Sander Berge makes Burnley demand following much improved display against Bournemouth

The Clarets were much improved at the weekend, dominating the game and producing 20 attempts on the Bournemouth goal.

They were toothless in front of goal though and were made to pay for some hesitant defending at the other end to lose 2-0, stretching their winless run to nine games.

While Berge was understandably disappointed to lose yet again, he felt Vincent Kompany’s side showed the right character to respond to their recent setbacks.

“The struggle we’ve been through this season, and with the two poor games recently, the Arsenal game and the Palace game, I think we came out and we were ourselves,” he told Clarets+.

“We really wanted to play without fear, be brave, everyone wanted to enjoy the moment and show their qualities.

“We were very front-fronted, we created overloads, played out from the back and got into their box so many times.

“Just in general, I just felt we were dominating it from the first whistle to the last. Obviously there were spells where it wasn’t as much but we got into dangerous areas all the time.

“They didn’t have much more than the two goals. The first one was unfortunate with the timing of it, especially when we came out strong with the fans behind us. They saw we were going forward, we were believing, we were positive, we were aggressive. I think everyone played with an extra spark, which is needed at this difficult time. It defines character.

“This is the type of performance we needed to get back to, because it’s been a while since we dominated a game like this.”

While the outlook remains bleak for Burnley, who sit 11 points adrift of safety, Berge insists the results aren’t a million miles away.

“At the moment it feels like we don’t get that reward we’re looking for and working hard for every day,” the 26-year-old said.

“Sometimes just an early goal can change everything. But they got it and it’s a difficult time.

“I didn’t think it set us back though in any way, in our performance or our mindset. We just kept on going.

“It’s happened so many times now, so it’s not easy to watch from the stands I believe. Seeing a good performance and we’re not getting the luck.

“But it’s about moving onto the next one and I still really believe if we bring the personality and the performances like this, then it won’t be about coincidences and we won’t lose games like this anymore. But then the standard has to be playing at this level, otherwise you will never get close to winning a game in the Premier League.

“This shows why, because we were close to our best and even then we lost. We just have to keep doing what we did good but keep striving to do better to get the results we want, because that’s what matters.”