when you come week in, week out for how many months that they've been coming for and you're not walking away with a victory, it's hard.

“But be patient, because we're in it together and we need you. Especially when teams come to Turf Moor, there needs to be an atmosphere, a positive energy.

“When we make a bad pass or a mistake happens and all of a sudden you hear groans and everything, then the opposition feeds off of that. All of a sudden it gets their back up that they can go and get something, because they think well the crowd's not even with them, they're playing on their own here.

“I feel that once we get that atmosphere back to when I used to come to Turf Moor, when I was playing for Manchester City and it was a hostile environment, we get that back this is going to be a tough place for people to come. They're not going to want to come here and we can get that respect back that we…I'm not saying we deserve at the minute, but we want to get back.”

Has the manager describing Derby as a must-win added more pressure?

“I think as a football player and being at a club like this, which is a big scalp in the Championship most definitely, but playing in the Premier League, every game is a must-win.

“You shouldn't attack a game by thinking that you're going to get a draw or you're going out there not to win a game of football.

“That's what you need to do for ourselves as the 11 players on the field, but also the fans that pay a lot of money to come and watch us week in, week out. We owe that to them and we owe it to ourselves.

“So pressure, I feel that people perform under pressure and they say that diamonds are made under pressure. That's what we need to give come Saturday, a good performance.

“I've always said to the lads: ‘Listen, you can't win every game in football’. I've been at the greatest of teams, I've been at a very good Tottenham team and I've come to Burnley and we probably should have won some games in the Premier League which we didn't and sometimes football's cruel and you don't always win the games that you actually deserve to win.

“But you need to make sure that you make a good accountability of yourself. As long as you can come out of that 90 minutes and look yourself in the mirror and say I gave my all, which I think probably every one of us - and me certainly - can say is that we fell below par this season.

“Hopefully now, come Saturday, I can put that right and go on a good run now.”

Why do you feel you’ve been below par?

“I'm wearing the captain’s armband and it's an honour to wear it. I feel that to represent any club as the captain you need to be the leader, you need to set the example.

“But in my defence, I can't get 11 men to run on a pitch, you know? They need to want it themselves.

“But some things, in games that I've done personally, I feel that if I could turn the clock back, you do that extra run, you go and make that extra pass, you make that extra block and I feel that I need to go back to the drawing board.

“I point at myself and I don't point at others. I look at myself first and foremost before I can point my fingers because I'm not perfect. I do make mistakes, but everyone does. We are human and we just need to make sure that the mistakes that we are making are not as costly as they have been in recent weeks.”

Do you feel everyone else is feeling that way?

“Of course. We're here to win games of football.

“We have a duty to make sure that this club fights and gets up into the Premier League, because I feel that's where they really should be.

“They've spent a number of years there and they've been up and down in the last couple of seasons, but the start that we've had here is not acceptable and we can't say that it is.

“So I feel that each and every one of us…you don't point fingers, you don't talk behind each other's back and nitpick on things that other people can do.

“You look at yourself and then from there, you can then build a team and build a winning formula that gets you the victory on the game days.”

How important is it for the senior pros to manage the dressing room?

“It's top of our list. It's the top of our list, on par with winning a football game.

“The numbers of the leaders and the experienced players is a little bit low and that's something that everyone can see.

“But that's something that we can't just fall back on and say we haven't got the experience, because we've got the talent.

“We need to make sure that we breed the environment and the culture to make sure that the young lads that are coming in or the new lads that are coming from different clubs know the fundamentals.

“The fundamentals are to work hard and to run around and to give your all for the team and then your qualities will shine after that.”

How difficult has the last year been?

“Personally it's been tough. I've probably not experienced this ever and again, it's a different dressing room to what I was in at City where everyone kind of marshalled themselves.

“You didn't have to really rile people up to get in the game of football out of them. They had their own standards and they set their own bars to then go and achieve certain things.

“I think that's why they're at Manchester City and why Manchester City was so successful because, first and foremost, we had a great manager. But second of all, I think even if Pep [Guardiola] was there or wasn't there, we would have gone and achieved a lot of things as well because we had a great team and a great togetherness within that.

“Now I'm not saying that the togetherness is not within Burnley, because it completely is. It's a great bunch of lads.

“But what they need to know and what they need to feel is that, and I've said to them many times now, is that it's a short career and football will forget about you, so you have to make sure that you leave your stamp on it.

“Explaining that to a 22 year old, a 19 year old, a 20 year old can be difficult when they’ve got many years to come, but I can assure you that it does go fast.

“That's what they need to understand, that you have an opportunity that millions and millions of people dream of. Each and every day you step out into that field, whether it's a training session or a game, you need to make sure you play like it's your last.

“Again, I will say it again, that I myself, I haven't done that on every single game. But I think a lot of the lads can look at themselves and also be accountable for that same mistake as well.”

It seems like you’ve really got fire in your belly…

“I'm desperate. I've never wanted a victory so much, because there's a lot of noise. You hear a lot of noise and I don't take more pride in anything than proving people wrong. It's something that I've done my whole career.

“I'm not the most talented player, definitely not. I've played with many more talented players than me. But what I pride myself on is working hard and proving people wrong and that's what hopefully I can prove today, by coming out and being the voice of the players.

“Hopefully they're listening to this and they take this on board, that I'm not laying down and I'm willing to fight for all the way until the very end.”

What’s it been like playing with three right-backs in the back four?

“It's been a little bit of a change for me, because I've probably been the one that's normally had to play centre back while either Connor [Roberts] or Sonny [Oliver Sonne] have played on either of the flanks.

“But if the manager feels that that's the right system for the team and for Burnley to get the win, I can't question that.

“You know, I feel that I'm a stronger right back than I am a centre half and obviously that's where nine times out of ten I would like to play.

“But ultimately I'm not in a solo sport, I don't play tennis, I play football and football is a collective. If the manager makes a call to put me there then I have to follow the manager's decision and make sure that I play to the best of my ability to get the result.”

Do you have sympathy for the manager to be under pressure this early?

“I have sympathy, but what is sympathy in football? It’s an industry where you need to win.

“As much as the manager is feeling the pressure, I think that's right in a way. But I also feel that the 11 players that he put onto the field should be able to go and get you a win.

“Now I've been here with a friend of mine with Scott [Parker] and you know he had a lot of pressure in a tougher league than this and I feel that we can come together as a collective and make sure that we put it right, because we're all in it together.

“As much as he feels the pressure, we feel the pressure as well.”