Burnley FC manager Scott Parker feels Clarets’ final third struggles are down to 'trying too hard'

Excluding their first two games, Burnley have managed to find the net just 15 times this season. Josh Brownhill leads the scoring charts with six goals, while the next group of contributors have just two apiece.

Encouraging performances against Coventry and Stoke suggested the team was beginning to click in attack, but a fifth league blank – this time against a struggling Derby County – has reignited concerns.

Scott Parker, while unwilling to comment on potential reinforcements in the January transfer window, remains candid about the need for improvement in attack. His post-match remarks after the Derby draw were no exception, admitting that work remains to be done.

“I think this is definitely an element in our game that we need to improve on. And I'm responsible for that, as well as the players. [It’s] the hardest part of any team, and the reason most strikers get paid the most money, because it's the hardest thing to do. And in certain moments tonight, we weren't clinical enough; we didn’t execute in certain moments.

"Like always, and it probably means nothing at this present moment in time, and my words mean nothing because it's probably what everyone would expect the coach to say, but this is down to hard work, and so we need to keep working on that side of the game. And when a team come here with one thought, and that's to protect their goal or disrupt the game, we can't get emotionally involved in the game; we need to make better decisions.”

Parker admitted that overcoming the anxiety felt in games like the Derby match, as they go longer without a goal, is something his side needs to work on.

“This is what this division is. I think I've said it many times – the team, the group of players, the organisations that are most stable in certain moments; they're the ones that nine times out of 10 become successful. Like I said, I can't sit here and fault my players for one second in terms of endeavour; if anything they're trying too hard. They're making decisions at that present moment in time, which are wrong decisions, out of just pure desperation to try and score a goal and try and win the game. Now, that’s maybe naive on our behalf, it may just be a young group that have not got experience in this moment. This is the roller coaster of the Championship and for sure, we need to get a little bit better.”