Jaded Burnley ‘miles off it’ - boss Sean Dyche

Sean Dyche felt his players looked jaded mentally and physically in a performance that was “miles off” in a goalless draw at home to West Brom.
James Tarkowski clears off the lineJames Tarkowski clears off the line
James Tarkowski clears off the line

Burnley played for an hour with an extra man after Semi Ajayi was sent off for denying Matej Vydra a clear run on goal with a deliberate handball.

And while they were denied what looked a cast iron penalty for handball against Kyle Bartley, the Clarets, in truth, were fortunate to take a point as the Baggies created more and better chances to win it.

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Dyche was without six senior players through injury, and pointed to a tough schedule so far this calendar year, but wasn’t making excuses: “Not the performance, but I was pleased with the outcome. I thought the performance was miles off, absolutely miles off.

“But, in balance, after another three-game week, on the back of an extraordinary injury situation, we’ve got to be careful what I ask of the players.

“We were nowhere near our performance level though.

“It’s a head-scratcher, I can only imagine that it’s down to the scheduling and change of timings.

“But we’re all trying to work with it so I’m not criticising too much.

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“Thirteen games in 42 days is a lot, over the winter period, training schedules are almost trying to protect players.

“Whether all that has affected it, I’m not sure, but I would imagine it’s has some effect on the injuries.

“We do carry a smaller squad as well, so I’ve got to be careful not to over-criticise these players because they’ve given us a lot and continue to do.

“We were off today though, that’s for sure.”

He added: “It was the first time in a long time today it caught us out, they were jaded physically but it’s the mental side. The clarity of thought, simple things, we gave the ball away so many times.

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“I’m not remotely saying we’re like Man City and keep the ball for fun, but I’m talking about simple passes going out of play. That’s mental fatigue, people losing focus or concentration.

“The pitch is in a poor state at the moment, the first time I’d question it in some time, tough winter, heavy games schedule and all that.

“There are a number of factors, the players give us an awful lot and have done for some time, they were off, we didn’t grip the game, but we come away with another point and clean sheet, which is the overriding pleasing part.

“We know we can play way better than that.

“I’ve got to be careful, we are going to continue to ask a lot of these players, that is the reality of where we’re at.

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“We just couldn’t rise to it second half, it was more of a clarity thing, clarity of thought, doing the simple things well, and we just never really got to grips with it.

“Credit to them, they stayed in their shape, worked hard and opened us up a couple of times.

“They could have, should have scored and the game could have got away from us, we were way off, but we get another point and a clean sheet just from the diligence of the group to keep going.”

On the Bartley handball, Dyche wondered whether there might have been a mitigating factor: “From a distance it looks like a pen, but I think, I’ve only seen it once quickly, but I’m not sure if it just clips off his thigh, and if it does, of course he can’t move his arm out of the way.

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“You’ve seen them given, we historically don’t get those ones anyway.

“So that was a big shock to me that we didn’t get it.

“On reflection it probably just touches his thigh, so I presume that’s why they didn’t give it.”

Jay Rodriguez came off against his former club carrying a calf problem, and Dyche explained: “Jay was struggling with his calf, at half-time it was touch and go whether we let him carry on. I’m having to make decisions for these players to try and protect them.

“The longer the game went, I thought ‘could it be an anomaly for Joel Mumbongo to go on and add that little bit of edge’.”

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Looking at next Sunday’s trip to Spurs, after a rare midweek without a game, there may be some better news from the treatment room: “Woody looks like he’s got a chance, Erik Pieters, Barnesy probably not, we’ll have to wait and see. Johann we’re waiting on more news, and Robbie, I’m forgetting there’s that many of them.”