Scott Parker explains post-match Burnley huddle following Oxford United victory
Scott Parker adopted a slightly different approach on Tuesday night when he opted to give a rousing team talk on the pitch after Burnley’s win against Oxford United.
The Clarets boss collected his squad in a huddle in one half of the pitch before heading back to the tunnel.
It came after Burnley had edged past the U’s 1-0, thanks to Michal Helik’s own goal, following a much improved performance.
Explaining why he opted to take this approach, Parker said: “This is an extremely young group. I live with this group every single day of the week. I walk into this building and I see how young they are.
“More to the point, I see a group of men that are absolutely desperate for us to win every single game.
“They go out and work tirelessly to try and get a result. I understand it because I've been in the arena many times.
“I felt to a man that, for such a young group, they showed a real maturity and they stuck to what they needed to.
“I just wanted to let them know that yes, this group has a togetherness, a bond, a fighting spirit and quality in certain moments.
“When you're at such a young age and you're just developing, sometimes you just need reassurance because there's a bigger noise sometimes out there.
“When you're so young you can be blurred by that a little bit and it's my job to let them know that, so I let them know that they were super.”
After playing out back-to-back goalless draws, and with the “boring Burnley” tag beginning to spread, Parker felt there was a huge expectation on his side heading into Tuesday night’s game.
“There’s definitely pressure on us. There's been pressure on us all season,” he added.
“For such a young group, the facts are the facts. If you want to look very deep into it you'll see that this is an incredibly young squad.
“I've mentioned it many times before, a lot of these players are playing their first full season in the Championship.
“The expectation is obviously huge but we've gone unbeaten in 18 games, it’s another clean sheet and we’ve won a football match in the Championship, so there’s a lot of positives.”