Josh Cullen pinpoints next stage of Burnley's development as displays continue to improve

The midfielder returned to Burnley’s starting line-up on Friday night as they suffered a narrow 1-0 defeat to Tottenham in the third round of the FA Cup.

It was another promising display from Vincent Kompany’s side, but once again they just came out on the wrong end of the result.

It at least allows the Clarets to focus entirely on their fight for Premier League survival, which starts on Friday night for the six-pointer against relegation rivals Luton Town.

“I’m obviously disappointed that we lost the game and we’re out of the cup,” Cullen told Clarets+ after the Spurs defeat.

“As players and as a group we want to do as well as we can in every competition, so we’re naturally disappointed to lose the game. All we can do now is take the positives and move on.

“We defended the box really well in the main, we showed good resilience and we had our moments in the game as well.

“It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t make more of those moments but as a squad and as a group that’s what we need to demand from each other.

“We just need to keep working hard now and all attention turns to the next game.”

While Cullen was naturally disappointed to lose the game, he says it’s clear the see the improvements Burnley are making.

“It’s a tough place to come,” the 27-year-old added.

“We played them earlier in the season and the performance [in the cup] was much better than when we played them before. I think that shows the growth we’ve made in five or six months at the top level.

“Now we’ve just got to keep working hard, keep learning our lessons and make the positives even better.

“We have to focus on the next game now.”

The next stage of Burnley’s development couldn’t be any clearer. While they’re competitive in every game and defending more resolutely, they need to be more clinical when chances come their way.

“When you come to places like this and play against top teams you don’t get loads of chances, especially big chances,” Cullen said.

“When they come along we know we need to take them. Unfortunately against Spurs we couldn’t do that as a team but all we can do is take the positives that we’re creating these chances and moments, keep working hard to create even more and make sure we start taking them as well.”

Another positive sign for Burnley is that they made five changes against Tottenham, yet it had no adverse effect on their overall display.

“It’s important to have that competition within the squad. It’s healthy competition within us all,” Cullen said.

“We’re constantly pushing each other every day and whoever the manager picks to play in any game, all the lads are ready.

“We know if we’re going to achieve what we want to this season everyone has to be on it every day. Every day in training, every game and keep pushing ourselves to improve.”