Verdict: Burnley boss may have just signed his own death warrant after Derby draw

Burnley’s problems run a lot, lot deeper than Nicky Hayen, but it’s difficult to see how he comes back from this.

The Belgian essentially backed himself into a corner and signed his own death warrant when he described Saturday’s game against Derby County as a “must-win”.

I could maybe understand if he had been misquoted or had words put in his mouth, but it was a comment he volunteered of his own volition - and since repeated during Thursday’s pre-match press conference.

Just seven games into the new season, he unnecessarily piled even more pressure on himself.

For the record, while I recognise it’s part and parcel of the role, I take no joy in discussing someone’s job being on the line. But when you’ve got the manager being so fast and loose with some of his remarks, it’s impossible not to address it.

It wasn’t even the first time he had made an eye-raising comment, having also claimed a few weeks ago that Burnley just needed to “survive” until the international break, before insisting his side will be a “good team” upon their return in October.

Why should Burnley fans have to wait? And what happens if they’re not “good” at Watford in a few weeks? Again, it just seems like a lot of unnecessary passing of the buck and delaying the inevitable.

Lo and behold, Burnley were unable to emerge victorious against Derby, despite coming within a whisker of doing so.

Not winning shouldn’t come as a major surprise though given it’s something they’ve still not done - in the league at least - in over 220 days. At Turf Moor, meanwhile, it’s now verging on an entire calendar year.

So what next? Surely there can only be one natural conclusion? If you fail to win a so-called must-win game, you can’t be surprised if you fall on your sword, right?

In normal circumstances, you’d say yes. But we’re only left guessing what Alan Pace, ALK and the Burnley board are thinking at this moment in time.

All we have to go off are Pace’s programme notes in the build-up to the Derby game, which perhaps suggest Hayen could be given time.

“We've had a significant amount of change in recent times and it will take time to click,” he wrote.

“We welcomed Nicky in the summer, and we have new signings finding their feet and several players were looking forward to seeing come back from injury.

“I firmly believe that we'll be in a better position in time, and while I appreciate your frustrations, we will persevere and we will get there.”

If Pace is minded to make a change, now seems like the opportune moment to do so, with the extended three-week international break now upon us.

Hayen has been dealt a bad hand, of that there can be no doubt. If he is to be sacked and replaced, I’m not expecting everything to suddenly be all sunshine and rainbows. The problems just run far too deep.

What we’re witnessing now, a side devoid of any confidence and rooted to the bottom of the Championship table, is the consequence of months, perhaps even years of poor decision-making.

Whether that’s the decision not to part ways with Scott Parker until relegation had been confirmed, taking so long to identify his replacement, Nicky Hayen arriving a week into pre-season, overseeing another summer churn of players or selling your star man right on deadline with no replacement lined up, these are decisions that have consequences.

The chickens are now coming home to roost, it just so happens they’re all coming in one fell swoop and it’s making for the perfect storm.

Even if Burnley had held on for this win, do we honestly think it would have changed a great deal? It would have brought about a collective sigh of relief, sure. That long, painful wait would finally be over.

But the performance on show wasn’t the display of a side that felt it was a “must-win” game. It was more of the same.

Sure, the Clarets just need a win, any win, at this moment in time. An ugly three points is the order of the day. But I don’t buy the idea that one victory will free Burnley up and they’ll suddenly fly up the league table. I suspect there are deep, deep-rooted issues at play here.

While the late, last-gasp nature of Derby’s stoppage-time equaliser was galling, you can’t say it wasn’t deserved.

John Eustace’s side produced 16 shots on goal, compared to Burnley’s six. The Clarets managed just two shots on target, while the Rams managed three times more.

This was a match-up between two poor sides who are clearly devoid of any sort of confidence. But the biggest concern is that Burnley looked the worst of the two and, despite taking a lead into the latter stages - for the second time in as many home games - they were still unable to get the job done.

With Hayen at the helm or not, Burnley are in big trouble.