Mee backing a Clarets response

Defender Ben Mee expects results to pick up now that the Clarets have gained valuable experience in the Premier League.
Valuable experience: Defender Ben Mee battles with Chelseas Willian on his Premier League debutValuable experience: Defender Ben Mee battles with Chelseas Willian on his Premier League debut
Valuable experience: Defender Ben Mee battles with Chelseas Willian on his Premier League debut

Life in England’s top tier is completely alien to the majority of Sean Dyche’s squad, including the Manchester City graduate who sampled it for the first time in the opening game of the season against Chelsea.

Of the 33 contracted professionals at Turf Moor, including loanees Nathaniel Chalobah and Michael Keane, only 14 had played among the country’s elite prior to the current term.

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And only six of that group started the clash with West Ham United at Turf Moor including Michael Duff (11), Jason Shackell (11), Michael Kightly (53), David Jones (75), George Boyd (29) and Lukas Jutkiewicz (1).

Going in to Sunday’s fixture with Everton on home soil, the Clarets remain the only club in the country without a win. From the eight league games played Dyche’s men have accumulated four points courtesy of draws against Manchester United, Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Leicester City.

Boyd had given the Clarets hope of adding to that tally against the Hammers when halving the deficit set by Diafra Sakho and Enner Valencia, but substitute Carlton Cole ensured the points went to the visitors.

“I think we’re as prepared as we’re ever going to be,” said Mee. “We’re getting more experienced as the season goes on. We just need to start winning some games.

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“Getting that first win is important, and then cracking on from there. We’ll get there, I’m sure.”

Reflecting on last weekend’s performance and result, Mee added: “We felt we could get back in it then and the fans lifted and we lifted.

“Perhaps we pushed it a little bit too much too early and we conceded from another corner, which we were disappointed with.

“It was a hard one to take. We had a good performance in the first half but it was the absolute opposite in the second half. We didn’t really come out at all for the first 20 minutes or so and they punished us.

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“On another day we could’ve scored three in the first half and comfortably won the game.

“They changed their shape a little bit and we conceded a couple of goals early doors and unfortunately we couldn’t quite get back into it. The third goal just killed it off. It was disappointing.”

However, the 25-year-old believes that the squad fosters the character to spark an essential resurgence. “We don’t usually drop our heads when we concede. We come back stronger and we’ve got good character in the side,” he said.

“We’re showing character and that’s something we’ve got in abundance. We need to start winning games. We’ve had some really good performances so we’ll move on now and look to the next game.”